The Governing Board at East Reading Federation

Thank you for taking the time to read about the Governing Board and the role it plays at East Reading Federation.

Every school is required to have a Governing Board. The Governing Board is a team of volunteers (including the head teacher and representatives from the staff) who have a collective responsibility for making sure that all children in the school receive the best education possible in a safe and caring environment.  All governors share the school’s ethos, vision, and values, and are proud to be part of the Alfred Sutton school community.

The Headteacher is responsible for the day-to-day management of the school. The Governing Board has a strategic function – responsible for the school’s vision and ethos and for overseeing the financial performance of the school, making sure money is well spent and for holding the headteacher to account for the school’s educational performance. Governors have a collective responsibility to provide challenge and support to the school to help achieve the school’s aims for every child.  

All governors meet as a full governing board throughout the year with additional subcommittees focussing on Resources (Finance) and the Curriculum (pupil progress & achievement).  Governors also make monitoring visits to the school and individual Governors also have a have a Link Governor responsibility in specific areas.

The Governing Board is supported by the Clerk to the Governors who is responsible for the administration of meetings and documents as well as giving advice on procedures and ensuring that Governors are aware of, and comply with, their statutory responsibilities.

You can contact the Clerk or the Governors by emailing: governors@alfredsutton.reading.sch.uk

The key strategic functions of a Governing Board:

• Ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
• Hold the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils
• Oversee the financial performance of the school and make sure its money is well spent. 

We try to ensure that we have a broad cross section of interests, backgrounds and skills on our Governing Board so that we can meet the expectations of good governance of the school. The types of questions asked at meetings might include “Why did you decide to do that this way?” and “What will the impact of that (spending) be?” or “How will we be able to measure the success of this initiative?”

The minutes of governing board meetings, once ratified, are available to read on the school website and you can also request to read paper copies in school.

Please find below details of how our Governing body is structured, including the names, categories, responsibilities and terms of appointment for each Governor.

Additional information about our Governance from the Get Information About Schools website can be found by clicking the link here

Membership & Responsibilities

Associate members who attend meetings

Governance Professional