Our Governing Board
St Bernadette's School Governance
Welcome to St Bernadette’s Website. Below is some information that you may find useful – together with a since Thank You to our staff, parents and Community for their ongoing hard work and support particularly over the past 18 months. This has been particularly critical at this time given the Challenges of COVID-19.
Our key aim is to:
- Recruit, appoint and support the best teachers and staff to ensure the highest possible level of education and support for children placed in our care; within a framework of effective Governance.
- Our Principles, Mission, Vision and Key Strategic Objectives are outlined in detail in our Strategic Plan (embedded below)
The key roles of our Governing Board are:
- Setting the school’s Vision, Ethos and Strategic Direction
- Holding the Head teacher to account for the Educational Performance of the School and it’s pupils
- Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure available resources are appropriately spent and in line with our key aim.
We work closely with MK Local Authority (MKLA) and as a Catholic School within the Vision, Values and Policies of Northampton Dioceses (NORES) and the Department for Education (DfE)
There are 14 Governors;
- 8 Foundation Governors are appointed by His Lordship the Bishop of Northampton Catholic Dioceses, The Right Reverend David OAKLEY
- 1 Governor appointed by Milton Keynes Local Authority
- 2 Governors elected by parents
- 1 Governor elected by the staff.
- Our Head Teacher - Mrs Jane Zamora
The Governing Body meets monthly with the exception of holiday periods December, February and August
In between Board meetings “Lead Governors” make visits to the school and report to Board on their in-depth findings. Each and every Governor has a “Key Lead” Role to exercise, covering all areas of the school:
- Head Teacher Performance
- Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Pupil Premium
- Child Protection and Safeguarding
- Curriculum/ Pupil/achievement – with key Leads for specific areas that the Governing Board wants to look at in more detail
- Finance
- Admissions and Appeals
- Health and Safety
- Statutory and Policy Development and Monitoring
- Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
- GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations)
- Complaints and Suggestions
In response to the COVID-19 challenges we established a Board COVID-19 Sub Committee – a “rapid respond” and planning Committee to preempt and plan and respond to the ever changing situation. This Committee formulated an agreed Strategy outlining our key objectives – placing ongoing Education and Safety of our Pupils, staff and families at the centre of all our plans. The Chair of Governor's Annual Report of Covid-19 is embedded below.
On-going update of our Website and communication from Mrs Zamora has kept our families abreast of developments.
St Bernadette’s opened in 2005 and we are particularly fortunate that our school community has shown tremendous interest and support since then.
The last OFSTED Inspection gave us some valuable feedback on our areas of strength and those we needed to focus on and recent monitoring has shown that those have been tackled successfully. We were hoping for an OFSTED revisit this year – to demonstrate our achievement but this has not been possible due to COVID-19
We are confident as we go forward to meet the challenges and changes ahead that by continuing to work closely with the NORES, MKLA and our parents and local community St Bernadette’s will continue to strive to provide the best education possible in an efficient, effective and transparent manner.
It is with this invaluable support and the hard work of our staff and Governors demonstrating total commitment to the safety and education of our pupils that we move forward as a school.
