Local Governing Board and Members
Chair of the Local Governing Board
Parent Members
Community Members
What’s the Local Governing Board?
Our school is part of a family of schools supported by the Bellevue Place Education Trust (BPET). BPET are responsible for our core educational vision, for setting rigorous academic standards, and for supervising the quality of teaching and the school’s progress.
To assist BPET in these tasks, we have a sub-committee of local advisors called Local Governing Board appointed by the BPET Board of Trustees.
The local board’ s main focus is educational strategy, school outcomes and high educational aspirations that meet the needs of our local community. They are responsible for:
- Setting the vision, ethos and strategic direction for our school, within the BPET overall vision
- Holding the headteacher and senior leadership team to account for the educational performance of our school, the pupils and the performance and management of staff
- Ensuring investment in educational improvement is value for money and having a real impact.
- These functions have been formally delegated to the local board by the BPET Board of Trustees, which is the maintaining authority for our school.
The formal delegation for Rutherford House School is set out in the BPET Scheme of Delegation.
Rutherford House School’s Supplementary Funding Agreement is the BPET Master Funding Agreement as our school was the first one joining BPET.
Structure of the Local Governing Board
The chair of the group is formally appointed by the BPET Board of Trustees, serving at the discretion of the BPET Board. Together with the headteacher, the chair can appoint local governors according to the skillset needed in the group. The suggested group size is 6-10 people and there must be a minimum of two parent advisers (no maximum).
The local governors are provided with the BPET Local Governance Handbook which sets out the terms of reference and structure of the group, along with a code of conduct.
Academy free schools, like us, are funded by central government and they have freedom to govern independently. However, they are fully accountable to the Secretary of State for Education. You can read more on the BPET’s governance structure and how this oversees our strategic governance.
Become a Local Governor
We are always looking for enthusiastic parents and members of the local community who understand our values. If helping us to achieve our goals is something you might be interested in or would just like to find out a little more, get in touch and send your CV to Jonathan Dunkerley jonathan.dunkerley@gmail.com
All Local Governors are required to complete a declaration of pecuniary and personal interest every academic year.
If you want to get in contact with us, we welcome your input. The board’s email address is LAB@rutherfordhouseschool.co.uk
Advisers attend meetings approximately six evenings a year, and six additional school visits in area(s) of responsibility.
