Brunswick Primary School, Somerhill Road, BN3 1RP

01273 711816

Brunswick Primary School

Achieving success with determination and joy

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

Name

Role 

Term of office 

Appointed by

Original appt date

Susan Thompson

Headteacher

01.01.2022 -

Virtue of office

01.01.2022

Claire Roberts

Co-opted governor (Safeguarding)

02.03.2022 - 01.03.2026

Governing board

02.03.2022

Rosie MacLachlan

Co-opted governor

02.03.2022 - 01.03.2026

Governing board

02.03.2022

Daniel Holmes  

Co-opted governor

11.05.2021 – 10.05.2025

Governing board

12.02.2015

Cheryl Hassell

Co-opted governor

02.11.2023 - 01.11.2027

Governing board

02.11.2023

Sophie Barker Parent governor 24.06.2022 - 23.06.2026 Elected by parents 20.07.2022
Helen Longton Howorth     Co-opted governor (SEND) 25.05.2022 - 24.05.2026 Governing board 25.05.2022
Nusrat Nabi Staff Governor (Pupil Premium) 18.10.2022 - 17.10.2026  Elected by staff     18.10.2022
Sandra Dyke Parent Governor 07.10.2022 - 06.10.2026 Elected by parents 07.10.2022
Alice Stanton Parent Governor (Health and Safety) 07.10.2022 - 06.10.2026 Elected by parents 07.10.2022
Rachael Strong LA Governor 07.12.2022 - 06.12.2026 Nominated by local authority, appointed by governing board 07.12.2022

Former governors, since September 2021

Name

Role

Term of office   Appointed by 

Original appt date

 
Alison Colbran Interim Headteacher 01.09.2020 -04.01.2022
Virtue of office 01.09.2020

Michael Williams

Co-opted governor  19.09.2018 - 02.03.2022  Governing board  19.09.2018 

Jamie Trott

Co-opted governor  19.05.2021 - 02.03.2022  Governing board 19.05.2021

Neil Scott

Co-opted governor 27.11.2019 - 14/04/2022 Governing board 27.11.2019

David Brading

Parent governor 23.10.2020 - 31.05.2022 Elected by parents 23.10.2020

Cheryl Wiggs

Parent governor 23.10.2020 - 31.05.2022 Elected by parents 23.10.2020

Reem Abushawareb

Parent governor 12.11.2021 - 20.09.2022 Elected by parents 12.11.2021

Anneka Dawson

Local authority governor 07.01.2020 - 09.09.2022 Nominated by local authority, appointed by governing board 07.01.2020

James Stuart

Co-opted governor 02.03.2022 - 26.09.2022 Governing board 02.03.2022

Leah Wright

Staff governor 19.10.2018 - 18.10.2022 Elected by staff 19.10.2018

Grace Drysdale

Co-opted governor 19.05.2021 - 17.12.2022 Governing board 19.05.2021

Rittick Chakraborty

Co-opted governor 25.11.2020 - 06.03.2024 Governing board 25.11.2020

Gary Smyth

Co-opted Governor  24.05.2023 - 06.03.2024 Governing board  24.05.2023 

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 

Helen Longton-Howorth (Chair)

Claire Roberts

Susan Thompson

Alice Stanton

Sophie Barker

 

Resources Committee Terms of Reference

 

Quality of Education committee 

Cheryl Hassell (Chair)

Susan Thompson

Rosie Maclachlan

Sandra Dyke

Nusrat Nabi

Daniel Holmes

Quality of Education Committee Terms of Reference

 

Meeting attendance

Governors' attendance at meetings in the last academic year, 2023-24

 

Governors  5 FGB meetings 3 resources committee meetings 3 quality of education committee meetings Date joined/resigned 
C. Roberts n/a
D. Holmes n/a
S. Thompson
R. Chakraborty n/a Resigned 06/03/2024
R. MacLachlan n/a
S. Barker n/a
H. Longton-Howorth n/a
S. Dyke n/a Joined 07/10/2022
A. Stanton n/a Joined 07/10/2022
N. Nabi n/a Joined 18/10/2022
C. Hassell
G. Smyth n/a Resigned 06/03/2024
Rachael Strong n/a Joined 07/12/2022

 

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

 

Governors  6 FGB meetings 3 resources committee meetings 3 quality of education committee meetings Date joined/resigned 
C. Roberts 4/4 2/2 n/a
D. Holmes 4/4 n/a 2/2
S. Thompson 3/4 2/2 2/2
R. Chakraborty 4/4 2/2 n/a
G. Drysdale 2/3 1/1 n/a Resigned 26/01/2023
R. Maclachlan 4/4 n/a 1/2
S. Barker 4/4 n/a 2/2
H. Longton-Howorth 4/4 n/a 2/2
S. Dyke 3/3 n/a 1/1 Joined 07/10/2022
A. Stanton 3/3 1/1 n/a Joined 07/10/2022
N. Nabi 3/3 n/a 1/1 Joined 18/10/2022
L. Rothera (associate member) 1/4 n/a 0/1
Liz Rocamora 3/3 1/1 n/a Joined 07/12/2022
Rachael Strong 1/1 1/1 n/a Joined 07/12/2022

 

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

 

Governors  5 FGB meetings 5 resources committee meetings Date joined/resigned 
S. Thompson 3/3 3/3 Joined 01/01/2022
A. Colbran 2/2 2/2 Resigned 31/12/2021
D. Holmes 5/5 5/5
R. Chakraborty 5/5 5/5
G. Drysdale 5/5 3/5
J. Trott 1/2 n/a Resigned 02/03/2022
M. Williams 3/3 n/a Resigned 02/03/2022
C. Roberts 3/3 n/a Joined 02/03/2022
N. Scott 3/3 3/3 Resigned 14/04/2022
D. Brading 2/3 n/a Resigned 24/05/2022
C. Wiggs 4/4 3/3 Resigned 27/05/2022
A. Dawson 4/5 n/a
L. Wright 2/5 n/a
J. Stuart 2/3 n/a Joined 02/03/2022
R. Maclachlan 2/3 n/a Joined 02/03/2022
R. Abushawareb 3/4 1/3 Joined 12/11/2021
S. Barker 1/1 n/a Joined 20/07/2022
H. Longton-Howorth 1/2 n/a Joined 24/05/2022

 

                                                 

Register of interests

Date declared Business/pecuniary interests  Governance roles in other educational establishments  Personal interests
Claire Roberts 25.05.2022 East Sussex employee in the School Improvement Service.  None None
Daniel Holmes
25.05.2022 None None Parent of year 3 and year 6 children
Susan Thompson 25.05.2022 Staff Headteacher None None
Helen Longton-Howorth 25.05.2022 None None

None

Sophie Barker 20.07.2022 None None

Parent year 4 child

Rosie MacLachlan 15.07.2022 None

None

None

Alice Stanton 25.11.2022 University of Sussex - PHD student

None

Child at the school
Sandra Dyke 12.11.2022 Member of the PTFA 

None

Children at the school

Nusrat Nabi 21.11.2022 Teacher at the school 

None

None

Rachael Strong 28.01.2023 Patcham High School - Assistant Headteacher

None

None

 

 

Approved minutes of meetings 

Copies of previous meetings' minutes can be obtained by emailing clerk@brunswick.brighton-hove.sch.uk

Quality of Education (from 01/09/2022)
09.11.22 11.01.23 26.04.23

 

 

Curriculum & Data committee (committee ended 19/20)