St Mark's CE Primary School

The Full Governing Board (FGB) consists of Peter Smyth, our Chair of Governors, Anna Shaw, our Vice Chair, our Head Teacher, a staff governor and seven additional governors. Our aim is to ensure all stakeholders, including our Church, our School, our Parents, our local community and the Local Authority, are represented and that as wide a range of relevant skills are available to bring the right knowledge and expertise to the FGB and support our School.

All our governors are local and give their time as volunteers. All share a strong belief in the importance of providing a nurturing and safe environment for children to develop a love of learning and to do the best they can.

The Governors have organised the following committees to deal with the range of issues for which we are responsible:

• Curriculum & Standards Committee – meet three times per annum  - Chair is Andrew Cook
• Finance and Premises – meet three times per annum – Chair is Anna Shaw

The FGB meet three times per annum  with extra-ordinary meetings called to discuss critical items that cannot wait for a FGB meeting. The board meets at the end of the 2^nd, 4^th and 6^th terms with the next meeting scheduled for 27^th March 2024. Governors have specific interests within the school and you may see one of them on a subject visit in school. We are an accessible team and welcome any comments or enquiries, either direct to Peter, our Chair, psmyth@st-marks.e-sussex.sch.uk or to  our Clerk,  clerk@st-marks.e-sussex.sch.uk

A full list of the Governors can be found on the Governors Gallery & Information pages.

The primary aim of all school governing bodies is to help raise standards of achievement and attainment and ensure that the school provides a good quality education.

School governors provide strategic leadership and accountability in schools.  The three core functions of a Governing Board are:
1) Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
2) Monitoring the educational performance of the school and acting as a “critical friend” to the Headteacher
3) Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

As a Voluntary Aided school we also have a duty to help the school maintain its Christian ethos.

To achieve these goals, the Governing Board works closely with the school. While having a responsibility to hold the school to account and challenging when necessary, we are also there to provide support.

Regular activities undertaken by governors include: working alongside the Headteacher, staff and other stakeholders to produce the School Development Plan (this outlines the key activities and overall strategy for the school for the following year) reviewing pupil performance data, conducting school visits, auditing school policies and ongoing governor training.

To read the Chair of Governor's 2022/23 report, please follow the link on the Welcome page.

To read articles that are of interest to governors please visit  Recently of interest to governors page.

The Governing body are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people and expect all staff, volunteers and other members of the school community to share this commitment. We ensure that all our recruitment and selection practices reflect this commitment and review our policies, procedures and training to ensure they are effective and comply with the law.

For further details please see the Governing Board Standing Orders and Terms of Reference.