The purpose of governance is to provide confident and strong strategic leadership which leads to robust accountability, oversight and assurance for educational and financial performance. In schools, this is the governing body, who are responsible for scrutiny of decisions made in school and for driving improvement, and the processes and policies which allows the school to work effectively and appropriately.
As a school within a multi-academy trust, responsibility for the governance of St Mary’s CE Primary School and Nursery ultimately is with the Board of Trustees of The Empower Trust. In common with all the Trust schools, St Mary’s has a Local Governing Body (LGB), which is technically defined as a committee of the Trust Board.
The powers defining the legal relationship between St Mary’s and The Empower Trust, together with the delegation of general powers within the Trust, are set out in a document called the Scheme of Delegation and can be seen below:
scheme-of-delegation
In summary, the role of the LGB is to:
- provide advice to the Trustees on the functioning of the school;
- act as a key link between the Trust, parents and the school community;
- act as a sounding board for the Headteacher and offer challenging but positive support to the Headteacher;
- continually review the overall impact of the Academy; and
- assist with and review the implementation of certain school policies, such as student admissions and behaviour.
The LGB has the following core responsibilities:
- ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
- hold executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the effective and efficient performance management of staff; and
- oversee the financial performance of the organisation and make sure its money is well spent.
All Local Governors agree to a Governance Code of Conduct which sets out the expectations of and commitment required.
The Chair of the LGB is: Mrs Kelly Leonard and can be contacted by email: admin@stmarys.empowermat.co.uk or by post to the address below
The Clerk to the LGB is: Miss Lucy Edge and can be contacted by email: Lucy Edge or by post to the address below
St Mary’s CE Primary School and Nursery, Poynton Road, Shawbury, Shropshire SY4 4JR
Meet our Local Governing Body (LGB) Governor page
Empower Trust
For more information about the governance of Empower Multi-Academy Trust, including information about the structure and remit of members and the board of trustees, please click here:
https://www.empowertrust.co.uk/
SKILLS AUDIT 24-25
SKILLS AUDIT 23-24
Declaration of Interests 24 -25