Welcome
I am David Murphy, and the current Chair of Governors at Royds School. I became a parent governor in 2017, when my eldest daughter was in Year 8, and was privileged to be asked to take over as Chair in 2019. I now have three children at the school, and continue to be incredibly pleased and proud of the progress they are all making both academically and in their personal development.
I am extremely passionate about this school and believe it is now firmly on the path towards establishing itself as THE school of choice in our community. Since being appointed by the governing body as Headteacher, Claire Robbins has worked tirelessly to drive the development of the school across all areas – including but by no means limited to the areas identified in recent OFSTED reports. The governing body are highly confident in Claire’s ability and passion to drive Royds on its journey to being an outstanding school for our community, and we will continue supporting her and the leadership team to achieve this.
Equally important to the success of the school is strong governance. The Governing Body conducts its business to take account of the three roles of the Governing Bodies as outlined in the Governance Handbook:
- Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
- Holding the Head teacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its students;
- Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.
The full Governing Body meets formally four times a year and all meetings are clerked by a trained professional clerk. Governors have good attendance at meetings overall. Apologies for non-attendance are considered on an individual basis; governors are aware through the code of conduct that non-attendance (which includes apologies not being accepted) will result in the removal of a governor six months from the date of first non-attendance.
There are also a range of sub committees and working groups which meet regularly through the year and which have delegated authority to make decisions on behalf of the Governing Body. In addition, most Governors have specific monitoring roles which are carried out through regular visits to the school, with updates and any actions reported and managed through the relevant committee.
Ofsted
The initial priority this year was the Ofsted monitoring visit which took place at the end of the Autumn term, following the last formal inspection in 2018. I am delighted that the effectiveness of the efforts taken by the School’s leadership to make improvements was recognised. This includes the Governing Body, which reflects the amount of time, commitment and passion each and every governor puts into Royds School. However we recognise that there is still work to do and we will continue to work closely with the leadership team to drive the school towards the overall rating of Good and onwards to Outstanding.
To enable us to remain effective all Governors are committed to keeping abreast of changes in education and regularly attend courses and briefings to ensure we too are continuing to develop professionally.
“Governors are skilled and well informed about all aspects of the school’s performance. They carry out their statutory duties effectively, taking full advantage of the training and support provided by the local authority.”
Ofsted report September 2018
“Senior leaders and governors are taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the last section 5 inspection in order for the school to become good”
Ofsted report December 2019
David Murphy