Governors

An Introduction to Barnehurst Governor Partner Board

Becoming a Governor Partner is a serious but rewarding commitment.  Governors work closely with our Head Teacher and the Senior Leadership Team to ensure that children receive the best education and achieve their individual maximum potential during their time at Barnehurst. The Governor Partner Body sets the School’s strategic direction, and acts as a ‘critical friend’ to the School.

Governors do not manage the day-to-day running of the School, that is the responsibility of the Head but Governors do appoint the Head Teacher and we hold the Head accountable for the day-to-day management and leadership of the School as well as the progress that our children make.  In practice that means that Governors attend full Governing Body meetings once a term and come to school for monitoring visits to support in the strategic development of the school, as well as complete statutory duties. 

The work of a Governor at Barnehurst includes understanding how funds are spent and ensuring that investments are aligned to our development plan.  Governors visit the school with a focus on a particular area and we always report back on our findings.  This is the way we can see for ourselves how the school is progressing.

Governors do not need special qualifications but there is training available that helps us do our job.  Training is something that doesn’t stop and at Barnehurst we have a culture of continuous professional development in the Governing Body. It is important that we understand the way that the education system works and how to use the tools that are available to us to support the Schools’ performance. 

We also bring other professional skills with us and the people that make up our Governor Partner Body bring a wide range of expertise with them.  From engineers and project managers to professional educators and recruitment specialists our professional backgrounds are most varied. Whilst we all bring different skills the thing we have in common is that we all share the same enthusiasm for the children of our School.

If you wish to contact the Chair of Governors, please address your letter to:

Mr Tom Ryan, c/o Mrs Sarah Phillipson
Clerk to the Governors,
The Primary First Trust
The White House
Clifton Marine Parade
Gravesend  DA11 0DY

PFT Governors Code of Conduct 

Key Documentation available here include:

• Articles of association, 
• Funding agreement, 
• Annual audited accounts, 
• Annual report, 
• Register of interests for the accounting officer

Members of the Governing Partner Board