Governor Charter, Attendance and structure

The Governing Body of  Mossley C E Primary School is committed to working in partnership with the head teacher and staff to provide the best possible education for our children.

School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of its children and expects all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment.

The Governing Body will:

•         respect the professional expertise of the headteacher and staff, and the fact that responsibility for the day to day running of the school rests with the headteacher;

•         give sufficient notice of meetings and distribute paperwork to all governors in good time, at least a week before the meeting and will avoid tabling paperwork at meetings wherever possible;

•         ensure that meetings are chaired effectively, so that the chair:

o        keeps to the agenda;

o        paces the meeting so that time is given to each matter in proportion to its importance;

o        draws on all members for contribution;

o        keeps discussion to the point.

•         ensure that accurate draft minutes are produced promptly following meetings and agreed at the following meeting;

•         encourage all governors to contribute equally;

•         support the training and development needs of all governors;

•         support leadership development and succession planning within the school, Education Improvement Partnership and more widely within the Authority;

•         ensure that its decision-making processes are transparent.

The headteacher will:

•         respect governors as volunteers who bring additional skills, experiences and perspectives, and value their contribution;

•         work openly with the governing body and provide clear, concise and relevant information on which the Governing Body can base decisions;

•         promptly provide any reasonable information requested by the Governing Body;

•         ensure appropriate paperwork is available to governors with meeting agendas;

•         be approachable and accept governors’ role of ‘critical friend’;

•         enable all governors to become involved in the life of the school;

•         contribute to the induction, training and development of governors.

Expectations of individual governors are that they will:

•         respect confidentiality and support corporate decisions even where they go against personal opinions;

•         act and take decisions that are in the best interests of the school and not those of self, individuals or groups;

•         regularly attend meetings, including full governing body meetings and relevant committee/working party meetings, and play an active part;

•         where this is impossible, send apologies to the clerk to governors or to the Chair of the meeting;

•         be prepared to contribute personal skills through involving themselves in the work of appropriate committees and/or working parties;

•         prepare for meetings so that they are well informed, having as a minimum read all the papers sent out with the agenda;

•         respect the points of view of other governors even where these differ from their own;

•         raise concerns with the head teacher between meetings in a positive and constructive way;

•         respect the guidelines laid down for governor visits to school;

•         demonstrate their commitment by getting to know the school and becoming involved in school life and activities;

•         support the school with parents and in the community;

•         take a proactive approach to their own training and development.

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