Meet the governors (including financial benchmarking)

Quilters Governing Board

Our School currently has 12 governors drawn from different sections of our community.
We work collectively to support and provide challenge to the Head Teacher and staff and act as ‘critical friends’, working voluntarily to help the school fulfil its considerable potential.
The role of the governing board is strategic, not operational, with the Head Teacher and staff managing the day to day running of the school.

Quilters Federation Governing Board – Governance Statement

Function of the Governing Board

In accordance with the Government’s requirement for all governing bodies, the 3 core strategic functions of the Governing Board are:

Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos, and strategic direction.
Holding the Head Teacher 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.

Governance Arrangements

The Governing Bord has 2 staff governors (including the Head Teacher), 2 elected parent governors, 1 local authority governor, 2 trust Governors and 5 co-opted governors.

Our co-opted governors are appointed by the Governing Board as they have the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school.

The Full Governing Board meets once each term (twice in the Autumn). We have three committees: Curriculum and Finance, Premises & Personnel and Admissions.

Committee Structure

Curriculum Committee

The Curriculum Committee is responsible for monitoring and evaluating how the school is delivering the national curriculum, the attainment and progress of our pupils and the standards achieved. Our role is to understand these areas thoroughly and to focus not only on the school’s strengths but also on the ways we can continue to develop. We work alongside our Head Teacher to consider evidence for the school’s self-evaluation form (SEF) and visit the school to gather first-hand evidence on target areas.

Finance, Premises and Personnel (“FPP”) Committee

The FPP Committee oversees the school budget, as well as Budgets for the Swimming Pool and Catering provision. We examine and review the financial performance of the school, linked to the school Development Plan (SDP) and evaluate the effectiveness of spending decisions. School funds are managed effectively and spent wisely, and the premises are well managed, maintained and provide a safe, effective learning environment.

The Pay committee are responsible for decisions relating to staff, including recruitment, pay and the Head Teachers annual performance review.

Admissions

To discharge the functions conferred on the Governing Board, within the statutory regulations set out in relevant Education Acts, Regulations, and the School Admissions Code in relation to the number of pupils to be admitted to the school and the area served by the school.

How to contact us

We always welcome suggestions, feedback and ideas from parents – please contact the Chair of Governors (Anna Fletcher) or Vice Chair of Governors (Alison Ford) via the school office.

Last reviewed: September 2023

Meet the Governing Board

Meet_The_Governors 2023 24 Sept edit.pptx

Governor Behaviour Statement

Principles:

The Governors place a high value on the strong, caring relationships that exist throughout the Quilters community which give it a warm, supportive atmosphere and which leads to the mutual respect that encourages good behaviour. To maintain this ethos, the governors expect:

Positive behaviour and social interaction to be modelled by all staff.
Inclusivity and equality to be promoted through everyday life at Quilters. All members of the school community should be free from discrimination of any sort, as per the Equality Act 2010. The school must therefore have a clear and comprehensive Anti-Bullying Policy that is known and understood by all, consistently applied and where appropriate, incidents recorded, even if occurring outside of school hours, to protect children from bullying and discrimination as a result of gender, race, ability, sexual orientation or background.
There should be a focus upon encouraging and rewarding positive behaviours, social interaction and learning attitudes.
Governors would like to see a wide range of rewards, consistently and fairly applied in such a way as to encourage and reward good behaviour in the classroom and elsewhere. These should be made clear in the Behaviour Policy and regularly monitored for their effectiveness.
Staff, pupils and parents should work together to promote and maintain positive attitudes towards learning including the expectation that assigned work will be completed.
All staff should be able to teach and promote good learning without undue interruption or harassment.
The School Rules should set out expected standards of behaviour and be shared with and explained to all children. The rules should be consistently applied by all staff and regularly monitored for their effectiveness. They should be clearly stated in the Behaviour Policy.
On occasions when the standards of behaviour described in the School Rules are not met, sanctions should be applied.
Sanctions for unacceptable behaviour should be known and understood by all staff and children and be consistently applied.
The full range of sanctions should be clearly described in the Behaviour Policy so that children, staff and parents can understand how and when they are applied.
We feel strongly that exclusions, especially permanent, should only be used as a last resort.
Where there is ongoing or an unusual degree of disruptive behaviour, consideration should be given to the necessity of involving local agencies for assessment. Where a child’s behaviour gives cause to suspect the child is suffering harm or is likely to, the safeguarding policy should be implemented.
With respect to the school’s legal duties under the Equality Act 2010, when applying the behaviour policy staff should take into consideration:
- A child’s individual needs and stages of development
- The specific circumstances of each situation

Governors expect the Headteacher to draw on the advice in Dealing with Allegations of Abuse against Teachers and other staff guidance documents, when setting out the pastoral support that school staff should expect to receive if they are accused of misusing their powers. Staff so accused should not be automatically suspended pending an investigation.

As per the Behaviour and discipline in school guidance for governors, we expect the Headteacher to include the following in the Behaviour Policy:

The power to use reasonable force or make other physical contact, including the situations in which reasonable force may be used. This is essential where one pupils’ behaviour places themselves or others at risk, as safety must be prioritised.
A definition of reasonable force and restraint, depending on the needs of the pupil concerned and plans to train all staff in this area. There are some circumstances when reasonable force might be a possibility or it might be part of a strategy to deal with an incident of very challenging behaviour but the governors expect the school to create, wherever possible, individual plans in order to minimise the likelihood of this very challenging behaviour.
The school’s duty to screen and search pupils.
The power to discipline beyond the school gates, covering the schools’ response to all non-criminal bad behaviour and bullying that occurs anywhere off the school premises.

The Headteacher should ensure the Behaviour Policy is made available to staff, parents/carers and pupils.

This statement has been produced in consultation with the Headteacher, school staff, parents and pupils. It will be reviewed annually and is available via the school website. If any member of the school community has feedback or comments, please address these to the school governors via the school office.

Last reviewed: November 2023