Welcome to our Governors’ section.

Please find below details of how our Governing Board is structured, including the names, categories, responsibilities and terms of appointment for each Governor.

About the School Governors

School governors are a mixture of parents, staff members, co-opted governors who are usually representatives from the local community and those appointed by Local Education Authority.

The Governing Board meet with the Headteacher and SLT to ensure that the strategic direction and targets for the efficient management of the school, standards, and progress are being met; ensuring that they hold the Headteacher to account.

Following the DfE Constitution of Governing Bodies of Maintained Schools report May 2014, HPS Governing Board adopted The School Governance (Constitution) (England) Regulations 2012 at their Summer meeting 3^rd June 2014. More information can be found here.

Following this reconstitution our Governing Board is made up as follows:

Co-Opted Governors

• Chris Whitfield (Chair)
• Simon Crosby                                     
• Margaret Huffee 
• Judith Blair
• Caroline Morris
• 1 x Vacancy

Parent Governors

• Emma Cole
• Dawn Miller
• Katy Moxon
• Louise Booth (Vice Chair)

LEA Governor

• Rob Haworth

        (Rob also holds the post of Chair of Governors at St Georges Primary School, Hull)

Head Teacher Governor

• Mrs C Shiels

Staff Governor

• Matthew Easton

Please note, the Governor roles and responsibilities are in the process of being revised.  This page will be updated with this information soon.

Clark  Jade              Parent     06/11/2018       13/07/2021                         None

Grandidge Claire    Parent      19/07/2019        18/06/2019                        None

Watkins Chris          Parent    01/12/2016         26/06/2018                        None

Shiels Chrissie         Head        01/09/2019                                                  None

Emmott Julie           Staff         01/09/2020          06/01/2024                      None

Moxon Katy            Parent       11/10/2021                                                   None

Booth Louise           Parent       11/10/2021                                                  None

Whitfield Chris         Co-Opted  02/09/2021                                                 None

Miller Dawn             Parent       20/09/2019                                                  None

Cole  Emma             Parent      20/09/2022                                                  None

The Role of the Governing Body

A governing body's three roles are:

• To be strategic

• To act as a critical friend

• To be accountable

   

  Strategic Role

   

  To be strategic, governors need to:

• Ensure that the school has clear aims and values that are supported by the whole school community

• Ensure that these are evident in the day-to-day operation of the school

• Focus on raising standards of achievement, establishing high expectations and promoting effective teaching and learning, so that pupils achieve to their potential

• Decide with the Headteacher, staff, pupils and parents the direction of the school through the school development planning process

• Ensure that the resources the school receives are directed to the school's priorities as determined in the school development plan (SDP)

• Help to set and keep under review the policies that provide a broad framework within which the Headteacher and staff should run the school

• Ensure that there are systems in place to check that progress is being made towards targets and that evidence is gathered

• Use that evidence to review overall progress against targets, to see whether policies and practice are effective, and to check on the school’s achievements and progress over time and in comparison with similar schools

• Take advice on all of this from the Headteacher before making their own decisions.

   

  The governing body plays a key role in the school improvement planning process, reviewing the current plan and drawing up of the priorities for the coming year. Detailed plans are normally drawn up by the Headteacher and staff. Through this process the governing body can be clear about the direction of the school, the allocation of resources and the monitoring processes that will help ensure that plans are implemented and effective.

   

  Critical Friend Role

   

  In this role, the governing body:

  • Recognises and celebrates the achievements of the school

  • Knows where the school is not achieving as well as it could

  • Provides support and encouragement when strategies to bring about improvement are being explored

  • Strikes an appropriate balance between support and challenge.

   

  The role involves monitoring and evaluating how the school is progressing. Governors need to build a trusting relationship with the Headteacher and staff in order to achieve this.

   

  Note: It is not the role of governors to make judgments about teachers; however, it is the governors’ role to ensure that monitoring of teaching takes place by the school and the necessary actions are taken to develop and support the quality of teaching.

   

  Accountability Role

   

  To be accountable governors:

• Are responsible for ensuring that the school focuses on helping every child to achieve their potential.

• Have the right to discuss, question and refine proposals, but should respect the professional roles of the Headteacher and other staff, and their responsibilities for the management of the school

• Must be prepared to account for the school’s overall performance and to explain its decisions and actions to anyone who has a legitimate interest.

   

  The governing body needs to account to the whole school community for the performance of the school.

   

  Governors' Legal Responsibilities

   

  All school governors need to know their legal responsibilities and how these fit in with the responsibilities of the Headteacher, the local authority (LA) and the Secretary of State for Education. For the latest guide governor responsibilities and competency framework see:

   

Getting in Touch

If you would like to get in touch with a Governor, please leave your contact details at the school office and a governor will contact you, or email governor@hallgateprimaryschool.co.uk