Governors Page

Every school is led by a Governing Body which is responsible for developing the strategic direction in schools. Their focus will be to ensure the five outcomes of the Every Child Matters agenda are addressed; to help raise standards and to shape a school's distinctive identity and ethos.

The size of Governing Bodies and their composition varies depending on the size and status of the school. Most Governors are ‘elected', for example parent or staff governors, or ‘appointed', such as foundation or Local Authority governors, but some hold the office by virtue of their role within the school or community and are ‘ex-officio' governors, such as the Parish Priest in a Church School and the Headteacher. Being a Governor is a non-executive role

In Church of England Voluntary Aided Schools, Foundation Governors, who make up the majority of the Governing Body, are usually appointed by the Diocese. This is not the case in Church of England Voluntary Controlled Schools where Foundation Governors are not in the majority but still have responsibility to ensure the Christian Ethos is maintained and developed.

Governors serve for a period of 4 years but can be re-elected or re-appointed.

Give children a vision says Bishop Tim

Over 100 Church School governors from all over Cornwall were commissioned at a special service in Truro Cathedral on Saturday 6 February, at which Bishop Tim said how important it is that children "should be allowed to be children and not to lose their chance of childhood". This was the first time that such an event had been held.

Click on the image to move through the slides

Appeals for a place at a Voluntary Aided School

The Governing Body of all Voluntary Aided (VA) schools are their own Admissions Authority and therefore each VA school has its own Admissions Policy.

If an application for a school place is refused by the governing body there is right of appeal by the parent or carer of the child. All applicants must be told this.

For VA schools it is the Governors responsibility, as the Admissions Authority, to explain why that place was refused at an independent Appeal Hearing.

As part of the appeal procedure a representative of the Governing Body (preferably a member of the Governor's Admissions Panel) and the Headteacher (or member of the senior leadership team) are required to attend all appeals for their school and present their case for refusal to an independent panel and the parents/carers.

There are downloadable examples of Governing Body statements, which are required by the Appeal panel and appellant at least 10 days before the Hearing, which must be adapted for each individual school depending on the type of appeal. There is also a guide to the procedures during an Appeal.

Appeal forms are available from the Admissions and Transport Team at New County Hall, Truro.
Further support and guidance is available from the Diocese and the Admissions Team.

Download

Example case for class-size prejudice appeal (PDF 34.48kb)

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Example case for non class-size prejudice appeal (PDF 33.96kb)

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Format of Appeal Hearings (PDF 14.30kb)