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governors@lowther.richmond.sch.uk |
"A very warm welcome to the Lowther School Family from the Governing Board. We are all very proud of our happy, welcoming school, which truly cherishes its diversity and inclusion and takes great care of each and every individual child. "We work closely with Mark, Alastair and the rest of the school team to ensure our vision becomes a reality, constantly striving for improvement. Our work is carried out through regular meetings, as well as visits to the school to see first-hand how things are going. "The Governors come from a wide range of backgrounds, to create a diverse team to support and challenge the school. Some are also parents/carers or staff here, while the rest have no connection with the school other than a keen desire to help. "We hope you find some of the information provided here informative, helpful and fairly comprehensive. If you'd like some further information, please feel free to contact us using the email link shown just above" |
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Governors Outline PDF |
School Governing Boards have an important part to play in raising standards. Our main tasks include: |
Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction |
Holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and the pupils, and the performance management of staff |
Understanding and carrying out statutory duties |
Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent |
Governors are often called 'critical friends', but we are not directly involved in the day-to-day running of the school. Our role is to build a supportive but challenging relationship with the Headteacher, looking at all aspects of children's learning and wellbeing, and taking strategic decisions in the light of objective data. We ensure that policies are in place and are monitored, and work to make the school an inclusive, fair and healthy place for children to learn and thrive. Governors sit on committees to oversee the school in more detail, and report to the full Governing Board. Both committees and the full Governing Board meet approximately twice a term.
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The Government's 'Maintained schools governance guide' gives a full picture of our role and duties:
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Maintained schools governance guide |
Lowther's team is small, but we can expand it to fit defined needs. The core membership is the Headteacher and a staff representative, plus one LA Governor and 2 Parent/Carer Governors, who serve for 3 years. The rest of the team is currently made up of Co-opted Governors, whose skills fit the set we feel we need, in order to support and challenge the school effectively. They may serve for up to 4 years, or for a predetermined project-based term. We are also able to invite people with skills on which we would like to draw for a short or longer period to be Associate Governors. We invite people who would like to know more, who have skills we have identified and who are interested in working with Lowther Governors, or in applying to become a Governor when there is a vacancy, to register an interest and leave contact details with the Clerk to the Governors Beverley Richardson: b.richardson@lowther.richmond.sch.uk |
Lowther Parent/Carer or former/Knowledge of School/Knowledge of local Community |
Involvement in local community |
Expertise as a professional or volunteer |
Committee experience/Communication skills |
Professional experience in: |
Law/Accounting/Education |
HR/Employment/Recruitment |
Publicity/Marketing/Fundraising |
Health & Wellbeing (incl. pastoral, SEND) |
Business/Enterprise/Management /Training |
Environment & Sustainability |
Anyone who joins the Governing Board needs to be able to attend meetings and be committed to the school's ethos and progress, to have good inter-personal skills, be willing to be trained, and to have an appropriate level of literacy in English and appropriate level of numeracy to understand basic data.
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