Meet the Governors

The Role and Impact of the Governing Body

Scroll down to find out who we are and what our role is at school and the impact we have. Read our blogs further down to keep up to date with our work in school.

The governors act as a "critical friend" to the school, monitoring and overseeing the smooth running of the school and supporting and listening to staff and parents. The governing body is responsible for the strategic management of the school and for determining its aims, objectives and policies in accordance with all the relevant legislation.

The head manages the school from day to day and is the governing body’s principal professional adviser who assists it with the formulation and implementation of its aims, objectives, policies and plans.

School governors help schools provide the best possible education for their pupils:

thinking and working strategically to help raise standards;
monitoring and evaluating progress towards the school's priorities and targets;
supporting the head and staff as well as challenging their expectations;
accounting to all stakeholders for the school's overall performance and for the decisions they have made

The Governing Body is part of the leadership team of Binley Woods Primary School and is made up of interested and committed volunteers who challenge and support the school in its work. The governors produce an annual newsletter for parents and attend a range of events at which you can meet them such as parents consultation evenings (Termly Learning Conferences) and parent partnership evenings (Information Evenings). Governors also take part in a range of activities related to school improvement and blog about their work on this page of the website.

Governors meet once a month to evaluate the work of the school. Governors meetings monitor the curriculum and the quality of teaching and learning and standards. They also monitor the school's budget and financial processes as well as the premises and health and safety systems, and also review policy. Governors with identified expertise work in workshop groups, attend finance meetings, attend meetings with subject leaders and safeguarding and special educational needs meetings, so that they can both support and challenge the Headteacher and other school leaders in their work. Governors audit their skills annually and work together to share the broad range of expertise they have to build capacity across the team. Governors also monitor the finances and long term viability of Woodlands Pre-school along with the quality of the early years provision.

Governors’ Self Review Statement February 2019
Core functions	What we have done	What impact we have had
Vision and strategic direction of the school	Governors worked with the school staff, parents and some pupils to identify and set our school values. Governors work with the staff at training events and attend Termly Learning Conferences to meet and talk to parents. Governors work in school on governor monitoring visits and also to work with staff and the Headteacher. This work includes helping out with subject leader monitoring activities, talking to pupils, observing lessons and attending a range of meetings. Governors review the schools Improvement Plan at full governors meetings, looking at progress made on school priorities and evaluating the strategic work on the plan. Governors at Binley Woods have meetings with governors from other schools.	The school values are strong and inform the culture of the school and the curriculum. Governors’ good understanding of the issues the school faces, enables them to support the strategic direction of the school. Sharing the work of governors with parents via blogging on the website enables parents to see the breadth of governors’ role in school, the impact they have and their commitment to its future success. Governors’ work with the staff team is valued by the school and enables governors to take a constructive role in discussions and make informed decisions at governors meetings. Attendance at training and meetings with governors from local schools enables the Full Governing Body to keep up to date with the national and local educational agenda ensuring they can support the HT effectively make the best choices and decisions for our school.
Holding the HT to account for educational performance	Governors monitor the School Improvement Plan and are directly involved in the decision making of the strategic section of the SIP (Grow Strand). Governors are invited to and attend some staff development meetings, senior management meetings and training days to enable them to be involved in the work of the school. Identified governors also attend finance meetings and student and family support meetings with the HT. Governors review the school and national performance data at full governing body (FGB) meetings and receive a termly report from the HT. They also monitor the performance data of cohorts in school currently. Governors undertake a termly morning of monitoring with the leadership team.	Taking opportunities to work in school ensures governors are informed and able to hold the leadership team to account more effectively. Working relationship with staff increases accountability and allows governors to question and challenge subject leaders constructively. Respectful challenge is developed by getting a clearer understanding of the complexity of the working practice in school. At FGB meetings governors discussion and questioning of the HT ensures the work of the leadership team is effective and focused on the correct improvement priorities. Monitoring mornings enable governors to see the school in action and consider its effectiveness against defined outcomes. Feedback feeds into school action planning. Governors are aware of levels of SEND and characteristics of cohorts that might affect outcomes, and can and do question HT on what is being done to address this.
Expenditure of financial resources	A governor attends financial benchmarking meetings to compare the school’s expenditure with similar schools. A governor attends finance meetings with HT and LA finance officer to monitor income and expenditure. Governors monitor the expenditure and impact of the Pupil Premium for disadvantaged children and the Sports Grant. Governors review the financial practice in the school through the Schools Financial Value Standards Governors are responsible for approving the school budget at FGB	Governors are well informed about the school’s financial situation and issues it faces which supports decision making. FGB includes governors from a financial and business background which provides the knowledge and expertise needed to focus concisely on specific financial issues which informs decision making. Financial understanding of the governing body ensures governors are able to contribute effectively to budget setting. Governors understand how pupil premium grant is used to support outcomes and provision. This then enables governors to evaluation its impact. Governors check how sports premium is spent and can measure the impact of this funding to achieve the 5 key indicators.
Glossary	FGB – Full Governing Body, HT – Head teacher, LA – Local Authority, SEND – Special Educational Needs and Disability, SIP – School Improvement Plan

