Governance at Northwood
Governors serving on Local Governing Body’s are accountable to the Trustees (who in turn are accountable to the Department for Education) as well as to the communities they serve. Whilst not trustees under charity law, the governors are under a duty to act in good faith and in the best interests of their school and Lingfield Education Trust.
This duty includes a responsibility to do the following:
- To ensure their Academy complies with its legal obligations
- To fulfil the charitable object of Lingfield Education Trust
- To set targets, monitor pupil progress and attainment; challenge the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to achieve the objectives of their school
- To act with integrity, to avoid any personal conflicts of interest and not to misuse any charitable funds or assets of their Academy of Trust
- To act prudently in the financial management of the school, avoiding putting any assets, funds or the reputation of their Academy of the Trustees at undue risk.
Members of the Trust board are always keen to hear from members of the local community who may be interested in becoming a school governor. When appointing governors, Lingfield Education Trust will seek to fill these posts with people who live in the local area where possible whilst having a regard for the balance of skills and experience that the LGB needs to fulfil its functions.
This will include the following skills/experience:
- Financial expertise and commercial experience
- Education: experience of primary education, understanding of current education policy and the Ofsted framework and school performance indicators
- Ability to analyse school data, ask questions and hold to account
- Legal expertise
- Community engagement/community cohesion
- School governance
- Premises management
- Strategic planning
- Human resources management, including performance appraisal
- Marketing
More information regarding governance at Lingfield Education Trust can be found on the governance section of the Trust website here. This includes the Trust ‘Scheme of Delegation’, which details the functions and responsibilities of Local Governing Bodies (and associated committees) within Lingfield Education Trust. Please contact the school to speak with Mrs Young if you may be interested in joining the team.
Northwood Primary School currently has an Interim Local Governing Board. This was put in place in September 2025 to;
- Drive rapid and sustainable improvement
- Support the school to transition into a new leadership model
- Add capacity to the Board and build the effectiveness of support and challenge
- Provide expertise and high-quality governance to support school improvement and promote educational standards
This is a temporary board which will cease in September 2026. The school will then operate as a full Local Governing Body.
The Board follow the same meeting structure as other schools in the Trust and meet 4 times per academic year.
Lingfield Education Trust Governance Partner
The Trust work in partnership with Berry Education. The core focus of Berry Education is to support the Trust and Schools to keep abreast of all functions related to compliance. Berry Education are experts in their field. They have a robust understanding of both the academic and business requirements of the Trust and how they must be streamlined to promote best practise to allow for continued and sustainable development.
