School Governors....what exactly do you do?

[Medulla]

DD starts school next year and I really want to be involved in her school as much as I possibly can. How do you become a school governor? What kind of commitment do you have to have? Are any of you school governors? Is it worth it?

[Medulla]

Is she a governor or anti governors?

[coderoo]

i am one
good point
oyu get to appoint new teachers( well we do)
bad point ( dull meetings well thats not true sometiems good - dull if abotu PANDA stats which i dont understand)



a fba way of find ing out what is REALLY happening
makes you value your kids school more ihtink

[Medulla]

Do you get voted into position? How would you go about becoming one? Do I just voluteer once DD has started?

[thevoice]

I'm a governor - basically you guide the "strategic direction" of the school - what reading scheme/admissions policy/SEN - that type of thing. I find it very rewarding and you get a good insight into what's happening. Also, makes you really appreciate the work that the teachers are putting in

[Tommy]

It depends on the type of governor you are. You can apply to the LEA to be a governor and they may have a vacacny at your DD's school or you could be a Parent Governor which means the other parents elect you on to the Board and some schools have Community Governors or Foundation Governors who are aoopinted by interetsed parties - e.g. I am a Foundation Gov at the local Catholic school - appointed by the Bishop.
It is a god way of getting to know the school and taking a real interest in it but some of the meetings are dull. I find just spebding time in school, in lessons and chatting to the teachers makes up for the dullness of the meetings!

[yoyo]

I think the position varies from school to school. You usually get put onto various committes, e.g. finance, personnel, monitoring, health and safety, buildings maintenance, child protection, etc. so you do not necessarily have a say in all decisions (appointing staff for example). There is a fair amount of paperwork to get through and courses which you can attend to enable you to understand your role. It can be rather tedious but you do get a good insight into the education system (and bureaucratic nonsense that is endemic within it).

[mrsdarcy]

I'm a foundation governor at my DSs' school. I was approached by the bursar, who I knew vaguely from church, and I also wrote to the head and parish priest offering my services.

I've been doing it for a year and tbh have found it rather frustrating so far. There was an incredibly dull and time-consuming restructuring exercise last year. The rest of the time I couldn't work out whether the inpenetrable jargon was a way of preventing the governors actually knowing anything, or just the way teachers talk.

However, I am very nosy and don't fancy PTA stuff, and have a 1-year old baby so it is difficult to go into school during the day, to help with reading etc.

Facetious comments aside, I like getting to know how the school is run and it's very interesting to see that sort of things the head gets excited about and what annoys him.

What sort of skills do you have that would be useful to the school? I think someone with a good accounting brain is a good governor. There are loads of lawyers at our school - not sure if they are much use to man or beast.

What is the PANDA? What does it stand for?

[bubble99]

I'm a parent governor. As others have said, it's a fantastic way to get to know how your child's school 'ticks.'

The governing body has different committees (Premises, Finance, Curriculum and others). You can be involved in as many or as few as you want to. In addition there are 'named governors' who are directly involved with provision for different types of pupils. I'm the SEN (Special Educational Needs) governor and also the governor for 'Looked- After' (formerly 'Children in Care') children. I visit the school each term to see how pupils within these groups are doing and report back to the full governing body.
I'm also one of two 'Exclusion Governors' but, thankfully, we haven't had any children excluded so far.

Don't be daunted, if you are
As a new governor no one will expect you to know what you're doing to begin with. There is training provided and I can honestly say that, after nearly 4 years, I'm just getting the hang of it!

[robinpud]

governors are critical friends to the school to put it in a nutshell. Can be interesting, can be a big committment, can involve making tricky decisions ie redundancy etc.Have a look on the this website here or your local county council and see what you think.

[bubble99]

You'll also get to go drinking with the headteacher and staff......which can be very enlightening.

[ANAconda]

i am a govenor of a local primary (my son doesn't go there - it's more of w ork connection). i applied to my local education authority and specified what school i wanted to be considered for. there are diff types of govenors - you'd be either a parent gov, a community gov or a "lay" govenor.

like others have found it v frustrating at times (incredibly poor meeting practices), but also incredibly rewarding to see the school turning round as a results of decisions (principly appointment of a new head) we've taken. i think as a parent you'd find it incredibly interesting and rewarding

[clerkKent]

I have just put my name forward to be a parent governor at DS's secondary school. No doubt there will be an election process. DW spent ages refining my personal statement into a work of art .

[Medulla]

Thanks everyone that's all really interesting. I thought of going along the parent governor route. I just want to be involved in the school that she goes to. I haven't got any accounting skills, I ama nurse by profession so people skills I guess! Got a year to go yet so plenty of time to decide.