Who are the Governors and what do they do?

The Governing Body provides strategic leadership of the school by monitoring the work of the school. The Head Teacher is responsible for the day-to-day leadership of the school and the Governing Board’s role is to provide support and challenge the Headteacher and other staff by acting as a “critical friend”.

Each governor is a member of the governing board. The overall responsibility of the board is to ensure excellent outcomes for each child at the school. It does this by:

• Working with the Senior Leadership team to set the school’s vision, ethos and strategic direction.

• Setting and agreeing targets for reaching its objectives

• Monitoring the school’s performance and progress against those targets

• Supporting and challenging the Head Teacher to ensure pupils are achieving their full educational potential

• Overseeing the school’s financial performance to ensure value for money spent.

Governors are not involved in the day-to-day running of the school, but at Marshgate we have a link governor scheme where a governor will follow a particular year group. This ensures that the governing body keeps in touch with how the school operates and how pupils are taught. We also have link Curriculum Governors.

You will find on this page a list of all of the current governors along with our photos, minutes of previous meetings and details of committee membership. Take a look at our photos to see what we look like and keep an eye out for us at school events, we are often there and always enjoy the opportunity to meet you.

Meetings
The Governing body meets six times a year.  Please see the calendar for the forthcoming full governing body meeting dates. The minutes from these meetings are added below once they have been approved by the governing body. In addition, there are three main sub-committees, which also meet twice each term:

• Resourcing Committee reviews the school budget, staffing and has an overview of the school premises

• Curriculum and Progress Committee monitors the curriculum and how pupils are progressing

• Children, Families and Community Committee monitor the safeguarding procedures and Health and Safety provision for all pupils.

To contact the governing body
Please email the Clerk of the School Governors, Helen Cox, at hcox@marshgate.richmond.sch.uk

Becoming a Governor

The constitution of the full governing body changed in 2015. The categories of governors are as follows:

Headteacher Governor

One elected staff (teacher) Governor 

Two elected Parent Governors

One nominated Local Authority Governor

Nine Co-opted Governors

Unlimited number of Associated Members

Parents and carers will be informed via the newsletter and Parent Mail when there is a vacancy for a Parent Governor.  

We will be looking for two new Governors to join us in the New Year (January 2024).  Please follow the links here:

https://www.inspiringgovernance.org/

https://www.governorsforschools.org.uk

We are looking for three new school governors to join our team of volunteers at Marshgate Primary School in Richmond.  It is a great way to get involved in education, develop key management skills and learn about current education issues. 

You will be part of a strong team of volunteers and school staff who work constructively together to both support and challenge the school leadership.  Being a school governor is a great way to learn new skills.  We are looking for the sort of person who has the ability to build relationships, work as part of a team, analyse data and write reports.  All decisions are made collectively with the Governing Board and in Committee meetings.

To help you achieve this the Governing Body will:

• give you a structured induction
• Pair you with an experienced Governor as a mentor
• provide access to quality training via the Local Authority.

To give you an idea of time commitment:

• attend six evening meetings per year of the full Governing Board (6.30pm start until 8.30pm approximately)
• sit on one or more Committees and attend the meetings (six a year) – often at 8.00am or 2.00pm
• visit the school formally and informally during term time.

As well as the Full Governing Board there are three committees:

• Resourcing – budgets, staffing and premises
• Children, Families and Community – matters such as Safeguarding, pupil well-being and community issues
• Curriculum and Progress – oversight of the school’s quality of education and hears from subject leads.

Governors take on the role for a four-year period.  If you would like to know more then please contact Helen Cox, Clerk to the School Governors, on hcox@marshgate.richmond.sch.uk .  Alternatively, you can contact Angela Langford at Governor Support at the Local Authority at governor.support@achievingforchildren.org.uk