Governing Body | sauncey-wood-primary

THE GOVERNING BOARD

INTRODUCTION

School governors offer their time on a voluntary basis and the board is made up of parents, teachers and members of the local community and local authority. We use our skills and interests to support and work with the Headteacher in managing the school. The governors monitor and evaluate the school's progress by regularly reviewing what is happening in the school - from pupil progress, to absences, facilities, finance and health and safety. You may like to join our governors for an informal chat during the annual Governor Day, usually held in September.

Parents are welcome to contact the joint Chairs of Governors by e-mail (cbellwood@saunceywood.herts.sch.uk or cnoakes@saunceywood.herts.sch.uk) or by telephoning the School Office. However, it should be noted that governors do not get involved in individual pupil issues or specific complaints about, for example, teaching or playground matters. Parents and carers should speak to the class teacher in the first instance or to the Headteacher. If a matter is not resolved to the satisfaction of all parties, then governors may become involved via the school’s formal Complaints Procedure, but this would always be a last resort.

WHAT WE DO

The Governing Board’s main roles are to:

· Ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school

· Hold executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the effective and efficient performance of school staff

· Oversee the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent

· Ensure that the voices of all school stakeholders are heard.

Governors also act as a ‘Critical Friend’ to the school, working in partnership with the Head, Senior Leadership Team and other school stakeholders to help provide the best possible education for pupils, including those with special educational needs.

HOW WE WORK

To be effective, governors need to understand how the school works and how regulation and policy impact the school and the educational progress being made by pupils. In particular, governors are expected to:

· Attend the formal Full Governing Board meetings (minimum of 3 per year) and strategy days (1-2 per days per year).

· Be a member of either the Resources Committee or the School Improvement Committee (usually 1 meeting each per term).

· Undertake a range of training courses relevant to their role in the Governing Board.

· Become a governor link for a particular area of school activity such as pupil educational data, curriculum implementation, finance, well-being, health and safety and safeguarding.

Governors (other than associate governors) have equal rights to participate in the work of the Governing Board and to state their own views, but always work as a team and are bound by the collective decisions of that team.

Minutes of meetings (other than for confidential matters discussed) are available from the school office on request.

ALL ABOUT THE GOVERNING BOARD

STRUCTURE OF THE GOVERNING BOARD

Governors are volunteers nominated and appointed for four-year terms by the school staff, parents, Local Authority or the Governing Board. The constitution of the Sauncey Wood Governing Board includes 14 formal roles:-

Five Parent Governors - elected by and from the parents.

· Two Staff Governors - the Headteacher and a Governor elected by the staff.

· Five Co-opted Governors - appointed by the Governing Body. These are people from the local community who have specialist skills e.g. finance, marketing, HR, management.

· One Local Authority (LA) Governor - nominated by the LA and appointed by the Governing Body.

· One Associate Member who attends Full Governing Body meetings, the School Improvement Committee and / or the Resources Committee. The Associate Member has no voting rights on any committee.

CURRENT GOVERNING BOARD MEMBERS

Colin Noakes – Local Authority Governor and Co-Chair

Colin is a local authority governor. He is married with two grown up children and has

lived in Harpenden for thirty years. He has been directly involved in school activities

as Chairman of the Parents Association at Crabtree Schools and as a Parent Governor

at Roundwood Park School chairing the School Development and ICT sub committees.

Professionally he has held several senior management roles in large companies and he

hopes to use this experience to help the school build on its current success.

Date of Appointment: 23rd October 2020

Appointed By: The Governing Board

Declaration of Interests: none

Clare Bellwood - Co-opted and Co-Chair

I have worked in education in Hertfordshire for over 20 years. My experience includes being a

class teacher for 12 years, providing literacy support for students at a local Secondary school and

working in several leadership positions. I am a qualified SENCo and dyslexic teacher. I currently run

my own business tutoring and assessing students for dyslexia and other special needs. I spent two

terms at Sauncey Wood Primary covering maternity leave as SENCo and wanted to stay part of the

amazing team of teachers and staff here.

