Governance

School Governance

As an Academy, Cotham School Governors are responsible for the strategic direction of the school. They are responsible for ensuring that the school is run in accordance with the Articles of Association and the Funding Agreement with the Department for Education.

Governors have three core responsibilities:

Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its students, and the effective performance management of staff
Overseeing financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.

Governors are responsible for the appointment of senior staff, including the Headteacher, and for setting the school's budget, monitoring it and ensuring that the requirements of the Companies and Charities Act are met.

Governors agree Terms of Reference and a Scheme of Delegation for the Governing Board each year, setting out the overall membership of the Governing Board, the structure and remit of the Governors’ Committees, the number of times they will meet and the delegated responsibilities of each of the Committees.

There are between three and six meetings each school year of the Full Governing Board and each of its Committees. Governors are also active outside of formal meetings, acting as Link Governors and taking part in working groups to study and monitor various aspects of the school's provision and report back to the Governing Board.

Cotham Governing Board has three categories of Governor, as well as the Headteacher, who is a full member.

Parent Governors are elected by parents/carers of students at the school
Co-opted Governors are appointed by the existing Governors
Member Appointed Governors are appointed by the Members (see below)

Governors serve a four-year term of office and can be re-appointed or stand for re-election (provided they still have a child in the school for Parent Governors) if they wish to continue.

Being a governor at Cotham is both rewarding and fulfilling, Cotham Governors are always pleased to receive comments and observations from parents and carers. In order to facilitate this, any of the governors can be contacted through the school.

We welcome enquiries from those interested in joining the governing body and are constantly looking for new governors to enrich and diversify our membership in terms of age, skills, life experience and ethnicity. We also wish to continue to maintain our representation of students who attend the North Bristol Post 16 Centre through the parental governor role.

If you are interested in becoming a governor or would like to find out more, please contact the school via info@cotham.bristol.sch.uk

To contact the governors please email governanceprofessional@cotham.bristol.sch.uk

Members

Cotham also has Members who form part of the governance structure. This is a requirement of the Articles of Association. The majority of Members must not also be Governors.

Members are similar to a company’s shareholders – they sit above the Governors and have a largely hands-off role.

Approved Full Governing Body Minutes

Approved minutes of the most recent Full Governing Body Meeting are displayed on the Governor Notice Board in School Reception, together with agreed actions from the most recent FGB meeting.