Kingsclere CE
Primary School
We would like to take this opportunity to introduce our Governing Board. Governors are a group of volunteers whose role involves:
Our role is strategic. That is to say that, although we like to be involved in the school and to visit regularly to familiarise ourselves with what is happening, we are not responsible for the day to day running of the school. The responsibility for that lies with the Headteacher. Whilst governors have an overall responsibility for the staffing structure of the school, and we are responsible for the appointment of the Headteacher (with support from the Local Authority), the recruitment of staff and their deployment within the school is delegated to the Headteacher.
Our Governing Body consists of 16 governors, including the Headteacher. The Vicar of St Mary’s CE Church is always an ex-officio governor, and the church appoints two further governors known as “Foundation Governors”. Two of our governors are elected by parents and one by the members of staff. One is appointed by the Local Authority and the remaining seven are co-opted governors, which is to say that they are appointed by the governing board. From time to time, we appoint Associates, who are brought on to Governing Board because of their specific skills. Although they have no voting rights on the full Governing Board, they can be given voting rights on committees and offer support to the school, as well as carrying out some of the many tasks associated with governance. We currently have two such governors.
We try to recruit governors so that there are people with a variety of appropriate skills, for example, people with backgrounds in business, finance, buildings, health and safety, public relations, education, science and technology, public services etc. We regularly undertake audits of governor skills so that we can identify any gaps in expertise and try to either train existing governors or recruit to fill these gaps.
We meet as a full governing board six times a year and have two committees – Curriculum and Standards Committee and Finance, Resources, Pay and Personnel Committee – which each usually meet six times a year and have specific monitoring roles. Alongside this, governors do other monitoring jobs such as ensuring that school improvement targets are being met in practice; that safeguarding procedures meet statutory requirements; that health and safety audits are carried out regularly and actions followed up; ascertaining the views of pupils on their life and learning in school; finding out the views of parents through surveys and, under normal circumstances, presence at parent consultation evenings; carrying out performance management of the Headteacher; meeting with subject leaders to ensure statutory curriculum requirements are being met and that resources are adequate etc. As well as attending meetings, we try to visit school as often as possible both to carry out our monitoring duties and to take part in the general life of the school.
All governors are expected to take part in regular training including induction training, both in school and in the broader context. We are fortunate in Hampshire in that we are able to subscribe to Hampshire Governor Services who provide a wide range of training opportunities for governors.
If you are interested in becoming a governor or want to find out any more about governors in our school, you can contact either the clerk to the governors, Helen Palmer, or the Chair of Governors, Sue Watson, via the school office.
Please click here to Meet our Governors.
Please click here to view membership details of our Governors.
Click here to view Register of Pecuniary Interest 2024-2025
Click here to view Attendance Record for Governors in 2023-2024
Click here to view Hampshire Governors Services