Meet The Governors
Houghton Primary School
Meet the Governors
What is the Governing Body? – this is a group of people from all walks of life but with one main goal and that is to make Houghton Primary the best school it can be! We do not and must not become involved first-hand at delivering education – that remains the responsibility of the Head Teacher. We are an independent group that checks that things are being done well and supports the Head Teacher and his staff in achieving the highest standards they can. Each governor serves a term of four years and can be re-elected or re-appointed at the end of their term of office for a further four years.
In order to be as effective as we can, each Governor is asked to be an advocate for, and take special interest in, an area of the school’s activities.
When we meet – this is usually twice a term, however we can also meet occasionally to develop what we as a governing body need to do to help the school. We are supported by a clerk who takes the minutes, and we have an agenda so that we can show that we are covering the right items for the school’s continued success.
What we do - Governors are the ‘critical friends’ that have a responsibility to make sure the school runs as well as possible under the guidance of Drew Spencer, Head Teacher. We receive the training we need through the County Council and support each other. We all bring something different to the meetings – enthusiasm, commitment, knowledge and skills. We are a group of people who have become a team of colleagues and friends so that, working together, we are able to make a positive difference to Houghton School.
Meet the Governors –
Our Chair of Governors is Sally Michaels, and her background is in education. She worked as a teacher and school leader in primary schools for fifteen years, teaching almost every year group in primary. She was also a Deputy Head and qualified Special Educational Needs Coordinator. She left teaching in 2021 and now runs her own tuition company. She is the Governor advocate for the curriculum, for Pupil Premium and for Children in Care.
Our Vice-Chair is Angela Passant. She lives in Wyton and has been a co-opted governor since 2019 (that means she does not have any direct connection with the school but is a member of the community.) Her background is in public and private Finance, HR and people management, and she ran her own management advisory company. She is now retired and wants to help our community. She is the Governor advocate for Safeguarding and Special Educational Needs.
Lynsey Tweddle has been a parent governor since 2019, joining when her son was in Year 4. Although her son has now moved onto secondary school Lynsey remained on the governing body as she wanted to continue to support the school for the rest of her term. Lynsey works for Sport England, an arms-length body of government responsible for growing and developing grassroots sport and getting more people active across England. She leads on governance standards supporting the sport and physical activity sector to be well run, safe and inclusive. She has worked in other sectors such as media and health but education was new to her. Lynsey is the Governor advocate for the Sports Premium and Wellbeing, drawing on her professional experience and training as a Mental Health First Aider.
Chris Bower is also a co-opted governor and is brand new in role. He has two young children not yet of school age so hopefully he will be a parent-governor in the future! Chris is a chartered accountant who works for a global accountancy practice auditing large businesses and so whilst he has governance experience, he is quickly learning about the school and education generally! Chris is the Governor advocate for Finance, using his skills and experience.
Instrument of Governance at Houghton Primary School
Our governors meet together as a whole once every half term.
Scroll down to access minutes from meetings.
|
Name |
Governor Category |
Responsibilities | Term of Office | Other educational establishments Governed | Business Interests | Relationships with School Staff/Governors | Attendance record: 2022-23 |
| Sally Michaels | Co-opted |
Chair of Governors, Curriculum Pupil Premium Children in Care Attendance |
October 2025 | None | Red Bird Tutoring - Tutoring Services | None | 1/1 |
| Angela Passant | Co-Opted | Vice-Chair of Governors Safeguarding and SEND | May 2023 | None | None | None | 1/1 |
| Chris Bower | Co-Opted |
Finance Health & Safety Website |
June 2026
|
None | None | None | 1/1 |
| Vacancy | Co-opted | ||||||
| Vacancy | Co-opted | ||||||
| Vacancy | Local Authority | ||||||
| Lynsey Tweddle | Parent |
Sports Premium Wellbeing |
May 2023 | None | None | None | 1/1 |
| Vacancy | Parent | ||||||
| Vacancy | Parent | ||||||
| Vacancy | Parent | ||||||
| Amy MacLennan | Staff | March 2024 | None | None | None | 1/1 | |
| Drew Spencer | Headteacher | Attends and reports to all committee meetings | N/A | None | None | None | 1/1 |
| Barbara Plumb | Clerk | Attends all meetings |
Minutes
Minutes are made at every meeting and are in 'draft' form until they have been reviewed and approved by the governing body at the next committee meeting.
Approved minutes for at least the last 3 meetings are available here before being archived.
Please contact the Clerk to Governors, for archived minutes. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Full Governors Meeting Minutes: