Welcome to our Governors' section.
Please find below details of how our Governing body is structured, including the names, categories, responsibilities and terms of appointment for each Governor.
We have also provided a Register of Governor Interests and an Annual Statement.
Governor Impact Statement 2024/25
At Kirkbride Primary School we have a team of Governors who work closely with the Head Teacher in order to deliver our unified shared vision. We have a culture of high expectations, recognising how well we are achieving and also reaching higher. Hand in hand with this desire for excellence, we also want to see our staff excel. We see our children as individuals and we challenge – both financially and educationally - in order to provide the best for all our pupils as a whole and provide the best outcome for each individual.
Role of the Governing Body
The role of the Governing Body is to provide confident, strategic leadership and to create robust accountability, oversight and assurance for educational and financial performance.
The Governing Body of Kirkbride Primary School is committed to both maintaining and exceeding these high standards. Every Governing Body has three core functions: Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction; Holding leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff; and Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure money is well spent.
As Governors we work with the staff to:
- Work closely with parents to ensure the learning journey for every child is a successful and fulfilling one.
- Strive to achieve the highest standards for every child.
- Provide the children with a safe, secure environment where they can develop a love for learning.
- To work closely with the community and maintain good communication and partnerships with all stakeholders.
- To ensure the school environment is orderly, well-maintained and offers the children access to the best resources available.
The way we achieve this is to have an active role working with the Head teacher.
Governors are keen to learn and challenge themselves so therefore attend training courses that specifically target vision, ethos and strategy. The impact of this is that Governors are knowledgeable, up to date in thinking and ensure the School Improvement plan is relevant and are able to challenge and support the Head Teacher.
The School Development Plan 2024 / 25 is linked to the Ofsted Framework and covers all areas of school life.
A full copy of the School Development Plan can requested from the Head Teacher.
Structure of the Governing Body
Our governing body is currently comprised of:
Local Authority governor: 1
Parent governors: 2
Co-opted governors: 6
Staff governor: 1
Including our Headteacher, we have 11 governors on our board and our quorum is 5 governors. The full governing board meets six times per academic year and is supported by four committees: Finance and Staffing, Health and Safety, Safeguarding, Pupil Premium and SEND, and Curriculum and Standards. The committees meet at least once per term and are timetabled at strategic points in the year.
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Ms Janice Hedworth |
Chair of Governors / Co-opted Governor |
|
Mrs Ann Little |
Vice Chair / LA Governor |
|
Mr Alan Hedworth |
Co-opted Governor |
|
Dr Mike Schofield |
Co-opted Governor |
|
Mrs Shiona Bickley |
Parent Governor |
|
Mr Jamie Wright |
Parent Governor |
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Vacancy |
Co-opted Governor |
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Mrs Samantha Coopey |
Staff Governor |
|
Mrs Danielle Taylor |
Co-opted Governor |
|
Mr Stephen Sowerby |
Co-opted Governor |
|
Mrs Karen Barley |
Head Teacher |
|
Mrs Lesley Maxwell |
Clerk to Governors |
Meet our School Governors
Ms J. Hedworth - Co-opted Governor / Chair of Governors
My name is Janice Hedworth and I am a Community Governor at Kirkbride Primary school.
I was brought up in the village and my education started at Kirkbride Primary, when the new school first opened (more years ago than I wish to admit!).
My immediate family still live in Kirkbride and I have maintained links within the local community after moving to a village nearby some years ago. Kirkbride is the village I still call 'home'.
The early years for children are so important. The excellent support and education which is delivered by the dedicated Staff through the curriculum at Kirkbride Primary School is evident. This will provide the good start in life all our 'little people' need.
I am grateful to have the opportunity to be a small part of a great team, to be able to give my time and hopefully some positive contribution towards the future of our next generation.
Mrs A. Little - Vice Chair - Local Authority Governor
Hi, I have been on the governing body for almost 10 years and am delighted to support our lovely village school and staff as I feel passionately that the school is an integral part of our village and wider community.
I was born in Kirkbride and have lived here nearly all my life. I attended what was the old school in the village and both my two children attended the school in the 80s & 90s, during which time I played a very active part in fundraising for the school. All of my foster children have attended the school and without exception have all enjoyed their learning experience.
