WELCOME

Welcome to our governors’ page.  We hope that you will find all the information that you require about the governing body here.

If you would like any further information or wish to contact a member of the governing body then please contact the school office.

WHAT DO WE DO?

We are not involved in the day to day running of the school.  Our role is to support and hold to account the leaders of the school, provide a strategic direction for the work and improvement of the school and oversee financial performance.

The governing body has the following core strategic functions:

Ensuring the strategic direction by:

• Setting and ensuring clarity of vision, values and objectives for the school;
• Agreeing the school improvement strategy with priorities and targets;
• Meeting statutory duties.

Ensuring accountability by:

• Appointing the headteacher and performance managing the headteacher;
• Monitoring the educational performance of the school and progress towards agreed targets;
• Engaging with stakeholders;
• Contributing to school self-evaluation. 

Overseeing financial performance by:

• Setting the budget;
• Monitoring spending against the budget;
• Ensuring money is well spent and value for money is obtained;
• Ensuring risks to the school are managed. 

WHO ARE WE?

The governing body of Abbots Langley School is drawn from the staff, parents and local community.  It is comprised of several different types of governors:

• Headteacher is elected to the governing body by virtue of the office.

• 1 Staff governor who is employed at the school and elected by the staff.

• 1 Local Authority governor who is nominated by Hertfordshire County Council and appointed by the governing body.

• 4 Parent governors who are elected by parents of children in the school. If there are more nominations than vacancies a secret ballot is held.  To be eligible for election a parent must have a child at the school at the time of the election.

• 5 Co-opted governors who are individuals who are elected by the governing body because they have the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school.

• 1 Associate member – associate members are governors and do not have a vote in the governing body decisions. They are appointed by the governing body because of particular expertise and experience that they have.

Our current governors are:

Name	Governor Type	Term of Office began	Term of Office ends
Kate Bates, Chair of Governors	Parent	14/03/22	01/10/23
Post vacant	LA
Lee Broad	Parent	07/12/22	06/12/26
Post vacant	Co-opted
Michelle Hamilton	Co-opted Vice-Chair	07/11/19	06/11/27
James Tubb	Co-opted	27/04/20	26/04/24
Ellen Higginson	Parent	14/03/22	13/03/26
Nicola Pinder	Parent	07/12/22	06/12/26
Rebecca Negrello	Headteacher	ongoing	ongoing
Sian Plumb	Staff	07/12/22	06/12/26

MEETINGS & COMMITTEES
Our Chair of Governors is Kate Bates and our Vice-Chair is Michelle Hamilton. Our clerk is Chris Gibson.  Our mental health governor is Michelle Hamilton.  

The governors meet formally for a full governing body meeting once every half term with additional meetings where necessary.  The approved non-confidential minutes of these meetings are available upon request via the school office.

Governors also sit on Pay Appeal Panels (appeals by teachers in relation to their remuneration), Governors’ Discipline Committees (appeals by parents against exclusions) and panels to determine complaints by parents against the school.

In addition we operate a system of link governors where individual governors are linked to a specific area and / or age group.  They meet with subject and / or class leaders and observe lessons and discuss the actions for development in the development plan.

Governor attendance at full governing body meetings during the school year from September 2022 to July 2023 and details of any pecuniary or business interests of the governors are set out in the table below.