Welcome from the Chair of Governors

The Local Governing Body are a voluntary group made up from parents (elected by you), staff representatives,  and members of the community.  We bring a broad spectrum of skills to enable us to offer the necessary challenge and support to school leaders and staff to ensure that all pupils at Great Malvern Primary School get the best education possible.  

We value your input and want to hear your views on school issues.  How can it be improved?  What information would you like to see included? 

What does the Local Governing Body do?

Great Malvern Primary School is part of Mercian Educational Trust. Information about the overarching governance of the Trust can be found here: 

Structure and Governance - Mercian Educational Trust (metacademies.org.uk)

The Structure of Governance

Mercian Educational Trust is a company limited by guarantee and is effectively ‘owned’ by the ‘Members’. The Members act much like shareholders in a company holding the Trustees to account and receiving the annual reports.

Formal governance of the Trust is performed by the ‘Trustees’. A full list of Trustees and Members can be found through the link above.

The Trustees delegate executive authority to the executive leadership team which is led by Dafydd Lawday, the CEO of Mercian Educational Trust, and includes the headteachers of the schools within the Trust.

Each school in The Trust has its own Local Governing Board. The Local Governors in Mercian Educational Trust are referred to as the Local Governing Body (LGB) The LGB provide support and challenge to school leaders and assurance to the Trustees Board. They ensure that educational standards are continually improving  and compliance to statutory practice. The LGB are accountable to Trustees.

Local Governing Body's Core Responsibilities

MET has high expectations of governing bodies. They are the strategic leaders of our schools and have a vital role to play in making sure every child gets the best possible education.  This is reflected in the law, which states that the purpose of maintained school governing bodies is to ‘conduct the school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement at the school’.

The DfE Governance Handbook for governors in maintained schools, academies and free schools is a key document for governors and highlights their roles and responsibilities. In all types of schools, governing bodies should have a strong focus on three core strategic functions:

• ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction, and

• holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the performance management of staff

These functions are reflected in regulations for maintained schools (September 2013) and in the criteria Ofsted inspectors use to judge the effectiveness of a school’s governing body.

If you are interested in finding out more about school governing bodies, you might like to read:

• Department for Education
• National Governors Association
• School Governance 

Great Malvern Primary School Local Governing Body (LGB), part of Mercian Educational Trust (MET)

The LGB are committees of the trust board and is constituted in line with the Articles of Association, March 2021.

2 parent governors

2 staff governors

1 headteacher

Co-opted governors (there is no definitive number, but no more than a third of the board should be staff governors)

The core strategic functions of MET LGBs are:

• Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school
• Holding leaders to account for the educational performance of the school and headteacher performance management
• Ensuring there are suitable arrangements in place to support children with SEND and that safeguarding procedures are robust.
• Stakeholder engagement

LGB’s usually meet six times per year.

If you want to contact the governors, please ask at the office or email Noleen Chapman, Clerk to the Governors:  gmpsoffice@metacademies.org.uk