Governors

Welcome to our Governors' section. 

The Governing Board has adopted the Circle Model of Governance, which means it works collectively as a 'whole team', meeting a minimum of 6 times per year, without any separate Committees. The agenda for each meeting will include all the tasks which the Governing Board is required to consider, and the Governing Board will delegate assignments or activities arising from the business of the meeting, which will be recorded in the minutes.

Any delegated working groups will be agreed by the Governing Board and will have named membership, agreed terms of reference and agreed expectations of timescales and full board feedback. Working groups will report any findings, actions or recommended decisions to the Governing Board. These reports will in turn inform collective strategic decision making by the Governing Board.

In addition to delegated activities or actions on their behalf, the Governing Board in order to ensure its core functions are fulfilled, will also delegate monitoring responsibilities to 'monitoring pairs', or 'link individuals'. These include the statutory required Link Governor roles and those focused on the priorities of the School Development Plan. The Governing Board recognises the delegated monitoring pairs / link individuals are replacing committees in terms of challenge, responsibility and accountability when undertaking their monitoring and reporting back to the Governing Board. Ultimately it is the corporate responsibility of the full governing board to ensure it fulfils all statutory responsibilities.

In each case where a function has been delegated there is a statutory duty to report any findings, actions or recommended decisions to the Governing Board at the next meeting to enable informed collective strategic decision making.

The Chair of Governors for the academic year 2023/2024 is Joan Curran.Please find below details of how our Governing body is structured, including the names, categories, responsibilities and terms of appointment for each Governor.

We have also provided a Register of Governor Pecuniary & Business Interests, which are also declared at each governors meeting.

The Governing body of Our Lady of Lourdes is made up of a group of people, who bring a range of experiences to the role, ensuring sufficient diversity of views and experience. Decisions are a joint responsibility of the governing body.

As Governors of a Catholic school, Foundation Governors (appointed by the Bishop) are mindful of our responsibilities towards maintaining and developing the Catholic ethos of Our Lady of Lourdes which permeates all aspects of school life.

Our role is strategic and our main functions are to:

• Agree aims and objectives of the school
• Approve policies and financial commitment for achieving those aims and objectives
• Agree targets for achieving those aims and objectives
• Monitor and evaluate the progress the school is making
• Be both a source of challenge and support to the school leadership team

The Governors of Our Lady of Lourdes are committed to ensuring that the children who attend our school receive the best possible education. We are increasingly proud of our school and the progress we continue to make.

We welcome comments from Parents and Carers and actively seek the opinions of all staff and children. We can be contacted through the school office.