Frizington Community Primary School

Our Governing Body

A message from our Chair, Fred Lightfoot

School governors are regularly described as ‘critical friends’ to the school, which is a helpful phrase in understanding what they do. Certainly their role is to support the school but crucially they are also there to scrutinize all aspects of its day to day business. Its primary role is to ensure that educational standards are maintained and to ensure that the school is always striving to improve so that the quality of teaching and learning that pupils experience is of the highest possible quality. They do this in a number of ways. They monitor data to map how children are developing, measuring performance against local and national standards.

They respond to any recommendations that arise from the inspection regime and ensure that they are put in place. They also come into school to see what is going on in the classrooms, taking responsibility to monitor areas of the curriculum such as English, Maths and Science, working with staff to ensure that children realize their full potential. They are also responsible for ensuring that the school is well led, well maintained and kept within budget, therefore they scrutinize the performance of the management team. the upkeep of the building and also the school’s financial position.

The governing body has a varied membership, Education Authority appointments, local community representatives, a limited number of staff members, but the great majority of members are parents. Parent governors are there to represent all of the parents who are involved with the school, but there role is no different to any other governor. They are also a ‘critical friend’. They are not there to directly respond to any complaints that a parent may have which should be addressed to the Head teacher or the Chair of Governors.

Parent governors bring a real vitality to the governing body, keeping it responsive and dynamic. Being a governor is a demanding but hugely rewarding job and they do it because they care about the well-being and the future of the children who come through our school. Should anyone have any questions or queries or would like to learn more please do not hesitate to get in contact.

Further Information:

Minutes and financial information from our Governing Body meetings are available upon request from the School office.