Thinking of becoming a school governor

[JamTartLover]

Hi all,

I am new to Mumsnet and I am hoping I am using the right thread for this topic!

This is the backstory. I don't feel as though I am reaching my full potential at work (doing a more junior job than I expected to be doing due to staff shortages, e.g. working on day to day admin rather than overseeing processes) and there isn't much I can do about that other than resign and find a new job but the jobs I have seen that are more senior require experience that I don't think I will get in my current role.

Anyway, I was thinking of becoming a school governor to build on my knowledge, skills and experience so I can apply for more senior roles.

Has anyone got any experience of being a school governor? Could you please advise on anything useful that can be added to my application to make me stand out?

I think you need a big reason to want to do it, and your career is as good as most. Almost everyone on our board is either doing it to progress their career/enhance their CV or recently retired and treating it as a PT job.

To do it properly it's a huge time commitment with a lot of responsibility and TBH I often wonder why anyone would take that on unpaid. Lots of governing bodies don't do it properly though

Don't. Believe me. It's not worth it.

@mumoftinyterrors

Don't. Believe me. It's not worth it.

You seem to have had a bad experience. Thankfully that is not the case with everyone. I find it very rewarding.

I suspect that it will depend on lots of things - personalities, type of school etc. I am VC at a small rural primary and I would guess that is a whole different ball game from a huge city comprehensive for instance.

I am chair of govs for a primary school. Also a qualified accountant. Our meetings are in the evening. Give it a try and see how it goes. You don't sign up for life!

It is board level experience which may help career wise.

Try it and see. If you don't like it you can resign at any time but give it a good year to get a handle on the job.

We would allocate a buddy to any new governor as many boards do.
This would be a good indicator you will be well supported.

Hi all,

Sorry, I've been MIA in this thread!

I work in HR so could bring some experience from that.

Loads of different experiences here! I think I'll see if I can have an informal chat with the Governors for Schools charity to understand what the experience is like and the time commitments.

Thank you to all who posted!