Mary McGowan
Chair of Governors
Governing Board's Strategic Direction and Plan
Chair of Governor's Annual Report on Covid-19
2020/21 Governors
GOVERNORS
Ms M McGowan - Chair Of Governors
Mr G Callan - Foundation Governor
Ms R Anugwom - Foundation Governor
Dr S Lanzon-Miller - Foundation Governor
vacant position - Foundation Governor
Mr C Edordu - Foundation Governor
Fr Seery - Foundation Governor
Mrs F Lazzari - Foundation Governor
Miss A Kerrigan - Local Authority Governor
Mrs A Upton - Parent Appointed Governor/Vice Chair
vacant position - Parent Appointed Governor
Mrs J Pughe - Staff Governor
Mrs J Zamora - Headteacher
Ms F Vines - Clerk to Governors
St Bernadette's Governing Board Information
Name | Committee membership / lead role
| Date appointed | Term of office | Date stepped down | How appointed | Number of meetings attended in the last full academic year (2020/2021) | Interests | ||
Relevant business and pecuniary | Other governing body membership(s) | Personal | |||||||
Ms Ruby Anugwom | Co-ordinator of Statutory Group – HR and Workload Lead Child Protection and Safeguarding Governor | 12 July 2021 until 11 July 2025 | 4 Years |
| Co-opted Governor Appointed by the Governing Board | 8/9 | None to publish | None | Child at school |
Mr Geoff Callan | Statutory Group – HR and Workload Lead Admissions and Appeals Committee Finance Group Headteacher Performance Management Health and Safety Governor | 1 July 2018 until 30 June 2022 | 4 years |
| Foundation Governor Appointed by the Diocese | 9/9 | None to publish | None | None |
Dr Chibuzor Edordu
| Finance Group GDPR Governor Admissions and appeals Committee STEM, Design Technology and Local Community Governor and the Wider Curriculum Governor Pupil Communication and Local Communication Governor
| 1 June 2019 until 31 May 2023 | 4 Years |
| Foundation Governor Appointed by the Diocese | 9/9 | None to publish | None | Children at the school |
Miss Alex Kerrigan | Curriculum Co-ordinator – Quality of Education including Overall Pupil Performance Data, English and Maths Governor EYFS Governor
| 21 January 2019 until 20 January 2023 | 4 Years |
| LA Appointed Governor Appointed by the Local Authority | 8/9 | Deputy Headteacher at Great Linford Primary School | Governor at Great Linford Primary School | None |
Mrs Frankie Lazzari | Chair of Admissions and Appeals Committee SEND and Inclusion Governor EAL Governor | 1 September 2020 until 31 August 2024 | 4 Years |
| Foundation Governor Appointed by the Diocese | 8/9 | None to publish | None | None |
Dr Sandro Lanzon Miller | Statutory Group – HR and Workload Lead Mental Health and Wellbeing Governor Personal Development including Relationships and Sex Education, Behaviour and Attitudes (Pupils) Workload Governor 9Staff) Headteacher Performance Management | 1 June 2019 until 31 May 2023 | 4 Years
|
| Foundation Governor Appointed by the Diocese | 8/9 | None to publish | None | My daughter is a teacher at the school |
Miss Mary McGowan | Chair of Governors Board Development Governor | 1 February 2020 until 31 January 2024 | 4 Years |
| Foundation Governor Appointed by the Diocese | 10/10 | None to publish | None | None
|
Mr Andrew Misso | Chair of Admissions and Appeal Committee | 19 June 2019 until 18 June 2023 | 4 Years | 12.05.2021 | Co-opted Governor Appointed by the Governing Board | 5/7 | None to publish | None | None |
Mr Brian Plunkett | Finance Group Admissions and Appeal Committee | 1 June 2019 until 31 May 2023 | 4 Years | 07.10.2021 | Foundation Governor Appointed by the Diocese | 7/9 | None to publish | None | None
|
Mrs Joanne Pughe | RE Lead | 27 November 2017 until 26 November 2021 | 4 Years |
| Staff Governor Elected by Staff | 8/9 | None to publish | None | None |
Fr Brendan Seery | Statutory Group – HR and Workload Lead Admissions and Appeals Committee RE Governor | 1 May 2019 until 30 April 2023 | 4 Years |
| Foundation Governor Appointed by the Diocese | 2/9 | None to publish | None | None |
Mrs Alison Upton | Co-ordinator of the Finance Group Pupil Premium Governor Looked After Children Governor
| 27 November 2017 until 26 November 2021 | 4 Years |
| Parent Governor Elected by Parents | 8/9 | None to publish | None | Children at the school |
Ms Anne Wilshin | Wider Curriculum Governor | 21 June 2019 until 20 June 2023 | 4 Years | 05.09.2021 | Parent Governor Elected by Parents | 8/9 | None to publish | None | Chid at school |
Mrs Jane Zamora |
| 17 April 2021 until 16 April 2025 | 4 Years |
| Headteacher | 9/9 | None to publish | None | None |