Who Are The Governors And What Do They Do?

The Governors are a group of volunteers that have three main roles:

1. Providing Strategic Direction For The School

This creates a framework in which the headteacher and staff work. It includes:

• Determining the school’s vision.
• Setting the school budget.
• Determining the priorities for school improvement.
• Setting policy for a range of areas from assessment and feedback to managing behaviour to safeguarding.
• Ensuring all statutory duties are met.
• Leading the management performance of the headteacher.

2. Being A Critical Friend

This involves providing support and challenge as required. This can be done in a number of ways, including:

• Asking questions at meetings of the Governing Body
• Making visits to the school to gather first hand evidence of the progress made in meeting its priorities
• Monitoring spending against the budget set
• Monitoring the impact of school improvement activities
• Monitoring standards trough analysis of performance data and self-evaluation activities
• Providing a ‘sounding board’ for ideas
• Providing constructive advice

3. Being Accountable

This is how the Governing Body explains and, when necessary, justifies its actions and decisions. This is done mainly through the annual report it produces for parents, providing meetings for parents and providing information for those with a legitimate interest such as the Archdioceses, Local Authority, Estyn, Welsh Government and Consortium.

There are different types of Governors. The number of each type of Governors depends upon the size of the school.

Foundation Governors

These are appointed by the Archdiocese.

There are seven foundation Governors at St Alban’s Catholic Primary School. These are:

Fr Sebastian (Chair Of Governors)

Mike Glavin (Vice Chair of Governors)

Dr Clare Jackson

Fr Alexander Gee

David Thomas

John Houlston

Simon Care

Parent Governor

This person is selected by the parents/carers of the children at the school.

There is one parental Governor at St Alban’s Catholic Primary School. He is called Adam Foster

Local Authority Governor

Cardiff City Council select this person.

There is one local authority governor at St Alban’s Catholic Primary School. She is called Alison Jenner.

Teacher Governor

This person is selected by the teachers at the school.

There is one teacher Governor at St Alban’s Catholic Primary School. She is called Jen Livingston.

Staff Governor

Staff, other than the teachers, selects this person. There is one staff Governor at St Alban’s Catholic Primary School. She is called Kelly Duke.

Headteacher

The headteacher of the school is a governor. Rachel Woodward is therefore part of the governing body at St Alban’s Catholic Primary School.

The full Governing Body meets at least twice each term. It has also arranged itself into a number of committees, each of which have a set purpose and following its meetings, reports back to the full Governing Body. If you would like to know more about this, please contact the headteacher for more detail.