Governors

What Do Governors Do?

Governors offer strategic guidance, rather than getting involved in the operational aspects of a school. This involves:

Working with other board members to plan the school’s strategic direction.
Overseeing the school’s financial performance, ensuring money is well-spent.
Holding the headteacher or school leadership to account.

A governor’s relationship with the school’s leadership team involves challenging existing processes to drive school improvement. Governors usually attend around six meetings per year.

Attendance Log

		Full Governing Body (FGB)		Finance, Staffing & Premises (FSP)		Safeguarding Committee		School Improvement Committee (SI)
Name	Year	2024-2025	2025-2026	2024-2025	2025-2026	2024-2025	2025-2026	2024-2025	2025-2026
Paul Urry		8/8	3/6	6/6	7/8	3/3	1/3	6/6	3/5
Joyce Simpson		8/8	3/6	6/6	6/8	3/3	1/3	6/6	3/5
Jimmy Hinton		8/8	3/6	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	5/6	3/5
Bob Griffiths		5/8	3/6	6/6	7/8	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sue Ingham		6/8	2/6	6/6	6/8	3/3	1/3	N/A	N/A


Nargis Shaheen		5/8	2/6	N/A	N/A	N/A	1/3	1/6	0/5
James Procter		5/8 (staff governor unable to attend 2 meetings due to confidentiality)	3/6	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	5/6	3/5



Mary Fillan		N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	5/5	3/5
Louise Hurley		N/A	N/A	6/6	7/8	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Sohail Mahmood		–	N/A	–	5/6	–	N/A	–	N/A

St. Stephen's CE Primary School – 2023-2024 Academic Year

Meeting Dates 2024-2025

Meeting	FGB	School Improvement Committee (SIC)	Finance, Staffing & Premises Committee (FSP)	Safeguarding Committee
	Thursday 3:00pm	Monday 1:00pm	Wednesday 1:00pm	Friday 10am
Autumn 1	26 September 2024	7 October 2024	23 October 2024	11 October 2024
Half-Term
Autumn 2	12 December 2024	16 December 2024	n/a	n/a
Christmas
Spring 1	13 February 2025	3 February 2025	20 January 2025	7 February 2025
Half-Term
Spring 2	3 April 2025	24 March 2025	26 March 2025	n/a
Easter
Summer 1	22 May 2025	19 May 2025	7 May 2025	n/a
Half-Term
Summer 2	17 July 2025	7 July 2025	16 July 2025	20 June 2025

Committee Structure

Appeals Committee

First 3 appropriate available Governors

Named Governors

SEND – Sue Ingham
Safeguarding/Looked After Children – Sue Ingham
RE & Collective Worship – Joyce Simpson
Health & Well-being – Jimmy Hinton
Pupil Premium and Disadvantaged Pupils – Jimmy Hinton & Bolanle Adekunle
Reading – Joyce Simpson
Parental Engagement – Nargis Shaheen
Health and Safety – Bob Griffiths

Safeguarding Committee

Chair – Sue Ingham

Paul Urry (Head Teacher)
Joyce Simpson (Chair of Governors)
Sue Ingham (Foundation Governor)
Sonia Bentley (Foundation Governor)
Nargis Shaheen (Parent Governor)
Mary Fillan (Deputy Head & DSL)

Finance, Staffing & Premises

Chair – Bob Griffiths

Paul Urry (Head Teacher)
Joyce Simpson (Chair of Governors)
Sue Ingham (Foundation Governor)
Bob Griffiths (Foundation Governor)
Sohail Mahmood (Bursar)
Louise Hurley (School Business Manager)

School Improvement

Chair – Joyce Simpson

Paul Urry (Head Teacher)
Jimmy Hinton (Vice Chair of Governors)
Sonia Bentley (Foundation Governor)
Joyce Simpson (Chair of Governors)
James Procter (Staff Governor)
Bola Adekunle (Foundation Governor)
Helen Loughlin (Deputy Headteacher)

Head Teacher's Performance Management

Sue Ingham (Foundation Governor)
Sonia Bentley (Foundation Governor)

