My name is Tom Muldownie and I have recently taken over as Chair of Governors with the previous Chair having to stand down for personal reasons. My professional background is as a Consultant in Business and IT and I have worked for large international companies across the UK as well as Europe, America and Australia. I have worked across multiple industries including Government, Military, Finance and Local Government. Many of my skills and experience are directly transferrable to the Education sector.
Whilst I only joined this Governing body around 3 months ago, I have previous experience as both a Governor and as Chair of Governors. I appreciate that the Governing board has had some turnover over the last year or so and I hope to reverse that and bring more stability to the team.
Our, role as a Governing body is to work with the Headteacher and the full school team to get the best education for all the children attending the school allowing all pupils to achieve their potential. Whilst the Governing body do not “manage the school” (that is the job of the Head teacher and all members of the school team from teachers, teaching assistants, admin staff, cleaners, dinner staff, etc.) our job is to make sure that, as far as possible, we monitor what is being done to ensure it is being done in a fair, consistent and unbiased manner. If we can do that then the pupils will have the best shot of getting the best opportunity of the best education. In fact, the role of a Governor is often described as that of a “Challenging friend”.
I, and the other members of the Governing team, want to be more visible to you, the staff and of course the pupils and we will try to achieve that objective as soon as possible.
As with all schools there are things that may not be going for your child the way you would wish it to go. In those circumstance the school has a “complaint policy” that can be viewed on the school website under the “Our School” – “Policies” tab. It asks that in the first instance you try to address those concerns with the class teacher or if that is not possible, for whatever reason, then it should be raised with the Deputy Head or the Headteacher. If the member of staff directly involved feels unable to deal with a concern, the Headteacher should be notified, and they will refer you to another staff member. The ability to consider the concern objectively and impartially is very important and we would like the concern to be addressed as soon as possible by the person who can actually resolve the matter. If the concern, or complaint, is actually about the Head teacher then the concern should be raised in the first place with me, the Chair of Governors., I can be contacted via the following email address governingbody@houghtonregisprimary.co.uk
I hope to speak to as many of you as possible over the coming weeks and months and look also to you for your support in making Houghton Regis Primary School the best we can all make it with good free flowing lines of communication.
Regards
Tom Muldownie
Chair of Governors, Houghton Regis Primary School
