Our Governors

Welcome:

We are very proud to be school governors of The Beacon CE Primary School, an outstanding school, recognised by OFSTED as such in 2014 and SIAMS in 2016.

On the 1st December 2017, our school joined the Liverpool Diocesan Schools Academy Trust (LDST).

As a Local Governing Body (LGB), within the Multi Academy Trust (MAT), we have delegated powers under the LDST Scheme of Delegation to oversee the running of the school and have responsibility for day to day operational matters. Some of these powers have been delegated to committees or to the Headteacher but with the understanding that the ultimate responsibility lies with the LGB.

The school is accountable to us as the LGB and we are accountable to the Board of Directors of the Trust.

Governance arrangements

Under the LDST Scheme of Delegation, our LGB consists of 15 members -

• 1 Staff governor – elected by staff
• 3 LDST foundation governors (appointed with particular reference to their Christian faith)
• 4 Parent governors – elected by parents
• 6 Co-opted governors – appointed by governing body
• Headteacher - Ex-Officio member

Our foundation governors, together with other governors, have a responsibility to preserve and develop the school’s religious character in accordance with the principles of the Church of England.

Our close links with St George’s Parish Church are a crucial part of maintaining, delivering and developing our Christian ethos and identity and ensuring that the school’s Mission Statement, Christian Values and Aims are embedded in all aspects of school life.

The SIAMS INSPECTION in March 2016 judged the school to be outstanding in all areas.

A Chair and Vice Chair are elected annually by the LGB and formally approved by the LDST. The Chair in 2018 is Mr Neil Lockwood and the Vice Chair is Mrs Margaret Rowlands.

The Clerk to the Governors, Mr Terry Brown, is employed through a Service Level Agreement with the Local Authority. The Clerk works closely with the Headteacher and Chair, arranges the agendas for the meetings, takes and distributes minutes and advises on procedural matters.

Governing Body Structure as of 1st October 2018

Name	Category of Governor	Appointed By	Term of Office	Roles & Committees	Declaration of Interest
Mr Neil John Lockwood	Co-opted	Governing Body	03/10/16 - 02/10/20 4 Years	Chair of Governors	Director of LDST
				Ex Officio member of all committees Chair of Staffing and Pay
				Maths Link
Mrs Sally Aspinwall	Headteacher	Governing Body	N/A	Ex Officio member of all committees (except Discipline and Grievance)	Employee of the school
Mrs Irene Linda Sutter	Foundation	Diocese / St George's PCC	21/07/14 - 20/07/18 4 Years	Christian Distinctiveness Rights respecting Schools Link Governor	None
Miss Jennifer Anne Jarman	Foundation	Diocese / St George's PCC	03/10/16 - 02/10/20 4 Years	Safeguarding Governor	None
Rev. Adam Maynard	Foundation	Diocese / St George's PCC	TBC	Christian Distinctiveness P4C and Antibullying Link Governor	None
Miss Cynthia Margaret Carmichael	Co-opted	Governing Body	18/09/17 - 17/09/21 4 Years	Pay & Staffing, Finance & Premises Committees Admissions	None
Mrs Ann Nicola Charters	Co-opted	Governing Body	10/10/16 -  09/10/20 4 Years	Finance & Premises Committee Christian Distinctiveness	Employee of the school
Ms Suzanne Romano	Co-opted	Governing Body	14/10/17 - 13/10/21 4 Years	Pay and Staffing, Discipline Committee,	None
Mrs Margaret Rowlands	Co-opted	Governing Body	29/01/18 - 28/01/22 4 Years	Vice Chair of Governors Pay & Staffing, Finance & Premises Committees (Chair) Discipline Committee (Chair) Admissions (Chair)	None
				Interim Health and Safety Governor Pupil Premium Governor
Mr John  Morrin	Co-opted	Governing Body	19/3/18 -18/3/22 4 Years	Admissions E-Safety Link Governor	Employee of St Michael's High School
Miss Jo-Anne Cashmore	Parent	Parent Election	02/11/16 - 31/10/20 4 Years	Christian Distinctiveness English and Reading Link	None
Mr Simon Mark Till	Parent	Parent Election	03/10/16 - 02/10/20 4 Years	Pay & Staffing Committee	None
Mr Gary Anthony Grue	Parent	Parent Election	01/06/18 - 31/05/22 4 Years		TBC
Ms Samantha Yvonne Rylands	Parent	Parent Election	01/06/18 - 31/05/22 4 Years	SEND Governor	TBC
Mrs Jacqueline Donoghue	Staff	Staff Election	01/12/14 - 29/11/18 4 Years		Employee of the school

 

 

Committees 2018

The Governing Body has a number of committees who meet to consider different aspects of the school in detail. These committees work to agreed Terms of Reference and are accountable for their actions to the LGB and ultimately to the Trust.