Discipline & Grievance Committee

Jimmy Hinton (Vice Chair of Governors)
Bob Griffiths (Foundation Governor)
Joyce Simpson (Chair of Governors)
Sonia Bentley (Foundation Governor)
Sue Ingham (Foundation Governor)
Bolanle Adekunle (Foundation Governor)
Nargis Shaheen (Parent Governor)

School Governors

Paul Urry

Category of Governor	Head Teacher
Appointed by	Full Governing Body
Term of office (end date)	N/A
Committees	School Improvement, Finance, Staffing and Premises
Positions of responsibility
Declaration of interests	None
Governance roles in other schools	Tong Leadership Academy

Joyce Simpson

Category of Governor	Foundation Governor
Appointed by	The Diocese of Leeds
Term of office (end date)	07/10/2026
Committees	School Improvement, Finance Staffing and Premises, HT Performance Management, Discipline Committee, RE and Collective Worship
Positions of responsibility	Chair of Governing Body; Chair of School Improvement Committee; Named Governor for Pupil Premium
Declaration of interests	None
Governance roles in other schools	None

Jimmy Hinton

Category of Governor	Ex Officio
Appointed by	The Diocese of Leeds
Term of office (end date)
Committees	School Improvement, Head Teacher Performance Management
Positions of responsibility	Vice Chair FGB; Named Governor for GDPR
Declaration of interests	Related to a member of staff
Governance roles in other schools	St Matthew Primary School

Bob Griffiths

Category of Governor	Foundation Governor
Appointed by	The Diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales
Term of office (end date)	07/10/2026
Committees	FSP, Disciplinary, Head Teacher Recruitment
Positions of responsibility	Chair of FSP; Named Governor for Health and Safety
Declaration of interests	None
Governance roles in other schools	Immanuel College

Sue Ingham

Category of Governor	Foundation Governor
Appointed by	St Stephens Parish Church Council
Term of office (end date)	04/10/2026
Committees	Finance Staffing and Premises; HT Performance Management
Positions of responsibility	Vice Chair of FSP; Chair of Safeguarding; Named Governor for Safeguarding and SEND
Declaration of interests	None
Governance roles in other schools	None

Sonia Bentley

Category of Governor	Foundation Governor
Appointed by	St Stephens Primary School
Term of office (end date)	30/03/2026
Committees	School Improvement
Positions of responsibility	Named Governor for Attendance and Punctuality
Declaration of interests	Employed by a relevant organisation
Governance roles in other schools	None

Dr Goodith White

Category of Governor	Foundation Governor
Appointed by	The Diocese of Leeds
Term of office (end date)	07/01/2028
Committees	–
Positions of responsibility	–
Declaration of interests	–
Governance roles in other schools	–

Foundation Governor (Vacancy)

Category of Governor
Appointed by	St Stephens Primary School
Term of office (end date)
Committees
Positions of responsibility
Declaration of interests
Governance roles in other schools

James Procter

Category of Governor	Staff Governor
Appointed by	St Stephens Primary School
Term of office (end date)	18/07/2025
Committees	School Improvement
Positions of responsibility	No positions of responsibility
Declaration of interests	None
Governance roles in other schools	None

Bolanle Adekunle

Category of Governor	Foundation Governor
Appointed by	Full Governing Body
Term of office (end date)	17/11/2026
Committees	N/A
Positions of responsibility	Named Governor for Pupil Premium and Disadvantaged Pupils
Declaration of interests	None
Governance roles in other schools	N/A

Nargis Shaheen

Category of Governor	Parent Governor
Appointed by	Full Governing Body
Term of office (end date)	28/09/2026
Committees	N/A
Positions of responsibility	N/A
Declaration of interests	None
Governance roles in other schools	N/A

Parent Governor (Vacancy)

Category of Governor
Appointed by
Term of office (end date)
Committees
Positions of responsibility
Declaration of interests
Governance roles in other schools

Admissions

St Stephen’s C of E Primary School admissions and appeals are managed by Bradford Council. If you would like to register your child for admission into St Stephen’s, please visit our admissions page for further details.

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