St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

At St Joseph’s, the Governing Body is made up of Foundation Governors (who are appointed by the Diocese), Staff Governors, Parent Governors and Local Authority Governors.

Governors are entrusted with ensuring the school is well run and promotes pupil achievement. The Governing Body's key duties include: setting the strategic direction, policies and objectives; approving the school budget and reviewing progress against it; acting as critical friend (by supporting and challenging the headteacher). In addition the Foundation Governors on the Governing Body have a legal duty to preserve and develop the Catholic character of the school and to ensure that the school is conducted in accordance with its trust deed. An important aspect of this is supporting and upholding the Catholic ethos of the school.

As well as sitting on the main governing body, Governors also form sub-committees and working groups that meet once or twice a term and have responsibility for the following specific areas of school management:

We also have a Complaints and Grievance Committee which forms as and when required and this is made up of a selection of Governors which can include John Apicella, Stephen Wasko and Elizabeth O'Keeffe.

Committees are bound by the rules and objectives set out their Standing Orders which are approved by the full governing body each year.

Governor targets are a critical element within the School Development Plan and enable Governors to focus on the priorities for the coming year.  Below are the key governor priorities for the current academic year:

• Recruit a permanent Head Teacher from September 2020
• Support the interim school leaders and new staff
• Manage the school’s finances and avoid setting a deficit budget
• Fill all remaining governor vacancies
• Conduct a Governing Body review
• Continue governor development 
• Build links with the new parish priest at St Francis’.

The School Development Plan also contains outcomes/success criteria to enable measurement of success at the end of the current school year.

Previous Governors 2018 – 19

Jolanta Paszko-Bertek (Foundation Governor) 15.03.17 – 10.09.18 (resigned).

Paul Dykes (Foundation Governor) 17.03.15 – 16.03.19 (end of term).

John Byrne (Associate Member) 18.07.18 – 17.03.19 (resigned).

Jenny Hill (Staff Governor) 19.01.18 – 03.04.19 (resigned as teacher).

Michael Robinson (Associate Member) 06.11.18 – 05.04.19 (when elected as Staff Governor).

Anthony Battrum (Parent Governor) 20.05.15 – 09.05.19 (resigned once appointed Foundation Governor).

Toby Tyler (Foundation Governor) 23.06.15 – 22.06.19 (end of term).

Lucy Shannon (Parent Governor) 03.11.16 – 30.06.19 (resigned). 

Lucy Hobbs (Associate Member) 18.07.18 – 17.07.19 (term not renewed).

Ellen Clinch (Associate Member) 18.07.18 – 17.07.19) (term not renewed).