The Grantham Villages' Church of England Primary Schools Federation Governing Board

The Clerk to the Governing Board - Mrs Debra Davenport

You can contact the Governing Board by message or by letter via the school office or by sending an e-mail for the attention of the Chair or Clerk via: amy.parnham@gvsf.school 

Telephone:  01400 250583

Our Governors 

Our current Governing Board is made up as follows:

Governors who have served within the last 12 months:

Governors' Register of Business Interest 2024-2025

Register of Panels, Working Panels and Areas of Responsibility

2024-2025

  Responsibility and Authority of the Governors

• The responsibility for educating pupils falls primarily on the staff and the day-to-day running of the school is the responsibility of the executive Headteacher, but it is the Governing Board that is ultimately responsible for the school's performance.
• The Governing Board executes its responsibilities collectively. It may assign specific tasks to a panel or a working group, but individual governors do not have any authority or right to act on behalf of the Governing Board.
• Action falling to the Governing Board that cannot wait for a previously arranged meeting of the Governing Board (or for an Extraordinary Meeting) is taken by the Chair of Governors or by the Vice-Chair if the Chair is not available. This is only in circumstances where delay is likely to be seriously detrimental to the interests of the schools, a pupil, parent or a member of staff.

What Do Governors Do?

The governing board helps to run the school by making strategic decisions about finances, premises and curriculum and offers support and guidance to the Executive Headteacher and the staff. The day-to-day running of the school is done by the Executive Headteacher and the staff and the governing body rely on the Executive Headteacher to advise them.

Circle of Governance - Whole Governing Board Approach

The Governing Board elected to operate the Circle Model of Governance, in which all Governors attend all Governing Board meetings. These meetings are held 1 per term (6 meetings per year) and have alternating focus: Finance & Resources (F&R) and Curriculum & Standards (C&S).  

The purpose of governance is to provide confident, strategic leadership and to create robust accountability, oversight and assurance for educational and financial performance. The Governing Board has resolved to conduct all its business as a full Governing Board, and to work collectively without committees.

The Governing Board has three strategic core functions:

• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
• Holding the Executive Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the performance management of staff; and
• Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

This involves:

• Helping to decide the school's strategy for improvement;
• Supporting and strengthening the leadership of the Executive Headteacher;
• Monitoring and evaluating the schools' effectiveness;
• Asking challenging questions and pressing for improvement;
• Receiving reports from the Executive Headteacher and other staff on the schools' performance;
• Discussing and questioning the Executive Headteacher's proposals and strategies;
• Answering to parents and to the wider local community for the actions of the Governing Board and the schools' overall performance.

How Do Governors Work

The Governing Board is made up of a number of different types of governors and the normal term of office is four years. We reconstituted in December 2019 and our Instrument of Government is for a Board of 12 members made up as follows:

• 2 Parent Governors;
• 1 Local Authority Governor;
• 1 Staff Governor;
• 1 Headteacher;
• 7 Foundation Governors.

After four years, any governor who wishes to remain on the Governing Board can offer to stand for a further term of office and (if no-one else has expressed an interest in the position) be re-elected or reconfirmed in his/her position.

• Parent Governors: If you are a parent of a pupil(s) at the school or the primary carer, you can stand for election as one of the 2 parent governor positions (once a parent governor post becomes vacant). If more than one parent expresses an interest in filling a vacancy, elections are held in which all parents can vote. Parent governors do not formally represent parents on the Governing Board although they are a link between parents and the Governing Board and will be in tune with parents' views. However, individual parent governors have no authority - authority rests with the Governing Board as a whole.
• Local Authority Governor: A Governor normally nominated by the local education authority (i.e. Lincolnshire County Council) then appointed by the Governing Board.
• Staff Governor: A member of staff paid to work at the schools and elected by the staff.
• Executive Headteacher: An ex-officio member of the Governing Board i.e. a Governor by virtue of their job. If the Executive Headteacher elects not to be a Governor than his/her place cannot be taken by anyone else.
• Foundation Governors: A Governor normally appointed by the Diocesan Board of Education or the local Parochial Church Council (PCC)  and is a member of the St Mary's (Marston) or  St Sebastian’s (Great Gonerby) church community to ensure the school preserves its Christian character.

More information can be found on the Lincolnshire County Council website  and Diocese of Lincoln Board of Education

• We meet as a full Governing Board once every term. Extraordinary meetings are arranged if circumstances warrant such action.
• We have elected a Chair and Vice-Chair from amongst the existing members of the Governing Board (employees at the School cannot be elected to these positions).
• The Governing Board also has a Clerk who advises the Governing Board on the nature of its functions, arranges its meetings, circulates the agenda and papers, takes minutes of full meetings of the Governing Board, and circulates information to Governors from the Local Authority.

Governing Board Diversity Data

The Grantham Villages' CE Primary School Federation Governing Board believe it is important that Governing Boards reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.  Diverse Boards promote inclusive environments and provide diverse role models for staff and young people.

The GVSF governing board collects data on the diversity of the governors, including data on age, gender and ethnicity.

That data is used to :

• inform recruitment and training needs
• accessibility and to ensure there is always a diverse range of perspectives around the table to support robust decision making.

Due to the relatively small governing board, the governors have agreed not to publish this diversity data online as individual governors could be identified and they have a legal obligation to protect personal data.

Vacancies on the Governing Board

The Governing Board of Grantham Villages' CE Primary Schools Federation currently has two Foundation Governor vacancies.  

Minutes of Governing Board Meetings

Minutes of Governors' meetings are available on request from the school office.