Governors

Littlehaven Infant School is part of Greenfields Federation with Northolmes Junior 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.

Full name of Governor	Governor Category	Date of current Appointment or Election	Source of Appointment (where appropriate)	Term of office/ Roles within GB	Attendance at full GB Meetings (Sep 2017 to Aug 2018)	Committee membership	Attendance at committee meetings (Sep 2017 to Aug 2018)	Declarations on register of business & pecuniary interest	Remarks
Sharon Anderson	Staff (Headteacher)	03/01/17		Continuous	5/6	Resources Committee	2/3	Nil
Shaun Gallard	Staff	02/03/18	Nominated by staff	4 years	3/3			Nil	Resigned wef Jul 2018
Helen Oakley	Authority	30/09/15	Nominated by West Sussex LA	4 years Chair of Resources Committee to Sep 2020	6/6	Resources Committee	3/3	Nil
David Blair	Parent	02/05/18	Elected by Littlehaven parents	4 years	2/2			Nil
Catherine Ross	Parent	16/12/15	Elected by Northolmes parents	4 years	3/6			Nil
Sarah Willis	Parent	01/10/14	Elected by Littlehaven parents	4 years	1/2	Resources Committee	1/1	Nil	Resigned wef Jan 2018
Andrew Cotterill	Co-opted	16/12/15		4 years	1/3			Nil	Resigned wef Mar 2018
Dave Cornfield	Co-opted	23/09/18		4 years Chair of Resources Committee to Sep 2020	3/6	Resources Committee	3/3	Spouse temporary cover in Northolmes School Office
Adela Hawley	Co-opted	26/9/17		4 years	3/6			Nil
Janine Kelly	Co-opted	05/03/18		4 years	1/3			Nil
Eleanor Gavira	Co-opted	08/12/16		4 years	2/6			Nil
Kate Leyshon	Co-opted	25/09/18		4 years	N/A			Nil
Julie Messenger	Co-opted	23/09/18		4 years	6/6			Teacher at Littlehaven
Sandra Piggott	Co-opted	17/03/15		4 years	4/6			Nil	Resigned wef Jul 2018
Vacancy	Staff (Headteacher)	This post has to be kept vacant because of the federation and there currently being only one headteacher.

Note: All governors are subject to a DBS check.
Updated September 2018

Full name of Associate Member	Committee Membership	Voting rights Yes/No	Date of Appointment	Term of Office/Role on committee	Attendance at committee meetings (Sep 2017 to Aug 2018)	Attendance at full GB meetings (Sep 2017 to Aug 2018)*	Declarations on register of business & pecuniary interest	Remarks
Dawn Baker	Resources Committee	Yes at committee level	23/09/14	4 years	0/3	N/A	Nil	Resigned wef September 2017
Lauren McAlpin	Resources Committee	Yes at committee level	18/09/17	4 years	3/3	N/A	Nil	Resigned wef September 2018
Marie Smailes			23/09/14	4 years	0/2	1/4	Nil	Federation Deputy Head. Resigned wef March 2018