Any primary school governors?

[Guvner]

If you're a Governor in a primary school what is your honest appraisal of the role?

I can't help but think it's a waste of my volunteered time that could be better spent elsewhere. The reason I say this is because it feels like we are not effective and most sit through meetings with no questions and nodding politely. I'm not sure why they are there.

Not quite what you were asking but I was a governor at an stand alone council funded nursery school and I hear exactly what you say. I thought that the meetings were dominated by 3-4 men who thought they knew everything and no one had any interest in explaining things to the non expert governors (teacher & parent governors). The meetings felt like a waste of my time and there was certainly no critical support of the head

Not a governor, but married to one.
Why do you think there are no questions? Surely there should be loads (unless the HT is exceptional and answers them all before being asked).
e.g.
why is this the best way
what more could be done to close the gap
how could we stretch high achievers more
how can we challenge sex stereotypes
is parent engagement all it should be
can we do more to ensure students with SEN keep their confidence
what are we doing about teacher retention / teacher well being

I have been a governor twice at different schools. I recognise some of what you're saying. I think you have to devote a lot of up front time for visits and reading before you can really start to challenge the head in a constructive way.

I was a governor for 20 years. You have to be firm and determined. Some are there simply because they want to know more about what is going on but they usually get fed up. You need a good Chair and one who is not in the HTs pocket. (In my case they were having an affair). Do you have sub committees for different areas eg finance, curriculum, staffing. Is each governor linked to a subject area and/ or a year group? We had a HT who didn’t want to spend money and thought having a huge bank balance was a good idea. You can’t make much of a contribution if you don’t know the school from the inside. I went in every week to read with the children and even went on school journey.

I was a parent governor for 8 years.

The role of a governor is to be critical friend towards the school. Making sure that school are following Ofsted/Dfe guidelines, along with safe guarding and expenditure.

I does take a lot of your time we would have monthly meetings which would be in the evening and will be at least a couple of hours, not including going through the monthly reports to be ready for the meeting.

We also had learning walks where we would start at nursery to year 6 following a subject being taught through the year groups. We would have areas of the curriculum we would responsibility for.

I'm an infant school parent Governor and agree that to some extent you get out what you put in. I'm often then one asking lots of questions in our meetings, and I enjoy knowing more about how the school works and seeing how we can develop for our children.

Why is it that you feel it's a waste of your time? I would really recommend the learning modules on the National College website, and also regular school visits and learning walks as mentioned by pp.

I think governors do a really important job, so I'm sorry if you don't feel you are having a positive impact - I'm sure your time is appreciated.

Are you in a state maintained school or an academy, as the role can be different?

It is very frustrating when you have governors who don’t ask questions. I know COVID has had an impact but are you going into schools for visits?

Do you have training? When do you get presented with the information for the meeting?

I was one for 4 years - just because no-one asked questions doesn't mean you can't. Is there anything you think should be better in the school? Focus on that

Do you think your Chair is effective? Does he/she encourage visits, training, questions, skills audit, specialists etc?

Our Head sends our the agenda and papers about 3 weeks in advance, and asks governors to read them and submit questions 1 week ahead of the meeting. This gives her chance to find out the answers ready to discuss at the meeting.

We have a fabulous clerk who messages most days with latest guidance, advice, policy etc.

Are the governors at your school a good mix between parent, co opted etc? Different lengths of service?

I felt the same when I was governor. I ended up leaving before my tenure was up to chair a management committee for a small, nonprofit organisation that was in a mess and turned it around. It was so much more satisfying and I really felt like I made a difference.

You've answered your own question there. A governing body is only as good as its members. A Head can only be held to account if governors are prepared to put the work.
Governors have to take time to scrutinise reports, understand school data, talk to staff members and visit the school. Otherwise, how will they know what's happening?

if they can't/won't do that, then their role is merely ceremonial and a waste of time.

ceremonial and a waste of time.

Yes this is what I am starting to think.

I ask questions as best I can but it should be a group effort and I am getting fed up of being the only one.

That they only want you if you're a man in a suit - then they'll kiss your arse and bend all the rules to keep you on the panel but if you're a woman who dares to question things - they'll try their utmost to get shot of you ASAP.

That also there's a tendency for the school to be harsher on your own kids to prove no favoritism as well.

Shame I ended up so angry about it as I really did value the work the school did with the kids and the incredibly skilled teaching staff - but yep, they wanted more men in suits (I'm from a teaching background myself so not exactly unskilled).

@CoffeeWithCheese that is not my experience.

Do you have any vacancies on the governing body @Guvner?

@CoffeeWithCheese - not my experience, either.

Chair here. Governors are critical friends and that means asking questions. The school will not get outstanding at OFSTED if the governing body is a nodding dog. Ask questions and make sure they go in the minutes. It is hard if you are the only governor asking the questions. I've done it on two governing bodies now and it is hard to,change the culture from 'we wuvs you' to 'fantastic, thank you for that verbal report. How has the impact of this intervention been measured (on our PP children) and how have the parent council and children's forum reacted?'

It is harder work to do the second one and the change of culture is significant but it is worth it.

I agree with you. I did it for a year and sacked it off, our head was besties with the chair and everything was agreed between them in advance. It was also badly organised. The entire concept of governors is poor.

I think in lots of ways the impact the role has is up to you. You do have to keep up with all the papers you're sent and all the latest developments in your particular area of responsibility. This is all time-consuming. It's useful to have a bit of a handle on everything else, too - it's no good shrugging when budget matters come up just because you're say the governor for EYFS. I can however see that a bunch of nodding dogs and a chair that's too cosy with the head would be pretty ineffective.