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  • Church Hill Nursery School
  • Low Hall Nursery School
  • Church Hill Nursery School
  • Low Hall Nursery School

Our Governing Body

The governing body has overall responsibility for ensuring the highest standards of education are provided in both schools, and for setting the strategy for future development.

On this page:

  1. What the Governing Body does
  2. Who's who
  3. How governance works
  4. Approved minutes of meetings

What the Governing Body does

Governors work in close collaboration with the staff and parents to ensure high-quality education and care in a welcoming environment. To do this the Governing Body formulates relevant policies and sets aims and objectives which are addressed in annual School Development Plans for the two schools. Governors' scrutiny at Church Hill and Low Hall covers these areas:

  • planning and development of the educational curriculum and extended services,
  • children’s learning progress and all-round development
  • policy-making and review
  • the staff teams and professional training
  • the school budgets and fund-raising
  • maintenance and improvements to the buildings and school grounds.

Governors are always happy to meet with families to talk about the role on the governing body and how the shared vision for young children is being put into outstanding practice, and to follow up on any suggestions, ideas and comments they have.

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Who's who

Our Governing Body is made up of:

  • the Executive Headteacher and 1 member of staff who is voted for by all staff at both schools
  • 2 parent governors
  • 1 Local Authority governor, proposed by the London Borough of Waltham Forest
  • 5 co-opted governors: people from our local community who all bring particular expertise
  • Occasionally, an associate governor is appointed

This combination of volunteers is designed to bring a range of appropriate expertise and engagement which can understand and challenge the school operations in a supportive yet critical way.

Our current governors and their responsibilities are:

Name Governor Type Term From Term To Roles
Mr Mark Brown Co-opted governor 6 May 2021 5 May 2025 Vice Chair of Governors, Premises, Safeguarding & Children's Welfare Link Governor
Ms Aalia Chaudhary Parent governor 1 September 2021 31 August 2024 FPP
Mrs Helen Currie Executive Headteacher
 		 n/a n/a all committees
Ms Sally Davey Co-opted governor
 		 3 Oct 2022 3 Oct 2026 Chair of CLD, Link for PSED & SEND
Ms Pauline France Local Authority governor
 		 1 Feb 2023 1 Feb 2027 Chair of FPP elect, Premises, Children's Play & Learning
Mr Abrar Malik Co-opted governor 5 May 2021 4 May 2025 Chair of Governors, CLD
Mr Jana Mills Co-opted governor
 		 4 Sep 2022 4 Sep 2026 Vice Chair of FPP, Link for Sustainability & Equalities
Ms Lindsay Read Staff governor
 		 16 Oct 2019 15 Oct 2023 CLD, FPP
Ms Katy Thompson Parent governor 1 September 2021 31 August 2024 Premises
Mrs Caroline Russell Clerk
 		 n/a   Clerk

How governance works

There are  4 ways governors and the schools meet:

1. Some governors take particular Link Governor responsibility for specific areas. They make visits to the schools, usually once a term and during school hours, to have in-depth discussions with staff and observe how their area of interest is working. After the visit they write a report, which is circulated to all governors.

2. Three sub-committees meet every term:

  • Finance, Pay and Personnel
  • Children's Learning and Development, and
  • Premises.

These meetings have detailed discussion, and make recommendations to the Full Governing Body. As the need arises, governors sit on recruitment boards, disciplinary committees and complaints panels.

3. Full Governing Body meetings of all governors are held once a term. Parents who are interested can attend as observers.

4. From time to time some governors also join working parties with staff leaders to draw up new policies or guidance, or to work on a particular matter.

You can see which governor does which role in the 'who's who' section.

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Transparency

We pay the Local Authority to clerk our meetings; we don't write our own minutes. These minutes (confidential items excepted) are made public.

The clerk records governor attendance at meetings, who is on which committee, and who the link governors are for particular subjects. Governors declare at the start of each year and also at the start of each meeting whether they have any financial (pecuniary) or personal interest in any agenda item, and their declarations of pecuniary interest are minuted by the clerk. Below is the governor attendance at meetings for each school year:

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Approved minutes of meetings

Minutes are signed off at the meeting after they are taken. The minuted acceptance is available the term after that. As meetings are termly, ratified minutes are always posted here two terms in arears. As minutes are now signed off digitally, minutes no longer show handwritten signatures and initials.

academic year term committee
22-23 Autumn
21-22 Summer
  Spring
  Autumn
20-21 Summer
  Spring
  • Full Governing Body
  • Finance Pay and Personnel: all minutes marked confidential, so not posted here
  • Children's Learning and Development: this meeting hasn't happened for some time due to COVID restrictions, however the Chair did a learning walk at both schools, the notes from which are here.
  • Premises
  Autumn
19-20 Summer
  Spring
  Autumn
18-19 Summer
  Spring
  Autumn
17-18 Summer
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