Highcliffe Primary School

Governors

The purpose of governance is to provide confident and strong strategic leadership which leads to robust accountability, oversight and assurance for educational and financial performance. Governance has three core functions:

Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the effective and efficient performance management of staff; and
Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.

Within a multi-academy trust such as Lionheart, governance is led by the Trust Board, with some responsibilities delegated to both the Local Governing Body of the school and Hub Governing bodies across a cluster of schools.

Further Trust and governance information including the annual accounts can be by clicking here.

Highcliffe Primary School has a Local Governing Body. Contact the governing body via the Chair of Governors, Bernard Saunders.

Highcliffe Primary School Governors

Parent Governors (elected by parent vote)	Community Governors (appointed by the Governing Body)	Staff Governors (elected by staff vote)
Neil Gilliver Rural Housing April 2016 – March 2020	Charlotte Foy *Business Director* September 2019 – August 2023	Hannah Drury Head of School September 2019
Alex Page April 2016 – March 2020	Rakesh Vaitha September 2019 – August 2023	Michelle Walton Executive Head September 2019
	Paul Ince IT/Social Media Oct 2015 – September 2019
	Bernard Saunders Health & Safety at Leicester Council April 2014 – March 2022
	Karen O’Neill June 2019 – May 2023

Previous Governors 2018-2019

Parent Governors (elected by parent vote)	Community Governors (appointed by the Governing Body)	Staff Governors (elected by staff vote)
	Amisha Chauhan Strategic Commissioning April 2014 –July 2019	Katherine Renshaw Head Teacher January 2016 - July 2019
	Smita Lad Deputy Teacher at a Leicester City Primary July 2015 –July 2019	Vicky Townsend Associate Staff January 2018 – July 2019

Key Responsibilities

Chair	Bernard Saunders
Co Vice-Chair	Paul Ince
Finance	Rakesh Vaitha & Karen O’Neill
Health, Safety & Premises	Bernard Saunders
Safeguarding	Bernard Saunders
Pupil Premium	Alex Page
SEND / Looked After Children	Karen O’Neill
SMSC & British Values	Alex Page
Parent Voice	Neil Gilliver
Education & Data	Paul Ince
Pupil Voice	Charlotte Foy
Business	Charlotte Foy & Paul Ince
Community	Charlotte Foy
Staff Voice	Bernard Saunders
Wellbeing – pupils & staff	Rakesh Vaitha
EYFS	Neil Gilliver

How Can You Contact Us?

If you have a concern about an aspect of life at the school, the best first point of contact is always the class teacher, or the headteacher if it’s a concern about the structures and systems of the school (or if it’s a child protection issue). Staff are very keen to know when things aren’t going smoothly for your child and calling in for a chat or to book an appointment to meet is always the best first step.

Governors look at the big picture, and at procedures and policies that affect large numbers of children. So if you’re concerned about something that just affects your child, speak to the class teacher. If it’s about how we do things in school on a bigger scale, talking it over with a governor can be helpful.

You can contact the chair of governors by email at Bernard.saunders@highcliffe.org.uk
Some governors are usually in school on parents’ evenings and we attend the parent forum meetings.
Parent Governors are often at school dropping off and collecting their own children.
Feel free to chat with one of them if there’s something you’d like them to know.
Or send a note into school with your child labelled ‘Governors’.

A Note About Complaints

If, at any time, a member of the school community has a concern about an aspect of life at the school, the concern will be dealt with by the school as quickly, sympathetically and effectively as possible. It is hoped that most concerns will be settled amicably at this stage.

However, if there is a continuing concern, this can be directed through the formal stages as outlined in the school’s complaints procedure.

I’m interested In Becoming A Governor

All governors are elected for 4 years. When Parent Governor or Staff Governor vacancies become available they are advertised within the parent or staff body and nominations can be made.

Community Governors are appointed by the Governing Body when vacancies arise. If you know of someone with skills which you feel may be valuable to the school, and who you think may be willing to offer the time and commitment required, please contact us.

Trust Organisation

Scheme of Delegation

The Trust operates under a Scheme of Delegation agreed by the Trust Board.

