School governors
Discussion
A place as school governor has come up at my childrens school.
My wife wants me to put my name down and i'm generally fairly interested in what goes on in the community i guess. But the application isn't very clear on exactly what would be expected from me.
Thought i would ask ph what the life as a school governor may actually entail.
My wife wants me to put my name down and i'm generally fairly interested in what goes on in the community i guess. But the application isn't very clear on exactly what would be expected from me.
Thought i would ask ph what the life as a school governor may actually entail.
It depends what jobs you take on, whether it is primary or secondary and how the board is arranged as to exactly what the duties will be. My experience is from 5 years as a primary governor, currently serving as vice chair and the school is approaching an OFSTED window. Being a governor is about the strategic aspects of running a school - things like budgets, pay packages, broad curriculum matters, reviewing results etc.
I am in school (at school times) for at least an hour for meetings with leadership 2 to 3 times per half term as part of the vice chair role. There are at least 2 evening governors meetings (2 hours or so) per term. We also expect our governors to take on responsibility for one subject each and meet with the department head either once per year or three times per year (depending on the importance of the subject) to understand the development plan for that subject and also to visit classes to observe lessons. These visits also require writing up so the governing board as a whole can stay informed about the school. You aren't there to inspect the teaching of course. It is to act as "critical friend" to the subject lead and to assess progress against the development plan. There will also be some mandated and optional training courses to fit in.
It can be a very rewarding job, but don't underestimate the time it will take, especially if you don't step back fast enough from being chair or vice chair.
I am in school (at school times) for at least an hour for meetings with leadership 2 to 3 times per half term as part of the vice chair role. There are at least 2 evening governors meetings (2 hours or so) per term. We also expect our governors to take on responsibility for one subject each and meet with the department head either once per year or three times per year (depending on the importance of the subject) to understand the development plan for that subject and also to visit classes to observe lessons. These visits also require writing up so the governing board as a whole can stay informed about the school. You aren't there to inspect the teaching of course. It is to act as "critical friend" to the subject lead and to assess progress against the development plan. There will also be some mandated and optional training courses to fit in.
It can be a very rewarding job, but don't underestimate the time it will take, especially if you don't step back fast enough from being chair or vice chair.
I was a parent governor of a West London comp/academy. Rewarding but time consuming. You need to clear it with your employer to see if they will grant time off or if you will need to take it out of your annual leave, because there will be stuff you need to attend during school hours. Mine came out of annual leave!
If you have any kind of special skill or knowledge, that's a benefit and a burden. My skillset is in business admin and financial matters, so I ended up as chair of finance, with responsibility for a £6m annual budget!
I like to think I made a contribution, but only others can say how effective it was.
Also, prepare to be befriended by parents who up until now haven't given you the steam off their pee, who ultimately want you to ensure little Johnny gets extra help in maths or is made first choice left back in the team!
If you have any kind of special skill or knowledge, that's a benefit and a burden. My skillset is in business admin and financial matters, so I ended up as chair of finance, with responsibility for a £6m annual budget!
I like to think I made a contribution, but only others can say how effective it was.
Also, prepare to be befriended by parents who up until now haven't given you the steam off their pee, who ultimately want you to ensure little Johnny gets extra help in maths or is made first choice left back in the team!
Spent 12 years as a parent then co opted governor of a primary school ,6 years as chair.
I agree with all the above , watch for major building projects as they can take an awful lot of time I was lucky and had an extremely supportive employer who saw it as part of my personal development.
Quite strange now 10 years or so on my son is at school in the new school building we built and the difference is amazing so much better than the leaky old mobile huts my eldest was taught in complete with outside toilets open to the elements!
Got some strange looks from some staff when we went to see the school too including his reception teacher who I was part of her selection panel all those years ago.
It can be very hard work but a real way to give something to the local community, the key is to remain as a critical friend to the team and support and challenge and influence behaviour.
I would say that schools have changed a vast amount since my time with much more emphasis on leadership which was a good thing as years ago it was not really understood and good teachers got promoted without thought to developing leadership skills, and many great teachers became poor leaders.
I agree with all the above , watch for major building projects as they can take an awful lot of time I was lucky and had an extremely supportive employer who saw it as part of my personal development.
Quite strange now 10 years or so on my son is at school in the new school building we built and the difference is amazing so much better than the leaky old mobile huts my eldest was taught in complete with outside toilets open to the elements!
Got some strange looks from some staff when we went to see the school too including his reception teacher who I was part of her selection panel all those years ago.
It can be very hard work but a real way to give something to the local community, the key is to remain as a critical friend to the team and support and challenge and influence behaviour.
I would say that schools have changed a vast amount since my time with much more emphasis on leadership which was a good thing as years ago it was not really understood and good teachers got promoted without thought to developing leadership skills, and many great teachers became poor leaders.
NDA said:
Worth remembering that you will, most likely, be made a director of the business - an unpaid one. So were there to be any financial irregularities, you could be in the firing line.
But only in very rare circumstances, as any action would normally be against the governing body or academy trust. Having dealt with governing bodies on numerous issues I can think of nothing worse than being a school governor. I’d ask if they would Let you observe some meetings. Should allow you to decide if it’s for you.
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