Culm Valley Federation

Culm Valley Federation consists of Kentisbeare, Culmstock and Plymtree Primary schools. It has one governing board made up from representatives from each school.

The Governing Board

The Governing Board of the Culm Valley Federation is made up of  2 elected parent governors, 2 Foundation governors, 1 Local Authority (LA) governor, a staff governor, an Ex-Officio governor (usually from the local clergy), the Head of the Federation and 3 co-opted governors. Other than the head, each governor serves a four year term of office at a time.

The Governors are all volunteers.

There are also Associate members, who are appointed by the Governing Board to serve on one or more committee. They are not governors and therefore do not have a vote in Governing Board decisions, but may be given a vote on decisions made by the committees to which they are appointed. Associate members can attend Full Governing Board (FGB) meetings but may be excluded from any part of the meeting where the business being considered concerns a member of school staff or an individual pupil.

The Governing Board is assisted by a Clerk to the Governors, who is employed by Devon County Council.

For information on who currently makes up the Governing Board, see below.

Contact the Governing Board

To contact the Governing Board email clerk@plymtree-primary.devon.sch.uk

The role of the Culm Valley Federation Governing Board is:

• 1. Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
  2. Holding the executive headteacher to account for the educational performance of the Federation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff; and
  3. Overseeing the financial performance of the Federation and making sure its money is well spent.

Much of the work of the Governing Board takes place in Committees.

The committees:

• The Governing Board delegates some of it's responsibilites to committees. The details of the committee's delegated powers can be found in the Terms of Reference for each committee (which can be found below).
• The 2 main committees are; the Teaching and Learning Committee (covering curriculum, school improvement, special educational needs and child protection).
• and the Resources Committee (covering Finance, Personnel, Health & Safety)

Obviously there will be some overlap between these 2 committees.

The Teaching and Learning and Resources committees and the Full Governing Board each meet twice per term.

There is also a Pay and Performance Committee and Headteacher Appraisal Panel, which both meet twice per year.

Finally, there are 2 committees which only meet if and when required according to the Federation's staff conduct and capability, exclusion, grievance and disciplinary proceedures.