The Role of the Governing Body:

The Governing Body provides strategic direction and acts as a ‘critical friend’, supporting and also challenging the school to continuously improve.  It monitors and evaluates pupil progress, has overall responsibility for the school budget and contributes to school development plans. As Holy Family is a voluntary aided school with a religious character, the governing body is the employer and has a legal responsibility to ensure that the school is conducted according to Christian values and the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Meetings and Committees:

The business of the governing body is conducted at formal meetings.  The full governing body and the smaller committees meet at least once a term.  A wide range of school issues is discussed including the curriculum, academic performance, budgets, staff needs, health and safety and the school buildings.

There are 3 full Governing Body meetings a year as well as 3 sub-committee meetings per term. These sub-committees are:

Curriculum and Standards:  

The main roles of this committee are:

• To review regularly the School Mission Statement
• To review regularly the School Development Plan
• To review regularly curricular aims
• To review school procedures for National Curriculum assessments and SAT results.
• To receive information regarding how the curriculum is delivered, resourced and evaluated and make the necessary recommendations to the Finance Committee on resource levels for curriculum implementation.

SEND, Safeguarding & EYFS:

The main roles of this committee are:

• To ensure that the Code of Practice for children with Special Educational Needs is met.
• To ensure the school fulfils its role in relation to child protection issues and has the required procedures in place.
• To ensure that the school follows safe recruitment practices and has a formal induction programme for all new staff members.
• To oversee the operation of the school’s behaviour policy and oversee the use of exclusions and their effectiveness.
• To receive and review attendance data and reports.

Finance and Operations:

The main roles of this committee are:

• To review regularly and monitor spending priorities in the school development plan and, where necessary, make recommendations to the governing body;
• To prepare provisional school budget for the approval of the governing body before 31st March each year;
• When notification is received of the annual allocation of delegated funds, to agree a budget       for the consideration of the governing body before the required date for submission of the budget to Sefton LEA, currently 30^th June.
• To monitor income and expenditure of all delegated and devolved funds and to make regular reports to the governing body;
• To recommend a charging and remissions policy to the Governing Body.
• To make arrangements for the Governors to inspect the premises on a regular basis.
• To ensure necessary work is carried out in a proper manner and within the financial limits of the school.
• To carry out the Governing Body’s responsibilities in relation to Health and Safety including drawing up a Health and Safety Policy Statement.

Minutes of Governing Body meetings can be obtained on request either from the school office or via email: 

admin.holyfamilyprimary@schools.sefton.gov.uk

Composition of the Governing Body:

Governors are all volunteers and at Holy Family there are four different categories of governor.  The Instrument of Government sets out the composition of the governing body as follows:

Foundation Governors - appointed by Liverpool Archdiocese. They are responsible for preserving and developing the school’s religious character.

Staff Governors - elected by the school staff. The Head teacher is a member of the Governing Body by virtue of her office and counts as a member of the staff category.

Parent Governors - elected by parents of children at the school.

Local Authority Governor - appointed by the Local Authority.

There are 12 governors in total, including 7 foundation governors, the head teacher, a member of staff, 2 parent governors and a local authority governor. Governors are initially appointed for 4 years, but this may be renewed.  The chair and vice chair of the full governing body and each committee are appointed annually at the first meeting of the academic year.

The Chair of Governors can be contacted at:

Holy Family Catholic Primary School,

Norwood Crescent,

Southport,

Merseyside,

PR9 7DU

Telephone: 01704 213084

The Clerk to the Governors: Wendy Moorcroft

Sefton Council

School Support Services

3rd Floor Magdalen House

30 Trinity Road,

Bootle,

L20 3NJ

Telephone: 0151 9343331

'Governors play a key role in supporting the work of the school. They are ambitious for the school to succeed. Governors speak passionately about the ethos of the school.'

(OFSTED Inspection 2019)

 'The governing body is highly ambitious for the Catholic Life of the school and leads by example in the way it emphasises Catholic Life as a school improvement priority.'

(Religious Inspection February 2019)

Register of Interests:

Governing Bodies are under a duty to publish their register of interests. This sets out the relevant business interests of governors and details of any other educational establishments that they govern. It also sets out any relationships between members of the governing body and school staff such as spouses or relatives.