Our Governors

Welcome to St. Thomas' Governing Body

I am Janet Shallaker-Gill, aged 63, and the current Chair of Governors at St Thomas’ Church of England Primary School in Halliwell.

My role and responsibilities as Chair, along with the full Governing Board, include the following core functions:

• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school
• Holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the performance and management of staff
• Overseeing financial performance of the school and ensuring money is well spent

I retired two years ago from Bolton Council, where I worked for Governance Services as a Governor Support Officer. I worked with school leaders and governing boards to provide effective support and guidance in order to strengthen school leadership and governance. This gave me a wealth of experience in all aspects of providing advice and support on governance regulations and procedures, providing me with comprehensive knowledge and expertise to support governing boards, and committees, as part of my role.

I was Clerk to the Governing Board at St Thomas’ for twelve years before retiring.

I worked very closely with the Headteacher and Governors during this time, and I felt very close to the school in general, they made me feel like part of the School family. The role also gave me a full and detailed knowledge of the school over many years.

It was an easy choice and natural progression for me to become a Governor at the school I felt I had most affinity for.

My aim now as Chair, is to continue the amazing work of the school, which provides the very best for its children and community as a whole.

I am continually astounded and impressed by the way everyone exceeds expectations to support the children and each other. I hope that I can contribute, if not a small part, to the school success in this way and take pride in helping to make a difference.

Meet Our Governors

Governing Body Overview

The Governing Body is responsible for the policies and overall development planning for the school. Working alongside the Headteacher and the staff, the Governors encourage and support the work of the school, ensuring that the finances are well managed and that the education and personal welfare of the children are kept under regular review. The full Governing Body meets at least once a term. A lot of the developmental work is managed by the Curriculum, Pupil Welfare and Resources Sub-Committees, which meet regularly throughout the year. All classes and curriculum areas have Link Governors. St Thomas’ (Halliwell) Governors are very committed to the school and closely linked with the local community. The main aim of the Governing Body is to ensure the delivery of a high standard of education for all pupils in its care.

Every Governing Body is expected to have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of its school. Governors acquire this knowledge in a variety of ways:

• Reports from the Headteacher and other senior staff
• Local Authority (LA) and National data
• Local Authority (LA) performance data sent to the Headteacher is shared with the whole Governing Body
• The school’s key performance indicators
• Ofsted Reports
• School Development Plan and ongoing self-evaluation

First hand knowledge is gained by Governors visiting school. Regular planned visits give Governors insight and understanding about school and help to strengthen the Governing Body’s strategic and monitoring role.

There are two kind of governor visits - formal and informal.

Governors make formal visits to the school in connection with their responsibilities as Governors. Formal visits have a clear focus, linked to priorities in the School Development Plan.

Governors on informal visits attend in a more personal capacity (school performances/PSA Events/Sports Day etc). Such visits add to individual Governors’ knowledge and understanding of the school and strengthen relationships and foster trust and respect between Governors, Staff, Parents/Carers and most importantly children.

If you would like to contact any member of the Governing Body, please send correspondence, marked “FAO Chair of Governors”, to the School Office.

Diversity Data

The governors at St Thomas’ Church of England Primary School in Halliwell believe it is important that boards reflect the diversity of the school communities they serve. Diverse boards promote inclusive school environments and provide diverse role models for staff and young people.

The governors are currently collecting data on the diversity of the board, including data on age, gender and ethnicity. They will use that data to inform their recruitment and training needs and ensure there is always a diverse range of perspectives around the table to support robust decision-making in order to serve our community in the best way possible.

Due to our relatively small governing board, we will not publish this diversity data online as individual governors could be identified and we have a legal obligation to protect their personal data.