The Directors and Governors of The Croft work closely together; the Board of Directors, which has the ultimate legal responsibility, are supported by our Governing Committee, and one member of the Governing Committee attends the Board meetings.

The Croft Governing Committee is a member of both AGBIS (Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools) and NGA (National Governance Association).

What do Governors do?

The purpose of governing bodies is to help raise standards within schools and to ensure they are maintained, thereby providing the best possible education for all pupils in the school. 

To be effective, governors require a strategic understanding of their function and have clear arrangements in place for monitoring progress against targets. They must also be prepared to challenge the Headteacher and staff, as well as provide them with advice and support. In practice this means:

• The Role of a governor is largely a thinking and questioning role and not a doing role.
• Governors are members of a board/committee and no one, not even the Chairman (except in emergencies) can act alone or make decisions.

With this in mind, governors are not involved in the day-to-day running of any part of the school, and schools do not ask individuals to sort out concerns that should be taken to the school leadership teams.

Strategic View

Governors help to decide the school's strategy for improvement so that its pupils learn most effectively and achieve the highest standards.

The governing body helps set, and keep under review, the broad framework within which the school operates. Governors are involved in formulating and reviewing policies and drawing up the school development plan.

Supportive Challenge

This challenge comes from monitoring and evaluating the schools’ effectiveness. This can be achieved by:

• Formal Learning Walks
• Looking at data
• Attending events
• Talking to staff and pupils
• Receiving reports from the Headteacher and other leaders at governors’ meetings

Honest, impartial feedback from governors can be really helpful for the Headteacher and staff. The governors are a diverse group of individuals with years of collective experience from a wide range of backgrounds. This outside knowledge and expertise can be invaluable in providing the Headteacher and staff with advice, information and occasionally a fresh perspective. 

Accountability

Governors are responsible for ensuring the highest quality education throughout the school. To do this they have the right and responsibility to discuss, question, and refine proposals, whilst always respecting the professional roles of the Headteacher and other staff. 

The governing body is in turn accountable to parents and the wider community for its actions and the school’s overall performance.

The Governors may be contacted via the Governance Professional:  governors@croftschool.co.uk.

Meet the Members of the Governing Committee