I have a long career in the Finance Sector and have been a Foster Carer since 2006. I am also an Examination Invigilator.
I thoroughly enjoy the ever changing role as a Governor and as well as being the Vice Chair & Safeguarding Governor I support the school as Chair of the Staffing & Finance Committee and as the SENS Governor. The school has a warm, safe and friendly environment of which I am very proud to be part of.
Mrs K. L. Barley - Head Teacher
I am very proud to be the Head Teacher at Kirkbride, having started in January 2022. I have been a Head Teacher for five years, a Deputy for four years and have been teaching for over eighteen years across the whole primary range from Nursery to Year 6.
I am married with two grown sons, and I love to explore our wonderful county, getting out and about whenever possible. I am passionate about ensuring all children get the best deal possible through excellent teaching, a rich and vivid curriculum and they leave our school equipped for their next steps in education as happy, cared for and confident individuals.
The Governing Board, support me and our fantastic team, with all strategic matters and ensure the children are kept at the heart of everything we do.
Mr A. Hedworth - Co-opted Governor
I'm Alan Hedworth, I am a co-opted school governor for Kirkbride Primary School. I'm honoured to be offered this opportunity to support the Governors and of course the school where possible. Education has to be ranked as one of the most important aspects of our lives, especially as it's everyone's future that is affected by what we are taught.
I have two fantastic children and I have lived in the village of Kirkbride all my life and my work/business is here too, we have a former dairy farm located near the school.
I myself attended Kirkbride School when it first opened in 1977, it has changed but still a very good school, after leaving Nelson Thomlinson secondary comprehensive school in 1988, I attended Newton Rigg College to study Agriculture and then continued on to full time employment at the family farm.
In recent years I have got involved in local council and parish council duties, I was elected as a borough councillor for Allerdale Borough Council in 2015 and am Chairman of Kirkbride Parish Council.
I've also travelled to various parts of the world and seen how the other half live their lives, it does broaden the mind to gain this type of experience.
I would just like to make a difference.
Mrs D Taylor - Co-opted Governor
I'm Danielle Taylor, I am new to the governing body and I am really looking forward to supporting Kirkbride School. I have lived in the community for many years and hopefully many more to come.
I am currently working as the Quality of Education Lead for Cumbria Futures Federation. Within this role I support the schools in the federation with developing their school curriculum and promoting good practice in teaching & learning. I also hold a teaching role in the federation as department lead for physical education- this gives me the strong belief of how positive well-being is the key to the success and happiness of our children/pupils in school.
I am passionate about helping our local communities thrive and celebrating the many things we do well. I am looking forward to meeting the school community and moving forward together.
Vacancy - Co-opted Governor
Mr J Wright - Parent Governor
Mrs S Bickley - Parent Governor
Dr. M Schofield - Co-Opted Governor
Hello all I’m Mike and I’m one of the co-opted governors at Kirkbride school. I agreed to join the governing body in January 2023 and I am steadily getting to grips with how things work.
I’m originally from South Yorkshire but have lived in Kirkbride since 2011. I have one child currently in the school.
Professionally I am a Consultant in Emergency Medicine and Paediatric Emergency Medicine in both Carlisle and Whitehaven hospitals, and as of this year will be the club doctor at Carlisle United.
I look forward to supporting the teachers, non-teaching staff and pupils as they progress through the next few years, following all the recent hard work and the success of our Ofsted visit earlier this year.
Mrs S. Coopey- Staff Governor
My name is Samantha Coopey and I am the staff school governor at Kirkbride Primary school. I currently teach in a mixed class of year 3 and 4 but have also taught in year 5 and 6. I am passionate about making the learning within my class both meaningful and accessible with a bit of fun thrown in along the way and I truly believe that if you don’t limit children then their true potential shines through and they will always achieve.
I have two children of my own who are now adults and have their own careers so I have seen firsthand how important education and learning can be to each individual child in order for them to be happy in whatever they choose to do.
I decided to become a governor to have a wider picture of the inner workings of the school and to see how everything synchronizes together from children, teachers, parents, governors, other school staff and the wider community. Working with cohesion is wonderful to see and shows how our school will go from strength to strength by working as a collective towards the same goal.
Mrs Lesley Maxwell - Clerk to Governors
Governor information
School Financial Benchmarking
Compare our school's finances to other schools of similar size.