Chair Of Governors Update
Chair’s Update October 2023
As an introduction, I am delighted to have recently been appointed as the new Chair of Governors for Exmouth Community College, taking over from Margaret Turgoose who held this position for the last six years. I’d like to thank Margaret for her years of service as both a governor and as the Chair and to the Governors, Members and staff who have supported my appointment, as it is both an honour and a privilege to serve in this role.
I have been a Community Governor at the college since 2021 and live in Exmouth with my wife, three children and two dogs. I’ve worked in the Information Technology domain for the last 33 years in a variety of roles from technical to leadership.
People I talk to are sometimes unclear on the role of the Governors so let me summarise it. The Governors at Exmouth Community College seek to constantly improve and enhance the College for the young people of Exmouth, both now and in the future. Governors are volunteers and do this important work without pay. The Governing Board has three core functions which are to:
- Ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
- Hold the Headteacher to account for the educational performance of the College and its students and the performance management of staff
- Oversee the financial performance of the College and making sure its money is well spent
Responsibility for the day-to-day management of the College rests with the Headteacher and the Senior Leadership Team. We have more information of the role of the Governors on the college website
There’s a lot going on at the college this term, and whilst it still feels as though we’ve only just started the Autumn term, we are rapidly approaching the half-term break. Some of the highlights are listed below:
New Leadership
We’ve started this academic year with new leadership for the college with our new Headteacher, Mr Tom Inman. There will be opportunities to meet with Mr Inman throughout October and November at the “Meet The Headteacher” events. These events will run on Thursday 5th October, Monday 16th October, Monday 13th November and Thursday 30th November from 6.00pm 6.30pm to 7.30pm. Should you wish to attend, you can book your space via Squid, selecting ‘Meet the Headteacher’ offer and choose the number of seats you require.
Open Evening
The College hosted an Open Evening on September 21st, for prospective parents of children in years 5 and 6 looking to move up to the school from the next academic year, welcoming over 1000 visitors.
Education South West
The Governing Board have decided to request to join the Education South West (ESW) Multi-Academy Trust (www.educationsouthwest.org.uk). ECC has been working in close partnership with Education South West for some time and over recent months we have been carrying out a comprehensive review of the possibility of joining as a full member.
The Governors are confident that joining ESW would bring considerable benefit to the College and be in the best interests of our young people and community in the long-term.
The Governing Board’s decision now triggers a full consultation period with the community. We will give parents and carers the opportunity to hear more about what this would mean for ECC and to hear your views and will communicate more about this in coming weeks.
The final decision is subject to the outcomes of this consultation and approval from the Department for Education. If granted, it is likely that we would formally become a member of ESW during 2024.
New Maths Block
The new Maths Phase 2 building is nearing completion, and we expect to take ownership next week (October 9th). The building houses state of the art Maths classrooms, seminar spaces, work rooms, student toilets, a café and great outdoor space for students to use. This will be another new building that will add first class facilities to our College, totalling an investment of nearly £20million including the new Elizabeth Lee Building on Green Close.
You can view photos of the progress on our College social media channels
New Governors
We have had some turnover in the governing team and are sorry that Paul Netherton, Ryan Oates, Gary Bowen and Margaret Turgoose have stepped down from the governing board. I’d like to extend my thanks to them all for their support and service to the college in their role as Governors.
We are just at the end of the election processes for new Parent and Staff Governors which have been advertised to both Parents and Staff respectively. I’m also very pleased to welcome Karen Knight and Rebecca Haywood who have joined this term as new Community Governors
Jason Hill
Chair of Governors