Governors
The School Governing Body (a.k.a. the 'Local Governing Board') is made up of community and local authority representatives, parents and school staff.
Once a vacancy arises, governors are elected on to the governing body and perform their role on a voluntary basis.
The focus of the governing body is as follows:
- To ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
- To hold the Head Teacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the performance management of staff;
- To oversee the financial performance of the school and make sure its money is well spent.
- To ensure and enable parental engagement, and to engage with other key stakeholders in the community.
Who Are We?
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Matt Stephenson (Chair) Parent Governor (elected by parents for 4 year term of office until 15 March 2021) Committees: Chair of Resources Committee Link Governor: GDPR I have been part of the governing board at Bexton since 2016 when I joined as an associate member. I was delighted to be elected by parents in 2017 to be a parent governor to serve a four year term of office until March 2021. I am chair of the Resources Commitee and take an active role in other working parties within the Local Governing Board. I have three children at Bexton and continue to be impressed by the dedication and commitment shown by the whole team. I was recently appointed as chair of the governing board for a one year term of office until 1 October 2021. |
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Kathryn Woolf (Vice chair) |
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Jim Lovett I began as a parent governor and am now a co-opted governor, recently re-appointed for a further four year term of office until 2021. |
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Lucy Goldsmith Co-opted Governor, appointed by the governing board for a Committee: Chair of Curriculum Committee (since October 2018) Link Governor for 'Marketing' I have two children at Bexton Primary and have been actively involved in different aspects of the school throughout their education. As a Communications Manager I am passionate about further developing an inclusive communications process that involves not only parents, governors and teachers but most importantly the children. We all have a part to play in taking Bexton from good to great, and communication sits at the heart of this. We need to ensure that Bexton is placed at the centre of our strong community to enable it to thrive during an exciting, but also challenging time. |
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Catherine Hulme Catherine has served on the governing board for two terms of office, and was re-appointed by the Governing Board as a co-opted governor, for a 4 year term of office until 30 October 2021. Panel: Principal/ Headteacher Performance Management Link Governor: 'Vision.' |
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John Squires Committees: Resources Subcommittee and Principal Performance Management Committee (from Spring 2020) |
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Sandra Bland Mrs Bland has experience of a wide range of posts from midday supervision through to headship. With both children attending Bexton, Mrs Bland has seen the school from a parental perspective, and through the experience of her children has seen various models of secondary education including academies, the independent sector and sixth form college. Mrs Bland was first elected by Bexton school staff in 2015, and recently re-elected by school staff in 2019 for a further four year term of office. |
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Emily Armstrong Committees: Resources, Curriculum Emily started her teaching career in 2004 and throughout that time has worked in leadership positions in three very different schools. She has experience of working with children and staff in all Primary Key Stages as well as Leading KS3 English in a British School in Bahrain. Emily worked as Assistant Head at Bexton Primary School for 7 years before becoming Headteacher. She has been Headteacher of Bexton Primary School for 4 years now and has seen the school move from strength to strength in that time. |
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Jill Sach Associate Member of governing board (appointed by Local Governing Board) Committees: Resources and Curriculum
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Sue Sharratt Co-opted Governor (Elected by Full Governing Board on 4 July 2018, for a four year term of office until 4.7.22) Sue began as a Bexton Governor in July 2018. "I have had a long association with Bexton school. My three children all have happy memories of attending and I spent 20 years teaching at the school mainly in the Rainbow room and as Inclusion Director for the whole school. Committee: Curriculum Link Governor: SEND and Safeguarding Lynne Lea Co-opted Governor: Elected by Full Governing Board on 4 July 2018, for a four year term of office until 4.7.22 Lynne began as a Bexton Governor in July 2018. I am an employment lawyer with lots of experience of business restructure and TUPE transfer. I worked for a large corporate law firm for over 10 years before becoming a full time Mum to my three children (Nursery, Reception and Year 2.) With my youngest enjoying the nursery, I feel that I have some time to give something back to the school. I have been a school Governor before when I was a Community Governor at King's Heath Boys' School in Birmingham, a role which I really enjoyed. I am keen to get involved with the governance of Bexton and I hope that my skill set will be useful to the Board. Committee: Resources Special Responsibility: Training Governor |
What do governors do?
