Governing Body
All maintained schools in England have a Governing Body, which is responsible for overseeing many of the strategic decisions of the school. A key role is to act as a ‘critical friend’: to support, to challenge, and to ask questions.
Eversley Primary School Governing Body is rightly proud of the achievements of the school. However, it’s drive is clear ensuring we give local children the best possible start in life.
The Governing Body works in close partnership with the Headteacher, staff and the Local Authority. Whilst the Headteacher is of course responsible for the day to day running of the school, the governors are involved with such things as staffing, curriculum, school buildings and finance. It ensures the school functions well and maintains the proper range of academic and social objectives.
Membership of the Governing Body includes parents, teaching staff and representatives from the local community and the Local Authority.
The Governing Body has a range of powers and duties laid down by various Education Acts. In the main, these responsibilities relate to:
- Setting targets and promoting high standards of educational achievement
- Setting the strategic framework within which the school operates
- Management of the school’s budget
- Ensuring that the curriculum for the school is broad and balanced
Governors adopt, review and monitor a range of policies that govern the operation of the school including Health and Safety, Behaviour, Curriculum and Performance Management.
Governors discharge the above responsibilities, together with many others, through a Governing Body meeting each term. These formal meetings are supplemented by a series of committee-meetings dealing with more specific issues. Two committees of governors usually meet twice each term:
- Pupils & Achievement Committee
- Resources Committee (focusing on staffing, premises and finance).
A number of governors also have responsibilities for specific areas within the school. The Terms of Reference outline the specific responsibilities of the full governing body and its committees.
Skills required of school governors
The National Governance Association (NGA) has published a list of skills required for school governance. An individual governor is not expected to have all the skills listed in the audit, but they should be covered across the governing body:
Register of Interests
Governors have a legal duty to act in the best interests of their schools. Where there are personal or financial interests, which may conflict with this duty, they must identify, prevent and record the conflict. Generally, governors must not be involved in discussions or vote on matters to which their conflict relates.
Governors must sign and/or review a register of interests at the start of every meeting. From September 2015, governors also declare personal or other interests which might be a potential source of conflict.
Membership
| Governor Name | Governor Type |
| Michael Florides | Co-Opted Governor |
| Samantha Williams | Headteacher |
| Hayley Kirkpatrick | Deputy Headteacher |
| Flora Georgiou | Deputy Headteacher |
| Joanna Heiler | Assistant Headteacher |
| Peter Robotham | Staff Governor |
| Bambos Charalambous | Co-Opted Governor |
| Wahida Khan | Co-Opted Governor |
| Hadiza Adeyemi | Co-Opted Governor |
| Sanah Khan | Co-Opted Governor |
| Prafulla Pujara | Parent Governor |
| Mark Wallace | Parent Governor |
| James Clements | Parent Governor |
| Marie Maduro | Business Manager |
Michael Florides is a Co-Opted Governor and joined the governing body in February 2016. Michael has two children attending Eversley. He is an architect, working in the local area for over 16 years with his work centred on education projects including primary schools, secondary schools, and schools serving special needs. Michael has always been passionate about school premises and how the quality of school spaces, and outdoor play areas can make a real difference to the needs of the children.
Prafulla Pujara has been a parent governor since June 2017. With over 20 years in the education sector, and more specifically within the Quality Assurance arena, Prafulla has a keen interest in the quality of education that is delivered through our schools, colleges and private training providers. Being a mother of two, with one daughter still at Eversley Primary School and the other now in Secondary, Prafulla has always been passionate about the well-being and safety of the children at Eversley. Having worked as a parent volunteer throughout the years and now as a Governor, Prafulla continues to support the school to ensure it strives to high standards and remains a happy, safe place for the children.
Peter Robotham has been a teacher at Eversley since 2013, where six of these years have been as a Year 6 class teacher. During this time, he has also been the Physical Education curriculum leader for the last five years at the school and supported Eversley in attaining the afPE Quality Mark with Distinction in 2018. He is also now working for the Local Authority and the Enfield PE Team, where he is able to support other schools in the borough with developing their physical education curriculum whilst also leading teaching training in schools across Enfield.
James Clements is an education writer and researcher, specialising in the teaching of reading and writing. James has two children at Eversley and was elected onto the governing body as a parent governor this year.
Sanah Khan joined the Eversley governing body as co-opted governor in September 2019, she sits on the resources committee and is also the SEND governor. Sanah is a chartered management accountant by profession and lives locally. In her free time, Sanah enjoys travelling, reading and baking.
Hadiza Adeyemi is a Founding Partner of a leading strategy solutions company for manufacturing/renewable energy firms with a focus on incorporating advanced technologies such as Robotics, IoT, Smart factories, Artificial Intelligence to achieve innovative growth – having studied at IESE Business school Miami/New York. Prior to this, she had a busy 20 year career specialising in business systems consulting working with some of the top 5 consulting firms where she was actively involved in business transformation initiatives for numerous private and public companies located globally in the EMEA region covering multi-faceted projects within investment banking, mineral mining, oil & gas, biopharmaceutical and supply chain arenas.
Hadiza comes from a large/close-knit family that includes nephews, nieces ranging from ages 1- 20 years. Being very passionate about excellent quality/ well-rounded education for children, she is regularly hired to give motivational & career talks as well as Industrial insight workshops & “Dragon Den” entrepreneur challenges to UK 6th form college students via a school speakers scheme. She taps into her own career experiences as case studies for these sessions.
She used to be a Governor at a North London SEN private school for 3 years.
Hadiza is a member of the Resources Committee as well as one of the Safeguarding Governor leads.
In her spare time, Hadiza likes to connect with nature by hiking alongside her fellow Herts ramblers club members around glorious woodlands which Hertfordshire & environs are blessed with. She also loves open water swimming and has swam in various open sea/lake challenges to raise funds for charity.
Mark Wallace is a parent governor at Eversley School. As professor of chemistry at King’s College London, he has taught across the biological, physical, and chemical sciences at university level for over 20 years. Before moving to London in 2016, he worked at Oxford University; where in addition to research and teaching, was involved in college governance, finances, and the admission of new students. Outreach projects from his lab have included in-school demonstrations, and participation in the Wellcome Trust sponsored “I’m a scientist get me out of here competition”. He also serves as a committee member to a number of professional scientific bodies and charities, overseeing the activities, finances, and awards administered by these organisations.
Wahida Khan has been a co-opted governor since 2018. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant and sits on the Resources Committee. In addition, Wahida is the GDPR governor. Wahida lives locally and in her free time enjoys mentoring and travelling.
Minutes
Governing Body Minutes – 25-03-19
Governing Body Minutes – 01-05-19
Governing Body Resource Meeting Minutes 01-05-19
Governing Body Minutes – 01-07-19 – Pt 1
Governing Body Minutes – 23-09-19
Governing Body Minutes – 16-10-19
Please click on the links below for more information.
Governors Committee – September 2020