Governors

We are pleased to welcome you to the governors’ section of the site. We hope it will give you an insight into who we are and what we do.

Wolvercote Primary School is an academy managed by THE RIVER LEARNING TRUST. Each school within The River Learning Trust is managed by its local governing body and the Senior Leadership Team of the school.

Working in partnership with the Headteacher and staff, governors ensure high standards of achievement for the children in the school. We focus on strategy and school improvement; we decide what we want the school to achieve, set priorities and monitor progress to realise these aims. We have three core strategic functions delegated to us by The River Learning Trust Board:

• Setting the vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school, within the context of The River Learning Trust
• Holding the Headteacher and senior staff to account for the educational performance of the school and its children
• Ensuring the school remains within the budget delegated by The River Learning Trust and making sure the money is well spent

What do the Governors do?

The River Learning Trust delegates key strategic responsibilities to the governors. The governors then work collaboratively with the  Headteacher and senior staff to establish the vision and ethos of the school within the context of The River Learning Trust.

We look at where the school is now, ask what we want the school to achieve and how are we going to achieve this. Together with the  Headteacher and senior staff, we use the published school performance data.and additional outcomes from the school’s self-evaluation, to inform priorities in the School Improvement Plan. We set clear, ambitious targets for the school and develop policies and budget and staffing structures to achieve these aims. We also appoint the  Headteacher.

The governor’s act as a critical friend to the school, reviewing the performance of the Headteacher, checking that progress is being made towards targets, and evaluating the effectiveness of policies and the School

Improvement Plan. We also help celebrate the school's successes and ensure that parents are involved and informed as appropriate.

Governors get to know the school through attending meetings and by visiting the school during the school day.

The governing body is organised into two sub-committees, which take responsibility for holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance and financial performance of the school. The sub committees are:

• Impact Committee - This committee has an overview of the academic  performance of the school.

• Resources Committee - This committee has an overview of the effectiveness of the schools resources including staffing, equipment and the building and grounds. It also has oversight over the schools budget.

Each governor is allocated to one of the two sub-committees and some governors take on specific responsibilities, for example, Safeguarding and Health & Safety.

Who are the Governors?

Chair of Governors: Austen Cook

Vice Chair: Dan Sparrow

Chair of Impact Committee: Paul Buckley

Chair of Resources Committee: Dan Sparrow

Headteacher: Mandy Hook

Clerk to Governors: Leyla Kizilcay

Parent Governors

• Mary-Jane Newton

• Dan Sparrow

• Rebecca Williams

• Magali Matsumiya

Staff Governors

• Julia Ryle-Hodges (teaching staff)

• Kerrie Butler (Support Staff)

Community Governors

• Austen Cook

• Paul Buckley

LEA Governor

• Jo Sandelson

Register of Pecuniary Interests

You can find out more information about The River Learning Trust and Governance here:https://riverlearningtrust.org/21/key-information