Trust Governance across all layers

Trust Board

Vision and ethos | Strategic direction | Risks and Opportunities | Overall responsibility

Hub Governing Bodies (HGB)

North Hub

South & Central Hub

Cedars Academy: 11-19

Hallam Fields Primary: 4-11

Highcliffe Primary: 4-11

Humphrey Perkins: 11-16

Martin High: 11-16

Riverside Primary: 4-11

Beauchamp College: 11-19

Judgemeadow College: 11-16

Sir Jonathan North College 11-16

Beauchamp City Sixth Form 16-19 (2020-21)

Local Governing Bodies (LGB)

Teaching & Learning | Pupil & Parent & Staff experience | Safeguarding | Business & Community links

Trust Board

The Trust Board has overall responsibility for all governance in the trust and carries the final accountability for this. The focus of the Board is on the big picture, working with the trust Executive Team to set the overall vision for the trust, lead strategically and identify and respond to risks and opportunities.

Hub Governing Bodies

The schools are grouped into geographical governance hubs, which hold the schools to account and take a strategic lead on the back room services, which support the schools within their cluster. They also consider the marketing strategies of the group of schools and plan for developing effective partnerships with local businesses.

Local Governing Bodies

Each school has a Local Governing Body, which holds the school to account for the quality of teaching and learning, the experience of pupils, parents and staff, the processes to ensure safeguarding, and informal links with the local community and businesses. LGBs ensure that school leaders are mindful of the school’s context and work within the overall vision of Lionheart Academies Trust.

Members

The Members of a trust are not involved in the practical running of the organisation and do not take part in governing body or Board meetings, except as occasional observers.

Their role is to ensure that the Board keeps its core priorities at the centre of its work – providing education for children and young people – and retains its stated ethos and values.

Members appoint some of the trustees and, in exceptional circumstances, can remove trustees who they have appointed.

Local Governing Body: Roles and Responsibilities of LGB Governors

Membership	Meetings	Key roles	Attending
2 Parent Governors 1 Staff governor Head Executive Head (where appropriate) 5-8 community governors	LGB meetings 4 meetings per year in line with data snapshots No committees Working parties as needed Trust Finance meetings 5 per year, attended by Finance Governor, Head and business manager, CEO and CFO (or their representative).Staff Health & Safety meeting – attended by one governor in secondary schools.	Business links & careers Community Links Education & Data Finance & grants - Sports Premium, Year 7 catch up Parent Voice Pupil Premium Pupil Voice Safeguarding SEND & Looked After Children SMSC & British Values Wellbeing – staff and pupils EYFS (Primary) 6^th form (if relevant)	Senior leadership team Occasionally and where appropriate: Hub Lead, Hub Chair, CEO, trustees
			Performance Management & Pay
			Pay Committee – agree pay on recommendation from Head following moderation by trust leadership – one autumn meeting Performance management of Head by CEO, external advisor, Chair of LGB & Chair of Trust
Holding the school to account for standards:	Pupil, Parent & Community	Compliance	Ambassadors & Vision
Receive reports on: Development Plan updates End of year results analysis Data snapshots & KPIs including vulnerable groups, more able etc. Information comparing school to national data External quality assurance reports Pupil Premium impact reports Primary Sports Funding impact reports Year 7 catch up funding impact reports Attendance & Behaviour Wellbeing support First hand knowledge: Learning walks linked to Development Plan priorities, mainly as part of trust reviews Annual learning walk to audit safeguarding Annual SEND learning walk Governor links to key subjects Ofsted: Meet with Ofsted to discuss governance in this school	Stakeholder voice: Parent forums & PTAs School Council Community networking Pupil experience: Curriculum offer – consulted on significant changes Enrichment – curriculum and before/after school and holidays Support school in ensuring curriculum and pupil offer match the context of the school’s community Parents as co-educators – hold school to account for: Communication with parents Parent workshops re. curriculum, esafety, etc. Complaints: Carry out Stage 3 complaints process (meeting with Chair or another governor)	Risk: Review risk register Escalate concerns to Board Compliance – hold school to account for: Safeguarding & Prevent British Values Equality Health & safety – fire practice reports, near misses, RIDDOR, accidents Exclusions: Monitor exclusions, behaviour partnership arrangements, managed moves Receive representations from parents in relation to exclusions Local policies: Agree local policies Monitor implementation of trust/hub policies	Ambassadors: Hold school to account for PR, marketing, pupil recruitment Act as ambassadors for the school Act as ambassadors for the Trust Build positive relationship with PTA Build networks with stakeholders and alumni to benefit the school and build a benevolent community Build networks with businesses & useful community/education providers Encourage school to engage in appropriate fundraising activities and enterprise Vision & ethos: Ensure the vision for the school matches the community context, within the wider Trust vision Holding the school to account for a positive, aspirational ethos

Governors Register of Business Interests

Please click here to see the Governors Register of Business Interests.

Governors Attendance 2018 - 2019

Please click here to see the Governors Attendance.