The Governing Body of St Monica's Catholic Primary School

We have a passionate and knowledgeable Governing Board here in St Monica's, with strong ties to our parish and community. 

The role of our Governing Body is to provide strategic management and to act as a ‘critical friend’, supporting and challenging St Monica's.

Governors are volunteers and the overall Governing Body is made up of a number of different types of Governor. Our Governing Body consists of different types of Governor:  

• Parent governors 
• Staff governors
• Foundation governors 
• Local Authority governor
• Associate Governor

Role of Foundation Governors:

Although all of the governors have the responsibility to promote and maintain the school’s Catholic character and mission, the foundation governors have special responsibility in this area. The CES document ‘Governing a Catholic School’ (1998) gives this summary of their role.

Foundation governors are appointed by the Bishop specifically to ensure:

• that the religious character of the school is preserved;
• that the school is conducted in accordance with its trust deed (ie the diocesan trust deed);
• that the religious education curriculum is in accordance with the bishop’s policy for his diocese, based on the Bishops’ Conference Curriculum Directory.’

Foundation governors in Voluntary Aided schools with a religious character have additional legal duties. They are:

• in employing teachers, ‘whenever possible, they should appoint Catholic teachers in order to promote and maintain the Catholic ethos of the school.’ They must appoint practising Catholics to the posts of headteacher, deputy headteacher and co-ordinator or head of Religious Education.
• admitting children ‘first and foremost on religious grounds’, by giving priority for admission to baptised Catholic children;
• ensuring that the whole curriculum, including religious education, ‘is taught in the light of gospel values and actively promotes the spiritual and moral development of the pupils’.

Role of Staff Governors

• Staff governors are elected by staff in school. There is a teaching or support staff member on the governing body and they serve a four year term.

 
Role of Parent Governors

• Parent governors are elected by parents of the school. . It is important that parent governors can give a fair and accurate representation of parental opinion on matters of importance. Care must, however, be taken if they are approached by another parent with a complaint about the school, in which case the parent concerned should be referred to the school’s complaints policy. They vote, however, according to their own conscience and with the well being of the school foremost in mind.

Local Authority Governors

• Their role is to represent the Local Authority, but they do not have to vote in agreement with the views of the Authority. Alongside all other governors, their duty is to put the best interests of the school first.

Associate Governor

• An associate governor is individual appointed to a school's governing body or its committees for their specific expertise, rather than being a full governor with full voting rights.

 

 

Clerk to the Governors: Mrs C. Price