Governors work closely with Mr Christie (Headteacher), school staff and representatives from the local authority (LA).
Effective Governance
The purpose of governance
1. The purpose of governance is to provide confident and strong strategic leadership which leads to robust accountability, oversight and assurance for educational and financial performance.
2. All governance boards, no matter what type of school or how many schools they govern, have three core functions:
• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
• Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the effective and efficient performance management of staff; and
• Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.
To contact the Chair of the Governing Body, please call 01388762858 – or, write to:
Mrs Catherine Lawes
Chair of Governors
c/o Stanley Crook Primary School
Wooley Terrace
Stanley Crook
DL15 9AN
Governor’s Committee Structure
For further information on who our governors are and what they do, please click on each name below:
| Name | Representing | Term of Office | Committee | Responsibilities | Register of Governor's Interest | Relationship to Staff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mr David Christie - Headteacher | Staff - Headteacher | N/A | ECM Finance & Premises Pupil Discipline Standards, Achievement and Curriculum | Leadership and Management of the school | None | |
| Mrs Catherine Lawes - Chair | Chair of Governing Body Co-Opted | 04.06.2020 | Appeals ECM Finance & Premises Headteachers Performance Personnel & Pupil Discipline | Child Protection Performance Management English R.E. Health and Safety | None | |
| Mrs Rachel Wilkinson - Deputy Headteacher | Staff | 03.03.2020 | Standards, Achievement and Curriculum | Curriculum Development | None | |
| Councillor Richard Manchester | Local Authority | 23.03.2022 | First/ Pay Review Headteacher Performance | Community Liaison and Improvement (others TBC) | County Councillor of Tow Law division for Durham County Council and LA Rep at Tow Law Millennium School | |
| Mr Ben Hayman - Vice Chair | Vice Chair of Governing Body Parent | 20.12.2022 | Standards, Achievement and Curriculum (Chair) Appeals | EYFS Curriculum Planning Healthy Schools Mathematics Science | None | |
| Mrs Jane Herron | Parent | 20.12.2022 | Appeals ECM Finance & Premises | SEND Looked After Children Anti Bullying PSHCE/SEAL, Equalities and Diversity, GDPR | None | |
| Mr James Craft | Co-Opted | 09.03.2021 | ECM Finance and Premises (Chair) First/ Pay Review Headteacher Performance | School Development/ Procurement/ STEM and Community Projects Assessment Pupil Attendance | None | |
| Mrs Lyndsey Glasper | Parent | 20.12.2022 | Standards, Achievement and Curriculum ECM | PE, Website/ Compliance, Music | None | |
| Mrs Emily Hunter | Co-Opted | 01.07.2023 | Standards, Achievement and Curriculum Appeals ECM | SMSC, Well-being (Pupils/ Staff) MFL Design and Technology | None |
Governor meetings are held at least every term during which important areas of school improvement are discussed. Each Governor also has an area of the curriculum to monitor and reports on performance in this area through regular monitoring visits. Feedback from monitoring visits is used to challenge the school leadership team and is used to target areas for improvement to improve provision within our school.
Recent monitoring visits have included:
- Staff Wellbeing – Mrs Hunter
- Pupil Mental Health and Wellbeing provision – Mrs Hunter
- Pupil Attendance – Mr Craft
- Assessment – Mr Craft
- Website compliance – Mrs Glasper
- Mathematics (Mastery and NCETM project involvement) – Mr. Hayman
- English (Cross-curricular writing/ Reading) – Mrs Lawes
- Safeguarding and Looked After Children provision – Mrs Herron
- Finance and Budget – Mr Craft
- Special Educational Needs Provision – Mrs Herron
- Governance Review and Action Plan – Mr Hayman
An Overview of our Governing Body’s Key Activities
How To Become A School Governor
If you require further information on the roles and responsibilities of School Governors or you are interested in becoming one, visit the Durham County Council website School Governor section.
Statutory Guidance for Governing Bodies
Stanley Crook Primary School adhere to the statutory guidance from the Department for Education. This means that governing bodies must have regard to it when carrying out duties relating to the constitution of governing bodies in maintained schools. For further information please view or download the documents below.
The Constitution of Governing Bodies of Maintained Schools (2017)
Annual Governance Statement for the Governing Body 2018
Record of Governor’s Attendance 2019 – 2020
Schools are now required to display a record of Governor’s attendance at meetings for each school academic year. You can also view previous years attendance on our website.
KEY
✓ – Attended meeting
A/A – Apologies sent and accepted by meeting
N – Did not attend
X – Not a member of the committee
NA – Not Applicable
| Name | Full Meeting January 2019 | Full Meeting March 2019 | Full Meeting June 2019 | Full Meeting November 2019 | Finance, Premises and Personnel Committee November 2019 | Pay Review Committee (incl. Headteacher Appraisal) November 2019 | Standards, Achievement and Curriculum Committee December 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mr T Carroll | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | NA Stepped down as Chair of Governors | NA | NA | NA |
| Mr D Christie | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | NA | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mrs J Herron | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | NA | NA |
| Mr J Craft (Appointed Co-Opted - March 2017) | A/A | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | NA |
| Mr B Hayman | ✓ | ✓ | A/A | ✓ Appointed Vice-Chair of Governors | NA | NA | ✓ |
| Mrs C Lawes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ Appointed Chair of Governors | NA | ✓ | NA |
| Mrs R Wilkinson (DHT appointed February 2016) | A/A | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | NA | NA | ✓ |
| Councillor Richard Manchester (appointed March 2018 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | NA |
| Mrs Lyndsay Glasper (Elected December 2018) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | NA | NA | ✓ |
| Mrs Emily Hunter (Co-Opted June 2019) | NA | NA | ✓ | ✓ | NA | NA | ✓ |
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