Governor Information

Welcome to the Governors section of our website. 

The seven principles of public life

Governors at Friern Barnet School are mindful of our responsibility to maintain and develop the ethos and reputation of the school. We encourage open governance and have adopted the following seven principles of public life as recommended by The Committee on Standards in Public Life under the Chairmanship of Lord Nolan. These are: 

• Selflessness
• Integrity
• Objectivity
• Accountability
• Openness
• Honesty
• Leadership

Governing Body

Our Governing Body is made up of professionals from many walks of life. There are 14 Governors who are drawn from parents, staff, local authority and the wider community. They use their expertise and talents from successful careers to enable them to carry out their duties as governors of Friern Barnet School.

The governors work on a voluntary basis ensuring that: 

• The vision, ethos and the strategic direction of the school are clearly defined
• The head teacher carries out his responsibilities for the educational performance of the school
• Sound, proper and effective use is made of the school’s resources
• They act as a critical friend, particularly to the head teacher
• They are the ultimate school body for appeals

Governors typically serve for a term of four years, and will have a variety of responsibilities during this time. The governing body meets once a term and there is a further meeting in March to approve the school’s budget. Every governor is a member of one of the three committees (Teaching and Learning, Student Inclusion and Finance and Resources). Most of the work is done at committee level. Meeting half-termly, committees monitor and oversee all aspects of the school’s work, including student progress, teacher performance, attendance, behaviour, policies, budget monitoring and the upkeep of the buildings.

The Chair of Governors is Ms Ann Woodhall, who is a Co-opted Governor. Should you wish to contact the governors about any matter, you can send an email to governors@friern.barnet.sch.uk or a letter can be sent to the school office which will be forwarded promptly to the Chair of Governors. We hope that you will not have cause for complaint, but if you do and have already raised your concerns with the school, complaints may be forwarded to the governing body. The process for this is laid out in detail in the Complaints Policy (under the policies and procedures area of the website).

Friern Barnet Statement on Governors’ Time and Allowances

Governors have the right to request time off from work to carry out their role as School Governors, although employers do not have to grant this. Some employers are happy to support their staff in carrying out community/voluntary work as it reflects well on them as well as enabling their staff to learn new skills.

Governors are not allowed to be paid an attendance allowance nor be reimbursed for loss of earnings.

However, under the Education (Governors’ Allowances) Regulations 2003, in order to ensure equality of opportunity to serve as a governor the school can pay for certain incurred costs out of the school’s annual budget allocation.

If any governor feels that in order to carry out their duties they need to make a claim they should discuss the circumstances with the Chair of Governors.

Please click on the links below to download further information on our Governors.