Governing Body
Chair of Governors' Message:
As governors we are very proud of our wonderful school and dedicate ourselves to supporting the whole school team in providing the best education possible in a caring, nurturing environment. Our shared school vision to be ‘an outstanding school in the heart of the community’ underpins all that we do and from this sound base we work as a cohesive team to support and challenge the school to continuously improve.
This includes providing a broad, balanced and creative curriculum and an excellent teaching and learning experience for all our children. We support the school ethos in maintaining the important traditions that uphold our British Values, such as our Remembrance Service and School Council active involvement, alongside opening up wide and exciting opportunities that inspire our children to achieve their full potential.
Our Local Governing Team
Louise Rowland
Type of Governor: Chair of Governors (Co-opted Governor)
Date of appointment: 21st January 2020
Term of office: 4 years, ends January 2024
Appointed by: Governing Body
Any declaration of business interests: None declared
Any relationships to school staff: No
Any governor roles in other institutions: Yes
Attendance for 2022-2023: 100%
Martyn Fearn
Type of Governor: Ex-officio by virtue of office as Headteacher
Date of appointment: 26th September 2022
Term of office: 4 years, ends September 2026
Appointed by: Governing Body
Any declaration of business interests: None declared
Any relationships to school staff: No
Any governor roles in other institutions: None
Attendance for 2022-23: 83%
Rachel Watson
Type of Governor: Co-opted Governor
Date of appointment: 21st January 2020
Term of office: 4 years, ends January 2024
Appointed by: Governing Body
Any declaration of business interests: None declared
Any relationships to school staff: No
Any governor roles in other institutions: None
Attendance for 2022-2023: 83%
Brendan Redmond
Type of Governor: Staff Governor
Date of appointment: 1st June 2023
Term of office: 4 years, ends June 2027
Appointed by: Staff Election
Any declaration of business interests: Yes
Any relationships to school staff: Yes
Any governor roles in other institutions: None
Attendance for 2022-2023: 67%
Dean Gazzard
Type of Governor: Co-opted Governor
Date of appointment: 29th September 2021
Term of office: 4 years, ends September 2025
Appointed by: Governing Body
Any declaration of business interests: None declared
Any relationships to school staff: No
Any governor roles in other institutions: None
Attendance for 2022-2023: 33%
Abigail Marshall
Type of Governor: Parent Governor
Date of appointment: 2nd February 2023
Term of office: 4 years, ends February 2027
Appointed by: Parent Election
Any declaration of business interests: None declared
Any relationships to school staff: No
Any governor roles in other institutions: None
Attendance for 2022-2023: 50%
Natalie Lane
Type of Governor: Co-opted Governor
Date of appointment: 2nd February 2023
Term of office: 4 years, ends February 2027
Appointed by: Governing Body
Any declaration of business interests: None declared
Any relationships to school staff: No
Any governor roles in other institutions: None
Attendance for 2022-2023: 100%
Amanda Smith
Type of Governor: Clerk to Governors
Members who have stepped down within the last 12 months
Glynn Parker
Type of Governor: Parent Governor
Date of appointment: 21st January 2020
Term of office: 4 years, ends January 2024
Appointed by: Parent Election
Any declaration of business interests: None declared
Any relationships to school staff: No
Any governor roles in other institutions: None
Attendance for 2022-2023: 100%
Governors are expected to attend full governing body meetings half-termly. We incorporate School Improvement, Resource Management and Performance Management on a rolling basis; or as matters arise at each meeting.
Performance Management Committee
Members: Louise Rowland (Chair), Rachel Watson and Natalie Lane
Complaints Committee
Members: Rachel Watson, Abigail Marshall and Dean Gazzard.
The Governing Body adopt, review and monitor a range of policies that govern the operation of the school.
Governors have a link to a specific area of school. This is dependent upon the school's priorities for each year. For this academic year they are as follows:
English: Rachel Watson and Abigail Marshall
Mathematics: Louise Rowland
Curriculum: Louise Rowland and Abigail Marshall
Safeguarding/LAC: Natalie Lane
SEND: Natalie Lane
Pupil Premium: Natalie Lane
Anti-Bullying: Brendan Redmond and Dean Gazzard
Attainment, Progress and Data: Rachel Watson and Brendan Redmond
Health and Safety: Dean Gazzard
Finance: Abigail Marshall
Sports Premium: Abigail Marshall
Website Compliance: Natalie Lane
Filtering & Monitoring: Natalie Lane
The governors build an annual plan yearly, which becomes the focus of support and monitoring activity throughout the school year. The elements of the plan are drawn from the School Self-Evaluation, the School Improvement Plan and the ideas drawn from our highly consultative Shared Vision process. The table below outlines our areas of focus last year and our objectives for this school year. For each of these areas, governors build connections with school leaders to understand the area in more detail and provide supportive monitoring activity to help ensure the best possible outcome for the objectives set.
As governors we believe in building high trust, professional working relationships with school leaders to ensure our governance is helpful and valued. For us, it’s about working together productively as a high performing whole school team.
Strategic Objectives 2023-2024
- To further improve outcomes so that all staff have the pedagogical knowledge and skills they need to deliver the curriculum effectively, and to accelerate progress and raise attainment in reading, writing and mathematics so that progress scores are above zero and attainment in in line with/exceeds national outcomes.
- To ensure the planned curriculum is suitably ambitious for pupils with SEND and ensure this is implemented effectively.
- To ensure the key knowledge that pupils need to learn is identified across all subjects and that this builds on pupils' previous learning.
The Local Governing Team is very proud of the achievements of the school and believe that by working as a cohesive whole school team we can strive to ensure all children fulfil their potential and become lifelong learners.
Please address any enquiries to:
Amanda Smith (Clerk to Governors)
C/o Richardson Endowed Primary School
Main Road
Smalley
Derbyshire
DE7 6EF
01332 880317
Our register of business interests is reviewed annually.