Governing Body

Hello and a very warm welcome from the governors at Clifton Primary School.

We are an elected group of people, including staff, parents and members of the local community. We are all volunteers and have varied and diverse backgrounds and we fulfil our duties by both supporting and challenging Mr Connolly and his senior leadership team and monitoring activities and progress in school.

All staff and governors work together with a common aim of providing a safe and enjoyable learning environment in which all children are encouraged and enabled to reach their full potential.

Our team of excellent teachers and support staff are committed to nurturing the talents of every one of our children and work hard to value every person for their contribution to our school community. As parents and carers, you are very much part of the whole school community and your opinions and comments are very valuable to us.

Suzanne Charlesworth

Chair of Governors

The Governing Board

Our Governing Board is made up of 8 individuals and includes different categories of governors:

• Parent Governors x 2 – elected by parents of the pupils
• Co-opted Governors x 3 – elected by the governing body
• Staff Governor x 1 – teachers or other staff employed by the school elected by their colleagues
• LA (Local Authority) Governor x 1 – nominated by the LA and appointed by the governing board
• The Headteacher also attends the meetings and is a governor

All governors are appointed for a term of 4 years, and the table below shows our current governors and their roles:

Attendance at our full governing board meetings for the last academic year can be found below.

As well as termly meetings with the full governing board, we also have a Head Teacher Performance Management Committee which meets twice a year. Other committees or panels would be convened on an as and when required basis and include – Appeals, Complaints and Pupil Discipline.

Role of the Governing Board

The Governing Board has a strategic role in ensuring the school fulfils its vision and mission. It:

• Thinks and works strategically to help raise standards.
• Plans the school’s future direction
• Monitors and evaluates progress towards the school’s priorities and targets.
• Supports the head and staff and challenges them.
• Oversees the school budget and spending
• Is accountable to all stakeholders for the school’s overall performance and for the decisions they have made.
• Must ensure that systems are in place for the school to deliver a good quality education and keep children safe (but isn’t responsible for the day-to-day management of the school)
• Act as a ‘critical friend’ – encouraging, supporting and challenging.
• Selects the head teacher
• Makes sure the school provides for all pupils including those with special needs

Register of Personal, Pecuniary and Business Interests

All the governors and associate members of Clifton Primary School have signed the register of personal, pecuniary or business interests. This is a declaration of any business interests, any material interests arising from relationships between governors or relationships between governors and school staff (including spouses, partners and close relatives) and any governance of other educational establishments.

If any interest a governor has could be seen to cause a conflict of interest they would be asked to withdraw from any decision making concerned. This is to ensure that our governors can always be seen to be putting the interest of the school first.