Governance

The School Governing Body (a.k.a. the 'Local Governing Board') is made up of community and local authority representatives, parents and school staff.

Once a vacancy arises, governors are elected on to the governing body and perform their role on a voluntary basis.

The focus of the governing body is as follows:

  • To ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
  • To hold the Head Teacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the performance management of staff;
  • To oversee the financial performance of the school and make sure its money is well spent.
  • To ensure and enable parental engagement, and to engage with other key stakeholders in the community.

For further information, please contact governors@bexton.cheshire.sch.uk

Who Are We? 

Matt Stephenson (Chair)

Co-opted Governor (appointed by the governing board for a 4 year term of office until 15 March 2025)

I have been part of the governing board at Bexton since 2016 when I joined as an associate member. I was delighted to be elected by parents in 2017 to be a parent governor to serve a four year term of office until March 2021, when I was re-appointed as a co-opted governor until 2025. 

I have three children. My eldest has completed his Bexton Primary education and the other two are in Year 2 and Year 6. I continue to be impressed by the  dedication and commitment shown by the whole team. I was recently re-appointed as chair of the governing board for a further  one year term of office until 1 October 2024.

 

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Thomas Wyatt

Staff Governor (elected by staff election)
Term of Office: 4 years until 26 February 2027

 

Tom was elected by staff election on 27 February 2023. Tom is the Year 5 teacher at Bexton Primary School. 

 

Emily Armstrong
Principal (Head Teacher) Governor (Appointed by virtue of office since 2016. )

Emily started her teaching career in 2004 and throughout that time has worked in leadership positions in three very different schools.  She has experience of working with children and staff in all Primary Key Stages as well as Leading KS3 English in a British School in Bahrain.  Emily worked as Assistant Head at Bexton Primary School for 7 years before becoming Headteacher. She has been Headteacher of Bexton Primary School for 4 years now and has seen the school move from strength to strength in that time.

Jill Sach
Deputy Principal

Co-opted governor (appointed by Local Governing Board) for a four year term of office until 28 September 2025)

Jill started working at Bexton in 2000 and became an Assistant Head in 2009 and Deputy Principle in 2016. During her career at Bexton Jill has taught in most year groups and led on RE, Art, ICT, English and now leads developments in the wider curriculum, pupil premium and assessment. 

 

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Sue Sharratt

Co-opted Governor (Elected by Full Governing Board on 4 July 2018, for a four year term of office until 4.7.26)

Sue began as a Bexton Governor in July 2018.

"I have had a long association with Bexton school. My three children all have happy memories of attending and I spent 20 years teaching at the school mainly in the Rainbow room and as Inclusion Director for the whole school.
I retired 3 years ago and was lucky enough to receive an MBE for Services to Special Education thanks to the support of the Bexton team. I am pleased to now continue my association with the school as a governor.."

 

Link Governor: SEND and Safeguarding, Wider Curriculum 


 

Sarah Stafford (vice chair)

Parent Governor: Elected by parents for a four year term of office from 30.3.21 to 29.3.25

 My children attend Bexton (Year 4 and Nursery).  For my day job I am a freelance publisher, specialising in the UK education sector. I bring knowledge of the latest education policy and insight into primary and secondary schools across the country. I understand how schools run, the challenges they face and the many brilliant ways that they educate and inspire young people. I have expertise in strategy development and delivery, market research, publishing processes, marketing and a strong business acumen. 

I was recently re-appointed as vice chair of the governing board for a further one year term of office until 1 October 2024. 

Link Governor for Assessment and Data, and Pupil Premium  (with Kristina Gol)

Kristina Gol

Parent Governor: Elected by parents for a four year term of office from 30.3.21 to 29.3.25

"I have a son in year 4 at Bexton and a  daughter who has just started Cygnets. I am a huge fan of Bexton’s ethos in providing outstanding and ambitious education for its pupils and since my son started at Bexton, I have felt proud to be a part of the Bexton community.  From my background as a Solicitor, I can bring lots of experience to the role in risk assessment, policy drafting, data protection, safeguarding, people management and health and safety."

I am link governor for Health and Safety; as well as Assessment, Data and Pupil Premium (with Sarah Stafford.)

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Samantha Rundle

Co-opted Governor: Appointed by the Governing Board for a 4 year term of office from 20.1.22- 19.1.26

I am an Actuary in a large life insurance company. I have a number of years' experience in pensions consulting, ensuring pension schemes operate effectively and providing financial advice to Trustees and Companies. I hope that my skills in finance, risk and governance will add value to the Board.
 
I also have a daughter in Year 1 at Bexton and I am keen to play an active role in the community.
 
Link Governor: Equality and Fully Inclusive Culture
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Michael Charnock

Co-opted Governor: appointed by the governing board for a four year term of office from 5.5.22 until 4.5.26. 

