Bailiffe Bridge Junior & Infant School

Governors 

The Role of the Governing Body

School governors are responsible for overseeing the management side of the school. They focus on strategy, policy, budgeting, and staffing, working alongside the senior leadership team and supporting teachers to provide all children at Bailiffe Bridge Junior & Infant School with the best possible start to their lives. 

 

The school Governing Body meets on a regular basis to consider issues such as setting and reviewing the school vision, mission statement, motto, and core values/behaviours, mitigating financial risk and scrutinising educational outcomes. School governors are also involved in the school community, acting as critical friends to the headteacher and senior leaders.

 

The main responsibilities of the Governing Body are:

 

Ensuring the strategic direction, vision, and ethos of the school 

The Governing Body collaborates with the headteacher and senior leadership team to develop a vision and establish long-term objectives. It is the school governors' responsibility to provide strategic oversight, ensuring that the school remains focused on its core mission and objectives. They achieve this by monitoring and evaluating the school's performance across the academic year. This involves reviewing academic results, financial statements, and other key performance indicators. By holding the school accountable, the Governing Body helps drive continuous improvement. 

 

Holding the school leaders to account

The relationship between the governing body and the headteacher is fundamental to a school’s success. School governors at Bailiffe Bridge Junior & Infant School provide support and challenge to the headteacher. This ensures that they have the resources and support needed to lead the school effectively. While the senior leadership team makes the decisions in school, the school governors are responsible for providing challenge and strategic oversight of these decisions. This will involve, for example, reviewing policies, conducting school visits, and engaging with key stakeholder groups to determine how the school can better achieve its goals and responsibilities as an education provider.

 

Overseeing financial performance and budgeting 

School governors are also responsible for overseeing the school’s budget, ensuring that resources are used efficiently and effectively. They will look at how spending is distributed across the school. They will then make suggestions on where things can, in their opinion, be changed. This provides a much-needed level of scrutiny to ensure that the school is budgeting in the areas it needs.