Brunswick Primary School

Governors                                                      

On behalf of the governing body, I would like to welcome you and your children to Brunswick Primary School. 

What are school governors?

School governors are people who want to make a positive contribution to children’s education

Governors are one of the largest volunteer forces in the country and have an important part to play in raising school standards.  The role of the governing body is key to the effectiveness of a school.  Ofsted (the national inspection body for schools) recognise that effective schools have effective leaders and managers. This includes the governing body.

What do governors do?

School governors provide strategic leadership and accountability in schools.  Governors appoint to the headteacher and deputy headteacher roles.  It is governors who hold the main responsibility for finance in schools and it is governors who work with the headteacher to make the tough decisions about balancing resources.

Who are our governors?

At Brunswick Primary we are very lucky to have a broad mix of governors, from varied professional backgrounds, thus ensuring a good mixture of expertise and skills.  Some are experienced in governance and education, whilst some are new to the role and bring life and work experiences beyond education. Some are parents of children in school, some are members of our community and some are staff.

Each individual governor is a member of a governing body, which is established in law as a corporate body.  Individual governors may not act independently of the rest of the governing body.  Decisions are the joint responsibility of the governing body. Each governor acts as a representative of their electing body.

The role of the governing body is a strategic one - its key functions are to:

• set the strategic vision for the school
• manage the school's finances
• hold the headteacher to account for the effective performance of the team

The headteacher is responsible for the day to day running of the school:  the internal organisation, management and control of the school and the implementation of the strategic framework established by the governing body.

Types of governors explained:

• Local authority (LA) governors: appointed by the local authority that maintains the school.
• Co-opted governors: appointed by the governing body to represent the community, a co-opted governor does not need to have any previous experience or knowledge of education, nor do they need to have children.
• Parent governors: elected onto the governing body by other parents from the school, they are parents of children in attendance at the school.
• Staff governors: elected onto the governing body by staff at the school.

Everyone appointed to the governing body is only appointed on the basis that they have in the opinion of the person making the appointment ‘the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school.'

Please contact the clerk to governors for further information on governing board membership at clerk@brunswick.brighton-hove.sch.uk

Brunswick Primary School Governing Board

Former governors, since September 2021

Full governing board (FGB) meetings

The full governing board meets no less than five times a year. Its three core functions, as identified by the Department for Education in the Governors' Handbook:

• ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
• holding the headteacher 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.

Claire Roberts is Chair of Governors: claireroberts@brunswick.brighton-hove.sch.uk

The minutes of FGB meetings are published once they have been agreed by the governing board. 

Some functions are delegated to committees. Brunswick Primary School has a resources committee and a quality of education committee..

Resources committee 

Claire Roberts

Susan Thompson

Rittick Chakraborty

Alice Stanton

Rachael Strong

Gary Smyth

Resources Committee Terms of Reference

Quality of Education committee 

Helen Longton-Howorth

Susan Thompson

Daniel Holmes

Sophie Barker

Rosie Maclachlan

Sandra Dyke

Nusrat Nabi

Quality of Education Committee Terms of Reference

Meeting attendance

Governors' attendance at meetings in the last academic year, 2022-23

Governors' attendance at meetings in the last academic year, 2021-22: