Rodmersham Primary School Governing Body

 

We are extremely fortunate at Rodmersham School that we have a small but highly effective group of governors who contribute to the school's success by supporting the staff and leadership team and immersing themselves in the planning of the present and future of our school.

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Many people work hard to ensure Rodmersham School is where your child enjoys learning and achieves their full potential. 

 

We are a group of local people who want to contribute positively to your child’s education here at Rodmersham. 

 

What do the governors do?

 

School governing bodies play an essential part in raising school standards. Ofsted (the monitoring body for schools) notes that the most effective schools demonstrate excellent leadership and management, including the governing body.

 

As governors at Rodmersham, we have three important roles to play:

 

Setting strategic direction - setting aims and objectives for the school and the policies and procedures needed to achieve them. We help the school set high standards and targets for school improvement.

 

Ensuring accountability - we monitor and evaluate the progress the school makes against its objectives. We help the school respond to the needs of parents and the community. We also monitor the budget.

 

Acting as a critical friend - we provide support and challenge to the head teacher and teaching staff.

 

How do we do it?

 

Regular meetings

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We hold six full governors’ meetings annually  (two per term), which every governor attends. 

 

Governors’ meetings include a variety of the following:

 

Progress updates from the head teacher and 
other members of staff responsible for particular areas of the school curriculum; the opportunity to challenge and ask questions about the running of the school; the chance to thank staff and congratulate them on successes; discussion of particular problems or issues arising in school and how they can be solved efficiently and effectively; debate about how best to spend specific parts of the budget; approval of school policies and procedures.

 

Governor visits to the school.

 

We all enjoy visiting the school and discovering from the children what they are learning, what they are finding difficult and the progress they feel they are making. All visits are recorded, and any questions are addressed by the head teacher and staff at children at the next governor's meeting. 

 

Other support

 

We provide a whole range of support to the school in other ways, too:

• regular progress meetings with the head teacher and other teaching staff;

• attending visits by external consultants and Ofsted inspectors;

• help with staff recruitment interviews;

• safeguarding;

• supporting school events, productions and trips;

• improving the buildings and premises. 

 

Did you know...?

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Governors come from every walk of life and many parts of the community. 

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Our Governors

Our staff governor is currently Nicky McMullon, Head Teacher.  We also have a range of co-opted and parent governors at the school, and finally, there is one governor appointed by the Local Authority (LA), David Roche, also a resident and our chair of Governors who has been involved with the school since 1988 and chair since '92.  Our Vice Chair, Nigel Simpson, is a co-opted governor and has been with us, on and off, since 2002.   Alun Phillips is our co-opted governors who joined us in 2019.   Ali Saunders (joined in 2020) as one of our parent governors, and Mr Darren Westly and Mrs Natalie Sander joined in October 2023 as a parent governor. Mrs Foord joined as our staff governor in January 2024