The purpose of the governing body is to help the school provide the best possible education for its learners.
Governing bodies are the key strategic decision-making body of every school. It is their role to set the school’s strategic framework and ensure all statutory duties are met. The governing body should ensure that the school has a medium to long-term vision for its future – which it may be helpful to articulate in a specific written vision statement. The governing body should also ensure that there is a robust strategy in place for achieving its vision. This strategy should address the fundamental questions of where we are now, where do we want to be, and how are we going to get there.
Governing bodies should work to support and strengthen the leadership of the Co-Headteachers, and hold them to account for the day-to-day running of the school, including the performance management of teachers. Governing bodies should play a strategic role, and avoid routine involvement in operational matters. It should focus strongly on holding the Co-Headteachers to account for exercising his/her professional judgement in these matters and all of their other duties. Effective governing bodies hold their Co-Headteachers and other senior school leaders to account for improving school performance by asking the right questions.
Governing bodies are responsible for making sure their school’s money is well spent. They should do this by making sure they have at least one governor with specific skills and experience in financial matters, and by asking questions such as:
The governing board has adopted the following principles and procedures:
The governing board is the key strategic decision-making body in the school, setting the strategic framework and ensuring it meets all its statutory duties. Raising achievement is at the heart of a governing board’s strategic role; every child has the right to attend a good school.
Establishes the strategic direction by:
Ensures accountability by:
Ensuring financial probity by:
For governing bodies to carry out their roles effectively, governors must be:
In law, the governing board is a corporate body which means:
For governing boards to carry out their roles effectively, governors must be:
We understand the purpose of the governing board and the role of the Co-Headteachers.
We are aware of and accept the Seven Nolan Principles of Public Life (see Appendix).
We accept that we have no legal authority to act individually, except when the governing board has given us delegated authority to do so, and therefore we will only speak on behalf of the governing board when we have been specifically authorised to do so.
We accept collective responsibility for all decisions made by the governing board or its delegated agents. This means that we will not speak against majority decisions outside the governing board meeting.
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 will encourage open government and will act appropriately.
We will consider carefully how our decisions may affect the community and other schools.
We will always be mindful of our responsibility to maintain and develop the ethos and reputation of our school. Our actions within the school and the local community will reflect this.
We will always use social networking sites responsibly and ensure that neither our personal/professional reputation, nor the school’s reputation is compromised by inappropriate postings.
We will promote tolerance of and respect for those of different faiths and beliefs, races, genders, ages, disability and sexual orientation.
In making or responding to criticism or complaints affecting the school we will follow the procedures established by the governing board.
We will support the Co-Headteachers and senior leadership team but challenge their expectations and hold them to account for school performance.
We acknowledge that accepting office as a governor involves the commitment of significant amounts of time and energy.
We will each involve ourselves actively in the work of the governing board and accept our fair share of responsibilities, including service on committees or working groups.
We will make full efforts to attend all meetings and where we cannot attend explain in advance why we are unable to do so.
We will get to know the school well and respond to opportunities to involve ourselves in school activities.
We will visit the school, with all visits to school arranged in advance with staff and undertaken within the framework established by the governing board and agreed with the Co-Headteachers.
We will demonstrate a commitment to continually developing our knowledge and skills and keeping them up to date. This includes our ability to understand and interpret educational and financial data.
We accept that, in the interests of openness and transparency and in accordance with statutory requirements, the school will publish relevant governance information on its website. This includes our full names, governor category, appointing body, date of appointment, term of office, roles, attendance record and relevant business, financial and pecuniary interests.
Governance information required by the Department for Education will also be recorded through the Get Information about Schools service.
We accept that we are required to hold an Enhanced Criminal Records Certificate (ECRC).
We will strive to work as a team in which constructive working relationships are actively promoted.
We will express views openly, courteously and respectfully in our communications with other governors.
We will support the chair in their role of ensuring appropriate conduct both at meetings and at all times.
We are prepared to answer queries from other governors in relation to delegated functions and take into account any concerns expressed, and we will acknowledge the time, effort and skills that have been committed to the delegated function by those involved.
We will seek to develop effective working relationships with our Co-Headteachers, staff and parents, the local authority, and other relevant agencies and the community.
We will observe complete confidentiality when matters are deemed confidential or where they concern specific members of staff or pupils, both inside and outside the school.
We will ensure that we understand and comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the school’s current data protection and information-security policies.
We will exercise the greatest prudence at all times when discussions regarding school business arise outside a governing board meeting.
We will not reveal the details of any governing board vote.
We will record any pecuniary or other business interest (including those related to people we are connected with) that we have in connection with the governing board’s business in the Register of Business Interests, and if any such conflicted matter arises in a meeting we will offer to leave the meeting for the appropriate length of time. We accept that the Register of Business Interests will be published on the school’s website.
We will also declare any conflict of loyalty at the start of any meeting should the situation arise.
We will act in the best interests of the school as a whole and not as a representative of any group, even if elected to the governing board.
If we believe this Code has been breached, we will raise this issue with the chair and the chair will investigate; the governing board will only use suspension as a last resort after seeking to resolve any difficulties or disputes in more constructive ways.
