Governors

Northolmes Junior School is part of Greenfields Federation with Littlehaven Infant School. There is a shared Governing Body across both schools.

What is a School Governor?

Our governors come mainly from our local community and consist of three staff and two parents from across the Federation, a governor representing the local authority and eight governors who are co-opted on by the Governing Body for the skills they bring. No governor can act on their own without the authority from the Full Governing Body and all governors carry equal responsibility for decisions made.

Our governors support the schools within Greenfields Federation by:

• contributing to developing and monitoring the strategic development plan for the Federation;
• together with the Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team determining the vision, aims, priorities and policies of the Federation;
• agreeing statutory and non-statutory targets;
• monitoring, evaluating and reviewing the impact, progress and achievements of the Federation;
• ensuring consistency of approach of teaching and learning within the Federation;
• monitoring provision to ensure that the five outcomes of Every Child Matters are being met;
• appointing the Headteacher, agreeing the staffing structure and ensuring the implementation of a range of personnel procedures;
• monitoring and overseeing the schools’ budgets and securing value for money;
• securing high levels of attendance and good and consistent standards of pupil behaviour across the Federation;
• ensuring the health and safety of pupils and staff;
• ensuring, together with the clerk that the statutory requirements of school governance in relation to the Governors Handbook are met;
• safeguarding and ensuring the ethos of the Federation and of all the individual schools within it.

Who can be a school governor?

All governors are volunteers. You don’t have to be an education expert but effective governors have the skills to challenge and support Senior Leaders and time to carry out their role; making day time visits to the schools as well as being able to attend daytime and evening meetings and events. To assist in their role, governors must also regularly undertake training provided by West Sussex County Council and other partnerships such as the National College for Teaching and Leadership. The role does not stop at governing the schools. Governors are an active part of the school community and regularly attend assemblies and performances, support school fairs, help at parents’ evenings, volunteer to read with pupils and even get their hands dirty helping with gardening around the school grounds. For more information on what the role involves and skills needed to be a Governor, please see the GFGB Governor job description and GFGB Code of Conduct available on the school’s website. If you would like to express an interest in becoming a governor please contact the clerk, Heather Deacon, c/o Littlehaven School office.