At Whitecross Nursery School we have a team of governors that work as volunteers to support the school.  Their role is to support and challenge the Headteacher, to help set the vision and strategic direction of the school and to ensure that our school is the very best it could be.

Governors have a wide range of responsibilities.  These include tasks such as:

• Ensuring that the school meets its legal responsibilities.
• Setting the school budget.
• Making decisions about the school building and premises.
• Setting school policies.
• Appointing staff and making decisions about current staffing.
• Looking at how well groups of pupils are performing and ensuring action is taken if there are any concerns.

We have five full governing body meetings each year.  During these meetings we look at a wide range of information to find out how well the school is performing.  Our Headteacher provides a detailed report at three of these meetings, and we also look at data and other information so that we can make our own decisions about how well things are going.  We also have six subcommittee meetings each year looking at progress & attainment and also school finance.

To support the work that goes on, governors visit school as often as possible.  We particularly enjoy talking to the children about their interests and accompanying them on visits in the local environment.

We are proud to have a committed governing body that is made up of a team of individuals with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.

The Governing Body of Whitecross Nursery School

Chair of Governing Body & Co-opted Governor – Claire Devey

Vice chair, SEND & Co-opted Governor - Su Wall

Safeguarding & Co-opted Governor - Julie Jennens   

Health and Safety & Co-opted Governor – Sasha Gillan

Shadow Safeguarding Governor & Local Authority Governor - Emma Nichols

Mental Health Link Governor & Parent Governor - Jessica Allton

Parent Governor - David Galloway

Co-opted Governor - Sara Woodward

Co-opted Governor - Jayne Staves

Staff Governor - Roz Walker-Smith

Headteacher - Claire FitzPatrick

Clerk to Governors - Julie Fowler

If you would like to contact our governing body, then please email our clerk at clerk@whitecross.derby.sch.uk

 

Governor Training

All governors undertake governor induction training on taking up the role of governor and every governor undertakes further training on relevant topics. Some of the training which our governors have undertaken over the last two years are listed below:  

Corporate Parenting

Creating a New Vision for your school or trust

Domestic Abuse: The Impact on Children

FGM Recognising and Preventing

GDPR

Good Governance - Ofsted and the New Inspection Framework

Governance - Getting it right as a staff governor

Governance - Your Role, Your Responsibilities & Your Organisation

Health & Safety

Performance Appraisal Training

Prevent Training

Progress & Attainment: Using data to improve educational outcomes

Pupil Success & Wellbeing - Early Years Education

Pupil Success & Wellbeing - Arts & Cultural Education

Recognising and Preventing FGM

Safeguarding - The Governor Role

Setting performance objectives for executive leaders

Strategy - Living your values, reaching your vision, managing the risk

Succession Planning

Using Integrated Curriculum & Financial Planning