Gotherington Primary School

The Lawns, Gotherington, Cheltenham, GL52 9QT

Governance  »  Governance at Gotherington

ACADEMY GOVERNANCE
Since the conversion to Academy Status in August 2011, Gotherington Primary School is governed as an Academy Trust. The Governing Body has a strategic role. With the Head Teacher, governors set the vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school and decide the improvement priorities. They provide a balance of support and challenge to school leaders and monitor and evaluate the work of the school, ensuring financial probity at all times.

The School has a Governing body comprised of a Chair of Trustees, Head Teacher, 2 Parent Trustees, 3 Co-opted Trustees, a Staff Trustee and 3 Members

GOVERNING BODY ORGANISATION
The Chair of  Trustees is Mr M Mintram.
The Vice Chair of the Governing Body is .
The School also has 2 Committees and they are as follows:
Finance Chair: Mr S Goodwin
Health and Safety Mr M  Mintram
 
Mike Mintram, Chair of Trustees 
 








Sarah Maclay, Parent Trustee






Shaw Goodwin, Vice Chair, Co-Opted Trustee, Safeguarding, Chair of Finance

Rachel Jones, Co-opted Trustee





Kerry Wright, Parent Trustee




Emmy Badham, Staff Trustee


Ms Ruth Turner is the Clerk to Governors/Company Secretary

WHAT ARE GOVERNORS EXPECTED TO DO?
The Board of Governors have statutory duties, which are:
  • To ensure delivery of the National Curriculum. The Board of Governors are involved in the monitoring of the curriculum, overseen by the Curriculum Committee.
  • To oversee the annual budget. Through the Finance Committee the Board of Governors controls and monitors the expenditure of the school. Day to day decisions are delegated to the Head Teacher and his Senior Management Team.
  • To be kept informed on all aspects of the day-to-day running and organisation of the school.
  • To take decisions on the appropriate levels of staff and to make appointments, where necessary, via the Staffing Committee.
  • To inspect the condition and repair of the school premises.
  • To determine the use of the premises out of school hours.

WHAT DO I DO IF I WANT TO RAISE A COMPLAINT?
Raising Concerns and Resolving Complaints
Legal Context
The Education Act 2002 states thatschools must have a “general” procedure for dealing with complaints that are not covered by other statutory procedures including admissions, exclusion from school, SEN, religious education and collective worship. Section 29 of the 2002 Act requires governing bodies to:
·Establish and to publicise procedures for dealing with all complaints relating to the school or to provision of facilities or services.
·Have regard to any relevant guidance given from time to time by the Secretary of State.
 
The Schools White Paper 2010
In 2009 The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act extended Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) power to consider parent and pupil complaints about state schools. The Importance of Teaching states: “Schools are best placed to address parents' concerns – and in almost every case, teachers and head teachers can resolve concerns and issues quickly and easily."
Sometimes parents and schools have issues that cannot be resolved locally, and so we will make sure that parents have a route to complain in the most cost effective way, repealing the 2009 legislation.
 
Complaints are extremely rare at Gotherington. We have an open culture. Staff are nearly always available – it’s easy to have a quick chat with teachers or the headteacher so most concerns or complaints are dealt with quickly. However, from time to time parents, and others connected with the school, will become aware of matters that cause them concern. To encourage resolution of such situations the Governing Body has adopted a “School Complaints Procedure”.  The procedure is devised with the intention that it will:
• usually be possible to resolve issues by informal means.
• be simple to use and understand.
• be non-adversarial.
• provide confidentiality.
• allow problems to be handled swiftly through the correct procedure.
• address all the points at issue.
• inform future practice so that the problem is unlikely to recur.
 
Full details of the procedure may be obtained from the 'Polices Section' of our website, the School Office or from the Clerk to the Governing Body.
 

Gotherington Primary School Governor responsibilities 

Title

Chair

Vice-Chair

Pupil premium 

Responsible officer 

Safeguarding 

SEN 

Curriculum 


Initials

MM

SG

KW

KW

SG

SM

SM

 

Committees:

Finance

Health and safety

Personnel (meets as required)

 



 LW (Chair),KCL MM, KW & TP

LW-S (Chair), KCL 

MM (Chair) KCL, MM,

 

Panels:

Pay Panel

Head Teacher Performance Management
Other Panels:

 

 


MM, KCL 

MM 
Governors to be called upon as  required

 

 

 


 

 
 

GOVERNING BODY ATTENDANCE ACADEMIC YEAR 2022-23

Full Governing Body - Attendance Details (2022-23)

 

Name of Governor

Date of Meeting

Overall
%

  03.10.2022
FGB
05.12.2022
FGB & AGM
06.02.2023
FGB
30.03.2023
FGB
15.05.23
FGB
10.07.23
FGB
 

Mr M Mintram.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

100

Mrs K Langley

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

50

Mr S Goodwin Yes No No Yes Yes Yes 67

Miss R Jones

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

83    
Miss H Kent Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes 83

Mrs S Maclay

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

67

Mr L Wilkinson

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

   67

Mrs K Wright

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

    100

Mrs T Poole.

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

   67



































GOVERNING BODY ATTENDANCE ACADEMIC YEAR 2021-22

Full Governing Body - Attendance Details (2021-22)
 

Name of Governor

Date of Meeting

Overall
%

  27.09.21
FGB
15.11.21
FGB
06.12.21
FGB
31.01.22
AGM
28.03.22
FGB
11.07.22
FGB
 

Mr M Mintram.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

100

Mrs K Langley

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

100

Mr S Goodwin Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 100

Mrs S Lawrance

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

    90
Mrs Maclay Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 100

Mrs J Morrow

No

No

No

No

No

No

  0

Miss H Kent

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

   90

Mr M Longland.

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

    50

Mrs T Poole.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

   100














 

















 

 

                                                  Finance Committee Meetings - Attendance Details (2022-2023)

 

Name of Committee
Member

Date of Meeting

Overall
%

14.11.22
FINANCE

23.01.23
FINANCE

11.05.23
FINANCE

05.07.23
FINANCE

Mr L Wilkinson
Chair
Yes Yes Yes Yes

100%

Mr M Mintram

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

100%

Mrs K Langley Yes Yes No No 50%
Mrs K Wright Yes Yes Yes Yes 100%
Mrs T Poole Yes Yes Yes Yes 100%