Governors
Our school governors aim to continue and develop for the 21st Century, a tradition which goes back to the foundation of the school in 1851.
The original school building was opened by Lord Shaftesbury who is commemorated by the statue of Eros in Piccadilly for his pioneering work in the championship and protection of children – a commitment we are proud to maintain.
Governor roles and responsibilities
The Governing Body of St James Hatcham CE Primary School consists of 12 Governors drawn from the wider community that the school covers, including parents, staff, the local churches, Southwark Diocesan Board of Education and the Local Authority. The Governors are responsible for policy and strategy and the Headteacher is responsible for the day to day running of the school. The individual members bring a diversity of knowledge and experience to our school.
The government is encouraging Governors to focus on three core strategic functions:
- Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
- Holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils
- Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent
The Governing Body has a number of legal responsibilities. It is required to meet at least once a term and is legally responsible, amongst other things, for:
- Arranging for the National Curriculum and its assessment procedures to be carried out
- Arranging for religious education to be carried out
- Deciding how to spend the delegated budget
- Staff appointments, staff pay and grading and other aspects of staff management
- Sex education policy
- Discipline (or behaviour and relationships) policy
- Health and safety policy
- Determining the policy for charging for school activities (e.g. educational visits)
- Determining the admission policy.
The Governing Body works in partnership with our Headteacher, the staff, parents, Local Authority and the Diocese towards the continuing improvement in standards and achievements at our school. Much of the work is carried out through the sub-committees which meet termly. We also have a Faith Group which includes parent and church representatives which ensures that our focus, as a church school is regularly reviewed.
Some Governors take on the responsibility for a specific area such as Mathematics, Special Educational Needs and Safeguarding. This allows the nominated Governor to focus on a particular area, work closely with the relevant staff, and feed back to the full Governing Body.
All Governors are expected to visit the school regularly to get to know the staff and pupils and observe our school at work. The visiting Governor reports back to the full Governing Body to help with the strategic role and future direction for our school.
The school is very fortunate in having a committed and supportive Governing Body that is actively involved. We have also worked hard to make the partnership between home and school a valuable one and to make the school approachable and welcoming.
