Governing Body

Governance at Clarborough Primary School

Why do schools have Governors?

Governance is a key part of a successful school. Every governing board has the following three core functions:

Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its students, and the effective and efficient performance management of staff; and
Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.

Boards must be ambitious for all children and young people and infused with a passion for education and a commitment to continuous school improvement that enables the best possible outcomes. Governance must be grounded in reality as defined by both high-quality objective data and a full understanding of the views and needs of students, staff, parents, carers and local communities.

Effective governance is based on six key features:

Strategic leadership that sets and champions vision, ethos and strategy.
Accountability that drives up educational standards and financial performance.
People with the right skills, experience, qualities and capacity.
Structures that reinforce clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
Compliance with statutory and contractual requirements.
Evaluation to monitor and improve the quality and impact of governance.

Clarborough Primary School Governing Body

The governing body of Clarborough is responsible for setting the ethos and vision of the school and working with the Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team to identify areas where the school needs to improve and planning how to make those improvements. We strive to ensure that the educational performance of the pupils is strong and that the budget is used properly and effectively.

According to our Instrument of Government approved by the Local Authority, our governing body is made up of 11 governors (3 elected from and by parents/guardians; 1 elected from and by the staff; 1 nominated by the Local Authority, the Headteacher and 5 appointed by the governing body to ensure we have members with the skills and experience to discharge the responsibilities placed on the governing body by the Department for Education).

To discharge those responsibilities, the governing body at Clarborough has the following Committee Structure.

Full Governing Board (Chair: Dr Julian White; Vice chair: Mrs Lucy Anthony)

Curriculum and Standards (Chair: Dr Julian White; Vice chair: Mrs Jennifer Gordon)

Finance and Resources (Chair: Dr Julian White; Vice chair: Mrs Lucy Anthony)

Note: All Governors at Clarborough sit on all three committees

We are required by law to keep a register of any business interests of the governors and headteacher which includes declaring any governance roles in other educational institutions and any material interests arising from relationships between governors and school staff. This can be found in the table below along long with information on governor attendance at meetings in the academic year 2023/24.

Current Governors

Name	Appointed by	Start date	End date	Attendance (2023/2024)	Business or pecuniary interest	Governor at another institution	Relationship with staff or governors
Lucy Anthony	Appointed by GB	24 May 2019	22 Jun 2026	7/9	N/A	N/A	N/A
Allison Cowell-Clark	Ex-officio by virtue of office as Head	22 Apr 2019	Concurrent with tenure	8/9	N/A	N/A	N/A
Elizabeth Deere	Elected by GB	12 Dec 2023	11 Dec 2027	2/6	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sheila Edgar	Elected by GB	12 Dec 2023	11 Dec 2027	4/6	N/A	N/A	N/A
Jennifer Gordon	Elected by Parents	15 May 2023	14 May 2027	5/9	N/A	N/A	N/A
Bethany Pressley	Elected by Staff	31 March 2024	30 March 2028	3/3	N/A	N/A	N/A
Julian White	Nominated by LA and appt by GB	14 Mar 2018	28 Dec 2027	9/9	N/A	Member of Elizabethan Academy, Retford	N/A

Governors whose term expired in last 12 months

Chris Baker-Merrills	Elected by Parents	15 Nov 2023	Resigned Oct 2024	7/8
Lyn Freeman	Appointed by GB	27 Jun 2018	Resigned Sept 2024	9/9
James Greenacre	Elected by Parents	24 May 2023	Resigned March 2024	3/5
Christine Herdman	Appointed by GB	11 Oct 2017	Resigned Oct 2023	1/1
Greg Herdman	Appointed by GB	1 Feb 2015	Resigned Oct 2023	1/1
Sarah Turton	Elected by Staff	31 Mar 2020	31 Mar 2024	5/5

How to contact the Governors

Governors are not involved in the day-to-day issues of running the school which are managed by the Headteacher and the Senior Leadership Team. If you would like to contact the Governors, please call the school on 01777 708065 or send a letter to Board of Governors, Clarborough Primary School, Hillview Crescent, Clarborough, DN22 9JZ.

If you are interested in becoming a Governor at our school, please speak to any member of staff.