Governors

Arnot St. Mary currently has 12 Governors, drawn from the church family, local community, parents and staff.  Our members have a broad range of business and professional skills. The Governing Board is currently chaired by Linda Gibson.

Overview of Membership

What is the role of the Governing Board?

We are here to challenge and support the school.  Our role can be summarised in three key core functions to ensure:

• The Christian vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school are clearly defined
• The headteacher undertakes their responsibilities, ensuring the successful educational performance of the school
• The sound, proper and effective use of the school's financial resources

Our role involves setting objectives, agreeing policies, priorities, and regularly monitoring and reviewing these matters to check that they are being achieved.  The Governing Board’s role in relation to the leadership team has been described as that of a “critical friend”; we are here to offer strategic advice, to challenge and support the development of the school. We do not get involved in the day-to-day running of the School; this is the responsibility of school leaders.

We are very fortunate to have governors with a wide range of skills and expertise in areas such as finance, business, children’s services and mental health.

This means that governors are well placed to challenge the school’s work constructively.  Governors strive to extend their knowledge and skills in school governance by undertaking regular skills audits and training.   

How is the governing body organised to ensure that its core functions are undertaken?

Full Governing Board

The full governing board meets once every half term for a formal meeting.

During meetings, presentations are received from the Senior Leadership Team and leaders of all levels across the school to ensure that governors are provided with accurate, relevant and appropriate information to enable them to hold school leaders to account for the performance of the school.

In addition to formal meetings, governors meet regularly with relevant staff in school to enable them to maintain an overview of their area of responsibility.  This ensures that governors are well placed to ask pertinent, supportive and challenging questions in order to enable the school to move forward.

How does the governing body support the well being of the staff team, including senior leaders?

Governors are regular visitors to school, monitoring and evaluating our work in school.  During these meetings with individual staff members or teams, governors show a high interest in activities undertaken by school staff, offering supportive challenge.  Governors take the time to show appreciation for staff efforts in enabling our pupils to flourish – in line with our school vision.  This is regularly reflected in minutes from governors’ meetings.

The headteacher’s report, provided half termly in advance of governing board meetings, always includes a section relating to staff wellbeing and workload.  Governors maintain oversight of wellbeing and workload via reports from the headteacher following performance management meetings, including end of cycle and interim review meetings.

The governing body has been highly supportive of action taken to improve facilities and provide support for staff over recent years.  Examples of this include the creation of a ‘Discovery Hub for collaborative learning, as well as full remodelling of the staffroom to ensure a high-quality environment for staff to enjoy a break during the day.

The wellbeing of senior leaders is supported via regular communication with designated governors.

The Chair of Governors is highly proactive in supporting school leaders and regularly conducts formal and informal wellbeing reviews with senior staff. 

Link Governors

Governors are assigned to areas of responsibility aligned to their expertise and professional skills.  They undertake regular visits to school and report their findings to the Governing Board at full business meetings.

Governors Meetings 2025-26

Governor Attendance 2024-25