Our Governors
All Local Authority schools like Clinton have governors. We play a key part in leading the direction of the school, with a role similar to that of a board of directors, except that we’re all volunteers. We work with our Headteacher, who manages the day-to-day running of the school, providing support and challenge to ensure that Clinton School is run effectively. A Code of Conduct sets out the expectations on and commitment required from school governors, in order for the governing board to properly carry out its work within the school/s and the community.
Code of Conduct for Clinton School Governing Board
What do Governors do?
Our aim is to ensure that Clinton continues to provide a stimulating and supportive learning environment to improve the achievement of all pupils in our school community. We check that test targets and results, curriculum plans, resources, finances, appointments, health and safety including safeguarding, and all aspects of school life are run in accordance with the relevant laws and guidelines. We live in changing times and we are responsible for making sure that plans to provide outstanding teaching and learning meet ever changing external requirements. The roles and responsibilities of Governing Bodies have recently been more tightly defined as to:
- make sure that the vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school are clearly defined – the strategic plan can be see here.
- ensure that our Headteacher’s responsibilities for the educational performance of the school are met
- oversee the sound, proper and effective use of the school’s financial resources. Click here to see the Schools' Financial Benchmarking page for Clinton.
How do governors fulfil their roles?
As suggested above, one of the ways we do this is through meeting formally, on average every half term. We have moved to a ‘circle model’ of governance, where all governors attend all meetings. This enables us to cover our duties more efficiently and ensures all governors are knowledgeable about all the pressing school issues. Our meetings tend to have either a ‘Pupil Achievement’ focus where we look at the attainment and progress children are making as well as the impact of our action planning on school improvement OR ‘Resource Management’ focus, where we look at premises issues, health and safety, staffing and pay and finance. The last meeting of each term enables us to summarise progress made and to look strategically at next steps. The circle model enables us to be flexible with our agendas, so we may cover finance in a ‘Pupil Achievement’ focussed meeting, if our priorities dictate that.
In addition, there are subcommittees which enable governors to focus on particular aspects of school development. There include:
- Communications, including staff and parent views and website;
- Pay, Performance and Staffing (including absence and governor recruitment);
- Finance, including scrutinising budges and variance and ensuring we meet financial standards;
- Premise development, including environmental work and bids to charities.
You can read about our School Development Plan for this year. One of the most rewarding aspects of governance is spending programmed time behind the scenes with teachers and children, seeing how everything we talk about in meetings works in practice.
Governor attendance at meetings should be reported on the school website. Attendance for 2022-23 is here. Attendance so far in 2023-24 is here.
Parent Consultations
Every year we ask parents for their feedback on various aspects of the school via a short survey. This survey is an important part of our self-evaluation and informs our continuous improvement plans. You can see the results of the latest survey and the actions we took as a consequence here.
Who are Clinton’s Governors?
As you can see from the document linked below, there are four categories of governors. All of our governors are quite different, but we’re bonded by the common goal of providing the very best educational experience for the children at Clinton. We are committed, enthusiastic and friendly, with a wide variety of experience, skills and interests. Many of us are often in school and would be happy to talk informally about our strategic direction or any other aspect of school life. We hope you can tell that our Governors are highly ambitious for the school and incredibly proud to be associated with Clinton. You are welcome to contact us via the school office admin2308@welearn365.com or you can get in touch with the Chair of Governors at worrall.s1@welearn365.com
Freedom of Information scheme – governors’ minutes and papers
All documentation from governors’ meetings can be made available to those who request it. Where further information is required, please contact the school office. Clinton Primary School has adopted this Freedom of Information scheme which explains the types of information you can request. Most of the information that the school has to make available is within governor paperwork. (There is no information which is personal within these documents.)