Welcome to our Governors’ section.

Please find below details of how our Governing body is structured, including the names, categories, responsibilities and terms of appointment for each Governor.
We have also provided a Register of Governor Interests and an Annual Statement of Issues for your information.

School Governance

A warm welcome to Warrender from the Governing Body. The current members are as follows:
 

A full list of the current Governing Body is displayed on the noticeboard inside the main entrance of the school, along with latest published minutes of the Full Governing Body meeting.

The Education Reform Act 1988 considerably increased the responsibilities of Governing Bodies in all state controlled schools. School governors are responsible for overseeing virtually all aspects of school life, which are in turn delegated to the Head Teacher. He is responsible for the day to day running and organisation of the school.

The term of office is four years from the point of election, but occasionally a parent, co-opted or teacher governor may no longer be able to continue serving, or may become ineligible. In this case, an interim election will be held. All parents are kept informed of such developments.

The main forum of discussion is the meeting of the full Governing Body, held twice termly. Most business, however, is carried out in two sub-committees that address the following areas:

Children, Families & Learning

• Curriculum incl. School Development Plan and Additional Educational Needs
• Parents, Families and Communication
• Community and Partnerships

• Finance
• Health and Safety
• Personnel
• Premises and other assets

Members of the Governing Body serve on one of these sub-committees, the Head Teacher and chair on both. All Governors are assigned with specific aspects of the School to monitor.

Children, Families & Learning Committee

Heather Rhodes - Chair

Emilia Ciesla - Vice Chair

Alana Stewart

Sakhdeep Sohi 

Steven Baxter

Matthew Kelly
Mike Smith

Resources Committee
Steven Baxter - Chair

Joshua May - Vice Chair 

Matthew Kelly
Mike Smith
Alana Stewart

Bhiru Shelat

David George 

The governing body must be only contacted via the school details given above, which is the legal business address for the whole governing body.

As defined by the Department for Education (DfE) in The School Governance (Roles, Procedures and Allowances) (England) Regulations 2013, the core functions of the governing body include:

• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos, and strategic direction.
• Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils; and
• Ensuring the sound, proper and effective use of the school’s financial resources.
   
  In exercising their functions, the governing body shall
• Act with integrity, objectivity, and honesty and in the best interests of the school; and
• Be open about the decisions they make and the actions they take and in particular shall be prepared to explain their decisions and actions to interested parties.
   
  Our governing body has a code of conduct which is reviewed and agreed annually.  All governors and associate members are obliged to abide by this code.
   

This governing body also can have Associate Members.  Associate Members are not governors, but they are public volunteers.  They are appointed by the governing body to support the ongoing work and duties of the governing body.  The number of Associate Members is determined by the governing body.

The governing body agreed to form the following committees on 16 October 2019.  This is reviewed annually.

Specific panels of the governing body are convened as required for

• School Complaints
• Staff Grievance and Discipline
• Pupil Discipline
• Pay Review Panel
• HT Performance Review Panel
   
  The governing body delegates some specific functions to some governors covering specific areas of school life.  These governors are known as Link Governors. Our school has the following link governors:
   

Other Governors visits completed

Autumn Term 2019

• FGB Day in School meeting that incorporated class visits and staff engagements
• Parent Consultation Evening
• School’s Open Day

Spring Term 2020

• Interviewing to recruit
• Governor vacancies
• Attended Pupil Progress Observation

Summer Term 2020

• Covid-19 related SLT support
• Delivering free school meals to the school’s vulnerable families
• Setting up a new fundraising website

Note: From March no school visits were scheduled due to restrictions associated with covid-19.

Virtual Visits March – August 2020

•  IT procurement tender
• Covid-19 Risk Assessment
• Covid-19 Parent engagement
• Safeguarding policy review (to reflect Home Learning)
• Exit Interview with staff member

What were the significant challenges for the governing body in 2019/20?

• Embedding the revised Curriculum
• Limited flexibility within the school budget
• Governor vacancies in Autumn 2019 included 2x Co-opted, 1x LA and 1x Staff
• The restrictions and issues caused by Covid-19 which included:
  • Revised Health and Safety considerations
  • Home Learning Provisions during school closure
  • Parent Engagement
  • Key Worker Provisions
  • Other Bubble Provisions
  • Well-being considerations for staff and pupils

How were the challenges met?

• Rigorous challenge and oversight of the progress.
• Pro-active meticulous financial tracking, reporting and analysis. Investment in ensuring areas where possible financial benefit can be achieved, are examined.   
• Successfully filling the LA Governor and one of the Co-opted Governor vacancies during the Spring term 2020.  
• In general Governors provided additional support to the SLT during a difficult and unprecedented period. In addition, Governors assisted with delivering free school meals to vulnerable families.  
  • Health and Safety Risk Assessments were rigorously challenged for approval
  • Innovative live lessons provisions were endorsed by Governors to compliment the daily on-line curriculum related tasks arranged for all year groups
  • Governors provided support and verification with the Covid-19 related communications to parents
  • Key Worker provisions were adopted carefully
  • Other bubble provisions were reviewed and accepted, Governors were also present at school to assist parents and children as each new bubble was welcomed
  • Governors ensured well-being considerations were examined and supported

What were the achievements of the governing body for 2019/20?

• Good attendance from governors across all committees and meetings.
• Two new Governors successfully recruited.
• Good financial management/oversight.
• Governors have continued to attend training.
• Broadening knowledge regarding school academisation
• Increased profile of Governors by completing questionnaires with families during a number of parents evening in the Autumn term
• Supporting the school during the covid-19 lockdown and the re-opening phase
   
  How have these achievements improved areas of school life (impact)?
• The whole Governing Body has a better understanding of the needs of the school.
• The new Governors bring a wealth of new skills, experiences and enthusiasm that will contribute to a stronger Governing Body.
• The school is still running well within the constraints of an ever decreasing budget.
• Training has enriched the Governing Body’s pool of skills with greater understanding of key school Governing areas, as well as knowledge of the latest developments in Governance. For the Governors that are new, it has provided them with a firm foundation.   
• Appreciating the importance of forming and maintaining close links with other local schools, in case academisation needs to be revisited in the future
• Parents are more aware of who the Governors are and what they do. The recommendations from the findings were reviewed
• Pupils benefited from live video teaching sessions as part of the hone learning provision during the lockdown. The year groups identified by the government to return to school did so successfully in the Summer term
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

• Link to Ofsted report http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report
• Our school's performance data can be found at https://www.gov.uk/school-performance-tables/
• Link to school's website https://www.warrender.hillingdon.sch.uk/
• Link to school's pupil premium statement on the school’s website https://www.warrender.hillingdon.sch.uk/pupil-premium/
• Link to school's PE and sport premium information on the school’s website https://www.warrender.hillingdon.sch.uk/sports-premium/

• Link to Parent View Portal, which seeks parents' opinions on aspects of our school, from the quality of teaching, to dealing with bullying and poor behaviour. https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/

This register must

• state the name and category of each governor
• set out any relevant business interests
• set out details of any other educational establishments that they govern
• set out any relationship details between governors and members of staff, including spouses, partners and relatives.

Each governor has declared their interests as given above in writing to the governing body.

Let us have your feedback
The Governors at Warrender always welcome feedback from parents and carers about the school. If there are things that the school is doing well or if you feel there are aspects of school life that could be improved, please let us know so we can continue to improve our school. If you wish to feedback direct to the governing body about an aspect of the school, or would like to attend any of the Full Governing Body meetings, please contact Alana Stewart (Chair) via the School Office. Alternatively, you may submit general feedback about Warrender to Ofsted via their Parent View portal.