St. Vincent’s Catholic Primary School

"We live, love and learn with Christ."

There are 12 Governors on the school's governing body (see below for details).

• Seven Foundation Governors appointed by the Diocese
• One Local Governor
• One Staff Governor (elected)
• Two Parent Governors (elected)
• The Headteacher

If you are interested in becoming a governor please contact Mrs Gonzalez (Headteacher)

Governors' Responsibilities   

The governing body is responsible for the following:

• Admissions and Appeals
• Appointing all staff
• Discipline, attendance and grievance procedures
• The Curriculum
• Deciding how Religious Education should be taught
• Special Educational Needs
• Equal Opportunities
• School buildings
• Finance
• Health and Safety
• Producing the School Prospectus

For more information scroll down

THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS 2024-2025 - All governors are Trustees

Chair:  Mrs Barbara Burns barbara.burns@st-vincents.bromley.sch.uk                   

Headteacher:  Mrs Juliana Gonzalez

CLERK TO THE GOVERNING BODY: Miss Katherine Crossley

The Clerk to the Governing Body can be contacted via the school office. All governors may be contacted via the school office.

Role of the Governing Body

The Headteacher:

The Headteacher has total responsibility for the running of the school and all operational matters. Governors are not involved in the day to day operation of the school. The headteacher is appointed by the governing body with advisors from the Diocese.

The Governing Body:

The Governing Body’s overriding responsibility is to work in partnership with the Headteacher to promote continuous improvement in the performance of the school. This involves the establishment of a development plan, the setting of challenging but achievable targets and the interpretation of data and other information to assess progress and determine appropriate action. The Governing Body has financial and statutory responsibilities to ensure that the school is run effectively. The Governing Body is the employer of staff at St Vincent’s. The Governing Body is there to be a ‘critical friend’ who can provide the right balance between supporting and challenging the performance of both the Headteacher and the school. There are different routes by which different types of governors are appointed and there are rules around the composition of the governing body. However, once appointed, all governors have equal status, regardless of the category under which they have been appointed.

Governor Categories:

The main types of governors are:

Foundation governors ​at St Vincent’s are appointed by the Archbishop on behalf of the Diocese to ensure that Gospel values and the Catholic faith are at the heart of everything and permeate every part of our work.

Staff governors selected by election from teaching and support staff who are paid to work at the school. Parent governors are parents or carers of children at the school who are eligible to stand for election by other parents and carers.

Parent governors are 'representative parents' rather than 'representatives of the parents', and in common with other governors, are concerned with the welfare of the school as a whole.

Associate members may also be appointed. They are not governors but are able to attend committee meetings and full governing body meetings because of the particular skills or experience they possess. They can only vote on certain issues and only if the governing body gives them the power to do so.

The Headteacher is also a full member of the school’s Governing Body.

The Chair of Governors is elected annually by the governing body.

When a parent governor vacancy arises, this will be communicated to parents and an election will take place for which any parent with a child at the school will be eligible.

Training is available to governors, through the Diocese and the Local Authority, to ensure they have the right knowledge and skills to be able to carry out their duties.

Governors generally meet at least once a term as a full governing body. Each meeting will have an agenda and associated papers distributed at least a week before the meeting.

Standard items are likely to include:

• a report from the Headteacher,
• updates from the main committees,
• items from the Local Authority or DfE and
• issues raised by any correspondence received by the Chair of Governors.

For binding decisions to be made a full governing body meeting must be quorate i.e. at least one half of the governors in post must be present. Associate members do not count towards the quorum.

Committees: Committees are set up to deal with specific areas of responsibility, such as curriculum, finance, personnel or buildings, etc.

Committees are designed to help the Governing Body cope with the wide range of duties and responsibilities by spreading the workload, allowing issues to be examined in detail.

The Governing Body agrees the “terms of reference” for each committee, i.e. the purpose of the committee, what powers it has and how it will operate. Committee arrangements are reviewed every year to make sure they are working in the best interests of the school and the Governing Body.

The Governing Body includes the following committees which meet on a regular basis (usually 3 times a year): 

• The Finance & Premises Committee is responsible for the areas of finance, school budget and pay policy (within the constraints of nationally agreed settlements). It also considers matters relating to the school building & site, as well as Health and Safety issues.
• The Personnel Committee considers matters relating to staffing structure and performance. 
• The Curriculum Committee is concerned with curriculum, standards, SEN and pupils.
• The Admissions Committee meets as and when required to consider admission applications to the school.

Minutes of committee meetings must be submitted to the full governing body for consideration and approval of recommendations, formal receipt, etc. The Governing body can also set up working parties to undertake particular tasks and report back to the full Governing Body. Individual governors can take on particular tasks and/or make decisions on behalf of the Governing Body, but only when specifically given this responsibility by the Governing Body. Only certain functions can be delegated. The DfE sets out what powers the full Governing Body can give to committees, the Headteacher or individual governors.