The Local Governing Body

The school has a single overarching strategic objective this year: to improve attendance (both statutory attendance and lesson attendance) and to improve engagement in learning to improve outcomes for all students, particularly the most vulnerable. It is highly likely that the school will be subjected to an Ofsted inspection over the coming year. 

We begin the academic year with a full board comprising experienced governors and those continuing to develop their skills and we are delighted to welcome three new governors, two of whom bring governance experience from outside RLT. The school rebuild has been subject to various delays completely outside of our control, but we must be ready to cope with the challenge of the new build whenever it starts. 

A governance audit was carried out by RLT in June/July 2025. This found that overall, the board was effective, and highly effective in some respects. We have combined feedback from the audit with a board self-evaluation exercise and 1:1 meetings between the Chair and all governors to identify actions which will further develop the board and enhance governance.  

The priorities for the board this year are:

• Continue to work with the school to improve community relations.
• Align monitoring and challenge to support the delivery of the school improvement plan.
• Ensure that the Board takes a strategic view, including awareness of external issues.
• Ensure that the board and the school is inspection-ready.
• Continue to seek improvements in board efficiency and effectiveness.

The Local Governing Body has a streamlined structure to maximise efficiency. There is one standing working group, the Budget Scrutiny Group which meets three times a year to look at the school finances in detail and record their observations and recommendations in advance of the main Board meeting. This group also acts as the Pay Committee. The Local Governing Body meets six times a year. The agendas will alternate between a primary focus on academic matters and budget/resource matters. Sub-committees of governors are further convened once a year to consider HT Appraisal and Admissions.  

The LGB is collectively responsible for all aspects of governance, with specific link governor (monitoring) responsibilities spread between Governors (either individually or as a small group). Governors should expect to make typically six visits per year into school, although this varies depending on the governors’ individual circumstances and their role on the board. Governors are also encouraged to attend school events and will at times be asked to sit on various panels (complaints, student disciplinary and staff disciplinary).

Specific link governor roles are: 

• Safeguarding and student wellbeing
• Pupil Premium
• SEND
• Student progress and attainment data
• Behaviour and attendance (including the behaviour curriculum)
• Teaching and learning 
• PSHE
• Careers
• Risk and Compliance
• Budget scrutiny
• Stakeholder management and marketing
• Staff wellbeing and professional development

Individual governors are also allocated to the new-build and to external fund-raising, but these are not active at the moment. 

The Clerk to the Governors is an accredited governance professional who is responsible for all administration related to running the board (including agendas, minutes, distribution of papers, policy compliance and RLT compliance). 

The Local Governing Body (LGB) is intentionally diverse, bringing together a mix of ages, backgrounds, and governor experience.  A vacancy for a staff governor remains, and we are actively working to fill this important role.