A Big School with a Big Heart

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Governors

Welcome to the section of the website where you can find out more about how the Governors of our Academy help in the running of our school. Our Chairperson, Mr Mark Pagan can be contacted via the main school office.

Governance of the Academy Trust

When a school becomes an Academy the Secretary of State for Education issues an academy order and a trust is then set up which in effect has a contract to run the academy for the government. Academy trusts have almost complete flexibility to shape their governance arrangements and design the constitution of their governing bodies as they see fit. An academy trust is a charitable company limited by guarantee. All academy trusts have two layers of governance:

  • The Members, who set up the academy trust and the contract with the government. Members have a limited financial liability to the trust in the event it is wound up and have the power to appoint and remove trustees;
  • The Trustees, who are responsible for the three core strategic governance functions outlined below. The trustees are also the directors of the charitable company. They are responsible for ensuring the charitable company achieves its objectives, as well as compliance with charity and company law and the academy trust’s funding agreement.

As Green Lane is a single academy trust, the members and the trustees are all directors and form the Governing Body – and are referred to as Governors.

Their three core strategic governance functions are:

  • Strategic Role – to provide a strategic view of the school by establishing a vision and setting the purpose and aims of the school within an agreed policy framework. To appoint and appraise all staff. To agree the Academy Improvement Plan which includes setting targets with supporting budgets and staffing structures.
  • Critical Friend – holding the Head Teacher to account by monitoring and evaluating the work of the school, the effectiveness of the policy framework, progress towards targets, and the effectiveness of the Academy Improvement Plan. This includes; offering support, constructive advice, a sounding board for ideas, a second opinion on proposals and help where needed.
  • Accountability – overseeing the financial performance of the academy and making sure its money is well spent. Being accountable for its decisions to; each other for agreed actions, Pupils, Parents, Members, Staff, Community, the Secretary of State, Ofsted, and to the Local Authority in relation to vulnerable and disadvantaged young people.

The main role for governors is to support the Head Teacher and staff – the phrase often used to describe this role is ‘a critical friend’ – helping them to set and reach targets and to strive for excellence across the whole spectrum of academy life. The two key documents used for this are the Academy Improvement Plan (AIP) and the Self Evaluation Form (SEF). The AIP sets out our strategic plan for the school, with targets that everyone works towards and the SEF sets out how well the school is doing and where we aim to make improvements.

Governors also fulfil a range of legal duties including:

  • Setting strategic direction, policies and objectives
  • Approving the budget
  • Monitoring the progress and impact of the AIP
  • Appointing, challenging and supporting the Principal
  • Safeguarding duty
  • Performance review

The full Governing Body meets once per term. At these meetings, the Head Teacher and other Leaders report to all governors about learning, progress, staffing, financial and premises matters.

Committee Remits and Membership – please click on the link below.

Academy Committees Terms of Reference 21/22

Membership

The governing body meets in its entirety three times a year, thus enabling all governors to be involved in the whole remit as outlined in the Terms of Reference.

The Staff Pay and Performance Committee is a sub-committee of the main board of governors, and its members are Jill Forrester, Lucy Donner and Mark Pagan (Chair of the Staff Pay and Performance Committee).

For full membership information regarding Green Lane Primary Academy’s governance, please click here. This will lead you to our listing on the gov.uk website, which is kept up to date. This website will also show you who appointed our governors.

All maintained school governing bodies and academy trusts have a legal duty to provide all of the governance information requested on the gov.uk page in so far as it is available to them. This will increase the transparency of governance arrangements. It will enable schools to identify more quickly and accurately individuals who are involved in governance, and who govern in more than one context.

Join the Governing Body

We welcome expressions of interest from individuals who would wish to join the governing body and these will be taken into consideration when a vacancy arises.

There are skills-based eligibility criteria for appointed governors which require that any newly appointed governor has in the opinion of the person/s making the appointment ‘the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school/academy’. This could include specific skills such as an ability to understand data or finances as well as more general capabilities.

This criteria is in place to ensure that all governing bodies understand the importance of appointing persons with the necessary skills to improve the overall effectiveness of the governing body.

The eligibility criteria for elected parent governors and staff governors remain the same, but the Governing Body will make clear when a vacancy becomes available the skills they are looking for to inform the electorate.

Statement of Pecuniary Interest

In accordance with best practice and the Academies Financial Handbook, Green Lane Primary Academy collects the business and pecuniary interests of all directors and senior staff.

Governors and staff should declare any links they have with local firms from which the school may wish to buy goods or services. It is important for anyone involved in spending public money to demonstrate that they do not benefit personally from decisions that they make.

There is a requirement on any person who is present at a meeting of the academy board to declare a pecuniary interest direct or indirect. This relates to any contract, proposed contract or other matter that is being considered. The person must disclose the fact as soon as is practical at the meeting and take no part in the consideration or discussion of the contract or matter concerned. In addition, the person cannot vote on any question with respect to the contract or matter.

To view a record of our governors’ business and pecuniary interests please click here. This document also shows an attendance record for our governors.

This webpage will be updated at least annually or as such time as an interest is declared or an existing interest changes.

Jane Thackstone, senior leader of Green Lane Primary Academy, is a Trustee of Our Children 1st Multi Academy Trust.

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