Background
School governors are one of the country's largest voluntary groups with around 345,000 school governors contributing to strategic development and raising standards of achievement at over 30,000 schools.
School governors are members of their school's governing body which is a "corporate body". A corporate body has a legal identity that is separate from its members and as a result, individual governors are generally protected from personal liability as a result of the governing body's decisions and actions, provided they act honestly, reasonably and in good faith.
Individual governors have no power or right to act on behalf of the governing body except where the whole governing body has delegated a specific function to that individual or where regulations specify that a function is to be exercised in a particular way.
School governors are drawn from different parts of the community, such as parents, the Staff, the Local Education Authority, the Community and other groups. This helps to ensure that the governing body has sufficient diversity of views and experience but does not mean that governors of a particular category "represent" that group on the governing body. For example, Parent Governors do not act as a representative of the parents at the school and do not report back to them.
The governing body must appoint a chair and vice-chair and may wish to make a number of other specific appointments to lead on certain aspects of the school. The governing body can delegate certain of its responsibilities to committees or individual governors.

Responsibilities
The governing body has a range of duties and powers and a general responsibility for the conduct of the school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement including setting targets for pupil achievement, managing the school's finances, making sure the curriculum is balanced and broadly based, appointing staff and reviewing staff performance and pay and many more.
The governing body has considerable discretion as to how to discharge its responsibilities but is required to constitute itself in line with the regulations and to appoint a chair and vice chair. The governing body may delegate certain of its responsibilities to certain governors or committees of governors, although in general, it is not compelled to do so.
Regulations clarify the role of the Governing body as being mainly strategic, acting as a “critical friend” to the headteacher.
All schools are self-managing. They are run by their governing bodies and staff, not by LEAs. The Code of Practice on LEA-School Relations ensures that LEA intervention is kept to a necessary minimum.
Schools receive funding from LEAs through a devolved funding system. This is designed to maximise budget delegation.

Governing Bodies
In brief, Chingford has the following categories of school governor:
7 Parent governors - selected by election (or appointment if insufficient people stand for election) and drawn from parents and carers of children at the school.
1 Head teacher – ex officio
3 Staff governors - selected by election from teaching and support staff paid to work at the school
2 Community governors - appointed by the governing body to represent community interests
2 LEA governors - appointed by the LEA
4 Partnership governors - appointed by the governing body
0 Sponsor governors - discretionary category appointed by the governing body from individuals who have made significant (financial) contributions to the school
0 Associate members (not governors) - appointed by the governing body to attend committee meetings and/or full governing body meetings due to their particular skills or experience.

Parent Governors
Sharon Carter
Henry Carruthers
Rosetta Delisle (Vice Chair)
Denise Johnson
Peter Leggett
Ingrid Simmons
Tony Young

Head Teacher
Mark Morrall

Staff Governors
Colin Howes
Julio Rozenburg
Tracey Chandler

Community Governors
Ian Terrell (Chair)
David Maxim

Partership Governors
John Lloyd
Rosemary Chopin-John
Don Cooper

LEA Governors
Nicholas Russell
Fraser Scott

Staffing
At all categories of school the governing body exercise employer functions, including appointments and dismissals. At foundation schools, the governing body is also the employer of the school's staff. At foundation schools the governing body can agree advisory rights with the LEA relating to appointments and dismissals.

Land and buildings
At those foundation schools which were former GM schools (Chingford falls into this category), the land and buildings will generally be owned by the governing body. The governing body of a foundation school requires the Secretary of State's consent to dispose of any land or buildings originally provided at public expense. He can attach conditions to any disposal including the apportionment and use of any sale proceeds. Safeguards also exist to protect the public interest in any land being disposed of by the trustees of a school where that land was originally provided or enhanced with aid of public monies.

Capital Funding
LEAs are responsible for funding all capital works at community, foundation and voluntary controlled schools.
Admissions
The admission authority for a foundation school is the school's governing body. Admission authorities have to abide by a Code of Practice. They are also required to consult on their admission arrangements before they are determined. Where there is a dispute between admission authorities which cannot be resolved locally, it will be referred to the Schools Adjudicator for determination. Admission authorities are required to operate co-ordinated admission arrangements.