Welcome from Joan Binder Chairman of Governors 

The governing body is part of the leadership of the school.  We work with the Headteacher and leadership team to agree the long term strategic direction and ethos of the school and we hold the school to account for the way it is run.

Raising standards is a key government objective.  Our strategic aim is to provide the young people of the Maldon area with an education which meets their needs and enables them to move on to the next stage of their lives with the knowledge, confidence and skills to succeed:  Achievement, Community, Participation is how we summarise this. The strategies to support this aim may change from year to year bur our vision of Plume School as Maldon’s Community Academy will remain.   

Plume is a good school.  As an academy governing body we have the responsibility to ensure the school is accountable for its actions across all aspects of school life – quality of teaching, progress and achievement of all students, behaviour, and financial probity being the key areas.  We do this through a structure of committees and focused governing body meetings using statistical data analysis and benchmarking to give a wider perspective.  Community involvement is important to our vision, engaging with local, national and international projects and welcoming a wide variety of visitors and speakers to the school.  One of our most successful community activities is our mentoring strategy where over 50 local people are supporting some of our students to achieve their potential.  You will read of many other exciting activities on our website.

School governors are unpaid volunteers.  In today’s climate of autonomy with accountability with a ‘market’ of different types of schools and chains of schools, governance is changing to become more like the non – executive director role of a public company with a wider perspective than a single school focused governing body.  I am very appreciative of the time and commitment my colleagues give to the governor role and appreciative of the professional experiences and skills they bring to discussions.

Joan Binder

Chair of Governors