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: 22nd January 2024

Term of office: 4 years, ends 22nd January 2028

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 25th 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: Vice-chair of Governors (Co-opted Governor)

Date of appointment: 22nd January 2024

(Previously Chair of Governors from 21st January 2020)

Term of office: 4 years, ends 22nd January 2028

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 31st May 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 28th 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 1st 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 1st 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%

Tom Singleton

Type of Governor: Parent Governor

Date of appointment: 22nd January 2024

Term of office: 4 years, ends 22nd January 2028

Appointed by: Governing Body, due to no election candidates

Any declaration of business interests: None declared

Any relationships to school staff: No

Any governor roles in other institutions: None

Attendance for 2022-2023: N/A

Amanda Paget

Type of Governor: Co-opted Governor

Date of appointment: 22nd January 2024

Term of office: 4 years, ends 22nd January 2028

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: N/A

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

1. 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.
2. To ensure the planned curriculum is suitably ambitious for pupils with SEND and ensure this is implemented effectively.
3. 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.