‘We Care, We Share, We Value’

Governors

About the Governing Body

The Governing Board of Holy Cross work, in partnership with the Headteacher, to develop and drive the strategic vision of the school. It has statutory duties that include, agreeing the school budget and expenditure and ensuring key policies are in place. Governors do not get involved with the day to day running of the school. Their role is that of a “critical friend” asking challenging questions and providing support. In order to be effective, Governors are expected to attend training and read all the relevant documentation. There are 3 full Governing Body meetings a year as well as 3 sub-committee meetings. These sub-committees are Curriculum and Standards and Finance, Premises and Health and Safety.

All schools in England have a Governing Body which is responsible for overseeing many of the strategic decisions of the school. A key role is to act as a ‘critical friend’: to support, to challenge, to ask questions, ultimately to represent the school community.

The Governing Body works in close partnership with the headteacher, staff and the local authority. Whilst the headteacher is, of course, responsible for the day to day running of the school, the governors are involved with such things as staffing, curriculum, school buildings and finance. It ensures the school functions well and maintains the proper range of academic and social objectives.

The Governing Body meets four times each year. Much of the work of the Governing Body is done by committees which meet at least every term (three times in the year).

 

At Holy Cross, we have the following committees:

 

Curriculum and Standards:  

At Holy Cross Catholic Primary School we have a Curriculum and Standards Committee. This Committee is tasked with following our pupils’ progress and assessment using data provided by the SLT from internal and external tracking systems. Allowing us to track all groups of children within school and against similar schools nationally.

For maximum progress to be made it is important that we look closely at all curriculum areas, interventions, children in receipt of pupil premium, the outcomes of premium spending. Governors have received training on Analysing School Performance (ASP) and are taken through both internal and external data reports by the SLT. There is a high level of competency in data analysis in the school leadership team. Governors ensure that they ask the school about the comparative progress and attainment of different groups including those targeted by the pupil premium grant and the different ethnicity, gender, and ability groups. They ensure that the pupil premium grant is used to have an impact on the outcome of disadvantaged pupils. Governors receive information regarding the use of Sports Premium Funding and the impact this has on the development of PE across the school.

 

Finance, Premises and Health and Safety

This committee allows Governors to focus specifically on these areas and ensure their statutory duties are met. We are tasked with ensuring that all monies allocated to all areas are accounted for and spent accordingly.

The key elements of termly business are discussed and governors hold the headteacher to account for the financial performance of the school and approve the draft and final school budgets. We are also joined by School Business Manager throughout the year. Governors also receive an in depth Pupil Premium Grant Allocation/Provision and Impact report which helps us to assess whether this funding is being spent correctly supporting the highest possible outcomes for these children.

The governing body is competent in financial management. The governors bring a wide range of expertise to the school and this helps to ensure that budgets are monitored effectively and improvements are effective and continuous. The impact of the governors’ role in the school ensures that the budget is managed effectively and the school is continually moving forward.

In this meeting, we also look at building maintenance, building improvement and the health and safety audit. This ensures that our pupils and staff reside in an environment conducive with learning while also providing a feeling of security and wellbeing. This committee also monitors staff absence, staff well-being and the school staffing structure.

Safeguarding and attendance are also monitored to support and challenge the head teacher in ensuring that our children attend school whenever possible to maximise their learning potential. This panel also includes eSafety. The headteacher reports on the number of safeguarding cases/categories termly and how the school has supported pupils and families and developed the curriculum as a result of ensuring that our pupils are effectively taught how to identify unsafe situations and the actions they can take as a result.

 

 

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