Governors’ Page

Welcome from the Chair of Governors

Dear Parents and Carers,

On behalf of the Governing Body, I welcome this opportunity to briefly introduce you to the work the Governing Body undertakes to ensure that your child(ren) will receive a sound primary school education.

We are fortunate that our school has all the attributes of a long-established village school and plays an important part in the rural community.  Many of our existing pupils have parents and grandparents who also started their education here which means a wide cross-section of local people give their support.  Harpley C of E Primary School draws a unique strength from its success in fostering a close knit, family atmosphere where staff, pupils, parents and governors work closely together to ensure that all our pupils have the opportunity to develop and reach their full potential.

Graded ‘GOOD’ at the last Ofsted inspection in June 2016, governors are proud to support this thriving village school and work hard, with the head teacher, to maintain the management practices and policies of the school and ensure that standards are maintained and improved as much as possible.  The Governing Body is, therefore, rightly proud of the achievements of the school, not only in terms of good academic achievement but also in the solid foundations it provides in preparing its pupils for the remainder of their formative education.

Our staff work hard to provide the children with a happy and caring atmosphere which prevails in all classes.  They adapt well to the constantly changing requirements made upon them to provide a wider curriculum and to ensure the safeguarding of our pupils.

The Governing Body has a range of powers and duties laid down by various Education Acts.  In the main,m these responsibilities relate to:

  • Setting targets and promoting high standards of educational achievement
  • Setting the strategic framework within which the school operates
  • Management of the school’s delegated budget
  • Ensuring that the curriculum for the school is balanced and broadly based
  • Governors discharge the above responsibilities, together with many others, through two full Governing Body meetings each term.  These formal meetings are supplemented by a series of sub-committee meetings dealing with more specific issues.  A number of Governors also have individual responsibilities within the school such as Special Educational Needs, Health and Safety, Attendance and Safeguarding.
In September 2013, Harpley C of E Primary School began a partnership with our neighbouring village school, Great Massingham C of E Primary School.  The Head Teacher of Harpley became the Head Teacher of the two schools.  Both schools are Church of England VC schools and both villages are very proud of this status.
Following success of the partnership, the governing bodies of both schools agreed to form a federation.  After full consultation with all stakeholders during the Summer Term 2015, the federation began on 21st September 2015.  It is called ‘The Great Massingham and Harpley C of E Schools Federation’.
The Federation means the two schools now have just one Governing Body or Board.  By combining the two governing bodies we have been able to draw on a wider range of expertise and put everything on a firmer footing for our two village schools and their future.  You can learning more about the make up of the governing body and about our work in the Annual Governance Statement for the Governing Body by clicking on the link annual-governance-statement-for-the-governing-body-2016.
WHO ARE WE?
The Great Massingham and Harpley C of E Schools Federation consists of a total of sixteen governors categorised as follows:
  • The headteacher
  • One staff governor
  • Two parent governors
  • One appointed local authority governor
  • One Bishop’s Appointed Governor
  • Two DBE/PCC Governors (one for Harpley and one for Great Massingham)
  • Eight co-opted governors

The standard term of office for a governor is four years and all current appointments began on September 21st 2015.  The Chair and Vice-Chair are elected annually at the first meeting of the academic year.

Much of the work of the Governing Body is done by committees which meet at least once a term.  Our committees are:

  • Finance and Premises – One for each school
  • Steering and Ethos
  • Policies and Curriculum
  • Monitoring

There is also a committee for Pay, Performance and Personnel, although this meets less frequently.To find out more about governors’ special responsibilities and committee membership please click on this link federation-committee-structure-2016

It is very important that there is a wide range of expertise on our Governing Body to ensure all aspects of management are adequately covered.  Governors are also required to declare any business interests they have to ensure there is no conflict of interest. They complete a declaration form at the first meeting of the academic year.  All members of the employed staff also do the same. At the start of each meeting during the year governors are also asked to declare whether they have any changes in their business interests.
To find out about governors’ experience for the role and their current business interest declaration please click governors-experience-and-business-interests-2016

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