Our Governors

The Governors help us make our school the best it can be. They meet regularly to support the Leadership Team in the decision making process and to ask challenging questions about how well we are doing and how we can improve.

The Governor's Vision for our school incorporates our "Caring, curious, courageous" motto but expands this further.  The reason for this vision plan is so that we as a board can focus on what we expect to see from our staff, children, parents and other stakeholders of our school.  Here is our vision.

The Chair of Governors is Mrs Elizabeth Durning (e: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and our Clerk to Governors is Mrs Christine Killey. Our Governors are caring, curious and courageous people who give up their time voluntarily to support the school and we are very grateful for the contribution they make. 

We are pleased to welcome Kelly Bowden to our Governing Body as a Parent Governor and Mike Avis as a Foundation Governor. 

Governor News

I am writing to introduce myself as the newly elected Chair of Governors at St Mary’s CE Primary School. My name is Elizabeth Durning and I have been a member of the governing body since October 2018 when I was appointed as a Co-opted Governor with responsibility for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

As a board we have three core strategic functions which are: - 

• Ensuring that everyone associated with the school understands the school’s vision and ethos for your children.
• Working with the Head Teacher to ensure that your children realise their potential and that all staff are supported and trained to achieve this.
• Ensure that the funding we receive from central Government is well spent. 

The Governors are from a range of backgrounds, mine being education, but we could not do our jobs without the expertise of the Head Teacher, Senior Leadership Team, Staff Governors and the committed teaching, support and ancillary staff within St Marys Primary School.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the previous chair, Liz Maisey, for her hard work and dedication working closely with the school, especially during the COVID pandemic.

I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible over the coming year. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and to ensure you that I am committed to, and very proud of our School. I will work with Mrs Wooley and her staff and with governors, parents and pupils as we strive to make St Mary’s the best it can be for all.

Elizabeth Durning (Chair of Governors)  

Governing Committees

The Full Governing Body is responsible for:

• Monitoring and challenging the progress of the school in achieving its priorities;
• Setting the strategic direction, vision and ethos of the school;
• Recruiting and performance managing the headteacher;
• Exercising employer responisibility;
• Ensuring the school meets its statutory responsibilities;
• Ensuring financial probity;
• Ensuring the premises are well managed;
• Reporting to the school's stakeholders.

We also have two sub-committees - the Teaching and Learning Committee and the Resources Committee:

The purpose of the Teaching & Learning Committee is to monitor and improve standards of pupil performance and the teaching of the national curriculum. The committee will support and advise and challenge the Headteacher and the Governing Body on the distinctiveness of St Mary's as a church school and on communication and engagement with parents and the community.  The committee will also ensure safeguarding meets statutory requirements.

The purpose of the Resources Committee is to ensure effective use of the school's financial resources, that the premises are fit for purpose and meet relevant health and safety requirements and to provide guidance to the Headteacher on personnel issues.

Our Governors

Each Governor has a specific curriculum responsibilty and a defined term of office.