The Governing Body are the strategic leaders of our school and have a vital role to play in making sure every child gets the best possible education.

Their purpose, reflected in the law, is to ‘conduct the school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement at the school’.  They have a strong focus on three core strategic functions:

1. Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
2. Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the performance management of staff; and
3. Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.
4. We are fortunate to have a strong Governing Body who are committed and work with staff to ensure that all learners achieve and fulfil their potential.
    

If you are interested in becoming a school governor, please contact office@AnkerValley.org.
 

Fierté Multi Academy Trust is committed to promoting and prioritising diversity and inclusion.  We encourage our academy local governing boards (LGB’s) to recognise the benefits of diversity and appoint governors from a variety of backgrounds. 

A proportion of our trustees/governors are from ethnic minorities, with an approximate 50% being female.  However, the trust understands that more needs to be done to increase representation on LGB’s and we are working with them to grow the networks we engage with to further this aim. 

Getting people from diverse backgrounds onto our LGB’s is an important step.  The Trust supports LGB’s throughout the process of recruiting new governors, with strategies they can put in place to ensure all governors feel included which leads to improved retention.  This is an ongoing process which we will need to keep reflecting on as to how we achieve this. 

 

Chair of Governors

Our current Chair of Governors is Mrs Julia Jones who can be contacted via the main office.

Mrs Julia Jones
Anker Valley Primary Academy

Brooklime Way

Tamworth

Staffordshire

B79 0FD

(01827 949310)

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2022-23 Attendance

Meeting attendance 2022-2023
	Autumn Term		Spring Term		Summer Term
Name	LGB 03/11/2022		LGB 09/03/2023		LGB 22/06/2023
Mrs J Jones	P		P		P
Mrs N Horlor	P		P		P
Mrs D Nash	A		A		A
Mr S Conroy	P		NA		No longer in post
Mrs M Hamblin	P		P		P
Mrs A Free	P		P		P
Mr H Ashbolt	P		NA		P
Mr S Key	P		P		P
Key: P = Present; A = Apologies received; NA = No Apologies received

2023-24 Attendance

Meeting attendance 2023-2024
	Autumn Term		Spring Term		Summer Term
Name	LGB 30/11/2023		LGB 07/03/2024		LGB 04/07/2034
Mrs J Jones	P		P		P
Mrs N Horlor	P		P		P
Mrs D Nash	P		A		No longer in post
Mrs M Hamblin	P		P		P
Mrs A Free	A		P		P
Mr H Ashbolt	A		NA		No longer in post
Mr S Key	P		P		P
Key: P = Present; A = Apologies received; NA = No Apologies received

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Our Governors

Julia Jones (Chair of Governors)

Appointed by Fierte Trust Academy

Date of Appointment: 1st September 2024 - 31st August 2028

Having qualified as a teacher at University of London Goldsmiths' College, I have over fifty years' experience in primary education. Time has not dimmed my passion for education. I taught in a number of primary schools in Staffordshire, Walsall and Birmingham before having a career break to raise my own family. I then worked for Birmingham's Home Teaching Service. That made me appreciate how vital a strong home/school partnership is in every child's education. After deputy and acting headship roles, I was headteacher of a Staffordshire primary school for sixteen years before retiring. I then became a tutor for Birmingham City University supporting trainee teachers on their teaching practices in schools across the Midlands. Alongside that I became a school governor at Dosthill Primary Academy, another school in the Fierte Multi Academy Trust, where I was Chair of Governing Body for the last four years. The high values Fierte hold for the education of every single child in the MAT are dear to my heart. I look forward to helping embed them as we begin the exciting journey of establishing and developing Anker Valley Primary Academy.  

 

Andrea Free (Staff Governor)

Appointed by Anker Valley staff

Date of Appointment: 1st September 2021 - 31st August 2025

My name is Andrea Free, and I am the staff governor at Anker Valley and Dragonflies class teacher. 

Since qualifying in 2006, I have taught across all age ranges from Nursery through to Year 6. Previously, I have been a member of a senior leadership team and worked as a regional trainer for the local authority. As an experienced class teacher and a parent of two young children, I strongly believe that the formative years of schooling are amongst the most important as a child’s initial experiences of school set the scene for future years. 

In addition to my roles at Anker Valley, I am currently the chair of the Local Governing Body at a Derbyshire primary school and through this role, I have developed a deeper understanding and experience of the wider roles of a governing body. I am therefore looking forward to working with the other governors at Anker Valley, to ensure that we ‘inspire all to excellence’. 

 

Simon Key (Parent Governor)

Parent appointed by Anker Valley Local Governing Body

Date of Appointment: 3rd November 2022 - 2nd November 2026

I am very excited at being given the opportunity to become a parent governor at Anker Valley Primary Academy. Being able to support and help our local school to grow and develop is a big responsibility, of which I am looking forward to using my own personal skills to assist. Having held senior positions and being responsible for various tasks including setting budgets, group and individual targets and managing large teams, I will be offering my experience and skills wherever required to support Anker Valley, whilst upholding and promoting the ethos and the values of the school. 

Pupil Governors

Why do we have pupil governors?

Anker Valley Pupil Governing Body is an ideal opportunity for pupils to get more involved in the way the school is run; it is, after all, their school. We respect and value the thoughts and opinions of our children and, whilst it may not always be possible or practical to do everything they suggest, the children do have some fantastic ideas and are able to accept why some ideas may not work well for the school community.

Being a Pupil Governor benefits the whole school, pupils and teachers, because it provides opportunities for pupils to communicate their feelings as well as influence decisions that are made within the school.

Governors develop skills such as confidence, communication and negotiation. It is the responsibility of each Governor to ensure that they express both their own views and the views of all the other pupils they represent.

Who would make a good pupil governor?

Any child in the school can stand to be a Pupil Governor rep for their class. It is not a decision made by teachers, nor do they have to be the cleverest person in the class. A good pupil governor does need to have some of the following qualities though:

• A good listener and speaker
• A team player
• Interested to learn more about our school
• Keen to make a contribution to improving our school
• Able to represent the views of others in your year group
• Able and willing to speak to your class about the governing body
• Willing to give up some of your own time to this post
• Has lots of good ideas
• Setting a good example to others

Who can be a pupil governor?

Anyone!

We have a Pupil Governing Body with boys and girls representing their fellow pupils from each class.

Each governor is elected by their classmates at the beginning of the school year after a short presentation explaining why they should be elected. This develops children’s understanding of one of the British values: democracy. They also understand that with democracy comes responsibility.

What Do We Do?

Members of the pupil governing body take part in discussions and votes and also feed back any relevant information to their class. At times, they are requested to ask their class for ideas or take class votes relating to discussions by the governing body.

Members meet regularly with Mrs Free to discuss ways in which they feel they can influence the school for the better. These may be ideas to improve playtimes, after-school clubs, lessons or what charities they want to support through fund-raising activities.

Community Links

As well as holding the occasional fund-raising event during the year, the pupil governing body have also been tasked to think of ways that the school can strengthen its links to the local community.

2024 - 2025 Pupil Governing Body