The Governor's Role

Welcome to the Beaconside Governor’s page. On this page you can see who we are, but what do we do? We are a group of people who really want to help our school be the best it can be for our children. Some of our Governors are parents, others work in the school, so we have a good knowledge of how the school works. We aren’t inspectors but act more as critical friends, prepared to ask tough questions, but supportive of all the school does and is trying to achieve. Each Governor has an area of the school and/or curriculum in which we take a special interest.

By studying the school’s performance data we monitor progress and compare ourselves with other schools and how they are doing, both in Cumbria and nationally. Governors work with and challenge the school to ask what is being done to bring about even more improvement in pupil progress and how this is planned. We ensure that the Budget is well managed and check that the buildings are fit-for-purpose. We also make sure that policies and procedures, such as Safeguarding and Health and Safety and many more, are adhered to.

Governors meet officially 7 times a year, but also go on school trips, help in class, attend assemblies and church services, and take ‘learning walks’ to further understand the daily life of our school. From time to time we send out questionnaires to parents and also run Parent Forums to help make ‘Team Beaconside’ better and better. There is a lot to do, but seeing our children and our school go from strength to strength makes it very worthwhile.

Please see below for the statutory documentation for our Governing Board:

• Governor Attendance
• Personal, Pecuniary and Business Interests.

All the governors of Beaconside C of E Primary school have signed the Register of personal, pecuniary or business interests

This is a declaration of any personal or business interest they or any relative or person closely connected with them, have with businesses or other organisations that may have dealings with the school. This could for example include owning or having a relative work for a business that had dealings with school; having a relative working in or for school or being a governor of another school. 

If any interest a governor has could be seen to cause a conflict of interest they would be asked to withdraw from any decision making concerned. This is to ensure that our governors can always be seen to be putting the interest of the school first.

If there is a potential conflict it is shown in the membership table. Ths table also shows the category of governor each person is, any specific role on the governing body and the committees they are members of.

More information about the requirements to complete and sign the Register of personal, pecuniary or business interests can be found on Cumbria Country Council's Governor Services web pages at where you will also find the links to all other aspects of School Governance.