You can find out everything you need to know about the Governing Board at Chatsworth below. Minutes of Governing Board meetings are available to read, please call in to the school office if you wish to do so. For any other queries please also contact the school office.

What do governors do?

Governors are essential to the work of the school and are legally responsible for it. They are not however, involved in the day to day running of the school which is managed by Miss Willis and the Senior Leadership Team. This leaves governors free to focus on their core functions of:

• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
• Holding the Head Teacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils and the performance management of staff; and
• Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

Governors act as a sounding board for issues being reviewed within the school and work with senior leaders to raise standards of attainment, challenging them to ensure the school continues to improve and provide every pupil with a wonderful learning experience. They approve the school budget and appoint the Head Teacher. They work as a team and make collective decisions, abiding by an agreed code of conduct (see below). As you would expect they need to gain an understanding of the school and its overall performance in order to explain its decision and actions. This is done by attending regular meetings and carrying out school visits. They also attend training in order to keep up to date with the requirements of the role.

The Governing Board adopted the National Governors Association model code of conduct in January 2020, updated in 2021. 

The Governing Board at Chatsworth Primary School

Constitution

The governing board reconstituted in November 2021 and the number of governors on the instrument of government is now set at eleven. The nine is made up of different categories of Governor. There are 3 parent governors, 5 co-opted governors, 1 Head Teacher (ex officio) governor, 1 staff governor and 1 Local Authority governor. The term of office for each governor (other than the Head Teacher) is four years, although being a voluntary position governors may resign at any time. The governing board is also supported by Associate Members who are appointed by the governing board to contribute their skills and expertise to a specific committee.

The structure of the Governing Board

The majority of the work of the governing board is delegated to committees. Following a review of governance we adjusted our committee structure to provide more effective challenge. The membership of each committee and latest terms of reference showing the work covered by each committee may be viewed by clicking on the relevant committee.

There are also named governors with specific areas of responsibility.

Meet the Governors

Profiles of our Governors and more information including declarations of business interests, pecuniary interests and governance of other educational establishments can be found here.