What is the purpose of the Governing Body?

The School Governors have responsibility for guiding the school in its aims and for overseeing the budget which has been allocated by the Borough Council.  We do this by maintaining close contact with the Head Teacher and working with the staff to ensure that as far as possible and practicable, they all have the facilities and resources needed to do their jobs effectively.

Who are the Governors?

Governing bodies are a mixture of elected and appointed persons representing various aspects of the community. Parent Governors elected by parents of pupils who attend the school.  Co-Opted Governors are appointed by the existing Governors and there are Governors delegated by the Local Authority to represent the authority’s interests. Our current governors details can be found here  If you are interested in becoming a Governor, please enquire at the school office.

How do we do our job?

Governors, who are unpaid, are people who give up their spare time to help in managing the school. This is done by meeting together at least once each term and by forming a number of committees to monitor and guide various areas of activity – such as Finance & Buildings, Health & Safety, and Curriculum. Each committee will also meet each term and report back to the Governors as a whole, on what is happening, what decisions have been taken and recommending courses of action which may be outside the terms of reference of the committee.  For example, the Finance committee will work with the Executive Head Teacher to set a budget each year but the budget has to be ratified by the whole governing body before being sent to the Borough Council.

Another important aspect of the governors’ role is in setting targets and monitoring the progress that the school makes in achieving them. The School Development Plan is a working document which set out what the school aims to do in the academic year, who is to do it and how it will be monitored and achieved. Each Governor has one or more areas of activity to which he or she is linked and will make periodic official visits to the school to observe what is happening in that area and report back to the rest of the Governors.

Governors also set and agree policy documents relating to such things as Staff Pay, Behaviour, Health & Safety, Financial Management and several others. Each of these documents may be seen by enquiring at the school office.

There are three committees within the governing body that take responsibility for different areas:

Leadership Management and Welfare:  this committee has responsibility for overseeing the management of the school, the performance management of the Executive Head Teacher, Health and Safety and buildings maintenance.  This committee also leads on behaviour and welfare of the pupils in the school.

Finance:  this committee has responsibility for the management of the delegated school budget, the approval of contracts and the pay structure for the school staff.

Teaching Assessment and Outcomes:  this committee is tasked with overseeing all areas of curriculum development within the federation and assessment.

How you can contact us?

You can contact us through the school office or emailing clerk@bedfordnurseryschools.com and requesting a meeting with one of our Governors. We will always respond as soon as we hear from you, but please remember that if you have a complaint; it should first be raised with a member of staff or the Head Teacher.

The governors for Bedford Nursery Schools Federation are: