Welcome to the Governors section of our school website. We thought you might like to know a little bit about us and what we do.

The Chair of Governors can be contacted at office@titchfieldprimary.co.uk.  All emails will be treated 'In Confidence'.  If you wish to report a safeguarding issue, please contact the Headteacher directly, not the governors.  Thank you.
 
Chair of Governors - Mr N Chart 

Vice Chair - Mr A Hynes
Clerk to Governors – Mrs E Morgan
Co-opted

Mrs V Robertson

Mr T Hynes

Mrs H Bonwick

Mrs M Wilton-Smith

Mrs A McKinnon

Mrs R Leslie

Mrs H Osborn

Mrs J Alden

Parent Governors
Mrs K Collins-Hardman

Mr R Emblen

Staff Governor

Miss N Dugan 

Local Authority

Mr S Dugan

The Governing Body (GB) together with the Headteacher and senior staff, forms the school Leadership and Management team, and share responsibility for the school.  The GB must hold the school to account for the standards it achieves.  It must ensure that all resources (including the school budget and staff) are properly used to meet the needs of all children and provide value for money.  Governors help to form the School Improvement Plan and are responsible for monitoring all aspects of its effectiveness in terms of outcomes for pupils. The GB appoints the Headteacher, and delegates to them the responsibility for the day to day running of the school.
 
Who are the Governors?
Governors are the key strategic decision makers and vision setters in the school. They are also a key part of the overall system for school accountability. They are people from various aspects of the school and its wider community and they have a vital role to play in driving up school and pupil performance and ensuring that resources are used well to give every child the best possible education.
 
Decisions are made by the Board as a whole.  Individual governors have no ‘power’ as such and cannot act or speak on behalf of the Governing Body.  The term of office for a governor is 4 years.  At Titchfield Primary School we have the following numbers and categories of governors:
 
Staff: There is one staff governor position on the board.  This person is elected by the members of staff in school.  The head teacher automatically becomes a governor by virtue of their appointment as Headteacher.  They can decide not to be a governor if they prefer but their place on the board cannot be taken by anyone else.
Parents: There are three parent governors on the board.  The parent governors are elected by the parents of registered pupils in the school.
Co-opted: There are six co-opted governors on the board. These governors are appointed by the governing body as people who have the necessary skills and expertise to ensure that the governing body is effective. 
Local Authority Governor:

What does the work involve?
The FGB meets once a term apart from during the summer (currently 6.15pm to 8.15pm on a Wednesday). There are documents that need to be read in preparation for all meetings.  In total, that is 10 meetings (approx 20 hours of meetings) per year, plus reading/research  time. 
 
There are two working parties to deal with aspects of work that come up from time to time, such as Special Educational Needs, Equality and Health & Safety. The committees are Finance and Resources and Curriculum.
 
Governors take individual responsibility for key areas of the curriculum and work with subject and key stage leaders to drive improvement. Governors also go into school on a more official basis to formally monitor aspects of the School Improvement Plan.
 
There is no longer a legal requirement for Governing Bodies to hold an AGM, but the GB must ensure that it communicates its work to parents and other stakeholders.  Each year the GB and senior management team seek to access the views of all stakeholders, particularly parents, pupils and staff.  This is achieved in a variety of ways such as newsletters and questionnaires.  These views inform planning for improvement.  Information about the work of the school is available on the school website (including up-to-date school policies) and through the prospectus. 
 
What qualifications are needed?
No formal qualifications are required, just a desire to put experience and life skills to good use.
 
What about training?
New governors are given a full induction pack about being a governor at Titchfield Primary School and attend an induction course run by the Local Authority.  The Development & Training Governor helps with training needs.   If it would be helpful, you will be offered a mentor who can help with any queries/ settling in etc.  

Advice is  available on-line through the Governors Intranet  and through Hampshire Governor Services.
 
It seems like an awful lot of work - why do it?
Most people find it very rewarding to be part of the school team, working in partnership with staff and community to secure the best possible education for the children of Titchfield.

All governors are welcomed and each plays a vital role in ensuring the governing body is aware of the views of parents and the local community.
 
The guidelines giving full details about how vacancies are filled, can be seen at the school office. You might also like to look at the information for prospective governors on the Hampshire County Council website www3.hants.gov.uk/education/governors    Please note that for the protection of children all governor appointments are subject to a vetting process and identity check.

 

Governor Role Description

Titchfield Primary School Governing Body has adapted this governor role description from the NGA’s website.

What does a governor do?

