Governance

Chair of Governors (ID 1217)

Mr Benjamin Pheloung

Chair of Governors (Parent Governor)

Mr Benjamin Pheloung

I'm Ben Pheloung, and I have the honour of serving as the Chair of Governors. My commitment to the school is personal as well as professional, with both of my children attending—currently in Year 4 and Year 6. In addition to my role as Chair, I also act as the Link Governor for Special Educational Needs (SEN), ensuring every student has the opportunity to succeed. Outside of the school, I work in the digital advertising industry, and I bring that expertise and perspective to my role on the governing body. As Governor, I work to support the team at South Grove in their continuing mission to provide an environment of supportive and excellent learning.

Chair of Governors Welcome

The role of the Governing Body is to provide strategic direction for the school and to support and challenge the Head Teacher and the leadership team. We aim to make South Grove an outstanding school and ensure that every pupil achieves the best that they can. Most of all, we want to make sure students gain the skills they need to lead successful and happy lives.

All the governors meet at least once a month when we receive information and updates about all the important areas of the school. This includes pupil achievement and performance, inclusion, behaviour and curriculum development. We look at this information in detail and ask questions about how the school is progressing. If there are any aspects of the school that are not developing as well as we would like, we work together with staff to look at how we can improve these areas.

Governors have an important role in setting the budget and monitoring the school finances and we hold responsibilities for the performance and welfare of all the staff.

There are nine governors and each of us has a role as a ‘link governor’. This means that each of us take a special interest in a different area of the school and then spend time working with the key members of staff, and in the classroom, so that we can see for ourselves what is being achieved and developed. You can see is list of the link governors here. All governors aim to be visible in the school community and to act as advocates for the school.

We work in close partnership with the Head Teacher and the very committed team of staff at South Grove. Visitors to the school often comment positively on the good behaviour of the pupils and the positive working atmosphere throughout the school. This is a very important feature of the school and one which the governors look at each time we meet.

We are very proud of the progress our children are making at South Grove and we fully support the hard work staff, parents and all the children put into making sure that this progress continues.

Mr Benjamin Pheloung
Chair of Governors