Parent governor should I apply or stay the hell away?

[Coffeesnob11]

There is a parent governor position coming up at my son's primary school. I am thinking about applying but only know one person who is one (in a different part of the country) and he didn't have much to say positively or negatively about it. Is it a lot of work outside the meetings? How hard is it if you don't agree with others on spending etc? Is it a hellfire I should run in the other direction from?

It depends on the school and what is going on behind closed door and what you’re bringing to the table eg teaching background, finance or other skills. There will be full governing body meetings as well as commitee meeting plus a little training.

This year I’ve done a 2 hour learning walk, wrote up the report which included reviewing the current Ofsted guidance, safe guarding training and a couple of chats and emails with the head teacher. I probably won’t do much more outside of the meeting this year except for reading many documents.

The role is to be a critical friend so they’re isn’t a huge amount of disagreeing but mostly questioning things eg ‘Why have you chosen Maths as a whole school focus when SATS results show that writing is a weaker point in the school?’. It’s very much about the bigger picture.

I am a Non Parent Governor and it is quite a lot of work to be honest.
I had to do a lot of training and while there aren't too many meetings the admin side of things is a pain.
You also risk getting buttonholed in the playground form what I hear from The PG I am on the Board with

Yes I get button holed and I just directed them to email the school office. I do raise issues with the head if a large number of parents are complaining about the same thing which will be an on going issue and will impact on the reputation of the school, it only happens about once year.

The role is strategic, not operational, so you need to be up to date with priorities in the school development plan, statistics, Ofsted requirements, safeguarding and a host of other things. You'll be expected to support school events, which you may well do anyway.

Parents will approach you to ask or complain, but that’s not your role.

There’s a lot of training, as well as the FGB meetings, committee meetings and so on.