The Grantham Villages' Church of England Primary Schools Federation Governing Body 

The Clerk to the Governing Body - Mrs Debra Davenport.

You can contact the Governing Body by message or by letter via the school office or by sending an e-mail for the attention of the Chair or Clerk via: amy.parnham@gvsf.school 

Telephone:  01476 565896

Our Governors

Our current Governing Body is made up as follows:

Governors who served within the last 12 months 

Governors' Register of Interest 2021-2022

Register of Panels, Working Panels and Areas of Responsibility

 Responsibility and Authority of the Governors

• The responsibility for educating pupils falls primarily on the staff and the day-to-day running of the school is the responsibility of the executive Headteacher, but it is the Governing Body that is ultimately responsible for the school's performance.
• The Governing Body executes its responsibilities collectively. It may assign specific tasks to a panel or a working group, but individual governors do not have any authority or right to act on behalf of the Governing Body.
• Action falling to the Governing Body that cannot wait for a previously arranged meeting of the Governing Board (or for an Extraordinary Meeting) is taken by the Chair of Governors or by the Vice-Chair if the Chair is not available. This is only in circumstances where delay is likely to be seriously detrimental to the interests of the schools, a pupil, parent or a member of staff.

What Do Governors Do?

The governing body helps to run the school by making strategic decisions about finances, premises and curriculum and offers support and guidance to the Executive Headteacher and the staff. The day-to-day running of the school is done by the Executive Headteacher and the staff and the governing body rely on the Executive Headteacher to advise them.

Circle of Governance - Whole Governing Board Approach

The Governing Body elected to operate the Circle Model of Governance, in which all Governors attend all Governing Body meetings. These meetings are held 1 per term (6 meetings per year) and have alternating focus: Finance & Resources (F&R) and Curriculum & Standards (C&S).  

The purpose of governance is to provide confident, strategic leadership and to create robust accountability, oversight and assurance for educational and financial performance. The Governing Body has resolved to conduct all its business as a full Governing Body, and to work collectively without committees.

The Governing Body has three strategic core functions:

• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
• Holding the Executive Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the performance management of staff; and
• Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

This involves:

• Helping to decide the school's strategy for improvement;
• Supporting and strengthening the leadership of the Executive Headteacher;
• Monitoring and evaluating the schools' effectiveness;
• Asking challenging questions and pressing for improvement;
• Receiving reports from the Executive Headteacher and other staff on the schools' performance;
• Discussing and questioning the Executive Headteacher's proposals and strategies;
• Answering to parents and to the wider local community for the actions of the Governing Body and the schools' overall performance.

How Do Governors Work

The Governing Body is made up of a number of different types of governors and the normal term of office is four years. We reconstituted in December 2019 and our Instrument of Government is for a Board of 12 members made up as follows:

• 2 Parent Governors;
• 1 Local Authority Governor;
• 1 Staff Governor;
• 1 Headteacher;
• 7 Foundation Governors.

After four years, any governor who wishes to remain on the Governing Body can offer to stand for a further term of office and (if no-one else has expressed an interest in the position) be re-elected or reconfirmed in his/her position.

• Parent Governors: If you are a parent of a pupil(s) at the school or the primary carer, you can stand for election as one of the 2 parent governor positions (once a parent governor post becomes vacant). If more than one parent expresses an interest in filling a vacancy, elections are held in which all parents can vote. Parent governors do not formally represent parents on the Governing Body although they are a link between parents and the Governing Body and will be in tune with parents' views. However, individual parent governors have no authority - authority rests with the Governing Body as a whole.
• Local Authority Governor: A Governor normally nominated by the local education authority (i.e. Lincolnshire County Council) then appointed by the Governing Body.
• Staff Governor: A member of staff paid to work at the schools and elected by the staff.
• Executive Headteacher: An ex-officio member of the Governing Board i.e. a Governor by virtue of their job. If the Executive Headteacher elects not to be a Governor than his/her place cannot be taken by anyone else.
• Foundation Governors: A Governor normally appointed by the Diocesan Board of Education or the local Parochial Church Council (PCC)  and is a member of the St Mary's (Marston) or  St Sebastian’s (Great Gonerby) church community to ensure the school preserves its Christian character.

More information can be found on the Lincolnshire County Council website  and Diocese of Lincoln Board of Education

• We meet as a full Governing Body once every term. Extraordinary meetings are arranged if circumstances warrant such action.
• We have elected a Chair and Vice-Chair from amongst the existing members of the Governing Body (employees at the School cannot be elected to these positions).
• The Governing Body also has a Clerk who advises the Governing Body on the nature of its functions, arranges its meetings, circulates the agenda and papers, takes minutes of full meetings of the Governing Body, and circulates information to Governors from the Local Authority.

Vacancies on the Governing Body

The Governing Body of Grantham Villages' CE Primary Schools Federation currently has no vacancies.

Minutes of Governing Body Meetings

Minutes of Governors' meetings are available on request from the school office.