Governor Bios

Roger Manning

I joined the governing body 21 years ago and have been Chair for some years. I live in the village and my children attended the school. Now long retired , I previously worked in personnel for Coventry City Council and spent the last few years at work supporting the personnel function in Education before a period when I undertook personnel consultancy for a number of local authorities. I see the education of our children as being critical to our future as a community.

I am also Vice Chair of Woodfield School, a special school for SEMH pupils in Coventry so I see governance issues in two different environments

Lynn Jones

I have been a governor at Binley Woods Primary School since 2000. I have lived in the village for 36 years and first became a parent governor when my daughters attended the school. I am now a co-opted governor and Vice Chair of the governing body. I have recently taken early retirement so am looking forward to having more time to devote to my governor work.

Lucy Beck

I am a GP in Rugby. I have been a governor at Binley Woods Primary School for 8 years. I am a Local Authority governor. I lived in Binley Woods as a child and like many, returned to live here with my family.

My 2 boys both enjoyed going to BWPS, the youngest having left last year.

Kay Salisbury

I became a parent governor in September 2016 and I am now the governor with responsibility for SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability).

I grew up in Binley Woods and attended BWPS (then known as Binley Woods Middle School) myself, and both of my children attend.

I have a background in secondary education and SEND and I am currently a specialist teacher in Coventry.

Zoe Turner-Shepherd

Binley Woods Primary School is a school close to my heart. I attended the school when it was a middle school and more recently my children attend BWPS. With this in mind I became a parent governor in 2017. I have 19 years’ experience in education with varying specialisms in SEND, mentoring and Equality and Diversity, however, I have had a shift in my career and now concentrate on running a successful business in the local area.

Michelle Wells

I became a parent governor in November 2012 as I was keen to develop a greater understanding of education. I live in the village with my family and have 3 children who all attend or have attended Binley Woods Primary School. I have a passion for learning and have taken on the role of training link governor and more recently have shared the role of English link governor.

Karen Davidson

As Headteacher at Binley Woods Primary School, joining the school in April 2009, I am also a member of the Full Governing Body. I really enjoy working with our governors who are from different sections of the local community bringing a range of knowledge and skills to the organisation. Governors support the leadership team with the strategic direction of the school and also provide challenge and a different perspective on our work. We welcome governors into school to work alongside us by coming to meetings and training, undertaking monitoring activities, meeting with pupils and subject leaders, attending finance meetings as well as coming to Termly Learning Conferences, performances and assemblies.

Jamie Brown
I became a co-opted governor at Binley Woods Primary School in May 2018. I grew up in Binley Woods as a child and attended Binley Woods First and Middle School before going on to Wolston High School. I then left the area to go to College and University before moving back to the village 7 years ago. My daughter Nancy started Binley Woods preschool in September 2018.

Vicki Partridge

I became a co-opted governor in February 2019. Growing up in Binley Woods and having attended the lower and middle school I felt that this was a perfect opportunity to give back to the local community. My professional background is in business development and fundraising and I hope to be able to bring my skills and knowledge to serve Binley Woods Primary School over the coming years.

