Governors

The Role of the Governing Body

As part of Cumbria Futures Federation, our Governing Body covers both Beacon Hill Community School and also Solway Community School.

In accordance with the government’s requirements for all governing bodies, the core 3 strategic functions of our Governing Body are:

  • Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
  • Holding the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils.
  • Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money well spent.

The Governing Body of Cumbria Futures Federation is made up of 15 Governors: 1 Parent Governor, 1 LA Governor, 1 Staff Governor, 1 Headteacher and 11 co-opted Governors.  Our Chair is David Davidson.

The full Governing Body meets at least once each half term.

Because of the size and nature of the schools, we operate a single Federation Governing Body  over both Solway and Beacon Hill School, with a Finance Committee (chaired by David Davidson), and convene special committees, such as dismissal, behaviour and so on, as needs arise.  Each Full Governors meeting takes place at least once every half term, and includes information on data and progress within school in order to ensure our Governors can challenge and support the progress and attainment of our students.

If you wish to attend a meeting or review minutes of any of our meetings, please contact our Clerk for details and to make arrangements.  Please email clerk@beaconhill.cumbria.sch.uk.

2024 Governance Update from the Chair of Governors, David Davidson:

The Governing Body continues to acknowledge and appreciate the hard work of staff, students and parents/careers that allows for the continued evolution of the Federation and positive outcomes for our students.
This year, a key focus is to continue to drive forward and embed improvements in teaching and learning that are in-line with our schools’ individual improvement plans.
A relentless drive to improve attendance is now showing very good results across the federation.  We will however continue to remain vigilant and continue to closely monitor attendance and introduce new strategies where necessary to ensure this improvement is sustained.
We continue to critically evaluate our safeguarding practices, ensuring we maintain the highest of standards.
We target our improvement activities effectively by knowing accurately how well our students are progressing and learning; improving oracy, assessment and feedback, literacy and numeracy skills across our schools; continuing our focus on growth and development of our staff; and continuing our successful work in removing barriers for students.
Across both schools the Federation actively promotes inclusion, diversity and equality and provides a properly equipped learning environment where students feel welcomed, encouraged, challenged and, most importantly, want to learn and succeed.
We have adopted a whole federation approach to mental health and wellbeing that  involves the whole federation community working together to build and embed processes and strategies that develop wellbeing for pupils, staff and stakeholders. To work, a whole federation approach requires collaborative work between senior leaders, teachers and all staff as well as parents, carers and the wider community. Mental health and wellbeing are part of the fabric of the federation and its culture and ethos.
The Federation leadership team and governing body have both vision and ambition for each school, and always ensure that each school is taken forward in a way that secures the best possible outcomes for students, staff, parents/careers and the communities they serve.  We continue, to inspire our students, raise aspiration and expectations and ensure new initiatives are implemented and embedded.
We are acutely aware of the need for the schools in the federation to exploit the benefits of working collaboratively whilst at the same respecting and embrace their individuality.
David Davidson, Sept 2024

“Members of the governing body have an accurate understanding of the strengths of the school, as well as those aspects that require further development. Since the previous inspection, governors have remained up to date with key issues through relevant training.  Consequently, the governing body hold leaders to account more diligently.” Ofsted May 2019

The Governing body is made up of volunteers who work together to help ensure that the students in our Federation not only receive the highest possible level of education, but also feel that school is a safe, enjoyable place to be.

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