Meet The Governors

The Grantham Villages' Church of England Primary Schools Federation Governing Body 2020-2021

Chair of Governors - Mrs Anne Schaanning

Vice-Chair of Governors - Mr Gordon Cannon

The Clerk to the Governing body services are provided by Nottinghamshire County Council Governor Support Service.

You can contact the Governing Body 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

Please click on the link below to learn more about the Federation's governors.

* Great Gonerby Parochial Church Council; ** Marston St Mary's Parochial Church Council; 

*** Elected by parent/carers/staff of Marston Thorold's Primary School and St.Sebastian's Primary School; 

LDBE Lincoln Diocesan Board of Education; LCC Lincoln City Council.

Governors who have served within the last 12 months:

Register of Panels, Areas of Responsibility & Pecuniary Interests 

 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 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 to 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 headteacher and the staff. The day-to-day running of the school is done by the headteacher and the staff and the governing board rely on the head 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 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 headteacher;
• Monitoring and evaluating the schools' effectiveness;
• Asking challenging questions and pressing for improvement;
• Receiving reports from the Headteacher and other staff on the schools' performance;
• Discussing and questioning the 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 14 members made up as follows:

• 2 Parent Governors;
• 1 Local Authority Governor;
• 1 Staff Governor;
• 1 Headteacher;
• 9 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 appointed by the local education authority (i.e. Lincolnshire County Council).

Staff Governor: A member of staff paid to work at the schools and elected by the staff.

Headteacher: An ex-officio member of the Governing Board i.e. a Governor by virtue of their job. If the 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 (i.e. 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.

Vacancies on the Governing Body

The Governing Board of Grantham Villages' CE Primary Schools Federation has the following vacancies:

• 4 x Foundation Governor

If you would like more information on the Role of the Foundation Governor in our schools, please click on the document below.   

If you have any questions about the role, please contact the Chair of Governors via the school office.

Governing Body Meetings

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