As Governors we will work with staff and parents to help children enjoy their learning and achieve of their best in all aspects of school life. Our vision for our children is evidenced in the school statement, ‘Aspire, Believe, Achieve’.

Roles and Responsibilities

The Governing Body at St Matthias works in partnership with the Headteacher, the Diocesan Board of Education and the community of the school to provide the best possible education for its pupils. It has three key roles:

1. Working Strategically

Defining the school values, vision and aims, to discuss, agree and continually evaluate strategic plans and policies. To have an input into school development plans, to include curriculum development, which cover the school’s immediate future and show the longer term progress the school will make over the next three to five years.

2. Acting as a Critical Friend

Supporting the Headteacher and staff, as well as constructively challenging and building on their expectations to ensure the best possible outcomes for children are achieved.

3. Ensuring Accountability

Governors answer for their decisions and the school performance to key stakeholders- parents, carers, and staff. To achieve this they work closely with the Headteacher to ensure a cycle of continual improvement.  Governors are individually linked with SDP priorities and undertake regular visits to school relating to their specific responsibilities

Vision statement

As Governors we work with staff and parents to help our children enjoy learning, achieve their potential and to secure the best possible outcomes for the children. We do this by:

• Ensuring that all our pupils enjoy and benefit from the highest quality of teaching and learning, delivered by a team of teachers and support staff who are pupil centred, passionate about their roles / responsibilities and who are experts in their field
• Ensuring that the school is financially sound, making best use of its income in ways which have a positive impact on the quality of teaching and learning, achievement, assessment and pupils’ experience of school
• Ensuring support for all groups of children, to include boys, girls, more able, vulnerable learners, EAL, pupil premium and children with special educational and/or medical needs is of the highest standard so all children are supported to achieve their best
• Evaluating the school’s effectiveness and benchmarking performance against other schools locally and nationally.
• Sustaining the distinctive Christian ethos of our school and its focus on Christian values to enable pupils to grow and develop in a loving, caring community where the very best standards of conduct, moral purpose, integrity and concern for others are the norm.
• Ensuring the school remains up to date with current educational thinking and is fully compliant with national / educational expectations
• Ensuring that all stakeholders have the opportunity to contribute to the development of the school and the quality of education it provides through the sharing of ideas, developments, achievements, celebrations, needs and concerns
• Helping to create and sustain a school community in which all parents and carers, pupils, staff and visitors feel welcomed and valued.
• Working in collaboration with other schools in our local community and the wider education community to ensure that all pupils receive the best provision possible and that transition between schools and /or key stages is as smooth as possible

 

Monitoring – how we set and maintain focus on our goals

School Self-Evaluation is an ongoing process which recognises school achievements / improvements and identifies next steps for development. Our self-evaluation is supported by regular monitoring and evidence trails, to include Raise-on-line and other relevant key performance indicators. This information is summarised in the School Self Evaluation (SSE) document which is updated on a termly basis.

From this, a three year School Development Plan (SDP) is put in place to capture our aspirations. The SDP identifies key areas for improvement and establishes a rolling programme of robust actions to fulfil the immediate and long term requirements of our pupils and other stakeholders, whilst maintaining the financial viability of the school. Governors and Senior Leaders work together in the creation of the SDP and the Headteacher, along with key staff and Senior Leaders, holds responsibility for fulfilling the priorities. The Headteacher reports termly to the FGB on progress towards targets and Governors’ visits allow them to evidence progress independently. Outcomes are used to inform future strategies and goals.

The SDP informs targets for staff. Teacher’s performance is managed robustly and is part of an ongoing assessment process, used as a basis for salary progression. A full analysis of teacher performance is discussed by the Pay Committee of the Governing Body in the autumn term. Non-teaching staff take part in an annual professional review to examine achievements and look at next steps in performance.