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Arley Governors

As the Chair of Governors’  I am delighted to welcome you to the Governors’ section of the Arley Primary Academy website.

Our Role at Arley Primary Academy:

The purpose of governance is to provide confident and strong overall strategic leadership, which leads to robust accountability, oversight and assurance for educational and financial performance.

All governance boards have three core functions:

  • Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
  • Holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils; and
  • Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.

The professional working relationship between the headteacher and governors is a collaborative partnership, firmly embedded across the board, which is based on mutual respect and trust.

We have high aspirations for our pupils and staff, therefore meeting regularly and working cohesively to ensure that Academy improvement priorities are appropriate to enable further development.

Our strong partnership will enable the Academy to achieve the highest standards of teaching and learning for the benefit of all pupils and staff.

Furthermore, we work to strengthen the leadership; effectively acting as a source of challenge and support to the headteacher as well as the academies' performance, with the wider scope of being a critical friend, having shared value and purpose.

Together, we are the body responsible for setting the Academy vision, and that of the headteacher, to compellingly communicate the academies' vision and drive the strategic leadership, empowering all pupils and staff to excel, therefore ensuring the delivery of that vision.

Arley has a clear vision of what we as a school are trying to achieve;

‘New Beginnings, Endless Possibilities’ - As each new day begins - endless possibilities lie before us – to be the very best that we can be through hard work, commitment, dedication and aspiration.

Our role as governors is to support that vision as we aim to continuously improve and to make the experience of the Academy the very best it can be for pupils, parents and staff.

Governors are also responsible for the values of the Academy, which are built upon the vision and sit at the heart within our Academy, acting as a reference point for all decisions. Arley’s values underpin our culture, strategy, policies and procedures.

The board set the aims and objectives for the Academy, which sit alongside the Academies' vision and values and in turn set the policies and targets for achieving those aims and objectives. Our role is to monitor and evaluate the progress the Academy is making, ensuring accurate self-evaluation takes place at all levels.

The board is collectively responsible for thinking strategically about the future direction of the organisation and identifies the steps needed to achieve goals, ensuring the Academy provides a good quality of education for all pupils. Raising educational standards in an Academy is a key priority, which we do with the headteacher who is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Academy.

To achieve this and to be as effective as we can, the Governing Board develops a strategy document for each new academic year, which center's around challenging the Academy work in key areas.

The core areas are:

  • Effective Governance (including CPD)
  • Performance management
  • Measuring Pupil performance, Teaching and Learning (challenging the use of the Sports Grant and Pupil Premium Grant)
  • Finance
  • Communications (including parental and pupil engagement)
  • Health and Safety
  • Safeguarding, Child Protection, SEND and Attendance
  • Nursery / EYFS
  • Pupil Wellbeing and Spiritual / Cultural Development

To ensure we can provide the Academy with the best possible opportunities we work to a strategic framework, which sets clear goals and objectives. This focus is driven from several key documents and all are designed to correlate with one another to ensure a coordinated and effective approach.


Ethical Governance:

Our governors have high ethical standards, which not only correspond to the values of our Academy, but also the seven Nolan principles; Selflessness, Integrity, Objectivity, Accountability, Openness, Honesty and Leadership.

The board has set and safeguards an ethos of high expectations of everyone in the Academy community. This includes high expectations for the behaviour, progress and attainment of all pupils and for the conduct and professionalism of both staff and the board themselves. The board fosters a common culture, values and ethos across the whole organisation, ensuring it is reflected consistently in both its policies and its practices.


Effective Governance:

We use the identified eight elements which research and practice tell us are essential for good governance. These eight elements are needed to transform the team of diverse people with a range of skills, experience and knowledge into a highly effective governing board.
 
 
 
We have an extremely active and dedicated Governing Board at Arley, who work effectively and dynamically as part of a team, towards a common purpose.

Our governing board consists of 10 members; which includes parents, members of the local community and those with vast experience in education.

