Could you be a Governor?
The Rosary School in Stroud currently has vacancies for foundation governors and needs to maintain a steady input of parent governors. Governors serve for a term of four years, though this term can be renewed at the end of the four-year period. Parents will be informed when there are vacancies for parent governor positions; should more parents out their names forward than there are vacancies, an election will be held.
Foundation governors
Clifton Diocese is seeking to recruit people to serve on the school governing board at the Rosary School in Stroud. If are a practising Catholic, believe in Catholic education, have enthusiasm and commitment, then you can make a valuable contribution to the governing body of a Catholic school. You don't have to be an expert on education to be a school governor but you will need to commit time, take a share of the workload, visit the school during school hours and take part in regular training.
Clifton Diocese has a leaflet which explains the work and role of the foundation governor.
Please consider applying to become a governor
School governors form the largest volunteer force in the country. Governing bodies provide strategic leadership in schools and have a vital role to play in making sure every child gets the best possible education. Governing bodies operate like non-executive boards, focusing on three core strategic functions: setting the vision and values of the school; holding the headteacher to account for educational performance; and overseeing the management of the school's budget.
The governing body has a strategic role but not an operational one. The headteacher is responsible for the day-to-day management of the school (operational) and the headteacher and staff are responsible for implementing plans and policies established by the governing body. The role of governor is largely a thinking and questioning role, not a doing role. Understanding this distinction is important before you become a governor.
Much of the work of a governing body is conducted in meetings. As almost all of the powers and responsibilities of governing bodies are held collectively, the governing body has to meet to make its decisions. Whilst the atmosphere within our meetings is relatively relaxed, governing body meetings are business-like meetings considering important issues which impact upon a large number of pupils, staff and how public money is spent.
Due to the vast array of duties that governing bodies have, we often use powers of delegation to distribute the workload to ensure matters are dealt with appropriately, for example to a committee, working group which makes recommendations or to an individual. We seek to involve those who have skills or interests in a particular area of school life (for example, finance, staffing or curriculum) in those issues.
All governors and governing boards must act with integrity, objectivity and honesty and in the best interests of the school, and be transparent about the decisions they make and the actions they take (and in particular be prepared to explain their decisions and actions to interested parties).
You will need to take decisions in the interests of the school as a whole, that is in the interests of all pupils at the school, being careful to distinguish this from your own personal interests, if any, for example as a parent.
You will need to observe principles of confidentiality and therefore take care regarding playground or social media discussions about the school. Occasionally you may find that you are outvoted by the rest of the governing body: all governors are expected to stand by decisions of the governing body even if their own personal view was to the contrary.
As a governor you are expected to:
- Have a real interest in education and developing positive outcomes for all children.
- Get to know the school: its needs, strengths and areas for development.
- Prepare for and attend meetings (full governing body, committees and working groups).
- Actively contribute as a member of a team.
- Speak, act and vote in the best interests of the school.
- Use your personal and professional skills to support the school.
- Respect all governing body decisions and to support them in public.
- Act within the framework of the policies of the governing body and legal requirements.
- Observe & follow the governing body’s code of conduct and confidentiality requirements.
- Commit to training and development opportunities.
Governors have a broad range of tasks in front of them. We want to encourage you to consider applying for the role, but in order for you to understand the nature of the role, we have decided to list everything you might be asked to do, which might seem to be a daunting list. The best way to look at it is that if the school has its full complement of governors, and has filled all its vacancies, then each governor does less work!
Governors need to:
- Attend meetings in the evenings at school for two to two and a half hours, usually six times a year (NB During the pandemic these meetings have been held online using Microsoft Teams, and there are some advantages to this, and we may maintain that medium for meetings as it saves travel, and makes childcare easier).
- Read background documents before those meetings.
- Be open to taking in a key area of responsibility (as a “link governor”) and joining working parties to focus on projects.
- Visit the school, usually once per term, in that link governor role for around one hour.
- From time to time, attend other school events such as assemblies, school fairs and curriculum evenings.
- Attend regular mandatory training.
Governors have a responsibility in strategic discussions which determine:
- The vision and ethos of the school;
- Clear and ambitious strategic priorities and targets for the school;
- Means which ensure that all children, including those with special educational needs, have access to a broad and balanced curriculum;
- The school’s budget, including the expenditure of the pupil premium allocation;
- The school’s staffing structure and key staffing policies; and the principles to be used by school leaders to set other school policies.
