Governors annual report

The Chairman of Governors:

I am Emma Taylor, the Chair of the Governing Body.

The Governing Body helps the school’s leadership team by acting as a critical friend. We work on such matters as: Buildings; Finance; Staffing; the Curriculum; and many other aspects of school life. We also have overall responsibility for maintaining standards within the school and for developing the future strategy for the school.

Our membership is drawn from a variety of constituencies. Being a Church of England school, a number of our Governors are appointed by the Church through the Diocese, the Parish of St John’s Walmley and through the Sutton Coldfield Deanery. We have three members of staff, one appointed Governor and three Governors elected by the parents. In practice about half of our Governors are parents. We are very fortunate to have a governing body from a wide variety of walks of life – from clergy to accountants passing through a civil engineer and an HR expert on the way!

We have these values in common:

• We have a passion for the Deanery to be the school of choice in the area
• We want our School to be a thriving Christian environment that values and cares for its members – pupils, staff and parents
• We want our School to succeed in all that it does
• We want to see the School play its part in the local community

What do we do?

• Help to raise standards and performance of the school by supporting the work of the head teacher and staff
• Support, question and gather views on what is best for the school
• Take an active part in the strategic decision making process
• Manage the finances, including specific grants such as Pupil Premium.
• Manage and make staff appointments
• Manage building matters
• Set standards for pupil and staff behaviour
• Make sure the school provides for all its pupils including those with special needs

How can you get involved

The strength of any Governing Body is based on being able to listen to stakeholders and on obtaining access to specialist skills.

Talk to us

We are always willing to listen to parents, teachers and pupils. If you want to get in touch with us please do so via the school office at the following email address enquiries@deanery.bham.sch.uk You can also speak to us when we are in school but please respect the need for the Governing Body to act collectively in consultation with the School’s leadership team and don’t expect or force an immediate response from an individual Governor. 

A number of years ago the government allowed us to drop the AGM of the Governing Body if there was insufficient interest from Parents. Sadly the AGM was generally quite poorly attended and we decided to abandon it. However, we would welcome Parents’ views on how we could be more accessible and share our vision for the School and listen to Parents.

Getting involved and specialist skills

Clearly if you would like to be a Governor we would be happy to talk to you about how and when you can be elected or appointed but you can get involved without being a Governor. We are often in need of expert help on a wide range of matters. In recent times we have co-opted parents onto committees who have specialist knowledge of matters such as PR and sustainability issues. We are always happy to hear from parents who can help.