School Governance
Welcome from the Chair of Governors
As governors of Northmead Junior School, we work together with the school and our academy Trust (Learning Partners Academy Trust) to help every pupil to be able to ‘try more, learn more and achieve more’. At Northmead, every child is valued as a unique individual and as governors, we support the school in helping every child to reach their potential.
Our Local Governing Body comprises a group of volunteers who give their time and expertise freely to understand and support the school. We help set the vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school and monitor the progress of the school against these over the year. We hold the head teacher and senior leaders to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils. We also ensure that the school’s financial resources are well spent for the benefit of the children’s education and act as a sounding board for new initiatives.
Our local governing body meets six times a year to scrutinise plans, budgets and discuss educational data. We also conduct classroom visits, meet with teachers and talk to children to develop a first-hand experience of how children are educated at our school.
This year our focus is to support Northmead in the transition to the new leadership structure, to understand how assessments are used in school, to ensure children with SEND and EAL are well-supported and that the school’s work on well-being and personal development continues.
If you are interested in finding out more about what it means to be a governor, please contact me at chair@northmead.surrey.sch.uk.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Debbie Gooch
(Chair of Governors at Northmead Junior School)
Membership
Northmead Junior School is governed by a local governing body, which is a committee of the board of trustees of the Learning Partnership Academy Trust, who have overall responsibility for governance of the school. The specific responsibilities of the governing body are detailed within the trust’s scheme of delegation and Local Governing Body terms of reference. As governors, we follow government guidance, are supported by the trust and adhere to a code of conduct in all that we do.
Our Local Governing Body is based on a stakeholder model, with representatives of parents, staff, and the local community. Members are recruited for a three-to-four-year term on a skillset basis and/or through parental election.
You can view the constitution of our governing body in the table below.
Becoming a Governor
Becoming a governor is an incredibly rewarding experience. You will be joining a movement of over 250,000 people nationwide and a team of over 100 Learning Partners’ governors; all skilled individuals who give their time freely to support children and young people in their community. Please consult our trust website page on becoming a governor and contact our Chair of Governors by emailing chair@northmead.surrey.sch.uk for more information.
Registers of Interest
We manage personal relationships with related parties to avoid both real and perceived conflicts of interest, promoting integrity and openness in accordance with the seven principles of public life.
We publish this information on our trust and school websites. Please see our most recent register of interests for the local governing body here.
The Governing Body of Northmead Junior School consists of:
Parent Governors (2)
Staff Governors (2)
Community Governors (3 - 8)
Parent Governors
Parents and carers of registered pupils at the school are eligible to stand for election for parent governorship at the school and are elected by other parents/carers at the school. If insufficient parents/carers stand for election, the governing body can appoint them in the following order:
- Any parent of a registered pupil at the school, or if that is not possible.
- Any parent of a former pupil at the school, or if that is not possible
- Any parent of a child of, or under compulsory school age.
If the position of parent governor becomes available, a letter will be sent home to every parent along with nomination forms and if a ballot proves necessary, ballot papers will be issued and will be subject of a count when returned. As soon as possible following the count, the school will notify you of the results.
Staff Governors
Staff governors are elected by the school staff. The Headteacher is a member of the governing body by virtue of their office and counts as a member of the staff category. At least one staff governor must be a teacher, but if no teacher stands for election, a member of the support staff can be elected.
Community Governors
Community governors are appointed by the governing body and, in the opinion of the governing body, have the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school.
They are recruited via the following means:
- Referrals to us
- People approach us directly
- Networking with existing governors
- Approaching local business who may have individuals with a skill set we value
- SGOSS: Governors for schools.
Code of Conduct
As governors, we follow the trust’s code of conduct, of which are a few highlights are below:
- We will encourage open governance and will act appropriately.
- We will actively support and challenge the school and executive leaders.
- We will accept and respect the difference between strategic and operational leadership, ensuring that we work collectively for the benefit of the organisation.
- We will consider carefully how our decisions may affect the school and local community, as well as other schools.
- We have a duty to act fairly and without prejudice, and in so far as we have responsibility for staff, we will fulfil all that is expected of a good employer.
- We accept collective responsibility for all decisions made. This means that we will not speak against majority decisions outside meetings.
- We agree to adhere to any rules, policies and procedures agreed within the trust or as required by the law.
- We will always be mindful of our responsibility to maintain and develop the ethos and reputation of the trust and its schools.
Meeting dates for 2023/24
Autumn 1 – 26th September 2023 @6.30pm
Autumn 2 – 5th December 2023 @6.30pm
Spring 1 – 23rd January 2024 @6.30pm
Spring 2 – 26th March 2024 @6.30pm
Summer 1 – 21st May 2024 @6.30pm
Summer 2 – 2nd July 2024 @6.30pm
Please feel free to contact us at any time with any queries you have, or points you’d like to raise. You can reach us via email: info@northmead.surrey.sch.uk or chair@northmead.surrey.sch.uk. Details of non-confidential minutes from Governor meetings are available on request. Please contact our school office (01483 529870) for more details.
