Governance

Governors

The Local Schools Governing Board’s main responsibility is to determine the aims and conduct of their school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement. Individual governors bring their own experience and expertise to the group, and the best governing bodies use and benefit from the skills of all their governors.

The governing body holds the school to account for the quality, standard and effectiveness of the teaching and learning. Through the governing body, the school is accountable to the local education authority, the parents of the pupils and to the wider community. In practice, the governing body works with the headteacher to determine how the school should develop to ensure continued improvement, and with the head and staff agrees plans, policies, targets and procedures that work towards that development.

The governing body are also responsible for ensuring that the school fulfils its legal obligations, for the provision of the curriculum, managing the school budget, staffing, the social care and development of the pupils, and other statutory requirements such as developing school policies, setting targets, managing performance and so on. The governing body is also responsible for evaluating the progress of the school, making sure that effective monitoring is taking place and making strategic decisions on the basis of this evaluation.

Governors are most useful to the school by being supportive yet challenging, neither blindly accepting nor entirely critical of the way the school functions. If the governing body gets the balance right it can both support the school and promote its improvement effectively.

We welcome the involvement of parents through feedback. Contact Mr Mike Hope, Chair of Governors, of the Dengie Local Schools Governing Board (Interim) via the School Office.

Dengie Local Schools Governing Board – wef  11th February 2026

Mike Hope – Chair of Dengie Local Schools Governing Board (Interim) – (Vine Schools Trust Appointed)

The Chair of the Dengie Local Schools Governing Board can be contacted via the school email address: admin.christchurch@dcvst.org.

Charlotte Little – (Vine Schools Trust Appointed)

Abbey Turner – (Vine Schools Trust Appointed)

Rev. Peter Begley – (Ex-officio by virtue of office)

Rev. Steven Poss – (Vine Schools Trust Appointed)

Becky Fairhead – (Ex-officio by virtue of office as Executive Headteacher)

Louise Hall – (Ex-officio by virtue of office as Head of School)

Wendy Woods – (Ex-officio by virtue of office as Headteacher)

Tara Clarke – (Ex-officio by virtue of office as Headteacher)

Ruth Wright – (Ex-officio by virtue of office as Headteacher)

Laura Beatty – (Vine Schools Trust Appointed)

Rachel Whyte – (Vine Schools Trust Appointed)

Dengie LSB – Declaration of Business Interests

From September 2016, it is now a requirement that trustees and governing boards publish on their website a register of interests for each of their board members.  They must declare any interest they have, or plans they, their spouse, partner or close family members might have, that are related to or might be construed as being related to the school, academy or trust and its budget.

These include (but are not limited to):

• relevant business interest
• governance roles in other educational institutions
• any material interest arising from relationships between board members or relationships between board members and school staff