Governors

If you are a member of St Mary's governing body wishing to access governors’ folders click here

Welcome to the Governors’ section of the St Mary’s Catholic School website.

This section deals exclusively with Governing Body matters and I hope it will convey a broad outline of the role of Governors, tell you the kinds of people we are and show you how we go about our task of supporting the Headteacher and his staff.

St Mary’s School Governing Body

There are five types of Governor at St Mary’s Catholic School. Which type you are is determined by how you became a Governor.  Once you become a Governor, it makes no difference what “type” you are. All Governors are the same, have the same rights and role, except the staff Governors do not sit on the Discipline Committee. There are also some restrictions on personnel issues.

The role of the Governing Body is not to manage the school on a day-to-day basis. That is the role and responsibility of the Headteacher Mr A Celano and as Governors we aim to support him in doing this.  St Mary’s we are privileged to support a very successful school, so our task is to help maintain and improve on success rather than, as in some schools, dealing with failure.

Governors are responsible for the strategic vision of the school and for supporting the Headteacher and his staff in achieving that vision. Governors have responsibility for appointing the Headteacher, managing the school’s budget, setting annual targets and monitoring performance against those targets, all in the interest of raising standards of achievement. In addition to these statutory responsibilities, Governors do a wide variety of other things, either through formal committee activity or through personal involvement with the day-to-day life of the school

Governing Body meetings

The full Governing Body meets four times a year - generally for no more than two hours.

A wide variety of other subjects are considered at each meeting, including the Headteacher’s report, reports from sub-committees and, very importantly, the approval of all major policies which underpin the running of the school.

Most Governors, in addition to sitting on the main Governing Body, attend the meetings of at least one of the committees so that each Governor attends a meeting at least six times a year, together with visits to the school for other reasons.

More detailed discussions are held in committees that generally meet prior to the full Governor Body meetings. There are three main committees: Admissions; School Improvement; and Resources.  Each of these committees meet at least once a term and more often when needed.

We also try to attend public events such as school play performances, music concerts, the advent service and sports events.

In addition, individual Governors take a special interest in specific areas of school activity such as Child Protection, SEN and the More Able Student programme.

The composition of the Governing Body is of 18 Governors. The various types of Governors at St Mary’s Catholic School are:

The Governing Body consists of both elected and appointed Governors. These positions are described below. For a list of the current Governors see below.Types of Governor

Irrespective of how they became Governors, all members of the Governing Body work in the best interests of the school.

Parent Governors

The Instrument of Government have determined that St Mary’s School will have four Parent Governors, and these are nominated and elected when vacancies arise.

Parent Governors are parents or carers of children enrolled at the school at the time of their appointment. Should their child(ren) leave St Mary’s School during their term of office, they may continue on the Governing Body until the end of their four year term. Vacancies for Parent Governors must be notified to all parents and nominations requested. A ballot of all parents is held if there are more nominations than posts available. The retiring Parent Governor(s) can stand for re-election if they still have a child at the school, but not otherwise.

Staff Governors

The Instrument of Government limits the number of elected Staff Governors to one. 

Local Authority Governor

The Instrument of Government have reserved one governor position for a Local Authority nomination in order to maintain liaison with the authority and maintained schools in the area.

Foundation Governors

Ten foundation governors are appointed in the name of the Archbishop of Westminster and form the majority of the governing body. They have a legal duty to preserve and develop the Catholic character of the school and to ensure that the school is conducted in accordance with its trust deed which is issued by the Westminster Diocesan Trustees. All Governors have the same status.

All Governors serve a four year term of office, but may be reappointed. The Members have a responsibility to ensure that the Governing Body has an appropriate balance of experience and skills to maximize benefit to the school, and filling of any identified skill gaps will be an important element in future appointments.

Contacting us

Most queries about the management of St Mary’s and the progress of any individual child should be directed in the first instance to the school itself but I or other governors will be happy to answer any more general questions, particularly in relation to the role of the governing body. Letters directed to us should be sent to the Heads PA Mrs Faulkner for our attention.

Board of Governors - Please see the table below with regard to information regarding Governors, Committees, Declaration of Business Interest and Governance Roles in Other Schools:

Governor Meeting Attendance Record 2018-2019  

Governor Committee Responsibilities