Governance

GOVERNOR VACANCIES

The Diocese of Chelmsford Vine Schools Trust (DCVST) is looking for Governors to join our dedicated and visionary Schools Governance Boards.

The Vine Schools Trust is a Multi Academy Trust (MAT) set up by the Diocese of Chelmsford. We are a family of Church of England primary schools located throughout Essex and Thurrock. Our vision is to serve our local communities by providing excellent education rooted in our Christian values. Learn more about the Trust, here.

As a Governor on your school Governance Board you will:
• Be an advocate of the Trust Board so that pupils and schools will flourish in a place where the Trust and School vision and values are translated into action
• Provide support and challenge to school leaders
• Know each school well through focused monitoring to gain assurance of school progress and policy in action which will inform decision making

The closing date for applications is Thursday 13th July 2023 at 12.00pm. Interviews will be conducted w/c 17th July 2023.

Job Description

Apply Now

The Vine Schools Trust is a multi-academy trust and is the accountable body for all twenty three of its schools. Therefore, the overarching responsibility for the governance of the Trust and its schools lies with the Vine Board of Directors. They fulfil the three core functions of governance:

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 enable the Directors to fulfil their responsibility eight regional Local Schools Boards work on their behalf and undertake delegated local governance of between two and four schools. Community Boards in each school enable local support and provide information to enable good governance.

The key principle is that all three Boards together with Executive Leaders will provide an aspect of governance the other cannot as set out in this chart.

You can contact any Governor or the clerk by sending a letter c/o St James’ CofE Primary School, or send an email to admin.harlow@dcvst.org

This model of governance is undertaken under delegated responsibility. For full details see below.

Local Schools Board

Chair of Governors:

Garry Neave

Fr Garry has lived in Harlow for more than 40 years and has taught in schools, colleges and higher education, including the old Netteswell School, and at Harlow College, where he was Chaplain and Assistant Principal. He is presently the Church of England’s National Policy Adviser for Further and Higher Education, based in Westminster, and has a special interest in the work of chaplains in education and in pastoral care and student support. He is one of the staff at our near neighbours, St Mary Magdalene, Harlow Common, just down the road in Potter Street and has been involved in training teachers, school leaders and governors for many years.

Wendy Myers

I joined the Governing Body in November 2017 having recently retired as Headteacher of a Primary Church of England Primary School of similar size and nature to St.James’.

Although retired I still would like to be involved in education and feel I have important skills to offer.

Prior to being appointed Headteacher I worked for twenty years as a class teacher in Primary education and then took up an appointment as an education adviser to schools in Essex particularly in and around Harlow. Within this role I worked in schools supporting them to develop their practice in literacy and in developing leadership and management.

I have always loved working with the children and took on a class teacher role on many occasions during my headship and it is working with the children that I miss most. I see being a school governor is essentially about ensuring that the children are at the centre of all that we do and that we support them through our Christian ethos to become well rounded independent individuals.

Becky More

Becky is Head Teacher at Rivenhall CofE Primary School. She brings expertise in teaching and learning as well as having a knowledge of The Vine Schools Trust.

Paul Bailey

Paul is a seasoned Real Estate and Facilities professional with over 20 years experience of managing blue chip company portfolios, specialising in Risk Management and Governance. Prior to this he also served in the Armed Forces.

Paul is particularly interested in using his skillset to ensure the school premises remains compliant, as well as providing assistance with improvement projects.

Governors who have left in the past 12 months:

Ann Bard

Helen Ginger

Our Core Responsibilities

These are:

· Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;

· Holding the executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff;

· Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.

· Strengthening and developing the Christian character of the school.

Full LSB meetings are held twice termly but governors also visit the school to carry out their assigned roles and to join with it in celebrating success.