The Governing Body of Rusthall St Paul's Primary School

The Governing Body oversees the work of our school.  We have a total of 14 governors made up as follows: 

• Two parent governors, elected by the parent body, who must be the parent or carer of a child attending the school at the time of their appointment.
• One Staff governor elected by their colleagues.
• The Executive Headteacher is a member of the governing body by right.
• One Local education authority governor appointed by Kent County Council. 
• One Co-opted governor appointed by the governing body based on their skills and experience.
• Eight Foundation Governors: Four appointed by the Rochester Diocesan Board of Education (RDBE) and four by the St. Paul's Parochial Church Council (PCC).

The Governing Body has many different responsibilities, but primarily it must promote high standards of academic achievement and help ensure that the school is a safe and happy place for its pupils.

It helps to do this in many different ways, including setting school budgets, ensuring the National Curriculum is taught to all pupils, setting targets for achievement, monitoring information about the quality of teaching in the school, comparing results with other schools and making regular monitoring visits.

The Governing Body takes a long-term, strategic view on how the school should develop, and always welcomes the opinions of and representations from, parents, staff, pupils and the local community.

The governor's work is divided between meetings of the Full Governing Body (FGB), which are attended by all governors and a number of monitoring pairs who visit the school three times a year and report back to the FGB.

The governors can be contacted in writing via the school office, or via the Clerk to Governors (contact details below). Please address your correspondence for the attention of the Chair of Governors.  

Please note however that any questions about the day-to-day operation of the school, or any complaints, should first be directed to your child's class teacher, phase leader, or the headteacher.

Interim Executive Board

Until the end of the 2022/23 academic year, the governance of the school was the responsibility of an Interim Executive Board. The school returned to normal governance arrangements on the 1st September 2023 with the appointment of the governing body shown below. As a result, attendance figures for 2022/23 cannot be calculated. 

Governing Body Members

Name		Term	Type of Governor	Roles	Term Starts	Term Ends
Nicola Barker		4 years	Parent governor	Finance Governor Website compliance	01 Sep 2023	31 Aug 2027
Jessica  Collis		4 years	Staff governor	Health and Safety/Premises	01 Sep 2023	31 Aug 2027
Simon Griffiths		4 years	Co-Chair  Foundation governor	Governor training & Development Training and Development	01 Sep 2023	31 Aug 2027
Paul Harris		4 years	Foundation governor	Personal Development & wellbeing Behaviour & Attitudes	01 Sep 2023	31 Aug 2027
Ruth Hinckley		4 years	Co-Chair Foundation governor	Child Protection Governor Safeguarding inc Prevent, online safety, cybersecurity & attendance Cybersecurity Attendance	01 Sep 2023	31 Aug 2027
Jude Johnson			Clerk
Jill Lugg		4 years	Co-opted governor	Personal Development & wellbeing Behaviour & Attitudes Inclusion, SEND, LAC & EAL Pupil Premium & Sports Premium	01 Sep 2023	31 Aug 2027
Mr. Richard Mackintosh		4 years	Foundation governor	Finance Governor SIAMS and Christian Ethos Quality of Education, Curriculum & Pupil Outcomes Parent & Community	01 Sep 2023	31 Aug 2027
Liz Mitchell			Headteacher
Mr Stephen Pollard		4 years	Local Authority Governor	Quality of Education, Curriculum & Pupil Outcomes Personal Development & wellbeing Behaviour & Attitudes	01 Sep 2023	31 Aug 2027
Sandra Sheldrake			Other
Lyndsay Smurthwaite			Head of School
Suzie Toombs		4 years	Foundation governor	Quality of Education, Curriculum & Pupil Outcomes	01 Sep 2023	31 Aug 2027
Dereck Walker		4 years	Parent governor	Health and Safety/Premises Inclusion, SEND, LAC & EAL Pupil Premium & Sports Premium	01 Sep 2023	31 Aug 2027
Ronald Williams		4 years	Foundation Ex-Officio	SIAMS and Christian Ethos

Governing Body and IEB Members who have stepped down in the previous 12 months
Name	Date Appointed	Appointed by	End of term
David Hale	22/02/22	IEB Member appointed by Local Authority	31/07/23	100%
Shaun Butcher	28/09/23	PCC	31/12/2024	N/A

Governing Body Meeting Attendance

		Inaugural FGB	FGB	FGB	FGB	FGB	FGB	FGB
Governor	Governor Type	01 Sep 2023	27 Sep 2023	30 Nov 2023	18 Jan 2024	12 Mar 2024	09 May 2024	28 Jun 2024
Nicola Barker	Parent governor	Y	N	Y	Y	Y
Jessica  Collis	Staff governor	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Patricia Elisa Ferrus	Clerk	Y	Y	Y	X	X	X	X
Simon Griffiths	Foundation governor	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Paul Harris	Foundation governor	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Ruth Hinckley	Foundation governor	Y	Y	Y	Y	N
Jill Lugg	Co-opted governor	Y	N	N	Y	Y
Mr. Richard Mackintosh	Foundation governor	Y	Y	N	Y	N
Liz Mitchell	Headteacher	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Mr Stephen Pollard	Local Authority Governor	N	N	Y	Y	Y
Sandra Sheldrake	Other	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Lyndsay Smurthwaite	Head of School	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Suzie Toombs	Foundation governor	N	N	Y	Y	Y
Dereck Walker	Parent governor	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Ronald Williams	Foundation Ex-Officio	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y

Governor Register of Business Interest 2023

Name	Date Declaration of Interest Signed	Business Interest
Nicola Barker parent	Confirmed: 10/10/2023
Jessica  Collis staff	Confirmed: 06/11/2023
Simon Griffiths foundation	Confirmed: 14/09/2023	Salde Primary School Chair of Governors
Paul Harris foundation	Confirmed: 05/02/2024
Ruth Hinckley foundation	Confirmed: 11/01/2024	Valley Invicta Academies Trust Trust Governance and Safeguarding Lead  KCC Local Leader of Governance
Jill Lugg co-opted	Confirmed: 06/11/2023	Governor St Michael’s Primary, Withyham
Richard Mackintosh foundation	Confirmed: 15/01/2024	Personal or close family relationship (Wife is FS teacher and chair of PTA) Rusthall St. Pauls Governor St James Primary School
Liz Mitchell headteacher	Confirmed: 07/11/2023	Inspire Academy Movement Business or finance interests: I am the CEO for the Trust that is supporting Rusthall.
Stephen Pollard authority	Confirmed: 29/11/2023	Chair of Governors St James's (CE) Primary School
Suzie Toombs foundation	Confirmed: 18/09/2023	School governor St James' Primary School
Dereck Walker parent	Confirmed: 25/09/2023	Rusthall School Personal or close family relationship (My wife Louise Walker is a Teaching Assistant at the school)
Ronald Williams foundation ex-officio	Not Confirmed
Jude Johnson clerk	Confirmed: 13/11/2023	The Family Trust Governor Burham CE Primary School Governor Ditton CE Junior School Governor
Sandra Sheldrake other	Confirmed: 28/11/2023
Lyndsay Smurthwaite head of school	Confirmed: 31/08/2023

To contact a member of our Governing Body, please contact our governance professional at:  jjohnson@inspiream.org.uk