Privacy / School Governors meetings

[BelleBelle1]

Hello all,
Is it feasible for me to formally make a request to the school head that my child is not discussed during school governors meetings or that name does not appear in any documentation which may be circulated within this group? My child has a SpLD and there is a conflict of interest with one of the governors and would prefer that my child is not mentioned.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Individual children/families are not ever discussed or named at our meetings. That's not what governor meetings are for. Do you have any reason to think this is happening?

I am a school governor. Your child's name should never be mentioned in the meetings. Do you think it has been?

Generally Governors have no access to students names. All discussions are anonymous with regard to the child unless there is something specific such as a SEN or discipline meeting involving the parents and child actually attending themselves in which case the Governors will obviously know the name of the child concerned as they will be sat infront of them.

Why not have a chat with the Head and explain you know this Governor and that you would prefer if anything came up involving your child and it comes under the remit of that particular Governor you would like them to be replaced with another Governor.

Agree with the others that specific children are not named in governors meetings or in any public records linked to the governors meetings. (If needed e.g. due to a specific problem, it would be listed as a confidential minute).
It depends what you mean by "conflict of interest" but usually any adult with a specific interest e..g your child's teacher or LSA or even a parent (if it's a parent governor's child or they work at the school) will usually be asked to leave the meeting if the circumstances require it.
I would suggest that you clarify this with the Headteacher.

Thank you for the advice. Our child receives a lot of additional support at school and from time I meet with the SEN. I am not given to believe there has been a breach of privacy, however, we know the person socially (friend of friends) and have observed conversations regarding their work which really ought not to be discussed openly. I have no issue with their appointment but want to ensure privacy regarding my child.

There clearly should not be discussion in "public circles" about individual pupils and for a teacher to be doing that is very unprofessional and actually I would say represents misconduct against the Teaching Standards.
I would not expect any discussion at a governing board meeting around a specific named pupil but would have to say I would be less concerned about such a conversation there when it would be deemed confidential than a discussion in what would be an open environment around friends.

In my experience while children are not named they are often identifiable. It's a tricky one, often schools will just inform parents of the no name policy but it is naive to assume this results in confidentiality.
I know of a case where a goveror's wife shares all the information about a school after a few glasses of wine. It's not a problem free set up.

Just to repeat what’s been said above that individual children/families should not be mentioned at Governors Meetings. They may be identifiable, particularly at smaller schools and Governors should take a confidential/professional approach to such information.

If you have observed conversations regarding their work which really ought not to be discussed openly please bring it to the attention of the Headteacher.