  • Parent Governors (elected by the parents)
  • Headteacher (ex officio)
  • Staff Governors (elected by the staff)
  • Local Authority Governors (nominated by the board and approved by the LA)
  • Co-Opted Governor (people from our community that can bring skills to the governing board to contribute to the school)
  • Associate Members (appointed by the board as members of committees who they feel can contribute to its work, however, are not governors and not included in the schools Instrument of Government)

Meetings of the governing board:

To ensure we have robust oversight over the Academy, the board and its committees will meet regularly enough to discharge our responsibilities. The Full Governing Board will meet 6 times annually; once every half term.


Visits to the Academy:

In order to fulfil our role, governors need to become familiar with the Academy, which can be accomplished by visiting the Academy and talking to the staff and pupils.

Visits will include:

  • Attendance to formal meetings and functions
  • Governor’s Academy monitoring visits and learning walks, which will be conducted with the relevant staff member and the appropriate governor dependent on the agreed focus and/or relevant Academy objective or priority.
  • Assemblies
  • Inspire Events
  • Open Days/Evenings
  • Parents Evening
  • Christmas/Summer Fair
  • Concerts/Academy Productions

Training:

Training courses for governors are provided from a variety of sources and are highly recommended to aid continuous professional development as well as succession planning. This enhances and develops knowledge and skills, which leads to active and valuable contributions at meetings.
  • National Governance Association
  • Warwickshire County Council
  • WCC Governor Services

Becoming a Governor:
 
Becoming a school governor is an extremely rewarding way of making a vital contribution to society and the development of young people.

When appointing governors, careful consideration is given to the skills and experience required by the governing board to enable it to carry out its duties effectively.

If you would like to be considered for the role of an Academy governor and believe you possess the necessary skills’, please contact me on the below email address for an application form:

Kate Steventon– Email: steventon.k@welearn365.com

​The governors at Arley are incredibly passionate and dedicated to serving our children and Academy to the level of excellence it deserves. We are proud of our contribution to the education system and shine a light on the difference good governance makes to the success of our Academy, further improving the outcomes for children and communities – a goal which we know will be important to you too.

We look forward to seeing you in and around school during forth coming weeks and months ahead.

Kind regards,

Kate Steventon

Chair of Governors – Arley Primary Academy

 
Governing Body Information - This page is currently being updated, the documents below are current and more will be added soon.

Please click the below links for more information:

Visits and Activities
Please browse through the following for more information on the visits and activities.

Science Trail Parent Governors Report

I had the pleasure of accompanying my two children around the schools Science Trail in aid of British Science Week...

Governors' Newsletter


As we approach the end of the first half of the Autumn Term, we reflect on what has been another busy and fulfilling 7 weeks.

Click below for the first of our governors' newsletters

Governor Report on the Harvest Supper

I attended the Harvest Supper
event at school last week, not being quite sure of what to expect...

Visit to Daffern Wood

This term I was able to join KS1 Year 2 on a Mini beast hunt through Daffern woods...

Great Fire of London Observation

The purpose of my visit was to view teaching in an outdoor environment, see the effect it has on pupils learning...
The National Curriculum at Arley Primary School

It was so good to hear the sound of children enjoying learning...

Visit Record Boys Learning

There’s been a great deal of thought put into the huge range of activities throughout the school tailored to engaging boys learning...

Science Trail Parent Governors Report

I had the pleasure of accompanying my two children around the schools Science Trail in aid of British Science Week...

Music Spectacular

Last week the children in Year Two were invited to take part in the Warwickshire Music Spectacular at Bedworth Civic Hall...

Standards Meeting Report

I attended a curriculum workshop, as parent governor where changes to the curriculum were explained...

School Trip Brandon Marsh

Today I had the pleasure of accompanying Year 3 and 4 to Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve based in Coventry...

Burton Dassett Country Park

On 22nd June 2017, I accompanied the Year 5 class to Burton Dassett Country Park for their geological field trip...
School Trip to Bosworth Battlefield
 
There were a few children selected to model battle wear and armour...