Governors work closely with Mrs Norris (Headteacher), school staff and representatives from the local authority (LA).
Effective Governance
The purpose of governance
- The purpose of governance is to provide confident and strong strategic leadership which leads to robust accountability, oversight and assurance for educational and financial performance.
- All governance boards, no matter what type of school or how many schools they govern, have three core functions:
- Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
- Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the effective and efficient performance management of staff; and
- Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.
To contact the Chair of the Governing Body, please call 01388762858 – or, write to:
Mrs Catherine Lawes
Chair of Governors
c/o Stanley Crook Primary School
Wooley Terrace
Stanley Crook
DL15 9AN
Governor’s Committee Structure
Committees and Chairs:
- Appeals Committee – Dr Walton
- Behaviour and Safety Committee – Mrs Lawes
- Finance, Premises and Personnel Committee – Miss Robinson
- First Committee/ Pay Review – Mrs Lawes
- Headteacher Performance Committee – Mrs Lawes
- Standards, Achievements and Curriculum Committee – Mrs Glasper
For further information on who our governors are and what they do, please click on each name below:
| Name | Representing | Start Date | Term of Office | Committee | Responsibilities | Register of Governors Interests | Relationship to Staff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mrs Michelle Norris | Staff – Headteacher | 04.09.2024 | N/A | ECM Behaviour and Safety Finance, Premises and Personnel Standards, Achievement and Curriculum | Leadership and Management of the school | None | NA |
| Mrs Catherine Lawes – Chair | Chair of Governing Body Co-Opted | 01.09.2012 | 07.09.2024 – 06.09.2028 | Behaviour and Safety (Chair) First/ Pay Review (Chair) Headteachers Performance (Chair) | Child Protection Performance Management English Healthy Schools Health and Safety Music | None | NA |
| Mrs Danni Martin | Staff | 18.10.24 | NA | ||||
| Councillor Richard Manchester | Local Authority (Deputy Vice Chair) | 07.02.2018 | 07.02.2022 – 06.02.2026 | First/ Pay Review Headteacher Performance | Community Liaison and Improvement Performance Management | County Councillor of Tow Law division for Durham County Council and LA Rep at Tow Law Millennium School | NA |
| Mrs Lyndsey Glasper | Vice Chair of Governing Body Parent Appointed | 28.01.2019 | 28.01.2023 – 27.01.2027 | Standards, Achievement and Curriculum (Chair) Behaviour and Safety ECM | PE (including Sports Premium) RE Website Compliance | None | NA |
| Mrs Emily Hunter | Co-Opted | 14.06.2019 | 14.06.2023 – 13.06.2027 | Standards, Achievement and Curriculum Appeals ECM | SMSC Well-being (Pupils/ Staff) MFL Design and Technology | None | NA |
| Miss Leanne Robinson | Co-Opted | 10.01.2022 | 10.01.2022 – 09.01.2026 | Finance, Premises and Personnel (Chair), First/ Pay Review | RSE | None | NA |
| Miss Alison Hallibuton | Co-Opted | 01.02.2022 | 01.02.2022 – 31.01.2026 | Standards, Achievement and Curriculum | Mathematics Assessment Attendance | None | NA |
| Dr Nicholas Walton | Parent Appointed | 02.03.2023 | 02.03.2023 – 01.03.2027 | Standards, Achievement and Curriculum Appeals | Early Years Computing | None | NA |
| Mr Ben Hayman | Associate Appointed (no committee membership or voting rights) | 04.11.2014 | 24.04.2023 – 23.04.2025 | NA | NA | None |
Governor meetings are held at least every term during which important areas of school improvement are discussed. Each Governor also has an area of the curriculum to monitor and reports on performance in this area through regular monitoring visits. Feedback from monitoring visits is used to challenge the school leadership team and is used to target areas for improvement to improve provision within our school.
Recent monitoring visits have included:
- EYFS – Dr Walton
- Attendance – Miss Halliburton
- Assessment/ Pupil Outcomes – Miss Halliburton
- Safeguarding – Mrs Lawes
- RE – Mrs Glasper
- Behaviour and Attitudes/ Personal Development – Dr Walton
- English Reading – Mrs Lawes
- Governor Skills Audit – Mrs Glasper
- Design and Technology – Mrs Hunter
- School Led Tutoring – Mrs Glasper
- Mathematics – Miss Halliburton
- RSE – Miss Robinson
- Staff Wellbeing – Mrs Hunter
- Pupil Mental Health and Wellbeing provision – Mrs Hunter
- Website compliance – Mrs Glasper
How To Become A School Governor
If you require further information on the roles and responsibilities of School Governors or you are interested in becoming one, visit the Durham County Council website School Governor section.
Statutory Guidance for Governing Bodies
Stanley Crook Primary School adhere to the statutory guidance from the Department for Education. This means that governing bodies must have regard to it when carrying out duties relating to the constitution of governing bodies in maintained schools. For further information please view or download the documents below.
Record of Governor’s Attendance 2023-2024
Schools are now required to display a record of Governor’s attendance at meetings for each school academic year. The table below provides Governor attendance information across 2023 and 2024 academic years, to date.
KEY
✓ – Attended meeting
A/A – Apologies sent and accepted by meeting
N – Did not attend
X – Not a member of the committee
NA – Not Applicable
| Name | Full Meeting – Spring term March 2023 | Full Meeting – Summer term June 2023 | Full Meeting – Autumn term October 2023 | Pay Review Committee November 2023 | Finance, Premises and Personnel Committee November 2023 | Standards, Achievement and Curriculum Committee November 2023 | Headteacher Appraisal January 2024 | Full Meeting – Spring term March 2024 | Special Meeting – Headteacher Recruitment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mr D Christie | / | / | / | / | / | / | / | / | NA |
| Mr J Craft (Appointed Co-Opted since March 2017 – RESIGNED May 2023) | / | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Mr B Hayman | NA | AA | / | x | x | x | x | AA | AA |
| Mrs C Lawes | / | / | / | / | x | x | / | / | / |
| Mrs R Wilkinson (DHT appointed Staff Representative February 2016/ 2nd Term of Office ended in March 2024) | A/A | / | / | x | x | / | x | NA | NA |
| Councillor Richard Manchester (appointed March 2018 | / | / | / | / | / | x | / | / | / |
| Mrs Lyndsay Glasper (Elected December 2018) | / | / | / | x | x | / | x | / | / |
| Mrs Emily Hunter (Co-Opted since June 2019) | / | / | AA | x | / | / | x | / | / |
| Miss Vicki Williams (Staff Representative since March 2024) | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | / | / |
| Miss Leanne Robinson (Co-Opted since Nov. 2021) | / | / | / | / | / | x | / | AA | / |
| Miss Alison Halliburton (Co-Opted since Nov. 2021) | / | / | / | x | x | / | x | / | / |
| Mrs Katherine Cook (Parent Appointed – Feb. 2023 – RESIGNED AUGUST 2023) | / | / | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Dr Nicholas Walton (Parent Appointed – Feb. 2023) | / | / | / | x | x | / | x | / | / |
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