Meet the Governors

Who are School Governors?

The Governing Body at Unsworth Primary School is made up of members of the local and school community. The thirteen members work closely with Mrs Reynolds the Headteacher, who is responsible for the day to day management of the school.

All of the governors listed below act on a voluntary basis. Some are appointed by the Local Education Authority (LA), some elected by parents, some by teachers/staff and some are co-opted from the local community.

• Chair of Governors: Cllr Sam Cohen LA (Local Authority)
• Vice Chair: Beryl McGuire Community
• Andrew Stanley - parent gov
• Ann Coghlan - parent gov
• Pat Walton - community gov
• Joanne Thomas - teacher gov
• Glenn Smith - Parent
• Kirstie Beckman - Parent
• Sam Kelly
• Paul Stewart - Community
• Joan Grimshaw - LA
• Stella Smith - LA
• Sarah Channon - Staff

What do they do?

The Governing Body has many duties, including:

• Promoting high standards of educational achievement
• Setting targets for pupil achievement
• Taking general responsibility for the conduct of the school
• Setting and managing the school's budget, including numbers of staff and their pay
• Reporting on pupils' achievement in National Curriculum assessments and examination results.
• Helping with staff appointments and regulating staff conduct and discipline
• Planning the way forward and drawing up an action plan after inspections by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted)
• Ensuring the National Curriculum requirements are fully covered throughout the school
• Meeting regularly to discuss the running of the school

All of out Governors are members of sub-committees to deal with specific issues relating to Personnel, the Curriculum, Premises and Finance, which meet regularly and feed back to the full governing body.

The non-teaching governors often visit the school and all governors undertake to support certain subject areas as link-governors and liaise with the member of staff who co-ordinate that area.

Governor Profiles:

Sam Cohen

Date joined Governing Body: September 1983
Position: Chairman, which I have been from September 1984
Sub-Committee: Being Chairman, I am a member of all the sub-committees

Areas of Special Interest: Helping to ensure, that Unsworth Primary School, gives the best possible education to our pupils and that Parents are happy to entrust their children to us.

Why did you volunteer to become a School Governor? In 1983, Bury MBC Councillors were expected to serve on Five Governing bodies. One of the five schools I was appointed to, was Unsworth and although down the years, I have dropped the other schools, except for Hollins/Grundy, I have never wanted to leave Unsworth, as I feel a great affinity to the school.

What do you do when not attending Governor Meetings? Being a Local Authority member, I do attend a lot of meetings, either Council or Voluntary Organisations, I am a member at Lancashire County Cricket Club and do go to Old Trafford as much as my committments allow.