Temple Primary School Governors

Governors work as a team we call the governing body.  They are responsible for making sure the school provides a good quality education. Raising educational standards in school is now a key priority.  This has the best chance of happening when there are high expectations of what pupils can achieve.

Governors also promote effective ways of teaching and learning when setting the school aims and policies.  They do this together with the head teacher, who is responsible for the day to day management of the school. 

Every school must have a governing body.  The membership will vary according to the type of school.  The governing body has some discretion of the numbers of governors. 

All governing bodies include governors who are:

• Parent elected by parents at the school
• Staff elected by Head, teachers and support staff at the school. The head teacher is entitled to be a staff governor without an election
• Persons appointed by Manchester as the local education authority.

Additionally:

• Community and controlled schools have at least one community governor who is appointed by other members of the governing body
• Some schools have foundation governors. They are governors appointed by the church which appears in the school's name

The School will be able to tell you if there are vacancies for parent, community or foundation governors. 

Usually a governor is appointed for a period of four years but may subsequently be eligible for re-appointment or re-election. 

Governing bodies are responsible to parents, funders and the community.  The governing body's main role is to help raise standards of achievement.  It:

• is accountable for the performance of the school to parents and the wider community
• plans the school's future direction
• selects the head teacher
• makes decisions on the school's budget and staffing
• makes sure the national curriculum is taught
• decides how the school can encourage pupil's spiritual, moral and social development
• makes sure the school provides for all its pupils, including those with special needs

Governors are at the heart of how a school operates.  It is important they get things right.  How they do their job affects the interests of pupils, staff morale and how the school is seen by parents and others in the community. 

Governors support and challenge heads by gathering views, asking questions and deciding what's best for the school.  They are not there to rubber stamp decisions.  They have to be prepared to give and take and be loyal to decisions taken by the governing body as a whole. 

So long as they act within the law governors are protected from any financial liability for the decisions they take. 

A governing body is not a supporters club.  Governors are responsible for how the school is performing.  Following up inspection reports is an important job.  Governors should try to be ahead of the game - identifying problems and tackling them in advance.