The Christian Distinctiveness Committee: Ensures the vision and ethos of the school is consistent with the distinctive Christian vision of LDST.

Chair of Committee 2018: TBC

The Finance and Premises Committee - The Committee is responsible for operating the Trust and school’s finance policies, for managing the school’s budget and for holding regular monitoring meetings. The committee also considers and monitors the premises and health and safety aspects in school.

Chair of Committee 2018: Mrs Margaret Rowlands

The Staffing and Pay Committee – The Committee

• is responsible for setting the overall staffing structure
• monitors the appraisal of all teaching staff and agrees pay progression
• agrees governors to appraise the performance of the Head Teacher annually and within pay limits decides on pay discretions based on this appraisal. The Governors are supported by an external advisor from the Trust.
• agrees and monitors all Trust and school level staffing and pay policies

Chair of Committee 2018: Mr Neil John Lockwood

The Admissions Committee - The Committee

• determines within statutory provisions the admissions arrangements annually and makes recommendations for changes to the governing body
• agrees the Admissions Policy annually

Chair of Committee 2018: TBC also a Foundation Governor TBC

The Discipline Committee - The Committee is the formal discipline committee which deals with matters of pupil exclusion. The Headteacher is not a member of this committee.

Chair of Committee 2018: Mrs Margaret Rowlands

In addition, we also have an Appeals Committee which meets when necessary.

Individual governors have been appointed to closely monitor:

• Health and Safety – Interim responsibility Mrs M Rowlands
• Pupil Premium - Mrs M Rowlands
• Special Educational Needs – MS S Rylands
• Safeguarding – Ms J Jarman

We have link governors for:

• English and Reading – Miss J Cashmore
• Maths – Mrs N Lockwood
• Right’s Respecting School – Mrs I Sutter
• E- Safety - Mr J Morrin
• P4C and Antibullying - Mr A Maynard

Governance Review for 2017-2018.

Autumn Term

• A full analysis of the school’s results, the best the school had ever achieved, enabled the Governors to agree the School’s Improvement Plan for the coming year.
• Headteacher’s Report for the summer term 2017 (including standards and attendance), presented and discussed at LGB.
• An extension to our memorandum of understanding was agreed with Bishop Martin CE Primary our partner school, with both schools continuing to benefit from this relationship.
• Staffing and Pay Governors met to monitor the school’s performance management and appraisal of teachers and agreed pay progressions.
• Headteacher’s appraisal was completed with support and advice from a Local Authority School Improvement Partner.
• Pupil Premium Governor met with the Assistant Headteacher to discuss the Pupil Premium Strategy and impact from previous year.
• Invited governors attended the Liverpool Diocese Schools Trust’s (LDST) Vision Day.
• We officially became a member school of the LDST on December 1^s 2017.

Spring Term

• After the December conversion, the Local Governing Body (LGB) agreed committees for the schools LGB under the LDST Scheme of Delegation. 
• Finance governors reviewed the change-over from LA to Trust systems including payroll and budget monitoring.
• One of the roles of the LGB is reviewing and agreeing school policies and the Governing Body has ensured that all statutory policies have been or will be reviewed within the next year and that the webpage is compliant.
• Governors consulted on and gained agreement for a change in our Pupil Admission Number (PAN) from 30 to 60.
• Governors completed the Headteacher’s half termly appraisal.
• Headteacher’s Report for the autumn term, including standards and attendance, presented and discussed at LGB.
• A governor was involved in new staff appointments for September 2019
• SLT presented standards updates to the LGB.
• SLT gave a full overview of progress on School Improvement Plan (SIP) for 2017-2018 to the LGB
• Pupil Premium Governor met with the Assistant Headteacher to discuss progress on the strategy, a report was tabled to the LGB. Impact of strategy updated on school’s website
• The Safeguarding Governor completed a Safeguarding Learning Walk including discussion with relevant staff.
• A governor completed a Health and Safety Learning Walk.

