Our Governors

School governors are volunteers whose collective aim and responsibility is to ensure that the education and welfare of all of the children remains the primary focus of the school.

We do this by holding to account the headteacher and staff in a constructive and supportive way.

We take collective responsibility for the overall strategic management of the school and we are legally responsible for this. We are not responsible for managing the day to day running of the school – that is the responsibility of the headteacher.

Our three principal responsibilities are:

a) To determine the school’s vision, ethos and strategic direction.
b) To hold the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils.
c) To oversee the financial performance of the school to ensure that its money is well spent.

Our Governing Body

	Nominating Authority	First Appointed	Term Start	Term End
Co-opted governors
Mr Ian Fidge	Board of Governors	27 Jan 2021	27 Jan 2021	26 Jan 2025
Mr Graham Letley	Board of Governors	16 Jul 2016	15 Jul 2020	15 Jul 2024
Dr Catherine Sotillo	Board of Governors	27 Sep 2017	27 Sep 2017	26 Sep 2022

Headteacher
Mrs Kristina Dyer	Board of Governors	01 Jun 2019	01 Jun 2019	N/A

Parent governors
Dr Ed Morgan-Jones	Parent Election	14 May 2019	14 May 2014	13 May 2023
Mr Julian Norris	Parent Election	27 Jan 2021	27 Jan 2021	26 Jan 2025
Ms Rachel Van de Merwe	Parent Election	26 Jan 2022	26 Jan 2022	26 Jan 2026
Staff governor
Mrs Grainne Pickles	Staff Election	04 Feb 2020	04 Feb 2020	03 Feb 2024

Foundation governors
Catherine Wagstaff	Methodist Church	6 July 2021	6 July 2021	5 July 2025
Rev Paul Glass	Methodist Church	21 Mar 2019	21 Mar 2019	20 Mar 2023

Local Authority Governors
Mr John Benner	KCC	27 Sep 2017	27 Jan 2021	26 Jan 2025

Foundation Ex-Officio
Rev Timothy Nicholls	Methodist Church	01 Sep 2018	01 Sep 2018	N/A

Clerk
Ms Lin Walkerdine	KCC	11 Mar 2022	11 Mar 2022

Click here for our Governing Body Structure

Governors at St Peter’s are drawn from the local education authority, the church, parents, teachers and representatives of the local community.

In consultation with Mrs Dyer and her senior leadership team we are responsible for setting the annual budget, preparing and reviewing the multitude of policies schools are now required to have, appointing staff and agreeing pay, monitoring the school’s performance, and agreeing targets.

The governors have to act collectively and not as individuals although we encourage each governor to take a leading role in a particular area of the school’s affairs.

To sum up our role in a phrase, we are expected to act as a ‘critical friend’ to Mrs Dyer and the school. We challenge in a constructive way how the school is run and support her and her team in carrying out the policies we have agreed. We come from very varied backgrounds: some of us are retired; some of us are still at work; some are parents (with all the family demands that entails) and we can all bring a different contribution to the life of the school including expertise in various fields that can reinforce the resources available to the school. The common strength we have is that we all care about the education and welfare of the children in the school, albeit from varying points of view, and we contribute our experience freely.

We are expected to undergo regular training so that we are up to date in a wide variety of topics including: Safeguarding, Handling complaints, Analysis and interpretation of data, Financial management and Performance management of the headteacher. We monitor what is happening at the school by visiting, observing and asking questions of the staff and the children.

If you want to contact governors, either with positive comments about the school or about an issue that concerns you, please do so by emailing:

jbenner@st-peters-canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Statutory Information 2020-21

St Peter’s Methodist Primary School

Minutes of FGB meetings are available on request from the school office

Governors’ Record of Attendance 2020-21

Name/Date	16/09/21	25/11/20	27/01/21	23/03/21	17/05/21	06/07/21	% attendance
Kristina Dyer	P	PP	PP	PP	P	P	100
John Benner	P	P	P	P	P	P	100
Cathy Sotillo	P	A	P	P	P	P	83
Tim Nicholls	A	P	P	P	P	A*	66
Graham Letley	P	P	P	P	A	P	83
Ian Fidge	n/a	P	P	P	P	P	100
Paul Glass	P	P	A	P	P	P	83
Ed Morgan-Jones	P	P	P	P	P	P	100
Julian Norris	n/a	n/a	P	P	P	P	100
Grainne Pickles	P	P	P	P	P	P	100

P| Present
**P* |** Present for part of meeting

A | Apologies

A*| Sabbatical Leave