Governors

Governor Information

Welcome to Kingsbridge Community Primary School from the Governing Body.

We are an enthusiastic and committed group of volunteers who work with the Head teacher and his staff to continually improve standards in our school. Our aim is to ensure that every child who attends Kingsbridge Community Primary School achieves their full potential in a happy and safe environment. We were delighted that yet again our SATS results showed a year on year improvement and are very proud of our children and staff for the continual hard work and dedication they show.

The governing body has three roles:

1. To provide a strategic overview for the school.

2. To act as a ‘critical friend’ to the Head teacher and Senior Management Team, offering support and advice but also challenging the judgements the school makes of itself.

3. To ensure accountability of the head teacher and staff for the school’s academic, pastoral and financial performance.

We are fortunate that the school offers so many fantastic opportunities for our children to learn and play. Our outdoor environment is outstanding with a large amount of green space, Never-Ending Nature area, three playgrounds and the more recent addition of the Pirate Ship for the younger members of our school. The schools also boasts an impressive allotment and a very popular gardening club run by volunteer parents and governors. Long-term plans include increasing the outdoor learning space for all pupils to maximise the beautiful situation of the school and to increase the variety of learning environments available to all children.

As a governing body we are also looking at ways of improving the school buildings and classrooms so that they offer pupils the best possible learning environment.

Becoming a Governor.

We have 16 governors at Kingsbridge Community Primary School made up of representatives from staff, parents and the local community. We currently have space for one community governor. Could you give your time to the important role of maintaining and improving the quality of education that the children at the school receive?

We meet four times a year as a full governing body and have two half-termly smaller committee meetings; Teaching and Learning (this covers curricular aspects of the school) and Resources (this comprises premises, finance and personnel issues). The wide range of experiences and backgrounds that governors bring to these committees allows us to successfully support the Head teacher in all aspects of school development and improvement. Most governors also take on the role of liaising with one of the teachers to become more familiar with a particular subject from the curriculum and how it is being taught and developed. This is a great opportunity to form productive links with the staff and really get involved with the day-to-day working of the school.

The time commitment for a governor is about eight hours a month including preparing for the meetings by reading the documents to be discussed. You do not need to be an “expert” or have specialist knowledge and excellent free training is offered to all governors by Devon County Council.

You will need the time, energy and commitment to support the school. We have an excellent Clerk who deals with much of the administration required of a Governing Body.

Many employers recognise the benefits of their staff becoming governors and will grant paid leave. The role is voluntary but we will pay any out of pocket expenses, for example childcare costs.

If you are interested in becoming a school governor, please contact the school office, or talk to either our Head teacher Peter Burner or myself.

Kate Fox

Chair of Governors

May 2012

   GOVERNORS @ 1^st February 2012         If you wish to contact a governor, please do so via the School Office.