Governance

Who are we?

Following a formal agreement to federate in November 2016 we serve  Tiverton High School, Heathcoat Primary School and Rackenford Church of England Primary School. Our governing body is made up of representatives from parents, staff, foundation, the local authority and the local community. The current governors are listed below.

We may also appoint additional people with relevant skills and expertise as associate governors to support our governing body in key areas.

What we do

We work with our schools and leaders to ensure a high quality, inclusive education which enables all students to maximise their potential and make greater progress than expected.

We have three core functions:

• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
• Holding leaders to account for the educational performance of our schools, their pupils, and the performance management of staff; and
• Overseeing the financial performance of the schools and making sure money is well spent.

Governors are not involved in the day to day management of a school. We are “eyes on, hands off”.

We provide strategic oversight of the processes, policies and practices of our schools to ensure that that they are statutorily compliant and to monitor and evaluate their impact.  For example, we do not set the school behaviour policy – that is the head teacher’s role. Our job is to ensure that school behaviour systems are fair and support inclusion and achievement for all pupils.

How we do it

To achieve this we will:

• support and challenge leaders
• have knowledge of the student experience
• have a comprehensive understanding of how our schools work
• have the benefit of our pupils at the heart of all our decisions
• strive to engage with parents
• ensure governors are well trained

Our structure

The Full Governing Body (FGB) meets twice a term. It has the following sub-committees for both the primary and secondary phase which are chaired by governors and report to the FGB:

• Resources
• Learning Progress and Welfare
• Pay
• Ethos

The FGB also has First and Second Committees to deal with Disciplinary issues, Exclusions or Appeals.

In addition the FGB can set up local groups to focus on key issues relating to all or any of the three federated schools. For example – Safeguarding. These groups will be made up of a mix of governors and other members of the school and community who have the relevant skills

Andrew Rigamonti – Co-chair and Co-opted Governor
Lucy Bull – Co-chair and Foundation Governor
Sonia Chanell – Vice-chair and Co-opted Governor
Sammy Crook – Head of Federation and THS Head of School
Flora Wood – Foundation Governor (TCLP)
Philip Barlow – Foundation Governor (TCLP)
Helen Hyland – Substitute Ex-officio Foundation Governor 
Sarah Child – Local Authority Governor
John Roberts – Co-opted Governor
Emily Pitkin – Staff Governor
Emma Weaver – Parent Governor
Giles Greenslade – Parent Governor
Vacancies – Diocese Foundation Governor (Appointment pending), Co-opted Governor x 2

Emily Budden – Associate Member and RPS Head of School. L, P & W Committee. Attends Full Governors
Demelza Higginson – Associate Member and HPS Head of School. L, P & W Committee. Attends Full Governors
Fay Crellen – Associate Member and THS Deputy Head. L, P & W Committee. Attends Full Governors
Gemma Jordan – Associate Member Resources Committee
Angela Batchelor  – Associate Member Resources Committee. Attends Full Governors when needed.
Rev Steph Gordon-Jeffs – Associate Member Ethos Committee
Penny Norman – Associate Member. L, P & W Committee and Ethos Committee. Attends Full Governors (While awaiting appointment as Diocese Foundation Go)