Governance
Welcome to the Governing Body pages of Beauclerc School Website
Our Governing Body
As Beauclerc and Chennestone are federated schools, they share a governing body. Our governors are a group of parent-elected and community representatives with a wide variety of experience, each with a commitment to give their time to benefit the schools and ensure all pupils have access to a good education.
Currently our governing body consists of 11 governors, who work on a voluntary basis: 2 parent governors, 2 local authority governors, 1 staff governor, 1 headteacher governor and 6 co-opted governors. The term of office for all governors is 4 years.
To find out more about the work we do, please see the information below.
Should you wish to contact the Governing Body, you can do so via the school office or contact the clerk via email: clerk@chennestone.surrey.sch.uk
The Role of the Governing Body
There are three key roles of governance:
- Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
- Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the effective and efficient performance management of staff
- Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.
The main purpose of the governing body is to provide strong strategic leadership and to ensure accountability for the school’s education and financial performance. Often, governing boards are described as a “critical friend” to the schools. Our role is strategic rather than operational, which means we set and champion the schools’ vision, ethos and strategy. We are ambitious for all children and young people, and seek to enable the best possible outcomes for all pupils by asking challenging questions, gathering and representing a range of views, and taking a longer-term view of school improvement. However, we don’t take part in the day-today running of the school.
Each Governor takes on a minimum of one area of responsibility, as part of which we ensure we understand the relevant policies, regulations and guidance as defined by the Department of Education, Surrey County Council or any other official body, in order to be able to effectively challenge our own schools’ corresponding policies, and to ensure we are effectively meeting those requirements. Currently these areas of responsibility include safeguarding, vulnerable learners, curriculum, health and safety, finance, and data protection.
Governors undertake regular visits to both schools; meeting with SLT, staff and pupils in order to assess how we are performing and to identify opportunities to improve. We help to document evidence that the schools are meeting requirements, to challenge and question where needed, and to satisfy ourselves that our schools are able to provide the best, safest and the most inclusive educational setting we can for all our pupils.
We also work with Governors of other schools to share knowledge and best practice, as well as working with Surrey County Council and the Schools Alliance for Excellence (SAfE) to ensure we receive the correct guidance and support where necessary.
Governor Roles, Responsibilities and Terms of Office 23 (rolling 12 month period)
Governor Attendance Document 2022 - 2023
Would you like to be a governor?
Co-opted Governor Vacancies
If you would like to join the Governing Board and be part of the Federation's journey, please contact our clerk: clerk@chennestone.surrey.sch.uk
Your contribution will be vital in enabling the Governing Board to support and challenge our schools to be the very best that they can be.