I moved to Knutsford a few years back with my wife and now having a 2 year old I was keen to get more involved with the town. I believe Bexton to be part of the foundation of the community and would like to help continue the school's fantastic work.

Although Bexton is my first role as a Governor I am hoping to add value to the organisation with my experience driving both large business and IT transformations in the private sector.

GDPR Link Governor

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Lynne Lea

Co-opted Governor: Appointed by Full Governing Board on 4 July 2018, for a four year term of office until 4.7.26

Lynne began as a Bexton Governor in July 2018. 

I am an employment lawyer with lots of experience of business restructure and TUPE transfer.  I worked for a large corporate law firm for over 10 years before becoming a full time Mum to my three children  (Nursery, Reception and Year 2.) With my youngest enjoying the nursery, I feel that I have some time to give something back to the school. I have been a school Governor before when I was a Community Governor at King's Heath Boys' School in Birmingham, a role which I really enjoyed. I am keen to get involved with the governance of Bexton and I hope that my skill set will be useful to the Board.

Special Responsibility: Training Governor

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Ian Cass

Co-opted Governor: Appointed by the Local Governing Board on 4.5.23 for a four year term of office until 3.5.27. 

I am delighted to be appointed as a governor for Bexton Primary School, which both my children attended when younger. I am currently Managing director of the Forum of Private businesses which helps small business owners and has a membership of 18,000 members across the UK as well as being chairman of the micro business alliance which represents about 1.2 million microbusinesses (0-9 employees) in engaging with government at local, regional and national level. My main background is in Marketing and Sales and I am also a governor at Macclesfield college. 

What do governors do?

Individual governors keep up to date on school policy, new regulations, school development plans and government drives on a local and national level. They attend training and they also visit the school regularly to gain an in depth understanding of the school, which enables them to perform their role more effectively.

Associate members of the governing board are appointed by the Local Governing Board (LGB) and assist in an advisory capacity. Associate members do not have voting rights at LGB. 

Governors attend the following meetings:

 

Local Governing Body (LGB):  All governors attend the full governing body meetings which take place three times per term. Minutes of part 1 of these meetings are public documents, please ask if you would like a paper copy of any of our part 1 (non-confidential) minutes. Part 2 of the meetings is reserved for any confidential business (e.g. it may contain information about staff pay or other confidential matters.)

Bexton also has working groups which are time bound and research further into a particular area and are advisory in thie role, providing information to the governing body. We currently have the following working groups: 

The Wraparound Project Teams were set up in Autumn 2019 to develop a business plan around developing and extending the wraparound care offered to the community. 

The 'Vision' Team is working on the strategic vision and direction of the school. 

Panels of governors can also be convened as and when needed to deal with complaints, appeals, pupil discipline, headteacher recruitment and other statutory obligations. 

Becoming a Governor
Parent governors are elected by parents of children attending Bexton school at the date of election. Co-opted governors are appointed by the Board of Governors. The staff governor is elected by staff members of the school.  

Vacancies

We currently have a vacancy for a co-opted governor on our governing board. Prior governance experience is not essential, as training will be given. For more information, please email admin@bexton.cheshire.sch.uk 

List of Bexton Governors who have resigned or completed their term of office in the last 2 years

Peter Woodhouse our chair of governors and LA governor until 2019 resigned on 20 November 2019 in order to join the CAT Trustee Board. Mike Braun, vice chair of Resources Committee and co-opted governor, resigned on 20 November 2019. Jon Webb, parent governor, elected by parents and completed his four year term of office from 24.5.16 to 23.5.20. Peter Kingdom, co-opted governor and safeguarding link governor, completed his four year term of office and resigned on 6 July 2020. Kathryn Woolf (co-opted governor), Jim Lovett (co-opted governor) , John Squires (co-opted governor) and Catherine Hulme (co-opted governor) completed their terms of office on 30.10.21. Lucy Goldsmith (co-opted governor) resigned on 27.11.22 Sandra Bland was staff governor until 31.1.23, after serving 8 years. Thankyou to all our governors past and present. 

Contact the Bexton governors

If you have any ideas or comments for the governors in relation to the strategy or vision of the school, please do get in touch with us at governors@bexton.cheshire.sch.uk

Remember the school governor has a strategic role and does not deal with day to day running of the school. Any questions of this nature should always be directed to school staff in the first instance. 

Further Information

For the most recent information, please look at the subpages off the governor main page (from the menu at the top choose 'about us'> governors > drop down menu of governor subpages: This will take you to the governor subpages, where you can find the annual governor impact statement together with a precis of the most recent governing body meeting, information on governor attendance at meetings, governor declarations of pecuniary interest, information on governor membership and other useful information. Please see below for some additional downloadable files which may be of interest.

Files to Download

ContactUs

Bexton Primary School and Nursery

Blackhill LaneKnutsford, Cheshire WA16 9DB

Arran Rimmer | School Business Manager

01565 632816

admin@bexton.cheshire.sch.uk

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