Kingsbridge Primary School

Governors News

Welcome to Kingsbridge Community Primary School from the Governing Body.

I am sure you were pleased to read the good report that the Ofsted inspectors gave the school, complimenting teachers, support staff, parents and pupils. They also said that our governors are “helpful, challenging, knowledgeable and supportive” and “carry out their duties well.”

The Governing Body of Kingsbridge Community Primary School and the Management Committee of St Malo Pre-School have committed to form a Partnership Foundation Stage Unit on site to allow us to work more closely together.  The integration will be gradual but the most obvious sign will be a new, purpose-built building between the existing foundation classrooms and the St Malo unit.

This building is planned to be completed by September 2008 and will house the Kingsbridge Area Sure-Start Children’s Centre on the upper ground floor and the PFSU on the lower ground floor. For security, there will be no access between the two storeys.

This means that our Reception children will move into two brand new classrooms, one each for the September and January intake. There will be a separate classroom for the pre-school children and a shared outside play area. The primary school will continue to welcome into Reception those children who have attended other pre-schools in the area, such as Treetops or Tresillian. 

Another area that the Governing Body is working on is to be accredited to the Financial Management Systems in Schools scheme.  We hope to achieve this later this year.

Becoming a Governor

We have 18 governors at Kingsbridge Community Primary School made up of representatives from Staff, Parents and the Community. Occasionally, we have a vacancy on the Governing Body.  Could you give your time to the vital job of maintaining and improving the quality of education that your child receives? 

You will need the time, energy and commitment to support the school.  Each term there are one or two full governors’ meetings, held in school at 6.15pm. Each governor is encouraged to join a smaller committee of about eight governors – either Finance, Premises and Health & Safety, Personnel, Strategic Planning or Curriculum & SEN.  From time to time, we set up Working Parties to tackle other issues; at the moment we have four governors looking into the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act.

Most governors also take on the role of liaising with one of the teachers to become more familiar with a particular subject from the curriculum and finding out how improvements are being made in that area.  The time commitment for a governor is about eight hours a month including preparing for the meetings by reading the information that would be sent to you.

You do not need to be an “expert” or have specialist knowledge in order to become a governor. Excellent free training is offered to all governors by Devon County Council and more experienced governors will support you as you find your feet.  Any decisions that are made are collectively made as a team and no governor should feel that they have to “go it alone.”

If you work, your employer must, by law, allow you reasonable time off work in order to fulfil your role as a governor. Many employers recognise the benefits of their staff becoming governors and will grant paid leave.  The role is voluntary so we cannot pay you an attendance allowance or compensate for any loss of earnings but we will pay any out of pocket expenses, for example childcare costs.

Peter Burner, our Headteacher, has responsibility for the day to day management of the school but the Governing Body has a wide range of powers and responsibilities for the general conduct and running of it. The relationship between the Governing Body and the Headteacher is a very close one, based on partnership but the Governing Body is not a supporters club and one important role is to question the way the school operates so that standards and the performance of the school are raised. By supporting the work of the Headteacher and the staff and acting as a “challenging friend” we aim to ensure every child in our school reaches his or her full potential.

If you are interested in becoming a school governor, please contact the School Office or talk to the Headteacher, Peter Burner or Kate Parsons, Chair of Governors.          

Kate Parsons

Chair of Governors

February 2008