Governance
The Oak Grove College Governing Body
Welcome to the governance pages of our college website. I hope you find the information useful and it helps the college community (parents, carers etc.) to understand what we do as governors. We recognise that as a group we are invisible unless you come into direct contact with us.
Our role is statutory, yet quite simple. We are there to support the whole college, but particularly the senior leadership team, with strategic vision allowing for challenge and celebration.
The full governing body comprises ten governors, of which our Head teacher is one. This also includes two parents and one member of staff to ensure we represent a range of perspectives. In addition, we are fortunate to have access to a skill base of governors with backgrounds in the NHS, education, charity sector and banking, all bringing their skills to the service of the college.
We have one committee, which reports to the Full Governing Board (FGB) - the recently formed Finance Committee, whose primary responsibility is to deal with financial control and approving the budget. The full governing body meets once a month usually on a Monday at 1700 with the Finance Committee meeting once a term.
In between these meetings, governors meet with various members of staff, with responsibility for improvement across the college and report back accordingly. We also question and challenge the policies, which provide key direction for the college community. Additionally, we enjoy interacting with the young people at the college as much as possible to ensure their voices are heard. All of these have been a challenge during COVID but we have utilised technology as much as possible to ensure we continue supporting the college, particularly vital during these difficult times.
Oak Grove College is part of the Thrive Federation and we work with the governing bodies at the other three schools to share best practice and ensure effective and efficient governance.
We strongly support the college’s ethos that everyone matters, every day counts and we work to realise that.
We welcome any comments or questions you may have and to that end, we invite you to contact us via our Clerk, Lisa Sadler. Her email address is lisa.sadler@heronsdale.co.uk
We look forward to hearing from you
Chrissie Chalmers, Chair of OGC FGB
Ann Schreiner, Vice Chair of OGC FGB
Matt Young, Chair of the Finance Committee
Governance records for 2020/21
It is a statutory requirement that we record details of governors’ attendance at meetings and any interests they may have outside of the college community, which may influence their decision-making (this is known as a declaration of pecuniary interest).
Please click here to access this information
Thrive Federation of Special Schools
The Federation was formed out of a desire to work closely with other schools and to maximise the potential of sharing expertise, experience and resources to benefit students and staff in the four schools. Regular opportunities for shared INSET days, the potential to share costs of specialist staff/resources, etc and the opportunity for Headteachers to work closely together are very beneficial.
The Thrive Federation of Special School includes
- Cornfield School provides education for 9-16 year olds with Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs as a primary need and is led by Mrs M Davis as Headteacher
- Herons Dale School provides education for 4-11 year olds in a generic primary special school environment and is led by Isabel Robson as Headteacher
- Oak Grove College provides education for 11-19 year olds in a generic secondary special school environment and is led by Phillip Potter as Headteacher
- Palatine Primary School provides education for 4-11 year old in a generic primary special school environment and is led by Catriona Goldsmith as Headteacher
The aim of the Thrive Federation is to ensure all of our young people from 4- 19 years of age can benefit from “Learning without limits”.
There are a number of policies that apply across all four schools and other policies are operated at a school level.
Contact the OGC Governing Body
For any queries about the Governing Body, please contact Lisa Sadler, the Clerk – lisa.sadler@heronsdale.co.uk.