Should it be the chair that we believe has breached this Code, another governor, such as the vice chair will investigate.
~ Adapted from the NGA Model Copde of Conduct, 2015
Selflessness – Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends.
Integrity – Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might seek to influence them in the performance of their official duties.
Objectivity – In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should make choices on merit.
Accountability – Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.
Openness – Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands.
Honesty – Holders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest.
Leadership – Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership and example.
The Committee on Standards in Public Life was established by the then Prime Minister in October 1994, under the Chairmanship of Lord Nolan, to consider standards of conduct in various areas of public life, and to make recommendations.
~ Originally published by the Nolan Committee
The Governing Body has collective and individual responsibilities for maintaining the confidentiality and security of information obtained through school business.
In carrying out their role, governors may have access to confidential or sensitive information concerning pupils, families, staff and the operation of the school. This may include information relating to safeguarding, health, special educational needs, complaints, employment or conduct matters.
Governors will ensure that personal data is:
processed lawfully, fairly and transparently;
collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes;
adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary;
accurate and kept up to date where necessary;
retained only for as long as it is required;
protected against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage; and
handled in a way that enables the school to demonstrate compliance with data protection legislation.
Governors will follow the school’s requirements for secure communication, storage, access, retention and disposal of confidential information. Personal data must not be shared, copied, downloaded or transferred unless this is authorised and appropriately secured.
Any suspected loss, unauthorised disclosure or security incident must be reported immediately in accordance with the school’s data-breach procedure.
We will:
We will:
We will:
Governors Details, Membership and Interests (Sep 26)
for the Governing Body of New Heights School September 2026
In accordance with the Government’s requirement for all governing bodies, the three core strategic functions of the New Heights School Governing Body are:
1. Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
Governors are responsible for setting the school’s strategic framework, identifying priorities for school improvement and monitoring progress towards these goals. Governors are also responsible for setting a school ethos of high expectations of behaviour, progress and attainment of all students and of conduct of staff and governors.
2. Holding the Co-Headteachers to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils;
Governors must provide challenge to the school and hold the Co-Headteachers and senior leaders to account for improving the quality of teaching and learning and school performance. Governors do this through questioning and through regular monitoring and analysis of data on children’s performance and progress. Governors hold the Co-Headteachers to account for the performance management of teachers. The performance management of the Co-Headteachers is conducted by governors together with an external advisor.
3. Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.
Governors look at financial statements and ask questions to ensure that the school makes efficient use of its budget and provides best value for money.
The Governing Body was re-constituted under the 2012 School Governance Regulations in July 2015 with a revised governing body membership of 10 governors.
Co-opted governors are appointed by the Governing Body and are people who, in the opinion of the governing body, have the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school:
The full Governing Body meets 5 times per academic year.
You can see the full list of governors and their attendance at meetings on the school website here
The governing body completed a skills audit to identify any further skills or training they needed to be able to deliver their functions effectively.
As a result of the audit, further governor training on “Safeguarding” was provided and on “Financial Budgets and Financial Monitoring”.
Individual governors have also attended training including ‘Induction for new Governors’ and Health and Safety.
Each year, governors sign a Code of Conduct which can be viewed on the website and the Governing Body have also published their Register of Business and Pecuniary Interests.
The majority of the work this year has involved monitoring the consistency of expectations, and the introduction of a new assessment and tracking system which does not involve previous National Curriculum levels.
Governors monitor the “vulnerable groups” of children and have discussed how the Pupil Premium funding is being spent by the school and what impact this has on their outcomes. See our ‘Pupil Premium Statement’ for further detail regarding impact upon outcomes.
Governors are also responsible for overseeing the maintenance and development of the school premises, and make decisions about how the school should use the budget.
The Health and Safety Governors carry out termly checks of the premises with the school’s Operations Director and Site Manager(s).
Governors concluded that the school has solid management of the finances and has remained within budget.
Another important role for governors is ensuring the safety and well-being of the children and we have a nominated Governor for Safeguarding who reports to the governors about any safeguarding matters.
Safeguarding training for all staff is updated each academic year – or as / when new staff joining the school – which includes CSE, Prevent and FGM training. There is a safeguarding noticeboard in the school which contains all the safeguarding documents.
Governors also review and agree key school policies. A number of statutory policies and procedures have been written / updated in compliance with all relevant legislation including Safeguarding Policy and Procedure, Health and Safety Policy, Accessibility Plan, Equality and Diversity Policy.
The minutes of Governing Body meetings are public documents and you can ask at the school office if you would like to see any of the minutes of our meetings.
The governing body will continue to support the Co-Headteachers and senior leaders in the efficient running of the school whilst continuing to strategically develop the excellent standard of education in the current challenging and changing environment.
They will also closely monitor the financial viability of the school in the context of tightening budgets.
Governors will continue to establish systems and styles of working through which the governing body can work most effectively in fulfilling their roles.
They will also look to increase their communication with parents and the community through attendance at parent’s meetings and school events.
We always welcome suggestions, feedback and ideas from parents.
You can contact the Chair of Governors via the school office:
