Old Hall Primary School is part of The Keep Learning Trust from February 1st 2025. We have a Trust Board made up of 7 Trustees who provide strategic direction for the Trust as a whole.

Old Hall has its own Local Governor Committee (LGC) which is a committee of the Trust Board and includes representatives from our local community.

Local governors are volunteers who make a positive contribution to the school by giving their time.

They come from all walks of life and offer a range of skills and expertise including areas such as management, premises and buildings, health and safety, special educational needs, parenting and much more. We welcome people who are interested, enthusiastic and committed. You do not need specific qualifications to become a local governor, but team working and problem solving are useful skills to possess.

Each school in The Keep Learning Trust has an LGC which is accountable to the Board of Trustees and should comprise of:

•  The headteacher (ex officio)
•  One further elected staff local governor (term: 4 years)
•  At least two elected parent governors (term: 4 years)
•  Up to five governors appointed by the Trust Board and selected on the basis of their skills or professional experience, each for a term of 4 years

The chair of each LGC is appointed annually by the Trust Board.

LGC meetings are supported by the clerk to the Trust Board, in collaboration with whom agendas locally are planned in line with areas of responsibility set out below.

The LGC meets at least once a term (three times per academic year)

The primary role of the LGCs is to provide support and challenge to the Headteachers of the schools in ensuring every child makes good or better progress and that parents and carers are fully involved in their child’s education. To maximise the ability of the local governors to focus on this key area, the LGC is not required to manage financial resources, staffing or many of the other areas traditionally associated with a maintained school governing body as these issues are dealt with at a Trust level. However, in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education, the LGC does play an important role in safeguarding pupils.

Areas of responsibility for LGCs

LGCs have a critical role to play in supporting the work of the School and the Trust. Their role falls into two main areas:

• Contribute to the strategic direction of the school and Trust by considering:

• vision and values;
• clear and ambitious strategic priorities and targets;
• access of children, including those with special educational needs, to a broad, balanced and engaging curriculum;
• ensuring all groups and individuals are making good or better progress;
• the quality of education;
• the implementation of the Trust’s policies;
• the development of links with the local community; and
• the establishment of mechanisms to promote good parent/carer/family relations.

• Hold the senior leaders to account by monitoring the school’s performance, including:

• agreeing the outcomes from the school’s self-evaluation and ensuring they are used to inform the priorities in the school’s action and improvement plan;
• considering all relevant data and feedback provided on request by school leaders and external sources on all aspects of academy performance;
• asking challenging questions of school leaders;
• ensuring senior leaders have implemented the required policies and procedures and the academy is operating effectively according to those policies;
• appointing link governors on specific themes (specifically safeguarding and SEND), making relevant enquiries of the relevant staff, visiting school and reporting to the LGC on the progress on the relevant school priority; and
• listening to and reporting to the school’s stakeholders: pupils, parents, staff, and the wider community.

When required, LGC governors may serve on committees of the Trust to:

• appoint staff in the school;
• hear discipline, exclusion, admissions and appeals cases.

The current Local Governing Body Committee of Old Hall Primary School:

Emma Manifold (Chair of Governors, Parent Governor)

Barrie Rostron (Co-opted Governor)

Michael Hankey (Co-opted Governor)

Maureen Buttle (Co-opted Governor)

Councillor Jack Rydeheard (Trust Appointed Governor)

Adam Chase(Staff Governor)

Christina McGaraghy (Parent Governor)

Nicola Carlile (Headteacher)

Welcome from our Chair of Governors 

Dear Parents and Carers,

On behalf of all the Governors, welcome to Old Hall Primary School.

Old Hall is a warm and welcoming school where our AIM is to give each child every opportunity to reach the highest possible standards and we strive to ensure that each child achieves their personal best. The Governors, staff, parents and children work together in a happy, creative and high attaining environment; with our core values underpinning everything that we do.

AIM stands for Aspire, Inspire ,Motivate and it is an ethos that we pride ourselves on at Old Hall. We are a school that has high expectations of pupils and staff, and we believe that the education we provide will help all the children to become confident, happy and successful people.

Our Ethos is to AIM for maximum progress for each child both personally and academically.

The Governing Body is involved with our school at every level. This includes curriculum and standards, safeguarding, finance and premises management. Governors are appointed to ensure that school objectives are met, and that future planning is both visionary and realistic. We provide strategic direction for the improvement of the school; monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the school; and hold the school to account for the standards achieved and the quality of education.

We are here to support and encourage Mrs Carlile, our Senior Leadership Team and all school personnel to ensure that every one of our children has access to an enriched education and to all the opportunities that they deserve Our Governing body consists of members of the community who are from a range of backgrounds including parents: the different skill set each governor brings allows us to effectively support and challenge the senior leadership team. We are committed to making the vision a reality with the safety, welfare and education of our pupils being paramount.

Our recent OFSTED inspection resulted in our school again been rated ‘Good’ and as good school and one where the teachers inspire every child to learn well and take pride in their education.  This was a reward for the immense efforts of all staff members who provide the best opportunities for our children in their formative education years. We are justifiably very proud of our children and encourage a good positive relationships with the parents and carers who support the children so admirably in their child’s learning and development.

I am very proud to be a part of Team Old Hall.

Mrs Emma Manifold  

Chair of Governors

Governor Information 

Mrs E Manifold (Chair of Governors and Parent Governor)

I became a Parent Governor at Old Hall in April 2021. I was keen to become involved with Old Hall when my son started attending the school in September 2020. Professionally, I am a Partner at Fieldings Porter Solicitors, qualifying as a solicitor in 2008. My professional role involves advising client with many aspects of the law but in addition, team management and people development are a huge part of my responsibilities within my firm.

I am passionate about providing the best opportunities for all pupils at the school and ensuring they can reach their full potential with a well-rounded curriculum. My role will be to support the challenges faced by senior leadership team and ensure the school continues to strive for high standards and extend my skills in the role as Wellbeing Governor.

Mr B Rostron (Co-opted Governor)

I am a senior partner in a local chartered accountants practice and have been a governor and subsequently chair at Old Hall for in excess of 25 years. There have been many changes in this period with ever increasing responsibility being placed on the governing body and the school leadership team to manage the school performance effectively and efficiently. It is an ongoing but enjoyable challenge in a constantly changing environment.

Mr A Chase (Staff Governor)

I became the Staff Governor at Old Hall in November 2023. Throughout my career, I have regularly shared updates and held meetings with various Governing Bodies but I was keen to become further involved. Professionally, I have been a class teacher at Old Hall since 2014, qualifying as a teacher in 2012. Previously, I was a Year 5/ 6 teacher in Trafford and a Year 3 teacher in Wigan. Since qualifying the bulk of my experience has been in Key Stage 2 and I have coordinated a number of subjects including: Mathematics; Computing; History; Geography and Assessment.

I am passionate about in ensuring that the staff voice is heard whilst providing the best opportunities for all of the pupils at our school. My role is to support the challenges faced by the senior leadership team but also includes providing a staff viewpoint.

Mrs M Buttle – (Co-opted governor)

I became a Co-opted Governor at Old Hall School in September 2023 as I am keen to be involved in education of young people, especially in my local area. I have spent 23 years teaching and supporting learners in Further Education, mainly teaching English and trying to re-engage disaffected learners from high schools, I had a very good success rate with my learners. I was also heavily involved in initiating the setting of targets and tracking learners progress. I became an Approved Internal Moderator for exam boards following exemplar practice reports. I currently mark English exam papers for an exam board.

What are Governors?

At Old Hall, we enjoy strong links with our Governing Body and the wider community. The Governing Body believes that the current structure is appropriate for its current activities but continually keeps it under review. The Governing Body will also co-opt individuals with specific skills and knowledge to assist in the work of the sub-committees.  

A co-opted governor is one who is appointed by the governing body and is a person who, in the opinion of the governing body, has the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school.

Who are we responsible to?  

School governors are responsible to and must be prepared to explain their actions to anyone with a valid interest in the school. This includes parents, staff, pupils, the Local Authority, DfE and the local community.