Governors

Photo:

Back row: Tony Hayes, Robert Constable, Abimbola Anyiam, Stephen Morgan, Sergio Muniz-Aragon, Mr Murphy (Teacher).  

Front row: Sandie Homewood, Miss Owen (Head Teacher), Victoria Adduono, Ben Turner.

Governors work closely with the Head Teacher and the Senior Leadership Team to ensure that children receive the best education and achieve their individual maximum potential during their time at Longlands. School governors provide strategic leadership and accountability and while they do not manage the day-to-day running of the school, they do appoint the Head Teacher and Deputy Head Teacher as well as hold the Head Teacher accountable for the progress of children in the school. It is governors who hold the main responsibility for finance in schools, and who work with the head teacher to make decisions about balancing resources.

The governing body at Longlands includes a mix of experienced and new governors representing a variety of professional backgrounds, expertise and skills. 

The role of the governing body is a strategic one and can be summarised by the following:

• set the aims and objectives for the school
• set the policies for achieving those aims and objectives
• set the targets for achieving those aims and objectives
• monitor and evaluate the progress the school is making towards achievement of its aims and objectives
• be a source of challenge and support to the Head Teacher (a critical friend)

 (The Head Teacher is responsible for the internal organisation, management and control of the school and the implementation of the strategic framework established by the governing body.)

Committee Structure

Governors attend full Governing Body meetings once a term and sit on one of two subcommittees (learning and achievement or resources), which take responsibility for particular areas of School business.

Types of governors explained:

Local Authority (LA) Governor: appointed by the Local Authority that maintains the school.

Co-opted Governor: appointed by the governing body to represent the community. Co-opted governors do not need to have any previous experience or knowledge of education, nor do they need to have children in the school.

Parent Governor: elected onto the governing body by other parents from the school, and are usually parents of children in attendance at the school.

Staff Governor: elected onto the governing body by staff at the school.

Associate Governor: invited to attend full and committee meetings to support the governors to make informed decisions. Associate governors do not have voting rights.