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Governing Body
We, as Gorse Ride Schools Governors, come from a wide variety of backgrounds and bring extensive knowledge and expertise. We volunteer our time to work with the Executive Head Teacher and Senior Leadership Team to ensure that both schools are well managed and the staff and children are properly supported. We provide strategic direction, supporting as well as challenging to ensure accountability, so that all our children receive the best possible education and care.
As Governors we are not involved in the schools’ operational day to day running but we do directly oversee the finances and the curriculum. In approving and monitoring the budget, we seek to maintain good value for money in the use of the schools’ resources. Our oversight of the curriculum is to ensure that the provision is broad and balanced to meet all our children’s needs.
Our Full Governing Board, which is made up of elected co-opted, associate, local authority, parent and staff governors, meet twice a term to monitor and evaluate the results against the strategic priorities that are set, to ensure that the desired outcomes are being achieved. We are in place to use our combined skills and experience to ask “why” actions are being carried out and “what” the impact of them will be. Always ensuring that the school is responsible for the actions carried out and that they will have a positive outcome and be aligned with the schools vision.
Our Members of the Governing Board also sit on one or both of our sub committees to allow for more focused and specialist input. The Resources and Teaching Learning and Outcomes committees meet on a regular basis, with the Resources committee focusing on Personnel, Finance and Premises and the Teaching Learning and Outcomes committee covering issues relating to Curriculum, Progress, Attainment, Attendance and Behaviour. The outcomes of these meetings are fed back to our Full Governing Board and where necessary, any policy update or planned action can be approved.
The minutes from Full Governing Board meetings are available on request from either school office.
We visit school regularly attending many school events and we are always happy to talk about any aspect of our work and will seek to answer any questions or concerns personally or we can be contacted via email click here
Please find the member details below for our current Full Governing Board.
Katie Wery
Chair of Governors
Nominated by the Local Authority
Appointed by the Board of Governors
Term of Office : 20th October 2023 to 19th October 2026
Committee Member : all
Declaration of Business Interests : none
Eileen Rogers
Executive Head Teacher
Nominated by the Local Authority
Appointed by the Board of Governors
Term of Office : 12th July 2021 to 11th July 2024
Committee Member : all
Declaration of Business Interests : none
Peter Evans
Appointed by the Board of Governors
Term of Office : 25th November 2021 to 24th November 2025
Committee Member : Chair of Finance
Declaration of Business Interests : none
Amanda Everett
Co-opted Governor
Appointed by the Board of Governors
Term of Office : 15th April 2024 to 14th April 2025
Committee Member : all
Declaration of Business Interests : none
Joanne Gogerly
Parent Governor
Elected by parents
Term of Office : 3rd October 2023 to 2nd October 2027
Committee Member : all
Declaration of Business Interests : none
Laura Hopper
Parent Governor
Appointed by the Board of Governors
Term of Office : 8th July 2021 to 7th July 2025
Committee Member : Teaching & Learning
Declaration of Business Interests : none
Elaine Miller
Co-opted Governor
Appointed by the Board of Governors
Term of Office : 7th November 2022 to 6th November 2026
Committee Member : Teaching & Learning
Declaration of Business Interests : none
Caroline Phillips
Co-opted Governor
Appointed by the Board of Governors
Term of Office : 30th October 2024 to 29th October 2025
Committee Member : Teaching & Learning
Declaration of Business Interests : none
Margaret Williams
H&S Governor
Elected by school staff
Term of Office : 22nd November 2022 to 21st November 2026
Committee Member : all
Declaration of Business Interests : none
Becca Dreesden
Associate Member
Clerk to Governors : Louise Matthews
What Do School Governors Do?
(extract courtesy of the National Governors' Association)
School governors provide strategic leadership and accountability in schools. Governors appoint the head teacher and deputy headteacher. It is governors who hold the main responsibility for finance in schools, and it is governors who work with the headteacher to make the tough decisions about balancing resources. Each individual governor is a member of a governing board, which is established in law as a corporate body. Individual governors may not act independently of the rest of the governing board; decisions are the joint responsibility of the governing board.
The role of the governing board is a strategic one, its key functions are to:
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set the aims and objectives for the school
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set the policies for achieving those aims and objectives
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set the targets for achieving those aims and objectives
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monitor and evaluate the progress the school is making towards achievement of its aims and objectives
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be a source of challenge and support to the headteacher (a critical friend).
Chair of Governors
The Chair of Governors leads board meetings and performs other statutory duties. The Chair is elected each year by the other Governors.
Parent Governors
Parent Governors are elected by the parents of children at school. A Parent Governor must have a child at the school at the time of their election. Each Parent Governor serves a term of four years, after which they can stand for re-election if they still have a child at the school.
Co-opted Governors
Co-opted Governors are appointed by the Governing Board. They are drawn from the local community, and often have a connection with the school (for example, they may have had children at the school in the past) although this is not a requirement. Each Co-opted Governor serves a term of four years. There is no limit to the number of terms that a Co-opted Governor can serve.
Staff Governors
A Staff Governor is elected by the staff of the school. They must be members of staff of the school. They serve a term of four years as long as they continue to work for the school.
LA Governors
LA Governors are chosen by the Board from a Local-Authority approved list.
Associate and Non-Voting Governors
Associate and non-voting Governors attend Committee and Governing Board Meetings without voting rights. Associate Governors are appointed by the board to support their work.