Our Governors

Structure

The Sunnyhill Governing body is made up of 12 governor posts plus the school’s Head Teacher.  We have following board members:

• 1 parent governor; 1 parent vacancy
• 5 co-opted governors; 2 co-opted governor vacancies
• 1 local authority governor 
• 2 associate governors

Each year we hold four full governors meetings, over the course of the year.

The role of Chair of Governors is currently held by co-opted governor, Tom Veness.

The role of Vice Chair is currently held by co-opted governor, James Canvin.

Governance Responsibilities

The core functions of the school Governing Body are to: 

• Ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school;
• Hold the Head Teacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the effective and efficient performance management of staff; and
• Oversee the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

The Sunnyhill governing body has two subcommittees, Resources Committee which meets monthly and the Curriculum & Standards Committee which meets each half term. 

Governor’s individual link topics

To hello the governing body carry out its duties effectively, individual governors take responsibility for building up in-depth knowledge and additional duties related to specific areas of school life and the required policy areas. The current distribution of specialist topics is:

Sunnyhill Governing Body Annual Statement 2024-25

Following the positive Ofsted visit in 2024, governors have worked with the school leadership team to maintain laser focus on the school’s strategic priorities and day-to-day challenges. As before, these include focusing on our resources (people, financial and physical), our school brand and horizon scanning for future risks and opportunities. These priorities sit alongside the important School Development Plan which the school leadership are responsible for delivering. 

In 2024-25 governors have greatly appreciated the range of opportunities to meet and engage with the whole school community, in addition to our formal Governing Board meetings, committee meetings and a governors’ away day. In Autumn 2024, the Chair of Governors and Headteacher met with Streatham Member of Parliament (Steve Reed) to discuss priorities and challenges for the school community, including investments in our school site, financial challenges and promoting the school’s strong sense of community as unique amongst local schools. We have also continued to work closely with the local authority (Lambeth) to raise and co-operate on local community issues including school safety and up-keep of our premises.

Governors have also enjoyed meeting with parents, carers and families. A particular highlight for governors was attending the Summer Fair, giving an opportunity to speak directly with families and enjoy the hugely successful events and food. At this event and others, music and enrichment has been a key theme – whether it is hosting the steel pans, or the school performance of the gamelan – governors recognise the importance of these enrichment opportunities to the school’s identity and impact on young people. These unique aspects also feature greatly in promoting the school to future parents and young people – governors maintain a key interest in and have attended school open-events throughout the year.

Finally, governors have once again made a range of individual visits to the school during the school day to observe areas of interest and strategic priorities. Our Special Educational Needs lead governor group have observed the success of our specialist interventions; our Safeguarding governor group continues to observe effective operation of our policy obligations in practice.

At our Full Governing Board meetings, we have received regular updates from the school leadership team on the development of our curriculum and standards at the school. Our two sub-committees (Resources Committee and Curriculum and Standards Committee) continued to meet to support the overall role of the Governing Board: 

The Resources Committee remit covers finance, premises and people-related matters. As well as regular monitoring of the budget, a focus of this year was assessing the future financial trajectory of the school in the context of wider demographic challenges. We have also made a number of investments in playground resources and in SEND resources.

The Curriculum and Standards Committee remit covers curriculum planning and delivery, standards assessment and improvement, and community engagement. Over the past year, we have had a particular focus on attendance which continues to be a focus for Sunnyhill and nationally. We have also provided oversight of progress to deliver specialist SEND interventions. 
 

Governors would like to express thanks once again to the whole Sunnyhill community – to staff for the huge impact they have on every young person and family at Sunnyhill and the wider school community for their ongoing support.                           

Privacy Notice Governors and Volunteers 2023.pdf

Governors Information 2024-25.pdf