Our 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 do 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 do 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.
Advocate for: Attendance, Arts & Sports, Humanities

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.
Advocate for: Safeguarding, Special Educational Needs.

Chris Bower is also a co-opted governor and is relatively 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!
Advocate for: Finance, Health & Safety, Website Compliance

Briony Rice is a new parent governor onto the Board.  Her eldest son is currently in year one at the school, and her youngest boy will hopefully be starting in September.  Briony works for Cambridgeshire County Council within the SEND team.  She previously held several operational and senior management positions at Anglian Water which has given her a breadth of skills and experience to bring to the Governing Board, although there is still lots to learn about the education system!
Advocate for: English, Phonics

Ella Waughman has lived locally for nearly 30 years and attended the village school herself. She works as a social worker for Cambridgeshire County Council. The village community is very important to her and she is an active member of the time bank and sporting societies. School governance is a new area for her, so is looking forward to embarking on a new challenge.

Nathan Wells has recently moved to Cambridgeshire following a lifetime of living in London. He has worked for over 20 years in education as a pastoral lead, deputy head and Headteacher for a large post-16 provider in South London. Following his move, he now works in school improvement with a primary Trust across Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, helping schools with the development of systems around inclusion, wellbeing and provision of SEND.
Advocate for: STEM subjects, Children who are Looked After, Pupil Premium, Well-being

Downloads

• Instrument of  Governance
• Register of Interests & Attendance

Minutes

Minutes are made at every meeting and remain in ‘draft’ form until they have been reviewed and approved by the governing body at the next committee meeting.

Please contact the Clerk to Governors, for copies of minutes. clerk@houghton.cambs.sch.uk