Governors
Board of Governors
Governance at Tanglin Trust SchoolTanglin Trust School Ltd. is a non-profit company limited by guarantee and is registered as an educational charity. It is dependent on school-fee income and all revenue is devoted to the provision of education.
It is administered by a Board of Governors, which elects its own Chair and Alternate Chair. Under the School's Memorandum & Articles of Association, there must be a minimum of eight and a maximum of twelve Governors serving on the Board. The Board deals with all issues as a full Board, meeting at least once each term, with the CEO in attendance, to handle business and discuss recommendations submitted by its sub-committees and advisory groups.
Board members are appointed by Board invitation, which is followed by a formal vote, and serve without remuneration for three-year terms that are renewable once. The Chair and Alternate Chair serve one five-year term. Governors are invited to serve based on the professional skills they can add, such as accountancy, finance, law, information technology, human resources, education and construction, and on their connection to the School.
The Board endeavors to ensure that a substantial number of its members are parents of present or former Tanglin students. Such members bring to the Board knowledge of the day-to-day operation of the School. Equally, the Board considers it an advantage to have members not directly connected with Tanglin in order to ensure objectivity in planning and decision making and to balance present and future interests. In particular, it is considered good governance to have a non-Tanglin parent responsible for Finance and Audit.
In partnership with the School's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the Board is responsible for finance, staffing, premises, enrolment, commissioning regular independent inspections and ensuring that the School operates in accordance with relevant regulations in Singapore. For more details about Board responsibilities, please click here.
The Board of Governors is aware of the importance of two-way communication with the School's CEO and members of Tanglin's Management Team, as well as with the Tanglin community as a whole. To read more about regular consultation and Board communication, please click here.
History of Support
The Board of Tanglin Trust School has a long history of assisting the School by offering a broad range of professional advice and direction.From 1995, the Board supported and guided the vision and efforts of Ronald Stones OBE as he led the development of Tanglin Trust School into a world-class educational facility for 2,000 expatriate students aged 3 to 18. With the same vision, the current Board is continuing to support and offer direction to the new CEO, Steven Andrews, who took over from Mr. Stones in September 2006. To read more about Mr. Andrews, please click here.
The School's CEO heads the School's Leadership, Business and Management Teams. The Leadership Team of the School comprises the Heads of the Infant, Junior and Senior Schools as well as the Director of Education. The Business Team comprises the Directors of Finance, Operations, Human Resources and Development. The Leadership and the Business Teams together form the Management Team.
Responsibilities
The Responsibilities of Tanglin Trust School's Board of GovernorsTanglin Trust School's Board of Governors determines the School's ethos and educational philosophy as well as its organisational framework. In addition, Singapore law requires that members of the Board ensure that the School operates in accordance with relevant regulations.
The Board, in partnership with the CEO, exercises direct responsibility for:
Finance and Audit- • Outlining annual capital and operating budgets
- • Setting school fees and building fund contributions
- • Establishing funding and investment policies
Staffing
- • Appointing the CEO and members of the Leadership and Business Teams
- • Establishing remuneration levels as well as conditions of service for all staff
- • Determining policies with regard to codes of conduct and appropriate sanctions
Building and Maintenance
- • Leasing the land that the School occupies
- • Taking responsibility for maintenance and insurance of current buildings
- • Planning the development of new facilities and premises
Education
- • Making, reviewing, creating and developing policies
- • Commissioning regular independent inspections and reviews of the entire School
- • Establishing policies with regard to enrolment of students, class and form sizes
- • Determining policies with regard to codes of conduct and sanctions for students
Development
- • Strategically positioning marketing, communication and alumni activities
The Board appoints separate sub-committees in relation to each of these areas of responsibility. These sub-committees, which meet frequently each term, comprise Board representatives with expertise in the relevant area and the Management Team is invited to sub-committee meetings to present policy matters for discussion. In addition, the Board also appoints ad hoc Advisory Groups to keep abreast of specific issues, such as Avian Influenza and Crisis Management.
The Board delegates to the CEO responsibility for operational matters including:
- • strategic planning and operational effectiveness
- • leadership, management and operation of the School within budget
- • design, delivery and evaluation of the curriculum
- • recruitment of appropriate professional and support staff
- • design, delivery and evaluation of review and development programmes for staff
- • implementation of approved codes of conduct, sanctions and policies for all staff and students
All Governors are fully aware of the depth and complexity of the Board's responsibilities and of their responsibility to Singapore's expatriate population to oversee at Tanglin the provision of world-class British-based schooling for students aged 3 to 18.
Communication
Communication with Tanglin Trust School's Board of GovernorsTanglin Trust School's Board of Governors is aware of the importance of two-way communication with the School's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and members of the School's Management Team, as well as with the Tanglin community as a whole.
The Board deals with all issues as a full Board, meeting at least once each term, with the CEO in attendance, to handle business and discuss recommendations submitted by its sub-committees and advisory groups. In addition, the Board Chair holds weekly briefings with the CEO.
The Board-appointed sub-committees comprise Board representatives with expertise in the relevant area and the Management Team is invited to sub-committee meetings to present policy matters for discussion. These sub-committees currently comprise: Finance and Audit; Staffing; Education; Development and Building and Maintenance. Sub-committee meetings are held frequently each term. The Chair of the Education Sub-committee, who is currently also the Alternate Chair, meets fortnightly with the CEO and members of the School's Leadership Team.
Advisory groups, comprising a range of staff members and representatives of the Tanglin community, also submit information and recommendations for consideration to the Board each year as part of the School's Educational and Strategic Plan.
The Board endorses the School's view that responsibility for a student's education should be shared by the School and the parents. It believes that a child's schooling benefits from cooperation between teachers and parents and encourages concerns about a child's progress to be dealt with by these two parties in a timely and professional manner.
Communication with the Tanglin Community
The Board is regularly informed by the CEO of issues concerning parents. The Board encourages parents to raise any concern about School policy with their Class Parent Representative, who submits these to the Parent Year Group Representative, who then discusses them with the CEO at periodic meetings that are managed by the School's Parent Teacher Association (PTA).
The Board also holds meetings each term with the President of the PTA and members of the PTA Executive to discuss policy topics of interest. The Board recognises the valuable role played by Tanglin's PTA and considers its positive relationship with this group to be of great importance
In addition, the Board hosts an annual open meeting with parents and members of the Tanglin community during Term 2 of each academic year. This relaxed and informal function provides an opportunity for parents to talk to a member of the Board, ask questions about School policy or raise issues for discussion. Items drawn to the attention of Governors on that evening are then discussed by the Board and the CEO. Parents are also welcome to write directly to the Board about issues concerning policy if they are not satisfied with the results of discussions with Year Group Representatives, teachers and the CEO. To contact the Board Chair, please e-mail Dominic Nixon (dominic.nixon@tts.edu.sg). To contact the Alternate Chair and Chair of the Education Sub-committee, please e-mail Deirdre Lew (deirdre.lew@tts.edu.sg).
As most Board members are parents themselves, they understand how important schooling issues are to the mothers and fathers of the students at Tanglin and they consider all issues promptly and thoroughly.
