Welcome to our Governors’ section.
Message from the Chair:
As Chair of Governors and a parent with children at the school, I’ve experienced firsthand how St Edmund Campion partners with parents, our parish, and the wider West Bridgford community. My professional background is as a medical doctor with a senior role in hospital oversight, so I contribute my experience in structured oversight to help maintain high standards across the school. Working collaboratively with our Headteacher, staff, and governing body, our aim is to uphold our Catholic ethos, nurture academic excellence, and support the personal development and well-being of every pupil. Whether you are already part of our school family or exploring options for your child’s primary education, please do say hello if you see me around the school!
Please find below details of how our Governing body is structured, including the names, categories, responsibilities and terms of appointment for each Governor.
Governing Body
Role of the Governing Body:
The main role of the governing body is to operate at a strategic level, leaving the head teacher and senior leadership team responsible and accountable to the governing body for the operational day to day running of the school.
As such the three core functions of the governing body are:
- Ensuring clarity of the Catholic vision, ethos and strategic direction
- Holding the head teacher to account for the educational performance and Catholic character of the school and its pupils
Aligned to this, the governing body is there to be a ‘critical friend’ providing the right balance between supporting and challenging the performance of both the head teacher and the school.
The Governing Body meets six times during the course of an academic year. Generally governors will be responsible for a specific area of governance within the school, dependent upon their skill set. The role will involve spending a certain amount of time within school to complete monitoring visits – but the time spent on this can be tailored to a specific governors time restrictions and other commitments.
How to become a Governor:
The governing body needs to have a variety of skills, knowledge and experience.
There are two routes by which you can be appointed as a school governor at St. Edmund Campion:
- Foundation Governors: These are appointed specifically by the Bishop to ensure the preservation and development of the school’s Catholic character, to ensure that the school is being conducted as a Catholic school, and to represent the Bishop’s education policy to the governing body. In order to be considered for appointment you must be a practising Catholic. For further information on this please e-mail:Julie.sweeney@nottingham-des.org.uk
- Parent Governors: There is a parent governor on the Governing Body. Parent governors are ‘representative parents’ rather than ‘representatives of the parents’, and in common with other governors, are concerned with the welfare of the school as a whole. When a parent governor vacancy arises, this will be communicated to parents and an election will take place for which any parent with a child at the school will be eligible.
The current term for a governor is 4 years, and a governor can serve up to 3 terms if they so choose.
If at any time you wish to contact the governors you may write a letter to the Chair of Governors, mark the letter ‘Confidential’ and hand it to the school reception. They will ensure it is passed on the Chair, unopened and in strict confidence.