Date of Appointment: 16th December 2021

Appointed By: The Governing Board

Declaration of Interests: None

Bridgett Pymm - Parent Governor

Bridgett became a Parent Governor in 2016, to make a contribution to the local

community by helping to ensure that every child at school is valued as an individual

and given the best start to their education. Bridgett’s professional background is in

project management, training and technical writing in the Legal Technology Industry.

She has two children who have now left Sauncey Wood for secondary school, and

also volunteers for the local charity Harpenden Helping Hand.

Date of Appointment: 18th Feb 2020

Appointed By: Parents

Declarations of Interest: none

Jo Wiltshire – Staff Governor

Jo joined Sauncey Wood Primary School in April 2016 as a Year 1 Teacher. Since then, she has also

taught in Year 3, which has allowed her to gain experience in both Key Stages within the school. She

is currently Subject Leader for Science and R.E. Prior to teaching at Sauncey Wood, Jo spent 15 years

teaching at a school in Welwyn Garden City and 3 years at a small village school near Hatfield. She

lives in Hertford with her husband and two teenage children and is looking forward to bringing her

viewpoint as a staff member to the meetings, and also helping the school to continue to create an

amazing learning environment for all of our wonderful Sauncey Wood children.

Date of appointment: July 2021

Appointed By: Staff

Declaration of interests: none

Susan Dean – Co-opted Governor

Susan is a practising artist with a background in Art education. She is currently the Artist-in-Residence

at a secondary school in St. Albans, as well as a visiting artist in schools. Susan has grandchildren at

Sauncey Wood who are benefiting from the broad and exciting curriculum offered at the school. She

is keen to support the mission, vision and values that underpin all aspects of school life at Sauncey

Wood.

Date of Appointment: 21st January 2019

Appointed By: The Governing Board

Declaration of Interests: None

Dan Dures – Parent Governor and Committee Chair

Dan has been a Sauncey Wood parent for over five years now, and would like to be able

to offer something back to the school which has given so much to his kids. He is a

passionate believer in education, loves the values our school aims to instil in our children,

and would be proud to be a little part on helping to build on that. Professionally, Dan has

been in major companies for two decades, specialising in data analysis, strategy and

commercial insight.

Date of Appointment: 14th October 2019

Appointed By: Parents

Declaration of Interests: None

Rebecca Crawford – Parent Governor

Rebecca was so impressed with the amazing learning environment that has been created at Sauncey

Wood that she wanted to be part of the Governing team to ensure that the environment, caring attitude

and the broad curriculum remains exciting and accessible to all. Rebecca comes from a construction

background having been responsible for, amongst other things, the management of the EFA Framework

in the South East and London. Rebecca enjoyed liaising with the multiple stakeholders involved in

designing and building new schools and will bring these skill sets to the role of Parent Governor.

Date of Appointment: 10th May 2023

Appointed By: Parents

Declaration of Interests: None

Jade Harkness - Interim Headteacher

Jade joined the school in 2016 as Deputy Head and now holds the post of Interim

Headteacher.

Date of Appointment: 1st September 2023

Appointed By: virtue of office

Declaration of interests: None

Jade has been a governor throughout her eight years at Sauncey Wood. She was previously our

Deputy Head and took on the interim role of Head in September 2023. She has a passion for all things

educational but her heart lies in the EYFS.

Margaret Stocks - Co-opted Governor:

Date of Appointment: 21st July 2023

Appointed By: The Governing Board

Declaration of Interests: None

Michelle Saas – Parent Governor:

Date of Appointment: 10th May 2023

Appointed By: Parents

Declaration of Interests: None

Michelle became a Parent Governor so that she could help the school maintain the ethos and values

that have served her own children so well. Michelle currently works as a software solution architect,

with prior experience in project management and business analysis. She hopes that she can use the

range of skills she has developed over the years, to help support and govern Sauncey Wood.

Sam Smith – Parent Governor:

Date of Appointment: 10th May 2023

Appointed By: Parents

Declaration of Interests: None

Sam has been a parent at Sauncey Wood for a number of years and has been impressed with the schools

caring and supportive learning environment and feels strongly about giving something back to the school.
Professionally Sam works as a strategic maintenance planner for one of the leading travel companies, this

can be a high pressured role that requires critical thinking and problem solving with a direct and balanced

approach to tasks.

ORGANISATION AND ROLES

Our Roles 2021-22

Senior Governance Roles