Wimborne St GilesCE Primary School
Governors
Dear Parents,
On behalf of the staff, children and governors it gives me great pleasure to welcome you and your family to our school. We are delighted that you have chosen our school as the foundation stone for your child’s educational journey and would like to take this opportunity to thank you for choosing Wimborne St Giles Church of England First School and Nursery.
You, as the parent, have a vital role to play in the education of your child and we look forward to working alongside you to realise our school's vision:
'Together We Grow: Together We Give'
We are very fortunate at Wimborne St Giles to have an enthusiastic staff, who are committed to the highest standards of education and of behaviour. We have a wonderful family atmosphere that gives all of our children a happy and secure environment in which to learn.
We feel it is important that you have all the information that will give you an overview of what to expect from your child’s school by way of their needs, developmental and academic, as well as learning about our school day. We will shortly be inviting you to an informal chat with us and to meet other reception parents at the beginning of the Autumn term. Even if you have other children at school already, we would encourage you to join us, meet other new parents and catch up on recent developments in early years teaching.
We look forward to welcoming you into our school family and if you have any questions in the meantime please feel free to contact me via the school office on tel. no: 01725 517347 or email: office@wimbornestgiles.dsat.org.uk
Yours sincerely
Charles Gordon – Chair of Governors
The Governors
The Governors have the overall responsibility, with the Headteacher, for the leadership and management of the school. Our governors play a vital part in delivering high quality education for your children. They work in partnership with a range of people and organisations, including the parents of pupils, the schools staff, the Salisbury Diocese and the local authority. All these partners contribute to ensuring that children benefit from their education, that they acquire knowledge and skills and develop the insight and attitudes needed to be healthy and safe, to enjoy and achieve, to make their contribution and in time to play their part in society.
The governing body is constituted, in line with current legislation, to ensure representation from the groups of people with an interest in the way the school works: parents, staff, the local community, the local authority and the church.
The Strategic Role
The governing body acts strategically to raise standards in the school. This involves setting aims for the school and agreeing policies, plans and targets for improvement to match those aims. More specifically the strategic role is concerned with:
· Raising standards by setting targets for pupil achievement
· Establishing high expectations
· Promoting effective teaching and learning
These decisions will be made collectively by the governing body, though aspects of the detail work may be delegated to a specific committee. No individual governor may act alone without the consent of the governing body.
The Critical Friend
The governing body will monitor and evaluate progress towards the targets and priorities it has set in its strategic role. In this area of its work, the governing body is concerned with:
· Supporting and challenging the school
· Agreeing policies for the conduct of the school and monitoring progress
· Planned improvements and evaluating the impact of efforts
The Accountability Role
The governing body accounts for the school to parents and children, the community and the local authority and it does this by publishing the schools results and explaining the schools strengths. It must be prepared to explain its decisions to anyone with a legitimate interest.
Other Responsibilities
Curriculum and Standards – This includes ensuring a broad and balanced curriculum is taught that meets statutory requirements and is appropriate for all the pupils in the school, including any special needs.
Staffing – The governing body is responsible for appointing the head teacher, assistant head and all teaching and support staff. The staffing responsibilities also include determining the number of staff and their pay levels. The governing body will keep under review the staffing policies, including agreeing staff conduct, grievance and disciplinary procedures.
Premises – This includes ensuring the premises are safe, properly maintained and suitable and sufficient for their purpose.
Finance – The governing body determines how to spend the budget allocated to the school
Conclusion
The governors, along with all other school staff are always willing to discuss or listen to a particular question of concern and if they do not know the answer they will certainly be able and willing to find out.
The governing body is very active and supportive. Each governor takes part in one ‘Learning Walk’ per term so that they can closely monitor the national curriculum and get to know children and staff, often working alongside. The governing body meets at least twice a term
