What does the Governing Body do?

The role of the Governing Body is not to manage the school on a day-to-day basis - that is what the Head Teacher is paid to do. The Governing Body take a more strategic view. They are responsible for setting the overall aims and objectives of a school, and adopting policies and setting targets in pursuit of these. They work closely with the Head Teacher, and provide "constructive challenge" to the school.

The Government lay down requirements for the composition of a Governing Body, but there is some flexibility within this for a school to decide the exact balance of different roles. In general, Governing Bodies represent the various stakeholders in a school; the local community, the Local Authority, parents and school staff. The Governing Body for Wrenbury Primary School is described below. Other schools may have a slightly different composition. In particular, Wrenbury is not a Church School, so there is no formal involvement of the Established Church (although those associated with the church are of course free to join the Governing Body on an individual basis).

The standard term of office for Wrenbury governors is four years, although the election and nomination processes differ considerably for various types of governor, as described below.

Governing Body composition

The Head Teacher: The Head Teacher is automatically a Governor.
A teacher governor: One teacher, other than the Head, to be balloted among all teachers if there is more than one nomination.
A non-teacher governor: One other school employee, such as Teaching Assistant or administrative support. All three of these school-based Governors remain on the Governing Body only while they are employed at the school. Should they retire or resign, a new nomination is required.
Parent Governors: Five Governors who are parents or carers of children enrolled at the school at the time of their appointment. Should their child(ren) leave Wrenbury during their term of office, they continue for the full four years. Vacancies for Parent Governors must be notified to all parents and nominations requested. A ballot of all parents is held if there are more nominations than posts available. The retiring Parent Governor(s) can stand for re-election if they still have a child at the school, but not otherwise. It is quite common for Parent Governors to become Community Governors if they wish to maintain a formal involvement with the school after their children have left. Should insufficient nominations be received, the Governing Body can nominate parents of former pupils or those still under school age to serve instead.
Community Governors: Four Governors invited to serve by the Governing Body themselves as being representative of the interests of the local community. Community Governors can be reappointed an indefinite number of times at the end of their four year terms, and these often provide continuity and experience for a Governing Body.
Local Authority Governors: Three Governors appointed by the major political parties to represent Local Authority interests. Although appointed by the political parties, they do not have to be party members or take a party whip. These may also be indefinite re-appointments.

Governing Body members

The present Governing Body is made up as follows:

Type of Governor	Name	Term ends	Office
Head Teacher	Justine Joule	Indefinite
Teacher	Charlotte Spencer-Bee	Oct. 2009
Non-teacher	Debbie Rowlands	Nov. 2008
Parent	Rachel Bulkley	Jul. 2010
	Mark Draper	Oct. 2008	Chair of Curriculum
	John Robinson	Oct. 2008	Chair of Finance
	Ros Wallis	Oct. 2010
	Ian Wilkinson	Oct. 2008	Vice Chair
Community	Irene Black	Nov. 2009
	Carol Hulland	Jun. 2011
	Ruth Whitehead	Jun. 2010	Chair of Personnel
	(vacancy)
Local Authority	Eddie Forshaw	Nov. 2008	Chair of Governors
	Steve Parsons	Oct. 2009	Chair of Buildings and Premises
	(vacancy)

Governing Body meetings

Formal Governing Body meetings are held termly. Other sub-committees meet as required, but generally also termly.

Governing Body meetings are in two parts. Part 1 is a public discussion, and minutes of these meetings are in the public domain. Having said that, the County Council send minutes only to GB members, so they are not actively published, but anybody may request to see a copy of the minutes at school. Part 2 of the meeting is a confidential discussion, and these minutes are not available to the public. Typical topics for Part 2 would include personnel matters related to named staff members or future plans for the school that are not yet public information.

Governing Body reports

It used to be a statutory requirement that Governing Bodies issued an annual report to parents, and hold an annual Parents' Meeting. However, this was recinded in 2005 with the intention of replacing both of these items with an on-line information system that would give everybody up to date information about the school in real time. In true Whitehall fashion, the on-line system has been delayed, so at the moment there is a gap in the public reporting of schools' activities.