Return to Our School

Governors

Our governors perform vital, legal functions and also do a lot more to help and support our school.

The governing body is made up of parents, staff and representatives of the church, diocese and local authority.  They make decisions about how the school is run in consultation with the headteacher; they have legal duties, powers and responsibilities which include appointing staff and deciding how the school budget is spent.

Governors meet as a full group twice a term and the minutes of these meetings are displayed outside the school office.  Parent governors can contribute the views and ideas of other parents to the governing body but they are not there to act as a channel for complaints or to address any issue affecting an individual child or parent.  There are clear policies and procedures for such situations and parents are encouraged to select the more formal route or perhaps use the Parent Council for more general topics, as appropriate.

Governors are elected or appointed for four years and serve on one or more committees to carry out their various duties.

Please find below the details of our school governors currently in post:

Name Appointing body Term of office Committees
Rev’d David Munchin (Chair) Ex Officio – Rector N/A Personnel
Mr Stuart Whiteland Ex Officio – Headteacher N/A Admissions, Finance,  Fabric, Curriculum & Standards (“C&S”) (Chair), Personnel
Mrs Sam Branch Co-opted (staff) 01.09.22 – 31.08.26 C&S
Mr Chris Clements Parent 25.01.24 – 24.01.28
Mr Chris Harvey Foundation (St Mary’s PCC) 20.09.23 – 19.09.27 Fabric, Personnel
Mrs Liz Hesketh Foundation (St Mary’s PCC) 01.07.20 – 30.06.24 Finance (Chair), Fabric, C&S
Mr Stuart Jenkin Foundation (St Mary’s PCC) 18.01.23 – 17.01.27 Finance, C&S
Mr Adrian Lofty Local Authority (Governing Body) 13.07.23 – 12.07.27 Fabric, Admissions
Mrs Irene Mackie

(Vice-Chair)

Foundation (St Albans DBE) 09.11.21 – 08.11.25 Admissions,
Finance, C&S,
Personnel
Mr Bill Morris Foundation (St Albans DBE) 09.09.20 – 08.09.24 Admissions (Chair),  Personnel
Mrs Emma Phillips Staff 01.09.23 – 31.08.27 C&S
Mrs Corinna Semon Parent 01.02.23 – 31.01.27 Finance, Admissions
Mrs Evelyne Welch Foundation (St Mary’s PCC) 17.09.22 – 16.09.26 Safeguarding Link, C&S
Ms Kayleigh Kingsland (HfL Clerk) Governing Body   N/A

Please find below the details of our school governors whose terms expired during the last 12 months:

Mrs Jane Bacon Foundation (St Mary’s PCC) 10.07.19 – 09.07.23 Personnel, Safeguarding link
Mr Paul Castle Parent 17.03.23 – 17.11.23 Fabric (Chair)
Mr Chris Lund Foundation (St Mary’s PCC) 20.03.19 – 19.03.23  Admissions, P and D

Associate members

All members of the Senior Leadership team are members of the Performance and Development committee, and are invited to attend full governing body meetings as associate members.  During the last 12 months, associate members have been:

Emma Harrison,  Natasha Lewis,   Helen Southall.

In addition:

Julie Noakes (Office Manager) is an associate member of the admissions committee.

Annie Ragless (Finance Officer) is an associate member of the finance committee.

Phil Stockton (Site Manager) is an associate of the fabric committee.

No associate members have voting rights.

Notes:

In compliance with the government direction, the School’s Instrument of Government provides for one staff governor.  The governing body consider that their collective skill set is enhanced by the inclusion of a further member of staff and have agreed that such a person should be co-opted to the governing body.  The member of staff holding the staff governor vacancy will be appointed via an election of all staff; should that person be a member of the teaching staff, then the co-opted person will be a member of the non-teaching staff (and vice versa) also appointed by an election by all staff.

Register of interests

In accordance with legislation, the following table records the register of interests of governors (covering relevant business interests, details of any other educational establishments they govern and any relationships between governors and members of the school staff including spouses, partners and relatives), which may conflict with the individual’s duties and authority

 Name Business Financial Personal Relationships Governorships
Sam Branch None None None None None
Chris Clements None None None None None
Emma Harrison None None None None None
Chris Harvey None None None None None
Liz Hesketh None None None None None
Stuart Jenkin None None None Spouse is a Trustee of St Mary’s School Trust None
Natasha Lewis None None None None Governor of Commonswood Primary School
Adrian Lofty None None None Child at school None
Irene Mackie None None None None None
Bill Morris None None Welwyn Parish Councillor

STEM Ambassador

None None
Rev David Munchin None None None None Governor at St Michael’s JMI School Woolmer Green
Julie Noakes None None None None Chair of Governors at Commonswood Primary School
Emma Phillips None None None None None
Annie Ragless None None None None None
Corinna Semon None PTFA treasurer None Children at school None
Helen Southall None None None None None
Phil Stockton None None None None None
Evelyne Welch None None None None None
Stuart Whiteland None None None None None

Governors’ attendance record

Name Attendance at GB meetings during term of office in last 12 months
Rev’d David Munchin (Chair) 5/6
Mrs Emma Phillips 6/6
Mrs Jane Bacon                                      3/3
Mrs Sam Branch 6/6
Prof. Paul Castle 5/6
Mr Chris Clements 0/0
Mr Chris Harvey 2/2
Mrs Liz Hesketh 4/6
Mr Stuart Jenkin 5/6
Mr Adrian Lofty 4/6
Mrs Irene Mackie 6/6
Mr Bill Morris 2/6
Mrs Corinna Semon 6/6
Mrs Evelyne Welch 5/6
Mr Stuart Whiteland 3/3