Local Governing Body Constitution: Northmead Junior School
|
Role |
Name |
Start of (Vice) Chairmanship |
Years as Chair |
Years as Vice-Chair* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chair | Debbie Gooch | 26.09.23 | 0 | 0 |
| Vice-Chair | James Fish | 26.09.23 | 0 | 0 |
|
Constitution by Governor Type (Number) |
Name |
First Term of Office Start Date
|
Current Term of Office Start Date
|
Years in Office* |
Current term of Office Ends |
Full LGB Meeting attendance last academic year
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Current Governors |
|||||||
| Executive Headteacher | Sarah Carrington | 26.09.23 | 26.09.23 | ||||
| Parent Governor |
Debbie Gooch
Daniel Little |
06.07.21
24.11.21 |
06.07.21
24.11.21 |
2
2 |
05.07.25
23.11.25 |
6/6 100%
6/6 100%
|
|
| Community Governors |
James Fish
Charlotte Lacey
Carol Clutton
Simon Dennison |
12.10.22
26.09.19
14.12.22
14.12.22
|
26.09.22
26.09.23
14.12.22
14.12.22
|
1
4
1
1
|
11.10.26
25.09.27
13.12.26
13.12.26
|
6/6 100%
5/6 83%
4/5 83%
5/5 100% |
|
| Staff Governors | Denise Lewis | 01.09.15 | 26.09.23 | 7 | 25.09.27 | 6/6 100% | |
| Governors leaving office since the beginning of the prior academic year: 2 | |||||||
| Parent Governor | Konstanze Hilde | 04.12.13 |
04.12.21 |
9 | 26.09.23 | 6/6 100% | |
| Community Governor | Sarah Fothergill | 27.09.19 | 26.09.23 | 4 | 26.09.23 | 5/6 83% | |
Links / Responsibilities
Debbie Gooch |
Chair, SEND, Pupil Premium, Science |
Daniel Little |
PE, Sport Premium, IT, Maths |
James Fish |
Vice-chair, Safeguarding, Strategy & Leadership, Assessment/Data |
Charlotte Lacey |
Health & Safety, Literacy (reading, writing & spelling) |
Carol Clutton |
PSHE, Well-being, RE |
Simon Dennison |
Finance, EAL, History/Geography |
Governor Bios
|
Sarah Carrington
. |
Executive Headteacher
. |
Sarah qualified as a primary teacher in 2002 and spent 16 years at the same school undertaking a variety of roles from subject leadership, Assistant Headteacher with responsibility for Key Stage 2 and in the latter years she was the school’s SENCO and Deputy Headteacher. Sarah also worked as a Specialist Leader in Education (SLE), supporting schools with initial teaching training and provision for special education needs. The SLE role progressed into two secondments as an Interim Headteacher, which was a fantastic professional development, alongside the national professional qualification for headship (NPQH), for her current role as Headteacher. Sarah is Executive Headteacher of Northmead Junior School and Stoughton Infants School. |
|
Debbie Gooch
|
Chair of Governors / Parent Governor
. |
Debbie is a lecturer in Developmental Psychology at the University of Surrey and leads a final year module in Psychology & Education. She is interested in why some children struggle with learning and how we can promote positive outcomes for all children. Debbie is the SEND link governor and is passionate about ensuring all children with special educational needs are well-supported at Northmead. Debbie has a son in Year 3 and another in Year 6 at Northmead. She also has a daughter in the nursery at Stoughton. |
|
Daniel Little
|
Parent Governor
|
|
|
James Fish
|
Vice-Chair / Community Governor
. |
James lives in Guildford and is a Primary School Teacher at a Co-Ed boarding and Day School in Outer London. His role at the school includes leading teaching, learning and assessments as well as being housemaster. He has a Master’s degree in educational leadership and management and is part of a House of Lords Educational Committee looking at the future of education.
. |
|
Charlotte Lacey
|
Community Governor
. |
Charlotte has been a strategic consultant within the public and private sectors for 20 years and has extensive experience in brand and marketing strategy, consumer insight and research and market analysis. With a particular interest in schools and education, Charlotte chose to focus her Master’s degree in Public Policy on educational themes, writing a dissertation on free schools. She now works for RSAcademics providing consultancy and advice to schools on areas including curriculum, structure, and marketing and communications strategy. She has three children who were all educated in the local area. |
|
Carol Clutton
|
Community Governor
. |
Carol works at the University of Surrey leading the residential life and wellbeing-based peer support teams. The team provides support to 6,000 new students each year living in university accommodation. Carol is also a trustee of the Guildford Town Centre Chaplaincy. Carol has a daughter in Year 5 at Northmead. Carol's hobbies include playing in a samba band and riding her motorbike.
. |
| Simon Dennison | Community Governor | Professionally, Simon is a senior civil servant with a focus on international policy. His eldest child has recently left Northmead to go to secondary school, and he has another child at Stoughton Infant School. |
|
Denise Lewis
|
Deputy Headteacher / Staff Governor
. |
Denise began her career at Northmead in 1995 and then worked in a variety of roles before taking on the deputy headship in 2015. In addition to her deputy head duties, Denise currently has responsibility for leading reading across the school and is Northmead's forest school teacher. Denise has a passion for the arts, which she pursues in her spare time and shares with the children, ensuring they have opportunities to engage with the arts throughout their time at Northmead. . |
