Board of Governors

At Cordwalles, the highest authority resides in the Board of Governors. It comprises volunteers, some or all of whom may be parents, as well as the Headmaster, the Senior Deputy Headmaster, Bursar, Chairman of the Old Boys and two members of the Parents’ Association. The Bishop of Natal acts as our visitor on the Board and he appoints someone to attend meetings in his place.

The existing members appoint board members to the Board for a period of three years. The three years is renewable if both parties are happy with this. These members are chosen for their specific areas of expertise, such as law, accounting, architecture etc. In this way, the Board is able to draw on the professional expertise and skills and, at the same time, have a diverse array of people with different skills and experiences.

In the conduct of its official business, the Board acts only as a whole: individual Board Members, including the Board Chair, have no authority to act unless specifically authorised to do so by the Board acting as a whole. In the course of their interaction with the school, Board Members will be approached by parents with concerns of an operational nature (such as staff competence or behaviour, curricular etc). Governors are expected to inform the Headmaster as a matter of good practice, but they should not get involved, leaving it instead to the Headmaster to address.

BOARD STRUCTURE

The Board has a Chairman, Deputy Chairman and several sub-committee Heads. The sub-committees of the Board are:

PR and Marketing
Property and Maintenance
Finance
Transformation, Diversity and Inclusion
Parents’ Association

These sub-committees are comprised of people who have expertise in these specific areas. They may well be Board Members who are not parents. The Head of each sub-committee reports back to the Board at the termly Board Meeting.

FOCUS AREAS

It is not the task of the Board to intervene in the daily running of the school or in its operational sphere, such as appointing, evaluating or disciplining staff. Rather, the Board should focus on the following areas critical to the success of the school:

The appointment, evaluation and support of the Headmaster, to whom it delegates authority to manage and lead the school.
The management of and accountability for the school finances, as well as the endowment of the school.
The ratification of a strategic plan for the school, which is generally proposed and developed by the Headmaster and his staff.

Members of the Board

The members of the Board of Governors of Cordwalles represent a wide range of skills, expertise and knowledge.

Mr John Campbell – Chairman
Mr Doc Louw
Mr Awande Ngcobo – Transformation, Diversity, and Inclusion
Mr Antony Clark – Rector of Michaelhouse
Mrs Kim Peddie – Finance
Ms Nobuhle Masemola-Kuzwayo – Bishop Representative
Mrs Claudette Storrar – Marketing
Mr Matthew Blomeyer – Property and Maintenance
Mr James Wardlaw – Chairman of the Old Boys Committee
Mrs Mel Klute – Chairman – Parents’ Association
Mrs Nadia Marais – Vice Chairman – Parents’ Association
Mrs Antoinette Hankinson – Bursar
Mr Lance Veenstra – Headmaster
Mr Duncan Greaves – Deputy Headmaster