Governors
Welcome to our Governors’ section.
Here you'll find all the information you need about our Governing Body team. Please do come and say hello to us. We are all here to help make St. Stephen's even better!
St. Stephen’s Church of England (Voluntary Aided) Primary School Interim Executive Board All the functions of Governance are currently undertaken by the school’s Interim Executive Board.
The Interim Executive Board (IEB) of St. Stephen’s Church of England Primary School was appointed by Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council in accordance with section 65 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, following consent from the Secretary of State/Regional Director for the Department for Education. The IEB was implemented on Wednesday 22nd May.
The school’s IEB has four volunteer members who as a collective have a range of roles and responsibilities, which ensure that the school operates efficiently and effectively. Members have regular meetings to discuss the effectiveness of the school’s safeguarding arrangements, quality of education, finances, staffing, curriculum, and the premises. The IEB works closely with the Headteacher and representatives from the Local Authority and Manchester Diocese. The IEB has three core functions:
Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos, and strategic direction.
Holding leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff.
Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.
The IEB will:
Challenge and support the school and its’ leaders to provide confident, strategic leadership.
Create robust accountability, oversight, and assurance for educational and financial performance.
Carry out its statutory responsibilities.
Seek out internal and external evidence that enable it to challenge and support the school and its leaders.
Further develop its knowledge of strengths and areas for development of the school
Work in partnership with the Local Authority.
IEB Members The IEB has four Members: Jonathan Fish – Chair – Manchester Diocese
Rob Dean – Manchester Diocese
Janet Perry – Tameside Local Authority
Reverend Amy Elizabeth Sheridan – St. Stephen’s, Audenshaw and St. Hilda’s, Audenshaw
Terms of Reference May 2024
IEB
Chair:
Jonathan Fish Chair of St. Stephen’s Interim Executive Board Jonathan brings 38 years of experience to the education sector. Currently serving as a Diocesan School Advisor for the Manchester Diocese, he has a varied career that includes headship at four schools and leadership as an Executive Headteacher for a Multi Academy Trust. Jonathan’s school improvement experience includes successfully guiding schools from Special Measures to Outstanding. His approach centres on fostering collaboration among parents, staff, and governors to create an excellent educational environment for all children.
In addition to his educational leadership, Jonathan is licensed as an Occasional Preacher with the Blackburn Diocese, delivering sermons and providing spiritual guidance to the parish community.
As Chair of St. Stephen’s Interim Executive Board, Jonathan oversees the school’s governance, ensuring continuous improvement and compliance with educational regulations.
Contact details: jonathan.fish@st-stephens.tameside.sch.uk
Janet Perry
I have a wealth of knowledge and experience working within Tameside Children’s Services.
I manage the Early Years Quality Team and the Family Information Service.
My specialism is embedded in the Early Years.
I have lived and worked in Tameside, all my life. I am married with two grown up children, who are both married with children of their own. I have 3 beautiful grandchildren, my youngest daughter has two girls, one attends a Tameside primary school (Year 5), and the younger one attends a pre-school. My eldest daughter has a boy who is diagnosed as neurodiverse, he attends a Tameside school nursery, and will be starting school in September.
I have always been involved in my local community. I have been on the Governing body of four primary schools in Tameside. I have been a Foundation Governor at 2 CofE schools, a Governor at Specialist Provision and I was invited to join the Governing body of a school which had been identified as in Special Measures. I was a Church Warden at my local Church for 6 years. I have just finished on the PCC. I am currently a lay assistant, and I am part of the office hour administration team.
I am honoured to be part of the IEB at St Stephens. I am looking forward to meeting you and getting to know more about the school.
Please introduce yourself to me if you see me in school.
Contact details: janet.perry@st-stephens.tameside.sch.uk
Rob Dean
I retired from headship after being a headteacher since 2006 in two schools within very different communities. In my last school, my leadership helped move it from Grade 3 to 2. It has been consistently good for over 12 years. As a headteacher, I was proud of academic, curriculum and extra-curricular successes being a common feature of every year. SIAMS also described the school as a place that deeply impacts on pupils’ spiritual well-being and learning.
Alongside being an experienced headteacher, I am a SIAMS inspector, an accredited facilitator for the NPQ programmes and a trustee for a local CofE multi academy trust . I believe that every child deserves a quality education and I enjoy working with and developing others to achieve this goal.
Contact Details: rob.dean@st-stephens.tameside.sch.uk
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