Our Governors

The Governing Body - What we do
Our governing body comprises of governors who are unpaid volunteers with varying occupations and interests, appointed to work collaboratively with the school's senior leadership team to assist in managing the school. 

Our governing body works within an accountable structure defined in the ’Instrument of Governance,’ which details the different categories of governor and the term of office.

The Fenstanton and Hilton Primary School governing body consists of:
• 1 Local Authority Governor
• 1 Headteacher
• 3 Parent Governors
• 3 Co-opted Governors 
• 1 Staff Governor

Our governing body is skills audited to ensure we have a valuable representation of relevant skills including Human Resources, Finance and School Development to offer support and challenge the senior leadership team. Currently the governing body has 9 governors. 

The term of office for all governors at our school (except the Head) is four years. When a term of office is complete the relevant appointing body: Local Authority, parents, staff or governing body invite people to express an interest and a vote may be required. Existing governors may stand for a further term according to the appointing process, e.g. may stand either unopposed or in a vote.

The work of the Governing Body
It is the governing body’s responsibility to help raise the standards of the school by checking to see if the school’s targets are being met, by asking questions and challenging practices to support school improvement and performance. Governors participate in performance management, recruitment, Human Resources issues and continually support the school with advice and practical skills. 

The school's short and medium term priorities and targets are defined in the School Development Plan (SDP) and governors continually evaluate progress on these priorities. 

Our work focuses strongly on three core areas: 
• Setting the vision and strategic direction of school
• Holding the Headteacher to account for its educational performance
• Ensuring financial resources are well spent

Small groups of governors meet separately to oversee important aspects of the running of the school on our Resources and Achievement committees including examining reports, reviewing policies and comparing data and best practice with other schools. These committees report back to the full governing body.

To review the curriculum in action, current policies, practices and plans for development, each governor also has a link with a member of teaching staff responsible for a certain subject including English, Maths, Music, Science, Humanities, Art and DT. 

Visits & Training
Governors are highly visible in our school and regularly attend meetings with teaching staff, assess the school's progress in line with the School Development Plan (SDP), carry out learning walks around school, join events, support parents’ evenings and support teaching staff with school initiatives. 

Findings are reported back to teaching staff and the full governing body where observations are discussed. This process allows us to make detailed judgements about the school's progress towards meeting its long term development targets.

Focused training courses ensure governors are equipped with the skills and information required to carry out their duties and are aware of current practice expectations and statutory requirements. This supports the governing body to ensure the school’s activities enable all children to experience the education, environment and personal development described in our school vision statement, so enabling all children to become happy, brave and reflective learners, in an environment of compassion and belonging.

Governing Body Diversity Data
The governors of Fenstanton and Hilton Primary School believe it is important that governing bodies reflect the diversity of the school communities they serve. Diverse boards promote inclusive school environments and provide diverse role models for staff and young people.

The governors are currently collecting data on the diversity of the board, including data on age, gender and ethnicity. They will use that data to inform their recruitment and training needs and ensure there is always a diverse range of perspectives around the table to support robust decision making.

Due to our relatively small governing board, we will not publish this diversity data online as individual governors could be identified and we have a legal obligation to protect their personal data

If you have any questions please contact Nicola Webster, our Chair of Governors, email: nwebster@fenstanton.cambs.sch.uk

Fenstanton and Hilton Primary School Values
Community  |  Determination  |  Integrity |