Welcome to the Governors' page of the website.

The Governing Body consists of local volunteers who have an active interest in the school.

As Governors we work as a team to support, challenge and provide a strategic leadership to our school. Governors play a vital role in moving the school forward and ensuring every child gets the best possible education.

We have a strong focus on three core functions:

• 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 performance management of staff.
• Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

We do this through Governing Body meetings six times a year,  and regular visits into school to look at different aspects of the curriculum. We also offer support for school events. 

As a Governing body, we uphold the Nolan Principles as guidance for our conduct and ethics in all that we do to support the Children, staff and wider community of the school. 

The Nolan principles are: 

• Selflessness 
• Integrity 
• Objectivity 
• Accountability 
• Openness 
• Honesty 
• Leadership 

To the Governing Body, this means: 

• Selflessness: Selflessness is the first Nolan Principle and we as a Governing Body act solely in terms of public interest. This means that we are not here for personal gain but to listen, empathise and support those around us; our staff, our pupils, their families and the local community. We prioritise the success and wellbeing of others which helps engender a culture of trust within our team.

• Integrity: Integrity means we will always aim to do the right thing, even if no one is watching! It means listening to your inner voice about what is right and acting honestly, fairly and respectfully at all times. We will always act with integrity whilst performing our role as Governors, particularly in safeguarding our school.

• Objectivity: Objectivity is about looking at the truth of any issues, rather than being guided by our personal opinions. Throughout our roles as governors, we seek to be objective by; looking into the facts – What has been witnessed? Is there any data available? How do we know what we are saying is true? Declaring where there may be conflicts of interest, or where our impartiality might be questioned as well as challenging each other by asking the awkward, uncomfortable questions. Through these things, we seek to make sure that we are objective in every aspect of school.

• Accountability: Legally, school governors are responsible for making sure that a school is performing well, not only educationally but also financially, making sure that money is well spent. Through regular meetings, we find out about plans, policies, and pupil progress and look at the budget which enables us to stay accountable for our decision-making. By asking questions and visiting school we are able to see how everything is working in practice.

• Openness: Openness is very important to us as a Governing Body. We will make decisions in an open and transparent manner; this means we are happy to share information where we can and answer any questions! As a Governing Body, we want to improve and support the school; we cannot do that effectively if we do not have open, honest, and transparent discussions with each other and you.

• Honesty: As governors, we believe that honesty is an integral part of our role. We are fully truthful when conducting our duties and we rely on strong relationships with staff and other Governors to have honest conversations that enable us to be truthful in all we do.

• Leadership: Leadership is a broad term, but something we take seriously as it comes with great responsibility. We lead not only through the policies and decisions we make but also through how we conduct ourselves and the influence we have in relationships at school. We continuously use our leadership to build up the school and never for our own gain or interest.

Each Governor links in with a Class Teacher in a “buddy” system to gain a good understanding of that year group.  In addition to this we have Governors with specific lead areas, looking at topics such as Safeguarding, SEN, finance and data.

Our Governing body is made up of 10 Governors in the following areas:

• Headteacher
• Ex Officio Governor - being a Church school, this is the Rector of Eckington Church
• 4 Foundation Governors - elected by the Church Foundation Trust & Trustees
• 1 Staff Governors  - elected by school staff 
• 2 Parent Governors -elected by parents
• 1 Local Authority Governor -nominated by the Local Authority
• Co-opted Governors -invited by the Governing Body as and when required

For more details of who our Governors are and their roles, please see the table below and the who’s who section of this website.

We hope that you have found this page helpful and informative. If you have any questions or would like to contact the Governing Body please do so via the school office.

Jayne Winter and David Sharp – Co-Chairs of Governors

On behalf of the Governing Body

governor@camms.derbyshire.sch.uk

Structure

The full governing body meets six times per year. These meetings alternate between looking at 'Teaching and Learning' and 'Finance.' This allows us as a body to properly discuss the decisions that we make.

Throughout the year, we also create smaller 'working parties' to look at particular themes or issues within school. This allows us to focus in depth where needed, before bringing recommendations to the full governing body.

Each governor is also 'buddied' with a teacher and their class. This ensures that, as governors, we have a good understanding on what is happening day-to-day in school and can support and challenge all staff more effectively.

Governing Body Roles

Within the Governing Body, each of us takes a lead of particular areas of school life. This means that we can use our expertise to best effect. Our roles are:

Attendance at Meetings

So far, there has been five full governor meetings within this academic year.