Binley Woods Primary School Governing Body and Related Information
Name	Date of appointment to Governing Body	Category of Governor	Position	Appointment to current role	Date role expires	Pecuniary Interest registered Yes/No Nature of Interest	Governor at another school? Yes/No	Relationship with other governors or school staff	Attendance 2017-2018
Roger Manning	1.11.1997	Local Authority	Chair of Governors	1.11.16	1.11.20	No	Yes: Vice Chair of Governors Chair of Quality and Standards Committee	None	9/10
Lynn Jones	1.10.2000	Co-opted	Vice Chair	14.6.19	14.6.23	No	No	No	8/10
Lucy Beck	3.7.2014	Local Authority	Safeguarding, Attendance and SEN Governor	14.6.19	14.6.23	No	No	No	9/10
Karen Davidson	20.4.2009	Staff	Head Teacher	20.4.09	Ongoing	No	No	No	10/10
Vacancy		Staff
Michelle Wells	9.11.2012	Co-opted	Training Link Governor	1.11.16	1.11.20	No	No	No	7/10
Zoe Turner Shepherd	28.3.17	Parent	Governor	28.3.17	28.3.21	No	No	No	5/10
Kay Salisbury	1.11.16	Parent	Early Years Link Governor	1.11.16	1.11.20	No	No	No	8/10
James Brown	1.5.18	Co-opted	Governor	1.5.18	1.5.22	No	No	No	2/2
Andrea Lawson	7.2.19	Co-opted	Governor	7.2.19	7.2.23	No	No	No	-
Vicki Partridge	7.2.19	Co-opted	Governor	7.2.19	7.2.23	No	No	No	-
Emma Inch		Co-opted	Governor	16.5.19	16.5.23	Yes Employed by a teaching agency used by the school	No	No	-
Mick Taylor	1.9.14		Clerk to Governors	1.9.14	1.9.14	No	No	No	10/10

Governor Blog - Sports Afternoon - Wednesday 26th June 2019

I spent a great afternoon at the school sports afternoon on Wednesday 26th June. As the Sports and PE Governor I am trying to get involved in opportunities at school that extend my knowledge of the quality of sports provision in school.

Having so many children participate and keep them occupied when they are not in a race is very tricky but due to how well the day was organised this went extremely well. The races were all very competitive but most importantly fun and every child seemed to enjoy themselves competing in a range of races. These included old favourites the egg and spoon race, beanbag race and the sack race. I helped at the finish line working out who won their race and handing out stickers to the runners up – all who deserved a sticker. When the children were not participating in a race they cheered their friends and classmates on and the large watching crowd of family members all cheered their children and others to the finish line. Also a big well done to all of the staff for the organisation on the afternoon which made sure it went so smoothly.

Jamie Brown, Governor

Governor Blog - Monday 24th June 2019 - Review of school vision and how it is supported by school values and core learning skills curriculum

On Monday 24^th June I joined the Head and staff for a meeting looking at the vision and values of the school. The head introduced the subject with a power-point presentation and asked for contributions from us all (governors, teachers, TAs and office staff) on the existing vision statement. She shared some thinking she had done on an updated vision statement and “strap line”.

In an interactive session we discussed the distinguishing characteristics of the school, what our existing values statement meant in practice and whether a draft revised short vision statement struck the right note.

The draft was discussed and suggestions from staff and governor considered for amending the initial draft. The school's Senior Management Team (SMT) will be refining the statement in the light of comments and there will be a further report to parents, and governors on 4th July.

Roger Manning, Governor

Governor Blog - School Self Review Week 10th - 14th June 2019

Governors came in to school throughout the week to take part in monitoring and evaluation activities with the senior leadership team focusing on:

Curriculum provision by talking to children and teachers and the curriculum key lead
Early Years learning environment review for Woodlands and Reception children
Review of how teachers and teaching assistants work together on school improvement work and the progress they are making
Data evaluation
Climate walk looking at reading and how our values are articulated across school
Health and Safety walk with our caretaker

We also worked with the head teacher from one of our partner schools in Kenilworth who held a group discussion with teachers about planning lessons for different subjects.

Working with governors enables us to look at our work through a different lens. It also helps governors learn about the work of the school so that they are better able to make informed decisions or judgements going forward. One of our governors attended the Warwickshire Governors Conference last Thursday and her input and that of others in the evaluation at the end of the week was considered and extremely helpful.

