What do we do? 

Our school is overseen by a volunteer Governing Body who, alongside the headteacher, set the vision for the school. Together they ensure that the school works effectively and efficiently to achieve its vision by: 

• Building a thorough knowledge of the school and its community; 
• Supporting and constructively challenging the school; 
• Ensuring accountability - judging the school's performance openly; and, 
• Compliance - ensuring the school meets all its legal obligations, for example safeguarding children and managing finances. 

The Governing Body works in close partnership with the headteacher, staff and the local authority. In practice, the headteacher is responsible for the day to day running of the school. However, the governors are involved with such things as staffing, curriculum, school buildings and finance. They ensure the school functions well and set the direction and policies for the school, to provide ongoing support and advice and to monitor the outcome. 

Each sub-committee and the full governing body meets once per term and their areas of responsibility are: 

Education Committee 

Standards and Curriculum:   to discuss and monitor all aspects of the school’s work around pupil attainment and progress, and ensuring that the school’s curriculum is broad and balanced and meets statutory requirements. 

Pastoral Support:  to discuss and monitor all aspects of the school’s pastoral work which includes areas such as attendance, behaviour, safeguarding, health, and spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) provision. An important role of the committee is to ensure all Child Protection policies are fully understood and correctly implemented by all staff, and to monitor how the government PE grant is being spent to improve provision. 

Business Committee

Finance and Resources:  to ensure that the school spending remains within budget and that all funds are spent wisely to best meet the needs of the pupils. 

Full Governors

The full Governing Body will meet once a term to receive input from the sub-committees and make any necessary decisions.

Who are we? 

Somerset Bridge Primary School’s Governing Body consists of: 

• the headteacher 
• one elected staff governor 
• one appointed local authority governor 
• five co-opted governors* 
• two parent governors. 

*  Co-opted governors are people who in the opinion of the Governing board have the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school 

 The standard term of office for a governor is four years. The chair and vice-chair are elected annually at the first meeting of the academic year. 

The Governing Body of Somerset Bridge Primary School is currently: 

Name	Appointing Body	Office Term	Committees	Responsibilities	Business Interests	Attendance 23/24
Shane Stevens	Local Authority LEA	09/2023 to 09/2027	Business/ Education	Safeguarding/ Attendance	None
Susan Ley	FG Body Co-opted	01/2023 to 101/2027	Business	Health and Wellbeing	None
Nathan Murdoch	FG Body Co-opted	01/2023 to 01/2027	Education	Health and Safety	Teacher at another school
Heather Moffatt	FG Board Co-opted	09/2024 to 09/2026	Education	Vice Chair SEND	None
Emma Kilner	FG Board Co-opted	03/2022 to 03/2026	Business	Governor	Further education staff
Laura Devenish	FG Body Co-opted	05/2021 to 05/2025	Business	Governor	None
Darren Argrave	FG Board Co-opted	09/2024 to 09/2026	Business	Chair	Wife is a teacher at the school
Barry Williams	Elected Parent	09/2023 to 09/2027	Business	Governor	None
Kevin Bryant	Headteacher		N/A	Headteacher	School Staff
Kelly Evans	FG Body Associate Gov	09/2024	N/A	Deputy Headteacher	School Staff
Matthew Eva	Staff Governor	10/2024 to 10/2028	Education	Governor	School Staff
Angela Barber	FG Body	06/2024	N/A	Clerk	School Staff
Vacant	Elected Parent			Governor
Vacant	Elected Parent			Governor

 

For further information on the Governing Board at Somerset Bridge please apply through the School Office. 

Our Governors' attendance for 2022/2023

Governor	% Attendance of all meetings
Shane Stevens	80% missed two meetings
Susan Ley	70% missed three meetings
Anne Moseley	70% missed three meetings
Nathan Murdoch	30% missed seven meetings
Emma Kilner	70% missed three meetings
Heather Moffatt	100%
Laura Devenish	70% missed three meetings
Kevin Bryant	100%
Darren Argrave	80% missed two meetings