Governors are also responsible for holding senior leaders to account by monitoring the school’s performance, which will include:
- Agreeing the outcomes from the school’s self-evaluation and ensuring they are used to inform the priorities in the school development plan;
- Considering all relevant data and feedback provided on request by school leaders and external sources on all aspects of school performance;
- Asking challenging questions of school leaders;
- Ensuring senior leaders have arranged for the required audits to be carried out and receiving the results of those audits;
- Ensuring senior leaders have developed the required policies and procedures and the school is operating effectively according to those policies;
- Acting as a link governor on a specific issue, making relevant enquiries of the relevant staff, and reporting to the governing body 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, including local employers.
Governors must play a part in ensuring that finances are properly managed, though the important part of this work is undertaken by auditors. Governors contribute to the auditors’ report and scrutinise it once it is provided to the school.
Governors must ensure that:
- The school’s finances are sustainable during uncertain funding and political times;
- Staff have the resources they require to do their jobs well;
- External advice is taken where necessary;
- Effective performance management is in place;
- Appropriate continuing professional development (CPD ) is offered; and that
- Premises are maintained.
Governors may be asked to undertake other responsibilities such as to:
- Appoint the headteacher and other senior leaders;
- Appraise the headteacher;
- Set the headteacher’s pay and agree the pay recommendations for other staff;
- Hear the second stage of staff grievances and disciplinary matters; and hear appeals about pupil exclusions.
As you become more experienced as a governor, there are other roles you could volunteer for which would increase your degree of involvement and level of responsibility (e.g. as a chair of a committee).
It may be worth balancing all this by adding what governors do not do.
Governors do not:
- Write school policies, though they will be involved in forming policy, working with members of staff and other governors;
- Undertake audits in the school, even if they have relevant professional experience;
- Undertake classroom observations to make judgements on the quality of teaching (the quality of teaching is monitored by requiring data from senior leaders and by reviewing external reports and data sources);
- Spend significant time working with pupils of the school (governors do see pupils, for example in assembly and on link visits as well as during pupil voice, but if you want to work directly with children there are other voluntary valuable roles within the school to do so);
- Fundraise (this is the role of the Parent Teacher Association), or
- Do the work of staff (if there are insufficient resources then the governing body needs to address that), though governors may undertake additional volunteering roles over and above governance.
Initially, you should expect to spend the equivalent of around twenty hours per term on your governing body responsibilities. For many governors, this might comprise two evening meetings per term, with the pre-reading; one link visit and writing a resulting short report; attending a school event such as an assembly; reading around their link subject or keeping up to date on school governance; and responding to some emails. This work-load can increase for governors with key roles such as chairs of committees. The commitment can vary; for example, if you are sitting on a complaints panel then your commitment will increase during that period.
Time off work
School governors are like magistrates or members of a jury and therefore have a right to reasonable time off work for their public duties. Under Section 50 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, if you are employed then you are entitled to "reasonable time off" to undertake public duties (including school governance). "Reasonable time off" is not defined in law and so you will need to speak to your employer's HR department or negotiate with your employer how much time you will be allowed. This time may be unpaid.
Expenses
Being a school governor is an unpaid role. Governors may receive out of pocket expenses in line with the governor expenses policy.
Training
All governors are expected to undertake training to support them in their role. Governors do not pay for training. All new governors at Rosary School are asked to undertake face to face induction training within the first four months of becoming a governor plus safeguarding training within the first six months. There is then a broad expectation that governors will undertake one training course per term.
Finally, a governing body acts as a single person with an identity separate from its members. Responsibility for the actions and decisions of the governing body lies with the whole governing body rather than individual members. This is known as corporate responsibility. Governors must never carry out a duty in the name of the governing body without the consent of the governing body. Governing bodies must act as a group/corporate body. Individual governors have no power outside the governing body and cannot act on behalf of the governing body unless authorised to do so or, in special cases, where emergency action is needed (chair of governors).
You can apply online to be a school governor in the diocese.
If you would like to apply to be a new Foundation Governor at a school within the Diocese, please complete our New Governor Nomination Form; the DBS Self Declaration Form must also be completed by all candidates.
For information about the role, please see our Could you be a School Governor leaflet: Could you be a School Governor?
If you have any further queries about the Foundation Governor role, please contact:
Bill McEntee
Governance Officer
Email: bill.mcentee@cliftondiocese.com
Tel: 0771 009 4976