Karen Davidson, Governor and Headteacher

Governor Blog - PTA Summer Fair 7th June 2019

What a wonderful turn-out for the BWPS Summer Fete on Friday 7th June! Thanks to the efforts of all those involved, there were numerous stalls to keep the children entertained, including the colouring competition, guess the money in the jar, a bottle tombola, a sweet stall and Messy Church. Despite the rainy weather, fete-goers were not deterred, and many ventured outside to the donkey rides and the barbecue. It was also wonderful to see so many BWPS pupils taking part in the 'On Your Toes' dance display in the hall.

Thank you to the PTA for organising the fete, and to all those who supported it through manning the stalls and through attending.

Kay Salisbury, Governor

Governor Blog - New Parents Evening 5th June 2019

Last Wednesday the school held its annual New Parents Evening for parents of children who will be starting school in September this year. The aim of this meeting is to welcome new members of our community to the school and give them all the information they need before their children make the very important step of starting school.

Mrs Jones and Mr Brown (who will be a Reception parent himself from September) were representing the governing body and were able to show parents the breadth of community involvement in our school and explain their particular role. Also there to meet parents along with staff were representatives from Compass (school nursing), Educaterers (school meals), Fun for Kids (before and after school childcare club) and the PTA who raise much needed funds for the school. Thank you to everyone who made it such an enjoyable evening. We look forward to working together with our new parents throughout induction and from September.

Karen Davidson, Governor and Headteacher

Governor Blog - All About Me Parent Meeting with LA Consultant - 21.5.19

As safeguarding governor, I attended the parents meeting on the new Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) meeting which was held on 21/05/19. This meeting was led by Mr Johnny Hunt, Warwickshire's RSE Consultant.

I had read the policy and seen the lesson plans before the meeting and I thought Johnny gave a very good explanation about the rationale behind the programme and I think it was well received.

The programme links well to put Taking Care programme which teaches our children about protective behaviours. The Taking Care week is taught in the autumn term and has been in place for many years now. The meeting was well attended and parents had the opportunity to ask questions which I think was appreciated. As a safeguarding governor with an understanding of the Taking Care programme I wanted to be available to parents and to understand and hear any questions parents may have. In this way I am then able to share parental views and feedback to the wider governing body at our next meeting.

Lucy Beck - Governor

Governor Blog - SAF Meeting 5th April 2019

A SAF meeting (Student and Family Support Team) took place on 5th April, with Mrs Davidson, Lucy Beck and myself in attendance.

Governors have a responsibility to ensure that safeguarding is undertaken thoroughly at the school. We undertake a check of the Single Central Record (a register of safeguarding/recruitment checks undertaken for staff, volunteers and visitors) which ensures it continues to be robust.

We evaluated a report undertaken by Mrs Loxton and Mrs Davidson on the provision for children with Special Educational Needs and their progress. By reviewing and discussing this data, along with attendance data we are able to report back our judgements to the Full Governing Body.

We also reviewed the introduction of the new RSE (Relationships and Sex Education) Policy. A governor (Mrs Beck) will be attending the workshop led by Mr J Hunt from the Local Authority on Tuesday 21st May 2019. Mrs Beck will be happy to talk to parents about the new policy then alongside members of staff.

Kay Salisbury, Governor

Governor Blog - Monitoring and Evaluation Morning 1st April 2019

Along with my fellow governors, Roger Manning, Lucy Beck and Andrea Lawson we held a monitoring morning with Mrs Davidson to look at cross curricular learning evidence and application of English and Maths in other subjects. We started by speaking with a group of pupils from Years 4 and 5 asking them about core learning skills and their knowledge of them. We asked them about the links between our school values, the curriculum and learning, how they apply them and the impact of our values when followed. Their pleasure in being able to give us examples of applying our values was good to see and hear about. I was particularly impressed with their language used and their confidence and enjoyment to be able to speak to us about this. We then completed a book trawl for each year group to look for the evidence of the cross curricular learning and evaluated our findings for feedback to the governing body.

Lynn Jones, Governor

Governor Blog – SMT Meeting 20th March 2019

I attended the Senior Management Team meeting to look at ways we can support our staff, teachers and senior leaders with the ever increasing workload and challenges that face our school community. We met with a provider who offers a therapeutic support and counselling service that can be tailored specifically for our school. This will be discussed in more detail at our next governing body meeting.