Summer term

• Headteacher’s Report for the spring term presented and discussed at LGB.
• SENDCo and Sports Lead reported to Finance Governors on the impact of the funding received, updated reports were published on the school website.
• Plans for further extensions to the school were submitted to planning
• At the end of the school year the Governing Body began the process of analysing assessment data for 2018 and agreeing the priorities for the 2018/19 School Improvement Plan. 
• Governors continue to be fully involved and informed on the developments in the LDST
• Governors completed a skills audit, this identified the skills and knowledge across the Governing Body as well as identifying any skills gaps which might require further training to be put in place.
• Finance governors reviewed the budget for the academic year 2018-2019
• Governors reviewed and agreed an updated memorandum of understanding with Bishop Martin following their conversion to academy status within the LDST.
• The staffing structure for 2018-19 was agreed. A governor was involved in the appointment of a temporary Teaching and Learning responsibility.
• Governors attended and presented awards at the end of year Awards Celebration.

Policies reviewed/adopted within the year –

• Ethos and Values Statement
• Child Protection Policy
• Allegations against Staff
• Pay Policy
• Anti-Bullying Policy
• External Visitor Policy
• School Emergency Management Plan (SEMP)
• Lockdown Policy and Procedures
• Equality Policy and Plan
• Online Safety Policy and Acceptable Use Policies for KS1 and KS2

The responsibility for the review and adoption of some policies have been delegated to the Headteacher and can be found on the school’s website.

Training

Individual governors have attended training on:

• Safeguarding 
• Pupil Premium
• Inspection Data Summary Report (IDSR)
• GDPR
• Converting to an Academy
• Safer Recruitment
• SEND Provision
• New SIAMS Framework

Governors attended the annual whole school safeguarding training.

Governors’ future plans

In addition to the established monitoring and evaluation schedule the Governing Body will also: 

• Continue to focus on our pupils’ attainment and well-being.
• Support and challenge on the school’s improvement plan
• Continue to be involved in the development of the LDST
• Continue to develop and strengthen the working relationship with our partner school
• Plan for the further extension to the school building to accommodate the increasing pupil numbers.

How you can contact the Governing Body

We always welcome suggestions, feedback and ideas from parents – please contact the Chair of Governors, Neil Lockwood, via the school office.

a.mcgurk@ldst.org.uk

Information on Governors 2017-2018

Name	Category  of  Governor	Business and Pecuniary Interests	Full Board	Finance	Pay	Staffing	Discipline	HT Appraisal
Number of meetings			6/6	5/5	1/1	2/2	1/1	2/2
Mr Neil John Lockwood	Co-opted	None declared	6/6	5/5	1/1	2/2	1/1	2/2
Mrs Sally Aspinwall	Headteacher	Headteacher of the school Executive Headteacher of Bishop Martin CE School	5/6	5/5	1/1	2/2		2/2
Miss Jennifer Anne Jarman	Foundation	None declared	5/6
Mrs Irene Linda Sutter	Foundation	None declared	4/6
Miss Cynthia Margaret Carmichael	Co-opted	None declared	6/6	4/5	1/1
Mrs Ann Nicola Charters	Co-opted	Employee of the school	6/6	5/5
Mr John Morrin	Co-opted Appointed within the year	Employee Of St Michael's Academy, Crosby	3/3
Ms Suzanne Romano	Co-opted	None declared	2/6		0/1	0/2
Mrs Margaret Rowlands	Co-opted	None declared	5/6	5/5	1/1	2/2	1/1	2/2
Miss Jo-Anne Cashmore	Parent	None declared	4/6				1/1
Mr Gary Anthony Grue	Parent Appointed wihtin the year	None declared	2/2
Mr Simon Mark Till	Parent	None declared	6/6		1/1	2/2
Ms Samantha  Yvonne Rylands	Parent Appointed within the year	None declared	2/2
Mrs Jacqueline Donoghue	Staff	Employee of the school	6/6