At Coombe Girls' School our Governors work closely with the school’s leadership team in mapping out the strategic direction. The Governing Body is accountable to parents and the wider community for the performance of the school and for raising its standards.
Governors, therefore, need to be aware of how well the children are being educated and to satisfy themselves that the school is following its policies and procedures accordingly. Another key responsibility of the Governing Body is to ensure the money we receive is being spent appropriately to achieve the school’s goals.
Governors provide quality assurance for the strategic delivery against the school's priorities. The ongoing management of the school is very clearly the job of the school’s professional employees. As a Local Governing Body within the Coombe Academy Trust (CAT), subject matter experts manage many of the functions such as finance and HR centrally. The CAT delegates specific duties to the local governing body at Coombe Girls' that are embedded in the school improvement journey at a very local level.
In practice, a lot of the Governing Body’s work is exercised through its Full Governing Body meetings which take place twice a term. Extra-ordinary meetings are called where there is a need for dynamic strategic oversight, in response to unforeseen events or circumstances that may arise from time to time.
The curriculum, the quality of teaching, financial strategy and safeguarding are four central pillars of Coombe Girls' Governors' strategic and quality assurance work.
Individual link governors are associated with Specific tasks including: Pupil Premium Grant (PPG) effectiveness reviews, SEND provision and Safeguarding.
The Academy Trust has established a local governing body for Coombe Girls’ School under the terms of the Trust’s articles of association.
Each academy within the Trust is accountable to and must serve its community. The Governing Body of the Coombe Girls’ School is charged with delivering these aims.
Whilst the Board of Trustees has overall responsibility and ultimate decision-making authority for all the work of the Trust, and for the standards achieved by pupils and students of the academies, the Governing Body has the responsibility of ensuring that the vision of the Trust is fulfilled.
The Governing Body is focused on translating the strategy of the Trust into day-to-day reality in the school for which it has responsibility, ensuring that the staff working in the academy are supported and challenged and that the needs of the pupils and students are met.
Ms Heather Buchanan is the Chair of the Local Governing Body and can be contacted via the school governance email on [email protected]
The Clerk to the Local Governing Body is Lucy Dawson.
If you would like to express an interest in applying to become a governor, please contact
[email protected]
Governance structure within the Trust
View the attendance log to board meetings
| Trustee appointed | Parent elected | Staff |
|---|---|---|
| Heather Buchanan (Chair) | Natasha Davies | Emily Barns – Headteacher |
| Neil Williams (Vice-Chair) | Peter Haylock | Alan Sundaram |
| Bansri Dodhia | ||
| Matthew Benyohai | ||
| Caroline Charles | ||
| Vacancy |
Curious.
Creative.
Confident.