Governance

Annual Governance statement 22/23

Our Governing Body is made up of twelve people with a range of different skills and experiences. We are a mix of those with a connection to our school as teachers, parents or grandparents and those who bring a completely external perspective. Our job is to work with the Senior Leadership Team to make sure we run the school in the best way for our whole school community. We make sure that we look after our people, buildings and money and have an inclusive, creative and stretching curriculum that enables all of our children to thrive.

The full Governing Body meets once per term and we have two sub-committees: a Learning and Achievement Committee and Resources Committee which each meet at least once per term. Our meetings are clerked by a representative from the Royal Borough of Greenwich Council. Our Governors also meet regularly with staff, undertake learning walks and visits, make themselves available to parents and meet with our school council. We each undertake external training to make sure we’re up to date with how best to fulfill our role.

Invicta Governing Body is responsible for:

ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction of our School
holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of Invicta, and the performance management of our staff to make sure all of our children are receiving the best education and achieving the best outcomes.
Setting the budget and overseeing the financial performance of the school; making sure our money is well spent.
Being accountable to all stakeholders for the school’s performance and for the decisions they make.

Statement from Chair of Governors

I am very pleased to introduce myself as the Chair of Governors. I joined the governing board in 2016 as a parent governor as my daughter, then in year 4, and son, then in year 1, had a wonderful time at school. I was really struck by the Invicta ethos and warm heart and felt how lucky we were to have such an excellent school in our community. A lot has changed since then, not least the new school in Blackheath and the growth of Invicta Deptford. I have got to know the leadership team well, experiencing both challenges and successes together, and have always found the team to be forward thinking and keen to try new things, always with a very clear focus on what is best for the children. The importance of forward planning was proven in 2020, with the children having really good online learning in place as soon as the school had to close and which evolved in conjunction with parent and carer feedback.

In my role as chair I look to bring the best from the governing board to support and challenge the leadership team, help shape the future of the school and of course ensure that the children continue to get the most from, and really enjoy, their time in school.

As well as our committee and board meetings, we regularly visit the school and meet the children, most recently in October visiting Invicta Deptford. We visited classes for all year groups with a specific focus on the learning environment (these visits are known as 'learning walks') and we noted in particular the respect that children had for each other and for the teachers, how engaged the children all were and the high expectations the teachers have for the children. The classroom displays and 'working walls' also really stood out to us and made for a very positive learning environment for the children. The governors also made the most of the opportunity to sample the new school dinners after the recent change of caterer to Chartwells and we were really impressed by the menu variety and quality which we would certainly recommend.

Jamie Hill
jhill@invictaprimary.co.uk