Patcham Junior School

Governors

Governors’ Role

The governors’ role is to oversee the strategy of the school; to act as a sounding board for issues being reviewed within the school and to ensure that the school is accountable to all stakeholders including parents, staff, pupils, Brighton and Hove Local Authority and the local community. Governors are not involved in the day to day running of the school, which is managed by the Senior Leadership Team. The Department for Education (DfE) has a guide for governors: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/governance-in-maintained-schools and all agree to act according to the PJS Governors Code of Conduct 2024.

The full governing body usually meets three times a term. Its functions include but are not limited to ensuring:

- that the vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school are clearly defined
- that the headteacher performs their responsibilities for the educational performance of the school
- the sound, proper and effective use of the school’s financial resources

Structure of the Governing Body

The legal structure allows for: 3 elected parent governors, 1 local authority governor, 1 elected staff governor, 1 headteacher staff governor and 9 co-opted governors. The staff governor is elected from and by the staffing body and parent governors are elected from and by the parent body. The local authority governor is appointed by the governing body and approved by the local authority. With the exception of the Headteacher governor, all governors are appointed for a term of 4 years, may resign at any time and are not automatically reappointed at the end of their term. The Headteacher may choose to be a Headteacher governor. The full governing body may also appoint associate members, who do not have a vote at full governing body meetings, on the basis of their skills, to support them in their work. All appointments by the governing body are entirely guided by the skills and experience offered by the individuals in order to make the governance of the school effective. Diversity is important and we collect diversity data from its members. It is confidential but is regularly analysed and used in recruitment and training.

Decisions are mostly made by the full governing body apart from those taken by the pay committee, with terms of reference here . Powers have not been delegated to individual governors.

Click here to find out who is in the governing body at Patcham Junior School. To read the minutes of meetings click here.

Vacancies

There are three vacancies for co-opted governors at the moment. We would be interested to hear from potential volunteers who have an interest in school improvement and have skills and experience in any of: being a parent/carer of a child currently at the school, Finance, Human Resources (HR), Business, reflect the diversity of or have links in the Patcham community. We will also be seeking nominations for a parent governor early in the autumn term as a current governor's term is expiring.

Governors are all volunteers who wish to make a positive contribution to the school and the education of all its students and governors find it a rewarding experience. The governing body’s overriding responsibility is to work in partnership with the Headteacher, to promote the continuous improvement in the performance of the school. We play an important part in raising school standards through our three key roles.

We take training seriously and there is a full induction programme for new governors and excellent training provided by the local authority to ensure we maintain the skills necessary to fulfil our role.

If you are interested in joining or assisting the governing body, please contact the Chair of governors marionrajan@patchamjun.brighton-hove.sch.uk for further information and an application form is here. Further information is also available from:

http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/children-and-education/schools/school-governors

Becoming a School Governor in Brighton and Hove

What am I letting myself in for?
In serving as a governor, you would need to commit to attending three evening meetings per term, take time to attend governor training courses and get to know the school, including working with school staff to understand the school’s plans and activities by visiting the school, perhaps once per term. In time you would be expected to develop an area of specialism and contribute to working groups as required from time to time as appropriate.