Securing the school’s mission and sustaining its ethos as a Catholic school is a key priority as is raising standards. This has the best chance of happening when all members of the community are clear about the purpose of the school and have high expectations of what pupils can achieve.

Governors also promote effective ways of teaching and learning when setting the school’s aims and policies. They do this together with the headteacher, who is responsible for the day to day management of the school. Headteachers are chosen by governors – and most headteachers choose to be governors themselves.

The governing board’s main role is to secure its mission, sustain its ethos and help raise standards of achievement.

• It ensures that the school delivers a Catholic education and encourages the children’s spiritual, moral and cultural development;
• It plans the school’s future direction and sets targets;
• It is accountable for the performance of the school to parents and the wider community;
• It selects the head teacher;
• It makes decisions on the school’s budget and staffing;
• It makes sure the National Curriculum is taught;
• It makes sure the school provides for all its pupils, including those with special needs.

Governors are at the heart of how a school operates.

It is important to get things right. How they do their job affects the interests of pupils, staff morale and how the school is seen by parents and others in the community. Governors support and challenge heads by gathering views, asking questions and deciding what’s best for the school. They are not there to rubber stamp decisions. They have to be prepared to give and take and be loyal to decisions taken by the governing board as a whole.

A governing board is not a supporters club. Governors are responsible for how the school is performing. Following up inspection reports is an important job. Governors should try to be ahead of the game – identifying problems and tackling them in advance.

Governors are voluntary and are not paid, but being a governor can be very rewarding. Some of St. Martin’s governors have served the school community in this way for many years.