On behalf of all the governors of our Backwell Federation we want to welcome you to our wonderful community schools and introduce you to the work of the Local Governing Board (LGB).    

We have three key focus areas: 

• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction.
• Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the effective and efficient performance management of staff; and
• Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.

How we work:

• As a full Local Governing Board, we meet every term. 
• Subgroups, and individual governors, support specific activities and will engage with the schools throughout the year to do more in-depth reviews and monitoring against key areas.   This includes, for example:  Safeguarding, Curriculum, Finance & Premises; Outcomes, Special Educational Needs and Disability, Pupil Premium, Ethos, Leadership, Behaviour, Health and Safety & Wellbeing.   These reviews are key feeds to our full local governing board meetings.   
• As a board we continue to adapt to needs of the school – reviewing our focus and skills to stay up to date, which is key to our ongoing succession planning and board development.
• Our role is to actively provide support and challenge (a critical friend of the school), ensuring clear monitoring and reviews are in place against action plans, policies and procedures. The Headteacher is responsible for the day-to-day management of the school and the implementation of plans and policies. 
• The Backwell Federation is part of a Multi Academy Trust – The Lighthouse Schools Partnership. If you are interested to find out more about the Trust this website is a good resource https://www.lsp.org.uk/
• Approved minutes from the Local Governing Board are available on request through the clerk to the local governing board.  ngilg@backwellfederation.co.uk  

 Who we are: 

• Please see attached list of the governors and our individual areas of focus.  We run skills audits to assess ongoing succession requirements for our board and to ensure we have the right mix of skills and experience to ensure the ongoing effectiveness of the board in line with school development areas.
•  Our board is made of co opted governors who are recruited for specific experience or skills; parent governors who are elected by the parent/carer community, foundation governors who are appointed by the diocese for our church school and lastly staff governors who are elected by the staff community.   The board is supported by a clerk who ensures the effective running of the LGB and all statutory and legal responsibilities are met.
• We collectively feel privileged to be part of the work of the schools  - we are ambitious for our schools and our pupils  in wanting the very best outcomes for all.  While as part of that we will review performance outcomes and progress, at the heart of this is seeing the culture of the school shining through with its vision and values. A  school that celebrates diversity and is inclusive;  a school built on deep respect for ourselves, each other and our environment;  a school that inspires us to be our best and to achieve all we can;  a school that builds self-esteem, confidence and instils a responsibility for learning, actions and behaviours.     A happy and safe environment which children can thrive.    
• The wider enrichment opportunities the school and PTA have supported and organised, are all part of providing an interactive and engaging experience for our children in their learning journeys.    

There are many ways to support our schools– from the work of the brilliant work of our PTAs; volunteering time to help with class; sharing skills & experience with the children or becoming a governor. 

If you are interested in finding out more about the work of the governors do drop us a line.  JStafford@backwellfederation.co.uk  

Justine Stafford   

Chair of Governors