Shirley Community Primary & Preschool

WELCOME TO the governing board

The Role of School Governors:

School governors offer strategic guidance, rather than getting involved in the operational aspects of a school. This involves:

• Working with other board members to plan the school’s strategic direction.
• Overseeing the school’s financial performance, ensuring money is well-spent.
• Holding the headteacher or school leadership to account.

A school governor’s relationship with the school’s leadership team involves challenging existing processes to drive school improvement. School governors usually attend around six meetings per year. Although becoming a school governor requires drive and commitment, you’ll enjoy many professional and personal rewards, including career development opportunities and the chance to support young people’s futures.

Chair of Governors - David Abbott

Vice-Chair of Governors - Harriett Riches

Clerk to Governors - Helen Andrews

To contact a member of the governing board, please direct your communication to the Clerk to Governors in the first instance via helenm.andrews@cambridgeshire.gov.uk 

Diversity on the board

As a school we recognise that a diversity of thought, voices and perspectives is essential to good governance and the effective running of any organisation. We regularly collect diversity information from our governors and, depending on current data, can use this to target recruitment to address gaps in experience and diversity develop and adapt board practices to ensure full participation prioritise training and awareness-raising in identified areas address potential ‘blind spots’ through seeking wider advice and perspectives on current and upcoming opportunities, challenges, and risks.  However, we are unable to publish this information as it would mean that individual members of our governing body are identifiable.

We currently have two Associate Members, both have non-voting rights on the committees they serve:

Mark Broadbent      Tenure: 24.03.2022 to 23.03.2026 (Resources)
Rhiannon Evans-Ali Tenure: 14.09.2023 to 13.09.2027 (Standards)

Governor Meeting Dates 2025-26