Board of Governors

[Bluedabbadie]

I am part of a governing body for my son's school. So far, I'm not particularly impressed.

Is our role really to spend our meetings praising the head for paperwork that we actually have no evidence for the practicalities behind it, when in reality, I know certain things are being glossed over? There is nothing serious to worry about, but as I'm friends with a TA at the school, I know that they are being used to teach and plan lessons in absence of teachers for no extra pay. I know that they are frustrated and unhappy. Yet, we only get to read the positives about referrals to mental health courses etc for anyone who is struggling and "there are only 2 people having difficulties." I know this isn't true.

If I question anything that doesn't read true, not only do I get a defence from the head, but a defence from the other governors on the board also.

Are governing boards all so pretentious?

Yes, this was a primary school.

Faith primary?

I resigned after a year at the primary school.

The HT did not want me on the board (I was the Diocescan governor and the HT had no say in my appointment...)

Just no point me being there really. Any questions I raised were met with hostility and dismissivness. There is a new HT now but I hsve no reason to think it's changed the ethos of the board.

My experience at secondary level could not be more different and in fact I am now the chair.

Whenever one is volunteering ones time and expertise its common sense to only do so if you are volunteering with like minded people and what you are doing is having an impact.

Yes, C of E primary school.

@Bluedabbadie I strongly recommend the Facebook group "School Governance Network UK" which has lots of experienced governors who can help you navigate this.

I’ve clerked loads of governing boards and primaries are particularly bad for being nodding dogs. But, that is not the role. You don’t have to do that. Your role is to hold the Head to account. I do two secondaries at the moment and one is particularly feisty. Full of high achieving professionals who scrutinise everything, tell the head what they want to discuss and what paperwork they want to see. You can do this too! Although it might be hard if you are the only one who feels like this.

The role of governors is to both support and challenge the Head. It can be a tricky tightrope to walk between the two, and some governors go too far one way or the other. I think very carefully about how to phrase my challenge questions - our head can be defensive at the meeting, but nevertheless he takes action where he can between meetings to address issues..On the other hand I need to remind myself to offer positive recognition where things are going well - some other governors are better than me at this.

You also need to make sure your questions are related to strategic, not operational issues. F,or example you could ask "What action has been taken to gather staff feedback on morale and workload?" rather than "Why is my friend having to do x, y, z?" or "I've heard x is happening, what are you doing about it?".

It's good to challenge but you do have to have the evidence to do so in a professional way and not just hearsay and you also need to ensure you confine yourself to strategic questions and not questions about the day to day operational running of the school.

Rather than just getting reports and believing what they say the other sources of info you should consider in order to assure yourself are

-Data on performance and finances

• staff, pupil and parent feedback ideally via surveys not just people you know but also complaints and compliments
• what you personally observe on visits that should be termly and have set objectives. When ours were suspended due to Covid we still at least did remote visits where we spoke to staff in charge of particular areas and asked to see data

Whilst you don't have to submit qs in advance you may get a better answer if you do. We have papers a week in advance so that we can consider them properly.

Sending emails in between meetings direct to the head I would not be so sure is a good thing to do. There is a big push on staff well-being and that includes SLT and the head. They shouldn't have to answer a lot of questions at random times about someone's personal bugbear or something their mate told them. It is not appropriate for a governor to go direct to the head with that stuff. If I hear a concern eg from other parents I would go via the chair to raise it with the head as they should be having regular meetings or I would ask for it to be an agenda item at a meeting and be properly addressed if it's a bigger theme.

I always thought that being a governor was rooted in being a critical friend and concerned with the strategic development and direction of the school. The operational stuff is the prerogative of the head and staff.

I had expected to challenge data and strategy, challenge finance, safeguarding, H&S etc. By that I mean questioning, looking for added value in all aspects, new initiatives and generally moving the school forward.

What I actually found ( and so did others) is that there were sufficient people on the GB who were long term members and very supportive of the head, that no challenge was really possible. I didn’t want to accept the status quo, so I left.