School governors are volunteers that form the Governing Body for a school. Governors come from all aspects of a school community: parents, staff, local community and local authority. Each Governor usually serves a three year term of office. If re-appointed, Governors can serve further terms.

Governors are appointed from the parents and carers of children in the school, the teaching and non-teaching staff of the school, the local community and the local

authority. The Board of Governors is expected to ensure it has the necessary skills and experience within its make-up to enable the Board to be as effective as possible. Overall, we need a wide range of skills including finance and business, PR HR, legal, buildings and governance. When vacancies occur and we need to look for new governors, we consider the types of skills and experience we need at that time and do our best to find suitable people to fit that remit.

There are several types of governors.

Parent Governor can be anyone who is a parent of, or who has parental responsibility for or who has care of a child in the school. When a vacancy arises, the school publicises it to parents and carers and if there are more people putting their names forward than there are vacancies, there is an election.

Co-opted Governor is a person who is appointed as a governor by the governing body and who, in the opinion of the governing body, has the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school. We have a process in place for appointing co-opted governors fairly and effectively. It is possible for parents to be co-opted governors.

Local authority Governor is a person who - a) is nominated by the local authority; and b) is appointed as a governor by the governing body having, in the opinion of the governing body, met any eligibility criteria that they have set.

Staff Governors are members of staff who are also part of the Board of Governors.

The Board of Governors can also ask people to join specific committees for set periods of time as an Associate if they have the skills required, for example for a particular project. These people help with the work of the Board of Governors but are not governors of the school.

The Governing Body consistently seeks feedback regarding the school and its performance from our stakeholders. If you have any comments or suggestions to make Greenvale a better school please get in touch with us using the contact details below. Please note that governors are not involved in the day to day running of the school as this is delegated to the Head Teacher. If you have a particular query regarding your child you should first speak to the class teacher or Head Teacher.

office@greenvale.medway.sch.uk 

• ensuring that you clearly mark your email "for the attention of the Governing Body"
• Leave a message at the school office
• Write to:
• The Governing Body
  Greenvale Primary School
  Symons Avenue
  Chatham
  ME4 5UP

We are a group of volunteers with a range of skills and interests and a common aim: to ensure pupils at Greenvale are given the opportunity to achieve their best.

The documents linked below indicate governing body membership, and information regarding governors who have left the Governing Body during the past 12 months.

Financial information on school websites

From the 1st January 2021 maintained schools are required by the Secretary of State to include the following on their school websites and review them on an annual basis:

a link to the webpage which is dedicated to your school on the schools financial benchmarking service 

You do not need to have specific training or have a child attend Greenvale to become a governor. All we ask is that you are willing to give at least a few hours a month and have a desire to contribute to the continued development of the school. All successful applicants will be given an induction and have the opportunity to attend training to further develop their skills and abilities .If you are interested in volunteering as a school governor and would like to find out more, please contact the Governing Body or the school office.

Governors attend at least three full meetings of the board of governors each year and many other meetings in between. All governors serve on committees who also meet at least once a term and actively undertake work during the year to further support the school. Term of office is 4 years, after which a governor can stand for re-election should they wish.