West Lea’s Governing Body comprises of two Local Authority-appointed Governors, two Staff Governors, three Community Governors, four Parent Governors and Sue Tripp, West Lea’s Executive Headteacher. The Governing Body meets twice in the Autumn term and once in both the Spring and Summer terms. There is also at least one meeting each year for each of our committees, which are: standards and resources.

All Governors are volunteers and work towards making the school better by questioning, monitoring and challenging the Executive Headteacher and her staff, as well as supporting them in meeting the challenges that constantly arise in daily school life. To help them in their roles, all Governors undergo training, individually, as a team and by attending certain staff training days. 

We run a Governor of the Month scheme. This is to ensure that all Governors have the opportunity to come in for a school day at least once a year, when they can join a class and experience an activity (assembly or special activity day etc). The Governor is then asked to write a piece for the school newsletter.

To improve our work, we are implementing a Governor Skills Audit. This will allow us to ensure a good balance of skills on the Governing Body, identify gaps for training and ensure that when we come to appoint new Governors, we can aim to find people to complement and improve on our skills.

Each year we create an improvement plan for the Governing Body, which is then included in the School Development Plan. This helps us to monitor ourselves and look for ways to be better at what we do and more helpful to the school.

The role of a Governor is a highly responsible one, and is taken very seriously by all members of our Governing Body. We all work and give our time to try to ensure the best outcomes for all members of our school community. 

Of course, we do have a good laugh together as well – it’s the West Lea way!