What do we do?      

Our Academy Governing Body works with the headteacher and the Willows Academy Trust Board of Directors to; 

• Ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
• Hold leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff;
• Oversee the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.

Who is a governor? 

All our governors are volunteers and at our school we have 3 types of governor:

1.  Parent Governors - Parent Governors are elected by the parents of pupils at the school.  
2.  Staff Governors - Staff Governors are elected by the staff at the school.
3.  Community Governors - Community governors (also known as co-opted governors) are appointed to the governing board from the community and are appointed (co-opted) by the board for the skills and experience that they offer.  These may also be parents or may have no other connection with the school.

We also sometimes appoint Associate Governors who can offer their expertise to support particular aspects of school life. 

Responsibilities

The full governing body meets at least six times during the school year. It also meets as and when required to support particular needs and activities.   The headteacher attends all governing body meetings.

Each governor also has a link governor role, overseeing a particular aspects of school life such as equality & diversity, anti-bullying and safeguarding.  Each governor is also linked to one or more curriculum areas and will liaise with the appropriate teacher with whom they discuss their particular curriculum areas.  The governors write a report on their allocated link roles and curriculum areas each year and monitor the action plans with their linked teacher.

Governor skills

We ensure that our governing body has a broad set of skills and each governor is required to complete a skills audit annually.  The governors are required to attend pertinent induction and training and are given training information on the school's own monitoring and assessment systems.