Primary School Governors - how many school have children at the school?

[lulamoo]

Hi I wonder if anyone could tell me if there is a requirement for a proportion of school Governors to have children within the school. None of the Governors at my DCs school have children there anymore and this is a worry to me as there isn't any point of contact on an informal basis. Thanks

My Dcs school has three parent governors, don't know if that is the norm though.

There should be a document that sets out the make up of the Governing Body - try asking the Clerk to the Governing Body. I think it would be unusual for there not to be a requirement for at least one parent Governor with a child at the school.

According to The Guide to the Law for School Governors, the Governing Body should have at least one third of Governors who have children at the school,either as parent governors, or for some types of school, foundation governors. However, someone who is elected as a parent governor may serve to the end of their term of office once their child has left the school. Suggest you ask the Chair of Governors about this and ask how s/he proposes to rectify the situation. That said, it's often difficult to find parents wishing to be Governors, it's a bit of a thankless task. Perhaps you would be interested in volunteering yourself?

Depends on the type of school as I think academies can be different but there should be some parent governors. It may be though that some parents have been elected for a 4 year term of office and their children have now moved on to the next level of school. Your Head Teacher could probably answer this for you though.

There have to be so many parent governors - but you are right, they are elected for a term (normally 4 years) and if their children leave in that time they can still stay on as parent governors.

AFAIK there is no requirement for any of the parent governors to currently have children at the school.

Well there should be a proportion who are parent governors. When their children move onto secondary school they stay as governors till their term of office is complete. At my DCs primary about half of the governors had children at the school when you counted the LEA and Foundation governors as well it seems odd that there is no one.

Thanks everyone for such a speedy response. All the Parent Governors' children went up to secondary school in September. However, I enquired about this last night at our PTA AGM and was told by the school manager that there was no requirement for Parent Governors to have children at the school. I know there are a number of people willing to stand as Governors and I feel that this is vital in terms of having a link between Parents and Governors. Think I'll have a word with the Head. Thanks again.

Bizarrely the opposite is also true. LEA and community governors can have children at the school.....

So maybe ring up the LEA and find out if there are any governor vacancies??????

I think it's perhaps just a difficult situation as the school can't force the resignation of governors who are performing their duties properly etc until their term of office ends - even if their children have left school. You should find out when their terms of office end.

The School Manager said that 3 Governors have another 12 months left of their term so we will then be in a position of electing new people.

In a "community school" the rule is that:-

1. There must be a certain number of elected parent Governors.

1. To be eligible to stand as a parent Governor you must have a child at the school.

1. You are elected for a four year term. (All Governors serve a four year term)

1. After four years an elected parent governor can stand for re election, if and only if, they still have a child at the school

1. At my school we usually have a parent governor election each year in practice.

1. It seems at your school you are going to be electing three governors at once in 12 months time. That would not be that unusual.

Any parent governor is allowed to complete their 4 year term of office even if their child has left the school. So the school should hold parent governor elections in 12 months time based on your posts.

dd's school has 5 parent governors, and the Chair used to have children at the school (she's a community governor now).

But I'm one of 3 new ones, and the 3 'old' ones no longer had children at the school - probably a similar situation to your DCs school.

I'm currently standing as a parent governor at DS school, and was told that despite him having only two more years there, if elected, my term would be for four years. As it happens, one of the other parent governors time will come to an end at the same time as my son finishes at the school. At that point, if there are more candidates than vacancies for parent governors, I would think it appropriate to stand down.
However many other people would say that it takes a while to get to grips with the job, so four years is a reasonable time to serve.
I don't understand why ALL governor vacancies are not publicised. Many "community" governors continue for donkeys years, but the positions are just given out to local do-gooders and ex-parent governors.

Ours serve a 5 year term, so could have had children in the school but had subsequently left. I dont really see the point if you have no more kids in the school as the interest in the good of the school would wain.

Not a job I would like though.