Wark C of E Primary School
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Meet the Academy Councillors


Wark C of E Primary Academy is a member of the Durham & Newcastle Diocesan Learning Trust (D&NDLT).  The Board of Directors of the Trust has identified that schools in the Trust will have a dedicated committee to oversee the governance arrangements of the school on their behalf.  Wark primary & Newbrough Primary schools have a shared local academy council for both schools.
This committee is called the Academy Council and its members – Academy Councillors - work closely with the Head Teacher and the school’s leaders in order to achieve the best possible outcomes for all pupils of Wark and Newbrough Primary Schools.

The membership of the Academy Council is as follows:

Chairperson :             Mrs Esther Brown 

[email protected]
​01434230247

Vice-Chairpersons:  Elizabeth Walters
Head Teacher:           Mr Michael Boucetla
Foundation Councillor:
  • Sarah Lunn (Church Representative - Ex-Officio)
  • Oliver Dempsey (Church Representative - Ex-Officio)
  • Barbara Mansfield
  • Angus Peckham - Cooper
  • David Gundry
  • Alice Murray
  • Cath White
  • Liz Walters
  • Karen Bell
Parent Governors:
  • Kelly Ritchie
  • Esther Brown​
  • Celia Higgins
  • Sarah Gray
Teacher Representatives: 
Miss Bethany Marshall
Mrs Jane Stevens


There are 16 Councillors in total as a shared academy council between two schools. 


The role of the Academy Council is to provide confident, strategic leadership and to create robust accountability, oversight and assurance for educational and financial performance. The Academy Council meets half-termly and its work reflects the Trust’s Scheme of Delegation that identifies the duties delegated to the Academy Council by the Board of Directors.
Councillors work very hard to ensure that they know what it is like to be a learner in the school and undertake a range of activity in relation to the three core functions of governance:
  1. Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction.
The Academy Council helps to shape the vision for the school and councillors review this annually, as well as looking at the progress being made against the school’s aims.
The School Development Plan (SDP) identifies the school’s priorities for the year and the Academy Council is instrumental in working with the Head Teacher to develop this and then monitoring progress against the identified priorities for the year.
Councillors are linked to areas of the SDP and undertake a range of activity – meeting staff, talking to pupils, reviewing plans, looking at pupils’ work – so that they can see the progress being made against the priorities for themselves.
Councillors are also linked to other areas and aspects of school life – e.g. science, safeguarding, Pupil Premium, SEND - and this helps them to understand the school and enables them to build relationships with members of staff. This ensures that the decisions they make are based on a good knowledge of the school.
Councillors report on their activity to the meetings of the Academy Council so that all councillors are aware of what is going well and what is in need of development.
Councillors also identify and then manage any risks that might impact on the outcomes achieved by the school.
  1. Holding school leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff.
Councillors act as critical friends to the Head Teacher and are always striving to ensure that the school is doing the best it can for every pupil.
Councillors look at the information provided by the school on the progress and attainment of pupils and challenge the Head Teacher when performance appears to be uneven or inconsistent. They ask about the organisation of the curriculum and the quality of teaching in the school. They make sure that the school has a robust system in place for the performance management of staff. Councillors rely on the Trust to undertake the performance management of the Head Teacher on their behalf.
Councillors look at a range of external data and information to see how their school compares to local and national benchmarks. They also look at the reports of external partners about their school so that they have as wide a view as possible of how their school is performing.
  • Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and ensuring that money is well spent for the benefit of all pupils.
Councillors are involved in discussion about the projected budget for the year but the final decision on the school’s budget is taken by the Board of Directors. Councillors then receive regular updates on the progress of the budget for the year and challenge where there appears to be variations in what has been spent compared to what was expected to be spent.
Councillors also receive information about the school’s plan for spending its Pupil Premium grant and PE and Sport grant. The school provides regular updates on the impact of these plans to meetings of the Academy Council.

Governors' Business & financial interests & attendance of meetings
From September 2015, Governing Bodies/Academy Councils are required to publish, on their website, information about their governors.
​Please open file to see information on The business & financial interests, commitee information and roles and responsibilites of our governors. Follow the link for our Register of Governor Interests.
​


Newbrough & Wark 24-25 interests
File Size: 30 kb
File Type: pdf
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Signed Scheme of Delegation
File Size: 4454 kb
File Type: jpeg
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Newbrough & Wark terms of office
File Size: 26 kb
File Type: pdf
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Newbrough & Wark attendance 24-25
File Size: 48 kb
File Type: pdf
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Contact:
Tel: 01434230247
E-mail: [email protected]
Post Code: NE48 3LS
​ "Durham and Newcastle Diocesan Learning Trust  is a company limited by guarantee (company number 10847279) and exempt charity registered in England and Wales at Cai Building, 4th Floor, Coble Dene, Royal Quays, North Shields, Tyne And Wear, United Kingdom, NE29 6DE
​ http://www.durhamdmat.co.uk/
  • Our School
    • Contact
    • Staff
    • Academy Council
    • Policies
    • School Development Plan
    • Safeguarding
    • SEND
    • Curriculum >
      • Overview
      • English
      • Maths
      • Early Years
      • Science
      • History
      • Art
      • Design and Technology
      • RSHE
      • RE Curriculum
      • Computing
      • Music
    • Prospectus and Admissions
    • Assessment
    • Premiums >
      • Pupil Premium
      • Sports Premium
      • COVID Catch-up Premium
    • Performance and Inspections
    • Finances
    • Equalities
  • Vision and Values
  • Our Church
    • Our Church
    • School Prayer
    • Open the book
    • Messy Church
    • Church School Year
    • Worship
    • History of the School
  • What's On
    • Social Media
    • Vacancies
  • Parents
    • Times and Dates
    • Newsletters
    • Absence
    • School Meals
    • Uniform
    • PTA
    • Parent Permissions
    • ICT and E-Safety
    • Data Protection & Information Management
    • Ofsted Parent View