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 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

Binley Woods Primary School Governing Body and Related Information 2019-2020
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 2019-2020
Roger Manning	1.11.1997	Local Authority	Chair of Governors	1.11.16	1.11.20	No	Yes: Chair of Quality and Standards Committee	No	9/9
Lynn Jones	1.10.2000	Co-opted	Vice Chair	14.6.19	14.6.23	No	No	No	8/9
Lucy Beck	3.7.2014	Local Authority	Safeguarding, Attendance and SEN Governor	14.6.19	14.6.23	No	No	No	8/9
Karen Davidson	20.4.2009	Staff	Head Teacher	20.4.09	Ongoing	No	No	No	9/9
Jasmine Fowler	15.1.20	Staff	Teacher	15.1.20	15.1.24	No	No	No	5/5
Michelle Wells	9.11.2012	Co-opted	Training Link Governor	1.11.16	1.11.20	No	No	No	7/9
Zoe Turner Shepherd	28.3.17	Parent	Governor	28.3.17	28.3.21	No	No	No	2/9
Kay Salisbury	1.11.16	Parent	Early Years Link Governor	1.11.16	1.11.20	No	No	No	7/9
James Brown	1.5.18	Co-opted	Governor	1.5.18	1.5.22	No	No	No	9/9
Vicky Partridge	6.2.19	Co-opted	Governor	6.2.19	6.2.23	No	No	No	4/9
Emma Inch	16.5.19	Co-opted	Governor	16.5.19	16.5.23	Yes Employed by a teaching agency used by the school	No	No	7/9
Mick Taylor	1.9.14	Clerk	Clerk to Governors	1.9.14	1.9.14	No	No	No	9/9

Binley Woods Primary School Governing Body Information 2020-2021
Name	Date of Appt’ to FGB	Category of Governor	Position	Appt 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 2020-21
Sally Beardmore		Clerk to Governors		1.9.20			WCC Clerking Service	No
Roger Manning	1.11.97	LA Governor	Chair of Governors	1.11.16	1.11.20	No	Yes	No
Jasmine Fowler	15.1.20	Staff Governor	Teacher Governor	15.1.20	15.1.24	No	No	No
Karen Davidson	20.4.09	Head Teacher	Head Teacher	20.4.09	continuing	No	No	No
Vacancy		Parent Governor
Vacancy		Parent Governor
Lucy Beck	3.7.14	Co- opted Governor	Vice Chair Safeguarding Governor	14.6.19	14.6.23	No	No	No
Jamie Brown	1.5.18	Co- opted Governor	Vice Chair of Governors	1.5.18	1.5.22	No	No	No
Lynn Jones	1.10.00	Co- opted Governor	Finance Governor	14.6.19	14.6.23	No	No	No
Michelle Wells	9.11.12	Co- opted Governor	H&S Training Governor	1.11.16	1.11.20	No	No	No
Vicky Partridge	6.2.19	Co- opted Governor	Curriculum Governor	6.2.19	6.2.23	No	No	No
Kay Salisbury	1.11.16	Co- opted Governor	SEND Governor	1.11.16	1.11.20	No	No	No
Emma Inch	16.5.19	Co- opted Governor	Governor	16.5.19	16.5.23	Yes Employed by teaching agency used by BWP	No	No

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