The main role of a school governor is, to contribute to the work of the governing body in ensuring high standards of achievement for all children and young people in the school by:

• Setting the school’s vision, ethos and strategic direction;

• Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils; and

• Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

As part of the governing body team, a governor is expected to:

1. Contribute to the strategic discussions at governing body meetings which determine:

• the vision and ethos of the school;

• clear and ambitious strategic priorities and targets for the school;

• that all children, including those with special educational needs, have access to a broad and balanced curriculum;

• the school’s budget, including the expenditure of the pupil premium allocation;

• the school’s staffing structure and key staffing policies;

• the principles to be used by school leaders to set other school policies.

2. Hold the senior leaders to account by monitoring the school’s performance; this includes:

• agreeing the outcomes from the school’s self-evaluation and ensuring they are used to inform the priorities in the school development plan;

• considering all relevant data and feedback provided on request by school leaders and external sources on all aspects of school performance;

• asking challenging questions of school leaders;

• ensuring senior leaders have arranged for the required audits to be carried out and receiving the results of those audits;

• ensuring senior leaders have developed the required policies and procedures and the school is operating effectively according to those policies;

• acting as a link governor on a specific issue, making relevant enquiries of the relevant staff, and reporting to the governing body on the progress on the relevant school priority; and

• listening to and reporting to the school’s stakeholders: pupils, parents, staff, and the wider community, including local employers.

3. Ensure the school staff have the resources and support they require to do their jobs well, including the necessary expertise on business management, external advice where necessary, effective appraisal and CPD (Continuing Professional

Development), and suitable premises, and that the way in which those resources are used has impact.

4. When required, serve on panels of governors to:

• appoint the headteacher and other senior leaders;

• appraise the headteacher;

• set the headteacher’s pay and agree the pay recommendations for other staff;

• hear the second stage of staff grievances and disciplinary matters;

• hear appeals about pupil exclusions.

The role of governor is largely a thinking and questioning role, not a doing role.

A governor does NOT:

• Write school policies;

• Undertake audits of any sort – whether financial or health & safety - even if the governor has the relevant professional experience;

• Spend much time with the pupils of the school – if you want to work directly with children, there are many other voluntary valuable roles within the school;

• Fundraise – this is the role of the PTA – the governing body should consider income streams and the potential for income generation, but not carry out fundraising tasks;

• Undertake classroom observations to make judgements on the quality of teaching – the governing body monitors the quality of teaching in the school by requiring data from the senior staff and from external sources;

• Do the job of the school staff – if there is not enough capacity within the paid staff team to carry out the necessary tasks, the governing body need to consider and rectify this.

As you become more experienced as a governor, there are other roles you could volunteer for which would increase your degree of involvement and level of responsibility (e.g as a chair of a committee). This document does not cover the additional roles taken on by the chair, vice-chair and chairs of committees.

In order to perform this role well, a governor is expected to:

• get to know the school, including by visiting the school occasionally during school hours, and gain a good understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses;

• attend induction training and regular relevant training and development events;

• attend meetings (full governing body meetings and committee meetings) and read all the papers before the meeting;

• act in the best interest of all the pupils of the school; and

• behave in a professional manner, as set down in the governing body’s code of conduct, including acting in strict confidence.

Time commitment: Under usual circumstances, you should expect to spend between 10 and 20 days a year on your governing responsibilities; the top end of this commitment, which equates to about half a day per week in term time, is most

relevant to the chair and others with key roles, such as chairs of committees. Initially, we would expect your commitment to be nearer 10 days a year. However, there may be periods when the time commitment may increase, for example when recruiting a headteacher. Some longstanding governors may tell you that they spend far more time than this on school business; however, it is fairly common for governors to undertake additional volunteering roles over and above governance.

Under Section 50 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, if you are employed, then you are entitled to ‘reasonable time off’ to undertake public duties; this includes school governance. ‘Reasonable time off’ is not defined in law, and you will need to negotiate with your employer how much time you will be allowed.

Expenses: Governors may receive out of pocket expenses incurred as a result of fulfilling their role as governor, and NGA recommends that a governing body should have such an expenses policy. Payments can cover incidental expenses, such as

travel and childcare, but not loss of earnings.

In September of every year, the Full Governing Body will elect the Chair and Vice-Chair, following Hampshire County Council recommended procedure.

Governors will be asked to commit to the governors Code of Conduct and this role description.

GB – Full Governing Body     C&S – Curriculum and Standards        F&R – Finance and Resources