Calling all clerks to school governors

[abuhamzamouse]

I have an interview next week for Clerk to School Governing Bodies at my local council.

I have lots of experience servicing meetings but my knowledge of the governing body is lacking (I will read up on this and I am aware that training is given).

Can anyone give me any interview tips or possible questions?

One useful tip would be not to use the name of a convicted terrorist because you find it somehow amusing.

Agree with pepperpot, this would immediately make me twitch and wonder about the person in front of me at interview.
The first thing I would as Chair of Governors want to be sure of is that they are trustworthy and that they can be confidential, as some of the issues at a school governing body meeting are confidential.
You also need to understand that this is a job that can be very varied in character, can have meetings at different times of the day and evening and most importantly it is more of a job then just taking and writing minutes up. You need to know the law for governors and interpret when necessary at meetings to stop the school making a mistake. There is a national course for school clerks and it is well worth trying to get on this course if at all possible - it is a part-time course over a period of time with a couple of days of teaching an learning thrown in.
You also need to understand the politics of the situation, you might be employed by the LA but you are bound by a contract between the school and the LA and your "boss" is the chair of the governing body, not the LA and not the head teacher.

Thanks for your replies. I am very grateful for the useful comments. My user name isnt really relevant is it though...it's not something that I would bring up at an interview.

Clerk's job description

Thanks Dan for the description.
I am sorry that my user name had caused offence. I picked this name a long time ago back in the day when mumsnet had a sense of humour. It was basically a silly thread about Christmas cake decorations. Somone posted a picture of a mouse with a hook and so the name was coined. Obviously the connotation had been lost and I have changed it. Again sorry for any offence.

Pepperpot thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement. I don't judge posters by their username, the content of a post is a better indication of what sort of tendencies a poster has.

Good luck for next week

The link looks really useful so I would read through that and like any job have examples of how your current/previous roles will help you in this one.