Structure and Meetings
The Government has set out how Governing Bodies must be constituted in the School Governance
(Constitution) (England) Regulations 2012. Dulverton has fully applied these regulations in
developing its own Instrument of Government, which came into effect from 1 September 2014. This
Instrument sets out that the full Governing Body of Dulverton School consists of 14 Governors. As
per the Regulations and the Instrument of Government, governors can come from a number of
different categories, as set out below:
Category |
Number |
Method of Appointment |
Parent |
4 |
Elected by other parents of children at the school |
Staff |
1 |
Elected by staff at the school |
Local Authority |
1 |
Nominated by the London Borough of Bexley |
Co-opted |
7 |
Appointed by the Governing Body due to their specific skills and/or their ability to contribute |
Head Teacher |
1 |
Ex officio member by virtue of their office |
With the exception of the Head Teacher, whose appointment lasts while he/she is in post, all
Governors serve for a term of four years. The Staff Governor also serves for a term of four years, except their appointment ends if they leave the employment of the school within that time. After this, Governors can be re-appointed or re-elected for further terms of office.
The full Governing Body normally meets once a term. Once the minutes of the meeting have been approved by the Governing Body, they are available to view in the school office on request.
The Governing Body delegates most of its work to a series of Committees, of which the principal ones are:
Committee |
Purpose |
Curriculum |
Monitors the delivery of the school’s curriculum, and considers any inspection reports and the results of pupil testing |
Finance and General Purposes |
Proposes the annual school budget and monitors the school’s performance against that budget, approves major procurements, and oversees the school’s management of its assets and estate (including health and safety issues) |
Staffing |
Approves the school’s staff complement and organisational structure, determines pay and allowance arrangements for school staff, and considers the school’s performance management and staff development arrangements |
Committees normally meet once a term (except for Extended Services, which met more infrequently) and report back to each meeting of the full Governing Body.
There are other formal committees that the Governing Body is required to have, but which only meet as and when required. These are:
- Head Teacher Performance Appraisal Committee – Agrees performance targets for the Head Teacher and monitors performance against these targets;
- Pupil Discipline Committee, which only meets to hear appeals against the permanent
exclusion of pupils; and
- Staffing “First” Committee, which only meets to discuss staff discipline procedures or to
determine staff suspensions or dismissals.