CopthornePrimary School
Telephone: (01274) 501460 - Email: office@copthorneacademy.co.uk
We are currently looking for a parent to join our Governing Body referred to as the Local Advisory Board. School governors play a key role in raising school standards and monitoring performance. They play a role in supporting, questioning and challenging senior leaders and make important decisions covering issues such as policy making, site management, budget and the curriculum. Governors support the school in a variety of ways in addition to attending meetings. It is a very important and worthwhile job! Anyone can become a governor; the only requirement is that you have the enthusiasm and desire to make a difference.
School governors serve for a four year term of office. However, should your circumstances change, as a volunteer, you can resign at any time. In terms of time commitment, the Local Advisory Board meets 5 to 6 times per year and each meeting lasts up to 2 hours. In addition, there will be opportunities for governors to visit school to undertake monitoring, attend events and take part in other types of meetings among other things. However, there is no obligation to do this, as we acknowledge that it is a voluntary role and we are very grateful for whatever time governors are able to give.
Interested? Request a nomination form from school. The closing date for this round of nominations is 18.10.2024.
Click on the links below for further information.
Parent Governor Election Procedures
There are three layers of governance within Exceed Academies Trust:
· Members – responsible only for fundamental decisions such as changing the constitution of the academy trust.
· Trustees (Directors) – have ultimate responsibility for making strategic decisions about the day to day running of all the schools in the Trust.
· Governors – support the Trustees by monitoring and challenging the performance of each school at a local level.
Each school has a Local Advisory Board (in some cases a more focussed interim board will be implemented to support rapid improvement), which has delegated responsibility for monitoring the day to day running of the school. The LAB is made up of the Governors of the school. Some Governors are appointed by the Trustees whilst others are elected by parents or carers of pupils/students at the school or by staff. A LAB includes:
· A representative of the Trust;
· The Headteacher/Executive Headteacher;
· 2 Parent Governors;
· 2 Staff Governors;
· 3 Co-opted Governors.
For further information about governance within Exceed Academies Trust please visit the Trust’s website by clicking here.
Copthorne Primary School’s Local Advisory Board (Governing Body) plays an essential part in leading our school forward and in ensuring that Copthorne continues to have the highest standards and a clear vision of excellence for the pupils and community we serve. Members of the Governing Body are in regular contact with the school and its pupils. Each year group has been ‘adopted’ by a school Governor who visits the classes, writes to the children and, where possible, accompanies them on school trips and/or attends events in school.
Our governors act as the critical friend of the headteacher and senior leadership team, and provide support and challenge to ensure effective running of the school. Their key responsibilities include:
• ensuring the quality of educational provision;
• challenging and monitoring the performance of the school;
• ensuring good financial health and probity;
• supporting the SLT in management of staff.
In order to fulfil these responsibilities, our Local Advisory Board will:
• help the school to set high standards by planning for the school’s future and setting targets for school improvement;
• keep the pressure up on school improvement by monitoring and evaluating the progress the school is making towards it’s set aims and objectives;
• be a critical friend to the school, offering support and advice;
• help the school respond to the needs of parents and the community;
• make the school accountable to the public for what it does;
• work with the school on planning, developing policies and keeping these under review;
• exercise its responsibilities and powers in partnership with the headteacher and staff;
• not intervene in the day-to-day management of the school unless there are weaknesses in the school, when it then has a duty to take action.
Details of the membership of our Local Advisory Board including when they were appointed, their term of office, who appointed them, any relevant business and pecuniary interests and record of attendance over the last academic year can be found by navigating to the Governor Overview, Attendance and Register of Interests below.
You can contact the Chair of our Local Advisory Board (or another Governor) via the school by calling 01274 501460 or emailing office@copthorneacademy.co.uk, or via our Clerk (Peter Taylor) by emailing info@exceedacademiestrust.co.uk.
Please click Register of Interests 2024-25 to see the latest Governor Overview, Attendance and Register of Interests.
The DfE encourages academy trusts to publish easily accessible data about the diversity of their board and associated committees. In order to ensure that individuals cannot be identified, we have collated diversity data provided voluntarily and anonymously by all representatives of our governance community. This includes Members, Trustees, and Local Governors. The data can be accessed below.