Lynn Jones, Governor

Governor Blog - Core Learning Skills Lesson Visit - 8th March 2019

I went into Year 5's core skills lesson on Friday. This was being taught along side a PHSE lesson. Core skills lessons are such that they can often be incorporated into another lesson. The theme of this term's core skills lessons are ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’, which teaches children to gain a better understanding of themselves and of other people.
The focus of the children's learning was ‘Predicting how I might react to a particular situation’
They looked at the emotion 'Embarrassment'. They also did a bit of whole class discussion, and role play acting out a scenario and solution.
The children were very well behaved and engaged. They particularly enjoyed the role play. I left them writing up their scenarios in their theme books.
Thank you Year 5 and Miss Fowler.

Lucy Beck, Governor

Governor Blog – Maths Mastery Morning 4th February 2019

As part of my role as the new link governor for maths I spent this morning in school to see the Maths Mastery lessons in Reception and Years 3, 4 & 5. Whilst I have been in to school to see maths lessons in the past, this is the first time that I have seen Maths Mastery in action. I was very pleased to see all the children engaged in their learning and having fun at the same time. The key principles of Maths Mastery are conceptual understanding, mathematical thinking and language and communication and I saw all of these being embedded this morning. The lessons were structured into sections including ‘New Learning’, ‘Talk Tasks’, ‘Develop Learning’ and ‘Independent Learning’. As children moved from one section of the lesson to the next the children practised multiplication tables. These slots of time are called ‘Transitions’ and are used to reinforce mathematical fluency. I even had a reminder of Roman Numerals in Year 5 as well!

I’d like to thank Mrs Loxton for organising the morning and the class teachers and the children for welcoming me into their lessons and sharing their learning of maths with me.

Lynn Jones, Maths Link Governor

Governor Blog - Governor impact evaluation 25th January 2019
Mr Manning, Mrs Jones and Mr Brown completed with Mrs Davidson an evaluation of the impact of the governing body. This was a useful exercise which we shall share with the rest of the governors at the next FGB meeting. We will then upload a summary on this page of the website.

Lucy Beck, Governor

Governor Blog - Data Workshop 22nd January 2019
Mr Manning, Mrs Jones and myself joined with the head and deputy head to look in depth at the school data for the end of the Autumn Term. We looked at data for reading, writing and maths for all pupils and broke this down further, looking at vulnerable groups, and gender differences.

Lucy Beck, Governor

Governor Blog - Full Governor meeting 17th January 2019
We had a very productive FGB meeting tonight. Not least because we welcomed two new governors, Vicki Partridge and Andrea Lawson who will both be co-opted governors. We also assigned new Link Governors for Literacy and Maths.

Lucy Beck, Governor

Governor Blog - Monitoring Morning 17th January 2019

As part of the governing body’s responsibility for the strategic management of the school and to hold its leaders to account, myself and fellow governors, Roger Manning, Lucy Beck, Michelle Wells & Jamie Brown, spent the morning in school looking at the Leadership & Management of BWPS. Between us we met with five groups of identified staff to ask questions about the impact of their role and the support they receive. Evaluations were then made and discussed as a group to give us a greater understanding of leadership roles within the school and for us as governors to make an overall assessment of the quality of leadership and management.

Lynn Jones, Governor

Governor Blog - Link Governors for English and maths

I have the pleasure to say that Michelle Wells and I have been appointed as the link governors for English and Lynn Jones has been appointed as the link governor for maths. This is a positive move towards making sure the governors have a connection with the subject leaders and we are looking forward to learning more about the educational and functional impact.

Zoe Turner-Shepherd, Governor

Governor Blog - Monitoring staff Training Day 7th January 2019

I attended the first session of the Teacher Training Day following an invitation to the governing body. It was great to see all the staff after the Christmas break and I was made to feel very welcome as always. We looked at the school’s vision going forward and reflected on our own values and also those of the school and how they intertwine with each other. The school’s values GROW – Generosity, Responsibility, Optimism & Wisdom were expanded on during joint discussions. We also looked at issues affecting the school including the financial difficulties we are facing – a particular interest for me within the governing body. Safeguarding, Health & Safety and Data followed with group discussions. A Health & Safety Walk will be completed by governors this term. My thanks go to all staff who worked either at home or in school during their holidays to ensure the best possible outcomes for all pupils.

