The Governing Body is made up of a team of governors who are responsible for making sure the school provides a good quality education. Raising educational standards in school is now a key priority. This has the best chance of happening when there are high expectations of what pupils can achieve.

Governors also promote effective ways of teaching and learning when setting the school aims and policies. They do this together with the head teacher, who is responsible for the day-to-day management of the school.

Every school must have a governing body. The membership will vary according to the type of school. The governing body has some discretion of the numbers of governors. All governing bodies include governors who are:

• Parent elected by parents at the school
• Staff elected by Head, teachers and support staff at the school. The head teacher is entitled to be a staff governor without an election
• Persons appointed by Sutton Local Authority as an LEA governor

Additionally:

• Community and controlled schools have at least one community governor who is appointed by other members of the Governing Body
• The School will be able to tell you if there are vacancies for parent or community governors
• Usually a governor is appointed for a period of four years but may subsequently be eligible for re-appointment or re-election.

Governing bodies are responsible to parents, funders and the community. The governing body's main role is to help raise standards of achievement. It:

• is accountable for the performance of the school to parents and the wider community
• plans the school's future direction
• selects the head teacher
• makes decisions on the school's budget and staffing
• makes sure the national curriculum is taught
• decides how the school can encourage pupil's spiritual, moral and social development
• makes sure the school provides for all its pupils, including those with special needs

Governors are at the heart of how a school operates. It is important they get things right. How they do their job affects the interests of pupils, staff morale and how the school is seen by parents and others in the community.

Governors support and challenge heads by gathering views, asking questions and deciding what's best for the school. They are not there to rubber stamp decisions. They have to be prepared to give and take and be loyal to decisions taken by the governing body as a whole.

So long as they act within the law governors are protected from any financial liability for the decisions they take.

Finally, the Governing Body is responsible for investigating complaints but usually only after the School's complaints procedure has been exhausted. At Dorchester we always try to resolve a situation before it becomes necessary to investigate the matter formally. Sometimes a simple chat can resolve a situation far more effectively than putting pen to paper!  Try to remember that if you have any concerns you should always approach your child's classroom teacher first and then if you are still concerned then please contact the Head teacher who always maintains an 'open door' policy.

Mr T Marshall
Chair of Governors (CoG)