Summerfield School

Governors

As governors, we are proud of our school – the children work hard, they are well behaved, they enjoy attending the school and are eager to learn.

We recognise each child as an individual and work closely with the Headteacher, teaching and non-teaching staff to ensure children are safe and to give plenty of opportunities to each child to have fun, be creative in order to develop into confident, motivated citizens.

There are a number of different types of governor – Parent, Staff, Co-opted and Local Authority. We are appointed for terms of 4 years. We meet at least once each term as a full governing body and we each sit on a committee – Pupil & Curriculum or the Finance & Resources – which meet as necessary, usually at least once a term.

Donna Bellhouse - Co-Chair of Governors 

Tammy Haughton - Co-Chair of Governors 

WHAT WE DO:

We work as a team to support and strengthen the leadership of the Executive Headteacher.

As governors, we play a strategic role whilst the Executive Headteacher is responsible for the routine running of the school.

As a Governing Body, we are expected to have a strong focus on three core responsibilities:

• Ensuring clarity of vision;
• Holding the Executive Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils;
• Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent

We are responsible for the conduct of the school and have to ensure that the education provided, and the way in which the children, staff and parents are treated, are in accordance with the law and with the various regulations laid down by the authorities – our role is that of, as they say, a ‘critical friend’.

In order to achieve this:

• We led the renewal of the School Vision, which is now fully embedded in the short and medium term objectives set out in the School Development Plan;
• We review the curriculum and pupil attainment in key areas (such as reading, writing, mathematics) seeking to understand how each pupil is being supported to achieve their full potential;
• We monitor and allocate financial resources to projects, as required, in order to improve the facilities and learning environment of the School. In recent years this has included improvements to the pupils’ playgrounds, new reception, lunchtime facilities and staff toilets;
• We recruited the Executive Headteacher and were actively involved in the recruitment of the Associate Headteacher and other key senior management roles, allowing us to match senior leadership skills to our School Vision;
• We visit the school regularly and participate in school assemblies, pupil reading sessions, tea parties, leadership programs, parent evenings;
• We ensure that creativity and the arts, which are a particular strength of our school are maintained in order to provide a fun and enriched curriculum for our pupils;