Governors - Thurgoland Primary

Your School Governors

The Governing Body has three core functions:

Ensuring the clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction.
Holding the headteacher to account for the performance of the school’s staff and pupils.
Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

As well as working as a collective group, governors also take on individual responsibility for particular areas. Every year governors review the school’s performance and help the leadership team to set the strategic priorities.

Our governors produce a newsletter each term to keep you up to date with their work. If you’d like to get in touch with your governing team, please email n.shiggins@thurgolandprimary.org

Members of the school governing body stand for four years. Your governing body is currently made up of the following members:

Mr D Jordan

As Headteacher of Thurgoland CE Primary School, I am a member of our Governing Body. My role within the Governance Structure is to translate the school’s strengths and areas of improvement to the Governance Team being accountable for those strengths and weaknesses. In essence, this means regular meetings with the Governing Body to discuss the progress of pupils and the performance of staff. The finances of school; maintaining a fulfilling education for our pupils under ever increasing budgeting concerns are also reported to our Governors. Together, we decide our Action Plans, ensuring the pupils at Thurgoland CE Primary remain very well educated. I bring many years of experience to our school’s governance in the roles of leadership and teaching. From outside school life I also bring the perspective of being a committed parent and am very much aware of how important a consistent education is to our families.

Mr N Shiggins (n.shiggins@thurgolandprimary.org)

As Chair of Governors my responsibilities are to strategically look at the now, next and future of our team and school. Manage with the rest of the Governors the finances of the school and hold the leadership team to account for the safety, well-being and education of the children. I have a duty of care to all the staff at school - teachers, teachings assistants, caretaker, office team, catering and Leadership team. Together they manage the day to day of the school for and on behalf of the children. Alongside the Headteacher we are responsible for all matters relating to school including staff development, safety, policy, financial, welfare, risk, wellbeing and assuring our focus is on the children. Outside school I’m a Governor on the Foundation trust at the grammar school and on the local council in Penistone with responsibility for Finance and HR and leading a work stream on road safety. In the financial year 22/23 I will hopefully lead the council as Mayor. We have twin boys who both went through primary, secondary and sixth form in Penistone and have gone on to further education very successfully. One of our boys is teaching Physics at a secondary school and the other is doing a PHD in glaciology so we are very proud of them and their efforts so far. My wife Helen and I are involved with Penistone Round table family as well doing a number of initiatives every year including bonfire and fireworks, Remembrance marshalling, Santa Sleigh and a number of other community facing initiatives. To relax we enjoy reading, walking and the cinema and spending time with friends.

Mr J Birch

I am a Co-Opted Governor and Vice-Chair of the Governing Body. I am a Chartered Accountant and I was asked to join the Governing Body to provide Financial expertise. I Chair the Finance Committee which meets termly to review the school’s financial position and ensure that the resources are applied to further the educational priorities. I also sit on the Pay and Personnel Committee and I am a member of the HT Performance Review Committee. I am the Link Governor for Maths. I have been a Governor since Spring 2018 and my son is at the school.

Mrs S Wareing

I am the Local Authority governor. My role within the Governing Body is on the Progress and Attainment Key Pupil group and the link Governor for SEND/Key Pupil groups. My background is within education and school improvement and I am able to bring this experience to ensure that we support but also to ask challenging questions to support school development. I am committed to the local community and want to ensure that the children who attend Thurgoland Primary School love learning and reach their full potential.

Mr A Kershaw

A Foundation Governor is appointed, for a 4 year term of office, by the Diocese of Sheffield. The role is to provide continuity, ensure that a Christian voice is heard in the deliberations of the Governing Body and provide support to the teaching staff in implementing the Christian ethos of the School. I am Churchwarden at Holy Trinity Thurgoland and enjoy the close relationship between School and Church. At present I am the Governor with responsibility for strategic oversight of Safeguarding and Health and Safety. This role supports the Headteacher, whilst providing an independent appraisal of the systems in place to protect both Children and Staff.”

Mrs J Hale

I have been a Foundation Governor for a number of years in the school, and I represent Canon Keith Hale on the Governing Board. You may know too that I am his wife, and lead the Messy Church Service in Holy Trinity Church. I am currently the Link Governor for Literacy and also for Early Years and Early Reading (phonics). Although I am now retired, I was a teacher. I have taught across all year groups and worked for 15 years in a Reception Class and as Foundation Lead. I have been both Assistant Head Teacher and an Acting Head of School. In addition I have worked with the Local Authority as a Moderator and as a Phonics Leader. I hope that my skills and experience will be useful to support what happens in our school.

Mrs R Davies

My role is staff governor and I am responsible for bringing a staff perspective to the board, whilst supporting the team to meet statutory duties and achieve strategic priorities. I have worked at Thurgoland Primary School since 1989; for the majority of that time serving as the headteacher. Since my retirement in 2013 I have had the privilege of working part time, teaching across all year groups, alongside many talented members of staff. In recent years I have extended my experience of governorship, filling various roles at three local schools. Currently, I am Chair of the Attainment Committee, Safeguarding Governor and Link Governor for literacy at Silkstone Primary School. I have also had the opportunity to act as a Local Authority Clerk to Governors and to work with Sheffield Diocese supporting schools preparing for SIAMS Inspections. I remain passionate about Thurgoland Primary School, immensely proud of the amazing young people associated with it and committed to helping in any way possible to support its continuing success. On a personal level, two of our own children are in leadership roles in education so we have additional first-hand knowledge of the joys and challenges facing those currently working in schools.

Lynn Hoyland

I am a new Co-Opted Governor of the Governing Body at Thurgoland School. I have been a qualified teacher for 32 years and I currently work in an Alternative provision for SEMH youngsters. I am also a qualified SENCO and I am looking forward to working with other governors to ensure that the school continues to give the SEN pupils the very highest quality education possible to ensure they are given the very best life chances. I am passionate about education and as I come to the end of my teaching career I feel it is time for me to give something back to the Primary school which helped to set me on my career path all those years ago.

Mr J Steele

I am proud to be a parent governor at the school. My son currently attends and I am very happy with the start the school has given in him in his education. I am currently second in department of a large maths department, I have previously been a head of department and a lead teacher. My role will be as the link governor for maths in the school, and to sit on the quality of education committee, as well contributing to full governing board meetings. In my current teaching role, my focus has been on staff wellbeing, curriculum design and student attainment, with none of the three being mutually exclusive.

Mr P Waywell

I am a Parent Governor and joined the Board in November 2021, initially for a period of 4 years. My responsibilities as a Governor include sitting on the Safeguarding and Safety Committee. Professionally, I have worked across Higher Education, the NHS and industry for several years, with a particular focus on overseeing the delivery of large-scale and complex research programmes. As result, I have considerable experience in several aspects of corporate governance. I welcome this opportunity to work with Mr Jordan, members of staff and fellow governors to ensure the school continues to provide an environment where all our children are able to achieve their potential.