Governors & Academy Documents

Weston Favell CE Primary School is a single academy trust that works in close partnership with Northampton Primary Academy Trust (NPAT). Being a single academy trust means that we are a charitable company limited by guarantee and an independent legal entity. Our company number is 08208801. Our charitable purpose is to advance education, in particular by managing and developing a school with a designated Church of England religious character. Our Articles of Association (1) sets out our governance arrangements. We have two layers of governance: Members and Governors.

Members

Academy trusts are set up as charitable companies and so must have Members. Members have a similar role to shareholders of a company limited by shares. They hold the governing board to account for the effective governance of the Trust and have minimal involvement in running the Trust. In our Trust, the Members are responsible for appointing Foundation Governors.

Our Members are:

Peterborough Diocese Church Schools Trust

Peter Cantley

Susan Parkinson

Dr Peter Halstead

Rev. Canon Beverley Hollins

Governors

A governing board has four core functions:

• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school
• Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the performance management of staff
• Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure money is well spent
• Ensuring the voices of stakeholders (pupils, parents, staff and the community) are heard.

The governing board has three committees that handle some delegated business of the governing board; an Audit and Risk Committee, an Ethos Committee and a Pay Committee.

The role of the board is strategic and so governors are not involved in the day-to-day running of the school. However, in amongst the work we undertake at meetings and school monitoring visits, governors will be at school events and parents’ evenings, enquiring how your children are getting on and what you feel about the school to get an accurate, overall picture of the school.

Our Governors are:

Headteacher

Sarah Heslop

Parent Governors

Sarah Marlow

Anand Kumar Annamalai

Foundation Governors

Dr Peter Halstead (Chair)

Sue Alcock

Robert Walker

Honor Pacey

Rev Byung Jun Kim

Community Governor

Matthew Evans

Staff Governor

Kelly Rich (Teacher)

Partnership with Northampton Primary Academy Trust

Weston Favell CE Primary School Trust works closely with Northampton Primary Academy Trust (NPAT) and has done since its inception in 2012. In most ways, we operate like one of NPAT’s schools, benefitting from school improvement and operations support. We have a Partnership Agreement (2) with NPAT that sets out the terms of this arrangement.

Governance Documents

The Memorandum of Association (3) relates to the establishment of Weston Favell CE Primary School Academy Trust under company law. The Master Funding Agreement (4) is effectively the contract between the Department for Education and the Trust. The Scheme of Delegation (5) outlines the operational authority delegated by the governing board to the headteacher and the committees of the board. The Terms of Reference (6) detail how the committees operate. The Governance Code of Conduct (7) is a code that all those in a governance role sign up to. The Governor Roles and Committees (8) document shows the appointment dates of current and recent members as well as the membership of committees and monitoring roles. The Declarations (9) document shows the declared business and pecuniary interests outside the Trust of Members, Governors and School Leaders in the interests of transparency. The Attendance Record (10) shows governors’ attendance at meetings over the previous academic year. Our Annual Reports can be found on our Policies and Reports page.

Contacting a Governor

Should you wish to contact a Governor please telephone the school or email the Governance Professional to the Governing Board and your enquiry will be passed on to the relevant Governor.

The Chair of Governors is Dr Peter Halstead. The Chair can be contacted via the school office or by contacting the Governance Professional.

The Governance Professional is Julia Hardcastle. The Governance Professional can be contacted via her email address .

Minutes of Governing Board Meetings

To view a copy of the minutes of the governing board, please contact the Governance Professional, who will be able to provide you with an electronic or paper copy of the minutes.

Becoming a Governor

Governors do not have to be experts in education and almost everyone has something they can contribute. Training about the role of governors is provided. Parent governors are very valuable as they have experience of the school and they can help us to keep in touch with what parents are thinking. External governors give an independent viewpoint and keep the board balanced. We are particularly looking for candidates that can bring specialist skills to the governing board, such as in Finance, IT, Law, Marketing or HR. We also strive to have a governing board that is representative of the pupils at our school and their parents/carers, so those from diverse backgrounds, with protected characteristics and people under the age of 40 are encouraged to apply.

If you are interested in becoming a Governor or would like to find out more, please email the Governance Professional via the email address above.