Lynn Jones, Governor

Governor Blog - Christmas Celebrations

I was delighted to be able to attend both of the Christmas Performances with my ‘Governor Hat’ on. It was great to see the school hall packed on both occasions and the smiles on the children’s faces when they spotted someone in the audience brought back many happy memories of when both my children were at the school. All the children performed brilliantly and their singing was super. shan’t forget our rendition of A Partridge in a Pear Tree for a long time! I would like to add the Governors thanks to the children, staff and parents for all their hard work at a very busy time of year.

Lynn Jones, Governor

Governor Blog - Governor Training – Working with Parents and the Wider

Community

In December 18 I attended a governor training session focused on 'Working with Parents and the Wider Community' delivered at a junior school in Rugby. The session focused on considering how schools can engage with parents and carers in order to enhance pupils' education, and it provided opportunities to consider how links can be developed with the local community in order to support school improvement. It was an interesting evening and, from discussion taking place amongst governors of other schools, I felt reassured that there is much good practice in this area at BWPS. The content of the session, and any actions from it, will be discussed at the next governor meeting.

Kay Salisbury, Governor

Governor Blog - Monitoring SRE staff training

A few weeks ago I attended a Staff Development Meeting at school to learn about the new Relationship & Sex Education scheme that will be taught in school in the Summer Term. The scheme is called ‘All About Me’ and was introduced to all of the teachers and Mrs Davidson by Jonny Hunt from Warwickshire Local Authority who as a youngster attended Binley Woods Middle School. I felt that he was extremely passionate and knowledgeable about the new scheme and I feel confident that the school will be well supported when introducing this to both pupils and parents.

Lynn Jones, Governor

Governor Blog - Online Safety Evening for Parents 10th December 2018

I attended the recent internet safety workshop where parents were given the opportunity to find out how to keep their children safe online. This event was shared with Thorns and Park Hill schools giving parents from 3 schools a chance to attend. Mr Apostol kindly gave his time to provide us with lots of tips and suggestions on how to keep children safe online, covering gaming, social media and general internet use. He told us what warning signs to be aware of and signposted where we could get further advice and support. As a parent myself I found the session extremely useful and thought provoking and am thankful that school provided this opportunity.

Michelle Wells, Governor

Governor Blog - SAF meeting 23rd November 2018
Attendees: Mrs K Davidson (HT), Mrs L Beck (Safeguarding Governor) and Mrs K Salisbury (SEND Governor), Mrs R Harrison School Business Manager (for SCR part)
I attended our termly Student and Family Support (SAF) meeting. In these meetings we check the school's safeguarding arrangements are effective and review other areas of the school's work that supports children and families . We looked at the schools Single Central Record (SCR) with the school business manager. The SCR holds all the DBS details of staff, other professional partners of the school who regularly visit the school such as music teachers and sports coaches, and regular volunteers who support children.

We discussed the schools attendance figures, SEND provision, anti bullying survey, anonymised child protection concern reporting and how the school uses the Pupil Premium.

Lucy Beck, Governor

Governor Blog - Safeguarding Training 21.11.18 Park Hill School in Kenilworth
Attendees - Jamie Brown and Zoe Turner Shepherd

We attended a Safeguarding Training session with governors of Thorns/ Park Hill School, Kenilworth. We observed a presentation from the NSPCC on 'what can we do about child abuse' and the key issues and challenges in terms of undertaking our governance responsibilities. We looked at how do we ensure our school teaches children about safeguarding and aspects on keeping children safe in education. We also looked at prevention and how staff should maintain an ongoing culture of vigilance in school. We finally looked at the role of the safeguarding governor.

Jamie Brown, Governor

Governor Blog - Governor monitoring 5th November 2018

On the morning of 5th November, a number of governors took part in a monitoring morning, with a particular focus on challenge. The morning was split into parts: a walk around classrooms, a book trawl across years 2 to 6, and a discussion with teaching assistants. We felt that classrooms promoted independence and challenge for the learning accessed in lessons, and that the feedback in books was personalised and encouraged pupils to embed learning.

It was, as always, a privilege to be a part of this incredibly positive experience, providing us with the opportunity to see such wonderful examples of teaching practice.

Kay Salisbury, Governor

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