By Brook Valley's Governors
The purpose of the Governing Body at By Brook Valley
The purpose of the Governing body is to ensure that the whole school community at By Brook Valley is focused on delivering high standards of education to its pupils. The Governors at By Brook do this by focusing on three core strategic functions which are:-
- Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
- Holding the head teacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils
- Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure the money spent provides good value
What it means to be an Academy
By Brook Valley has been an Academy since 2012 which means that it is no longer under local authority control and is directly funded by the Department for Education. This means that the structure at By Brook Valley differs from that of a maintained school in that the governors are appointed as directors to the By Brook Valley Academy Trust to ensure that the:-
- school and grounds are only used for academic purposes
- school is managed and developed with a designated church of England religious character offering a broad and balanced curriculum
- school's financial performance is good value for money and fulfils its obligations with regard to the funding arrangement
What is the structure of the Governing body?
Within By Brook Valley we have up to 17 places available for Governors under the terms of our Articles of Association, which are allocated as follows:
Nine Community Governors – Local members of the Community who are elected by fellow Governors
Three Foundation Governors nominated by the Diocese
Two Co-Opted Governors – Local members of the community with specific skills that will assist the whole school community
Two Staff Governors – One who is the headteacher and the other chosen by the staff
Two Parent Governors – Chosen by the parents
Under the terms of the agreement Governors each serve a term of office of four years and each September a Chair and Vice Chair of Governors is elected by the Governing body.
Each Governor is appointed to a sub-group which is given delegated functional and decision making powers in the following areas of the school in line with the school development:-
Curriculum, Teaching and Learning - To ensure that the highest standards of teaching and learning are delivered within the school.
Foundation and Ethos - To help promote and preserve the religious character of the school and support its individual qualities and core values.
Staffing, HR, Finance and Premises, - To ensure sound management of the academy’s finances and resources, including proper planning, monitoring and probity. To ensure relevant staff and HR policies are reviewed throughout the school year and where necessary, amended and implemented.
The Full Governing Body
The Full Governing Body meets at least six times a year, meeting dates for the academic year 2024/25 are:
18 October 2024
4 December 2024
23 January 2025
13 March 2025
15 May 2025
17 July 2025