Governor's Statement

The Governors of Knebworth School take pride in supporting the staff and children to deliver our vision. We engage in all aspects of school life with care and attention and are always pleased to hear from parents and stakeholders with views, questions and issues. Parents and guardians may contact us by emailing the school office. The statutory information for our governors can be viewed by downloading the files below.

What the Governors Do

The Governing Board of Knebworth Primary School has overall legal and strategic responsibility for the school and is made up of four categories:

• Parent Governors (2) elected by parents
• LA Governor (1) appointed by Hertfordshire County Council
• Co-opted Governors (9) co-opted by the governing body to maintain and develop the school’s links with its community
• Staff Governors (2) including the Headteacher

Governors work collectively as a ‘whole team’, meeting once in each half-term, without any separate committees.  The Board meets at least six times a year, considers monitoring reports and recommendations, makes decisions and conducts routine business.  In addition to this, the Board receive regular written reports from the Headteacher.  Governors work in partnership with the Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team, supporting the delivery of the school’s vision and values.

An annual planner and agenda for each meeting contains all the tasks which the Board is required to consider, and the Board may commission working groups or other activities arising from the business of the meeting.  Any commissioned working groups will have agreed terms of reference and will report any findings, actions or recommended decisions to the Board at its next meeting.

In addition to commissioning activities or actions on their behalf, the Board, to ensure its core functions are fulfilled, will delegate monitoring responsibilities to monitoring pairs or individuals.  The Board recognises that the delegated monitoring individuals/pairs are replacing committees in terms of responsibility when undertaking their monitoring and reporting back to the Board.  The Board recognises that all decisions are made by the full Board and no financial delegated authority is given to monitoring pairs.  In each case where a function has been delegated, there is a statutory duty for the delegated governor/s to report, by written monitoring reports, any findings, actions or recommended decisions to the Board in time for its next meeting to enable informed collective strategic decision-making.

In addition to monitoring specific subjects and priorities within the School Development Plan, individual governors are responsible for the following areas:

• Safeguarding
• Inclusion/SEND/PPG
• Headteacher’s performance review
• Finance
• Premises, Health & Safety
• Risk register
• Wellbeing & Mental Health
• Equalities

Governors at Knebworth Primary School are recruited based on skills and are required to attend mandatory induction and safeguarding training upon appointment.  The board subscribes to the Herts for Learning Governor Training package, to which all governors have access to.

We currently have vacancies on our Governing Body.  Scroll to the bottom of this page for further information. 

Minutes from governor's meetings are available on request by emailing the Clerk to the Governing Body.  They can be emailed at: admin@knebworth.herts.sch.uk and the request will be forwarded to them. 

Interested in becoming a school governor? 

There are over 250,000 volunteers governing in schools in England.  By joining them, you can make a valuable contribution to school leadership.  The National Governors Association have put together this short film about the role which gives an insight in being a school governor:

The role of school governors and trustees - YouTube

Knebworth School currently has vacancies on its Governing Body.  Please contact the School (admin@knebworth.herts.sch.uk) if you are interested and would like more information.