Individual governors keep up to date on school policy, new regulations, school development plans and government drives on a local and national level. They attend training and they also visit the school regularly to gain an in depth understanding of the school, which enables them to perform their role more effectively.
Associate members of the governing board are appointed by the Local Governing Board (LGB) and assist in an advisory capacity. Associate members do not have voting rights at LGB.
Governors also attend the following meetings:
Local Governing Body (LGB): All governors attend the full governing body meetings which take place once per term. Minutes of part 1 of these meetings are public documents, please ask if you would like a paper copy of any of our part 1 (non-confidential) minutes. Part 2 of the meetings is reserved for any confidential business, which cannot be shared with the public (e.g. it may contain information about staff pay or other confidential matters.)
The governing board delegates some of its functions to subcommittees, which meet once per term, and feed into, and report back to, the Local Governing Board. The two committees are Resources Subcommittee and Curriculum Subcommittee:
Resources Subcommittee: This committee meets once per term to look at everything financial and to approve spending. The committee reports back to the local governing body. The governors that sit on this committee are as follows: Matt Stephenson (chair), Jim Lovett (vice chair), Emily Armstrong (School Principal), Helen Taylor (School Business Manager), Jill Sach (deputy Principal/ Headteacher), John Squires, Catherine Hulme, Lynne Lea, Georgina Blake (clerk).
Curriculum Subcommittee: This committee meets once per term to look at everything to do with teaching and learning, assessment, and pupil progress. The committee reports back to the local governing body. Governors on this committee include the following: Lucy Goldsmith (chair of Curriculum Subcommittee), Kathryn Woolf (vice chair of Curriculum Subcommittee),Sue Sharratt, Emily Armstrong (Headteacher), Sandra Bland, Jill Sach (associate member), Georgina Blake (clerk).
Bexton also has working groups which are time bound and research further into a particular area and are advisory in thie role, providing information to the governing body. We currently have the following working groups:
The Wraparound Project Teams were set up in Autumn 2019 to develop a business plan around developing and extending the wraparound care offered to the community.
The 'Vision' Team is working on the strategic vision and direction of the school.
Panels of governors can also be convened as and when needed to deal with complaints, appeals, pupil discipline, headteacher recruitment and other statutory obligations.
Becoming a Governor
Parent governors are elected by parents of children attending Bexton school at the date of election. Co-opted governors are appointed by the Board of Governors. The staff governor is elected by staff members of the school.
Vacancies
We currently have a vacancy for a governor on our governing board. Prior governance experience is not essential, as training will be given. For more information please go to the menu at the top and choose 'about us'> governors > drop down menu of governor subpages> Governor Vacancy. Alternatively you can email Georgina Blake (clerk to governors) for more information at admin@bexton.cheshire.sch.uk. Please include 'FAO Georgina Blake' in the subject line. We look forward to hearing from you.
List of Bexton Governors who have resigned in the last 2 years
Charlotte Davies (appointed by governing board for four year term of office on 21.11.16 as co-opted governor) and chair of Curriculum Committee resigned on September 11th 2018. Peter Woodhouse our chair of governors and LA governor until 2019 resigned on 20 November 2019 to join the CAT Trustee Board. Mike Braun, vice chair of Resources Committee and co-opted governor, resigned on 20 November 2019. Jon Webb, parent governor, elected by parents and completed his four year term of office from 24.5.16 to 23.5.20. Peter Kingdom, co-opted governor and safeguarding link governor, completed his four yewar term of office and resigned on 6 July 2020. Thankyou to all our governors past and present.
Contact the Bexton governors
If you have any ideas or comments for the governors in relation to the strategy or vision of the school, please do get in touch with us at governors@bexton.cheshire.sch.uk
Remember the school governor has a strategic role and does not deal with day to day running of the school. Any questions of this nature should always be directed to school staff in the first instance.
Further Information
For the most recent information, please look at the subpages off the governor main page (from the menu at the top choose 'about us'> governors > drop down menu of governor subpages: This will take you to the governor subpages, where you can find the annual governor impact statement together with a precis of the most recent governing body meeting, information on governor attendance at meetings, governor declarations of pecuniary interest, information on governor membership and other useful information. Please see below for some additional downloadable files which may be of interest.
