Our Governors
Annual Governance Statement
We have a fantastic Governing Body who keep a watchful eye over all that we do. They are in place to be a 'critical friend'. This means that they have the tricky job of constantly asking challenging questions about every aspect of school.
Our Role:
In accordance with statutory requirements, the main functions of Homefield Church of England Primary School's Governing Body are;
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To ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
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To hold the headteacher and senior leaders to account for performance of the school;
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To ensure effective and efficient use of school funds.
Our Governing Body:
Chair Of Governors: Mr. Jonathan Earle (Curriculum Link - Expressive Arts - Maths - Safeguarding)
Headteacher: Mr. Bradley Young
Joint Vice-Chair of Governors - Co-Opted Governor: Mrs. Joanna Jones (Curriculum Link - Literacy - Finance)
Joint Vice-Chair of Governors - Parent Governor: Mrs. Sharon Pettigrew (Curriculum Link - Early Years & Expressive Arts)
Staff Governor: Mrs. Karen Newman (Curriculum Link - Finance - Life Skills)
Foundation Governor: Rev. Steve Deall (Curriculum Link - Religious Education - Life Skills)
Foundation Governor: Mr. Ivan Lees (Curriculum Link - Religious Education - Life Skills)
Parent Governor: Mrs. Hannah Willis (SEND - Curriculum Link - Health and Understanding)
Parent Governor: Mr. Daniel Morris (Curriculum Link - Computing - Health and Understanding)
Clerk to Governors: Mrs. Marisa Pugh/Mrs. Justine Petersen (Administration)
Governance Arrangements:
The Governing Board has 12 positions; 7 are filled and there are currently 4 vacancies:
Co-opted Governors – Jonathan Earle (Chair), Jo Jones (Vice-Chair) + 1 vacancy
Foundation Governors – Steve Deall, Ivan Lees + 1 vacancy
Headteacher – Bradley Young
Local Authority Governor – 1 vacancy
Parent Governors – Daniel Morris, Hannah Willis + Sharon Pettigrew (Vice-Chair) + 1 vacancy
Staff Governor – Karen Newman
To discharge the duties of governance, the governors have delegated responsibilities through committees:
Finance Committee – Jo Jones, Karen Newman, Jonathan Earle, Bradley Young
Learning & Achievement Committee – Ivan Lees, Sharon Pettigrew, Daniel Morris
Personnel & Resources Committee – Jo Jones, Jonathan Earle, Hannah Willis, Ivan Lees
Steering Committee – Bradley Young, Jonathan Earle, Jo Jones, Steve Deall
In addition to the committees above, governors will meet as a panel to hear Appeals, undertake Headteacher Performance Review, and consider pupil discipline issues.
Governors make decisions collectively, but have individual responsibilities in relation to statutory requirements and curriculum subjects.
SEND (Special Educational Needs) Governor – Hannah Willis
Safeguarding Governor – Jonathan Earle
Finance – Jo Jones and Karen Newman
EYFS & Pupil Premium – Sharon Pettigrew
Governor Curriculum Teams are aligned to Staff Curriculum Teams.
Expressive Arts – Sharon Pettigrew and Jonathan Earle
Life Skills – Karen Newman, Steve Deall and Ivan Lees
Health & Understanding – Hannah Willis and Daniel Morris
Core Subjects – Sharon Pettigrew (Early Years); Ivan Lees & Steve Deall (Religious Education); Jo Jones (English) and Jonathan Earle (Maths)
Attendance of Governors:
All of our meetings this year have been quorate. Committees meet at least termly, with the Full Governing Board meeting half-termly.
Our Work This Year:
Our work this year has really focussed on supporting our Headteacher, school leaders and children to achieve our SIDP vision and achievement targets; to become an "Outstanding” school. We have concentrated on supporting our school leaders to prepare for a COVID-Secure school environment and in making sure that we as a Governing Body are ready to support in any way we can as the "critical friend."
