Active – Aspire - Achieve

At Amotherby School, Governors, staff, families, children and the community work together in ensuring our values under pin everything that we do.

The Governing Board is involved with our school at every level and provide strategic leadership and accountability. We have three core functions:

• Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.
• Holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils.
• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction.

Governors are volunteers who meet at least once per ½ term as a full board. In addition, each Governor may have keys areas that there are linked to.   Through our meetings and regular visits into school we have strategic oversight of safeguarding, curriculum, performance, finance, premises management and senior staff appointments. Governors consider our most important role to be the education, safety and welfare of our pupils.

We monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the school, its budget and its policies; and hold the school to account for the educational performance of our learners. Our role is to support and encourage Mrs Wanless our Headteacher, subject leaders and all staff to ensure that every one of our children has access to an enriched, highest quality education, a safe and nurturing learning environment and to all the opportunities that they deserve.

We are a happy school filled with smiling, confident children. The children achieve high standards across the curriculum. We are justifiably very proud of them and would encourage anyone considering a place at Amotherby School for their child to make an appointment to discover for yourself everything we have to offer your child.

We are all committed to ensuring that a young person’s school day at Amotherby School is positive and fulfilling and to provide the opportunity for our young people to develop to their full potential.

If you wish to contact me, my email is cofg@amotherby.n-yorks.sch.uk

Paul Simpson

Chair of Governors

Who are our Governors

Please find below details of how our Governing body is structured, including the names, categories, responsibilities and short introductions to our Governors.

Sophie Jillings

Sophie was appointed as a co-opted governor in June 2023. She has worked in leadership roles within database and digital technology companies for 20 years and is looking forward to bringing her understanding of data to her governor role, carefully reviewing school metrics.

Sophie lives in Amotherby village and has 3 children, including a son in Year 2 at Amotherby School, and is keen to foster an ongoing close relationship between the school and the local area.  

Emma Taylor

Emma has one child at Amotherby school and another at Malton secondary school, and she is delighted to be a parent governor. Having originally qualified as a nursery nurse, Emma now works as a Training & Development Manager for an IT company. 

Emma is passionate about learning and helping each student reach their full potential, so the role of parent governor is a great way for her to help the school to achieve this. 

Stewart Morris

Stewart joined the governing board as a parent governor in November 2021 and is vice chair and safeguarding lead. He has three children at Amotherby Community School, with a fourth in pre-school.  

He has over 20 years experience in criminal justice, both on the front line in prisons and more recently in the Ministry of Justice, developing evidenced based national policies and supporting prison governors and probation leaders to develop and improve practice.

Keiran Owen

Keiran was appointed as a co-opted governor in October 2022. He has worked in local government for 9 years as a Senior Finance Officer and is looking forward to using this experience to assist Amotherby School.

Keiran has a daughter in Year 1 a son in pre-school. In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his family, running and watching football

Kim Cooper

Kim began working at Amotherby School nearly 14 years ago. After graduating with a Teaching and English degree, she taught abroad before returning to England to begin her teaching career. At Amotherby school, she has taught in EYFS and KS1 and currently teaches in our Year 4 class 3 days a week. She joined the school as an NQT and is currently doing lots of roles such as Assistant Headteacher, SENCO, deputy safeguarding lead and Class Teacher. Kim began her Governer role in 2020 and looks forward to working with the other Governors to secure the best outcomes for our pupils

Governor categories in Amotherby School

The governing boards of maintained schools must be made up of specific types of governors. Understand what all of the different categories of governors are and the roles they play in school governance.

The headteacher

The headteacher is automatically a governor because of their position as headteacher – sometimes referred to as an 'ex-officio' governor. Headteachers can resign their position on the governing board if they choose, but the role can't be filled by any other staff member.

Their role

To implement the governing board's strategy in practice, and provide information to the governing board as requested. A governing board or committee meeting is the primary forum where the headteacher reports to the board. 

Parent governors

Parent governors are elected by other parents in the school.

All parents or carers of registered pupils at the school are eligible to stand in a parent governor election. Once elected, parent governors may continue to hold office until the end of their term of office even if their child leaves the school .

The DfE defines parents as:

• All natural (biological) parents, whether they are married or not
• Any person who, although not a biological parent, has parental responsibility for a child or young person (this could be a step-parent, guardian or other relative)
• Any person who, although not a biological parent, has care of a child or young person. This means they are the person with whom the child lives and who looks after the child, irrespective of what their relationship is with the child

Grandparents would only be eligible to be parent governors if they care for the child on a full-time, settled basis or if they are the legal guardian of the child. 

Their role

A parent governor's role is the same as other governors on the board, but they provide a 'parental viewpoint' to the governing board. They're not there as a parent representative nor as an advocate for their own child.

Staff governors

Staff governors are elected by other staff members.

All staff who are employed to work at the school at the time of election are eligible to stand for election as the staff governor. This includes teaching staff, support staff, senior leaders and part-time staff.

Staff governors should be elected for the skills they can bring to the governing board, rather than their position within the school.

Their role

Staff governors have the same role as other governors on the board, but they bring a unique staff perspective to the governing board. They don't represent the staff and are not there to be held to account by the board.

Local authority governors 

Local authority (LA) governors are nominated by the LA. LAs set their own eligibility criteria, but the governing board can either accept or reject that nomination based on whether they have the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school.

Their role

LA governors must govern in the interests of the school and not represent or advocate for the political or other interests of the LA

Co-opted governors

Co-opted governors are appointed by the governing board.

Anyone is eligible to become a co-opted governor and governing boards are free to decide which skills they're looking for. This can include parents.

Their role

Co-opted governors are appointed by the governing board if it believes they have the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school. They'll often have specialised knowledge in subjects like:

• Management
• HR
• Finance
• Data
• Law
• Education