Chair of Governors' Message
Our governors are committed to steering school improvement through collaborative committee work and individual contributions of personal knowledge and experience.
The purpose of this page is to provide information about how the work of the governors is involved in the management of our school, decisions being made which may affect pupils and parents and more general information about the progress of the school in achieving its legal and regulatory obligations and performance targets.
The Roles and Responsibilities of the Governing Body
The three main functions of the governing body include:
1. Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction of the academy;
2. Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the academy and its pupils, and the performance management of staff;
3. Overseeing the financial performance of the academy and making sure its money is well spent.
With all of the three items above, the role of the Governing Body is to constructively challenge the senior leadership of the academy (that is, to be a “critical friend”). The Governing Body is not meant to get involved in the day-to-day running of the academy.
The Role of the Governors
Chantry Community Primary School has a strong and enthusiastic governing body whose key roles may be summarised as follows:
To provide a strategic view of where the school is heading. This is achieved by reviewing policies and deciding the priorities for improvement to be included in the school improvement plan.
To act as a critical friend to the school. This involves supporting the headteacher and staff and promoting the school in the local community, while at the same time questioning existing practice in a constructively critical way.
To hold the school to account for the educational standard it achieves and the quality of education it provides; setting targets for the school to achieve in the light of national and local targets and then formally evaluating outcomes. This lies at the heart of the governing body's role.
What does the Governing Body actually do?
The Governing Body meets once every term for a full meeting. Standard items that are discussed at these meetings include: data on how the children as a whole are progressing, academy finance, academy policy updates, safeguarding. A termly headteacher’s report is also circulated, which updates governors on various matters to do with the academy.
Once a year, the Governing Body scrutinises the academy’s Self-Evaluation Form (which is the academy’s evaluation of how it is doing against previous judgements made by OFSTED), and also the School Development Plan, which is the yearly action plan that follows on from the Self-Evaluation Form.
As well as these termly meetings, governors regularly visit the academy to focus on a particular element of academy life. For instance, a recent visit focused on lesson planning, and looked at the role of both subject leads and class teachers in the detailed and comprehensive planning that takes place for every lesson. A write-up of these visits are then circulated to other governors, so that the Governing Body can build up a collective picture of the academy.
The lead governor for safeguarding meets termly with senior leaders and SENCO to ensure that the academy is up keeping its safeguarding responsibilities. Likewise, the lead governor for Health and Safety meets with the business manager and site caretaker to conduct a termly health and safety walk.
Access to Information
Approved minutes of the meetings of the governing body are available via the school office, as are all the school policy documents. Information of a personally sensitive nature is kept confidential.
Access to Governors
All governors are happy to be approached directly.
The governing body is a corporate body and as such individual governors are unable to make decisions. However, governors will ensure that concerns are raised through the correct channels.
If you need contact details please ask at the school office. Correspondence may be passed via the clerk to the governing body at clerk@chantryprimary.org
The relationship between the Local Governing Body and the Diocese of Chichester Academy Trust (DCAT)
The Diocese of Chichester Academy Trust is what is called a Multi Academy Trust. This means that it has under its stewardship more than one academy.
Information about the Diocese of Chichester Academy Trust (DCAT) Members and the Board of Trustees, and the Academy Trust's annual accounts and financial reports can be found by clicking on the link to the DCAT website: https://dcat.academy/statutory-documentation/statutory-documents/
Information about DCAT's structure and remit of the members, board of trustees, its committees and local governing bodies can be read here.
DCAT's funding agreement, current memorandum of association and articles of association can be read here.
Financial statements, including annual accounts and reporting and the number of employees (and payees with off-payroll arrangements) whose gross annual salary and benefits exceed £100k, in £10k bandings, can be read here .
DCAT holds a register of interest for the accounting officer.