Governors

Welcome to our Governors page, please see below for more information.

 

 

The Governing Body

Current members of the Governing Body are shown below. All Governors, with the exception of the Headteacher, are appointed or elected for a period of four years. This table will be updated when any details change.

 

Name Appointed/Elected by From To Recorded Declarations of Interests
Helen Holton Ex officio – Head Teacher 1/9/2019   None
Scott Wallace (Chair) Governing Body 17/3/2022 16/3/2026 None
Kate McBain (Vice Chair) Governing Body 12/7/2022 11/7/2026 None
Gina Chana Staff 7/12/2023 6/12/2027 None
Kimberley Hamilton-Young Parents 18/5/2023 17/5/2027 None
Adam Bones Governing Body (nominated by LA 14/7/2021 13/7/2025 Employed at Bolder Academy
Sofia Rahman Parents 1/12/2022 30/11/2026 None
Jahangir Kaba Governing Body 11/7/2023 10/7/2027 None
 Zainab Weller Governing Body  18/05/2023  17/05/2027  None

 

 

 

The Governing Body meet termly. Governors reviewed their Committee structure in Summer Term 2023, and Committees were re-named to better reflect their functions. There are currently three Committees, which meet on a termly basis: Finance, Resources and Premises, Curriculum and Pay. The Governing Body agree Terms of Reference for the Committees each year, in the Autumn Term.

Governors are required to publish their attendance at full Governing Body meetings and Committee meetings for the last academic year. This requirement also applies to Governors who have stepped down (or completed their four-year term) in the last twelve months. Governors no longer in post are listed at the bottom of the table below.

Governor attendance

Governor attendance at meetings from September 2023 to July 2024

Governors are not all on every Committee, so blank blocks below indicate that the Governor is not a member of that Committee.

 

Governor name Number of meetings attended
Full Governing Body Teaching and Learning Committee Resources and Premises Committee
Scott Wallace 1/3 1/3 1/3

Helen Holton

 

1/3 1/3 1/3
Kimberley Hamilton-Young 1/3    
Zainab Weller 1/3  
Gina Chana 0/3 1/3  
Kate McBain 1/3 1/3 1/3
Sofia Rahman 1/3 1/3  
Jahangir Kaba 0/3    
Adam Bones 1/3 1/3 1/3
Previous Governors
Suprita Naik 1/2 1/2 1/2
Uday Patel 2/2 2/2 2/2
Anne-Marie Andrews 1/2 1/2  
Lesley Hole 3/3 3/3

 

The Governing Body Composition and Roles

Role of the Governing Body

The Headteacher is responsible for the day-to-day management of the school.

In contrast, the Governing Body provides strategic management and oversight of the school.  The Governors act as a “critical friend”, both challenging and supporting the Headteacher and school staff.

The core functions of the Governing Body are:

  1. ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
  2. holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the effective and efficient performance management of staff; and
  3. overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.

 

Composition and Roles

The Governing Body of The Smallberry Green Primary School is (a mixture of parents, staff, members of the community and local authority appointments in line with our Instrument of Government which can be found here.

Within the Governing Body, named Governors take responsibility for specific areas as follows:

Safeguarding Governor

Kate McBain

Scott Wallace (deputy)

Health and Safety Governor Scott Wallace
SEND Governor

Kate McBain

Sofia Rahman (deputy)

Chair of Finance, Resources and Premises Committee Sofia Rahman
Chair of Curriculum Committee Adam Bones
Chair of Pay Committee Scott Wallace

Each Governor has signed up to our Code of Conduct which can be found here.

Skills, Experience and Expertise

Our Governing Body possesses a diverse range of personal and professional skills which they draw on in acting as a ‘critical friend’ to Smallberry Green. The Governing Body regularly reviews its skill set, taking into account the Department for Education’s Competency Framework for Governance.  Gaps in the Governing Body’s skills are addressed through ongoing Governor training and Governor recruitment.

The Smallberry Green Primary School – Governors Diversity Report Dec 2023

Governor Activity

We play an active role in the life in the school and  our activities include:

  • Ongoing review and updating of all of our school policies.
  • Regular visits into school. This helps us better understand how learning takes place and how the school operates in order to be a more effective Governing Body and to be able to make more insightful and impactful decisions. A copy of our school visits policy can be found here The Smallberry Green Primary School Governor Visit Policy Dec 2023.
  • Regularly meeting pupils and staff to gain first hand feedback as to how the school is operating.
  • Attending school events. Recent events include a Year 6 Leavers’ Assembly, Christmas Shopping Event, Autumn Fair and Fireworks Evening.

 

Training

Linked to our vision for the school, all of our Governors consider themselves a leader of their own learning and regularly attend training in order to help the Governing Body play our role more effectively.

Expenses Policy for Governors

Our policy can be seen here:

Smallberry Green Governors’ Expenses Policy December 2023

Chair of Governors: Mr Scott Wallace