Each Governor has a role and leads the accountability for a topic / policy area for e.g. Safeguarding or SEND. Governors come into school at least once a term to see staff about their policy area and their link role. Governors also visit for Challenge Days looking at many different areas of the school. Governors are asked to write a brief report about their visit to inform the Governing Body of any issues. This might include the need for further resources or a change to policy. We think that this approach supports and strengthens our ability to challenge school leaders and ensure good use of resources.
This has included;
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Refining data and bringing together data to show pupil progress.
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Ensuring Governors understand the different data that is presented to us and the main trends and stories for our school. We have shared and analysed data in many different ways and have levelled challenge regarding it towards our school leaders.
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Supported the external validation of our school leading up to Ofsted/SIAMS.
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We have supported the Headteacher in decisions to ensure the quality of teaching at our school is of the highest standard; investing in single form entry classes; interventions and re-organisation of staff members during the year to ensure that skills and experience were placed where they are most needed.
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We have recently approved of the manner in which our Sports' Premium and Pupil Premium monies are being spent and challenged the legacy of the spend.
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We agreed to redesign the way our school taught Guided Reading and Writing and implemented new initiatives to enhance the learning provision in these areas for our pupils.
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In terms of budget and resources, our priority is to redesign the changing room facilities to increase the number of lavatories and hand sinks the school has available.
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Safeguarding and making sure that our safeguarding procedures continue to be robust and to the highest standard has been another regular key area of focus for the governing body.
Future Plans for the Governing Body:
We will continue to challenge and support the school in their drive towards becoming “Outstanding,"in particular to support the Headteacher in their role as a local leader and to develop a succession plan within the senior leadership team. We are keen to evolve the manner in which we conduct Challenge Days and have liaised with the Headteacher to combine improvement targets from our School Improvement and Development Plan and our Religious Aspects Improvement Plan. This will enable us to have an even stronger understanding of improvement across the school.
As a Governing Body, we will recruit members to fill our vacancies. We will also explore how we can better our committees and consider having all Governors together, instead of being in committees (due to being so small in number).
Please feel free to come and speak to the Governors at any time about any concerns you may have.
For further detailed information regarding the responsibilities and interests of our Governors, please see the attached document and table below.
Full Name |
Category |
Date of Appointment |
End of Term Office |
Pecuniary & Material Interests |
Roles & Responsibilities |
Roles on other Governing Bodies |
Attendance Record 2020-2021 |
Jonathan Earle |
Chair Co-Opted |
23.09.2019 |
23.09.2023 |
Director of Go Geronimo & Back to Basics |
Expressive Arts Safeguarding |
Governor at St. Nicholas Priory Primary School
|
100% |
Joanna Jones |
Joint Vice- Chair Co-Opted Governor |
26.11.2019 |
26.11.2023 |
None |
English Finance |
None |
100% |
Hannah Willis |
Parent Governor |
23.01.2018 |
22.01.2022 |
None |
SEN Health & Understanding |
None |
100% |
Steve Deall |
Foundation Governor |
05.11.2020 |
05.11.2024 |
None |
RE Life Skills |
None |
100% |
Ivan Lees |
Foundation Governor |
23.01.2018 |
22.01.2022 |
None |
RE Life Skills |
None |
100% |
Sharon Pettigrew |
Joint Vice-Chair Parent Governor |
16.06.2017 |
15.06.2021 |
None |
Pupil Premium EYFS Expressive Arts |
None |
100% |
Donna Bridge |
Former Staff Governor |
26.11.2014 |
25.11.2018 |
None |
Life Skills Finance |
None |
N/A |
Karen Newman |
Staff Governor |
26.11.2018 |
25.11.2022 |
None |
Life Skills Finance |
None |
100% |
Daniel Morris |
Parent Governor |
26.11.2019 |
26.11.2023 |
ICT Support Technician at Ormiston Denes Academy |
Health & Understanding (Computing) |
None |
100% |
Bradley Young |
Headteacher |
01.09.2016 |
Present |
None |
Headteacher |
Academy Advisory Committee ENSFC |
100% |