Any advice on Clerk to the Governors position?

[missmehalia]

Hello All,

I was wondering if anyone out there is a Clerk to the Governors at their school? Pros and cons? General advice on what's involved? I'm thinking of applying to DDs school to do it, but am wondering if there's an inside story.. many thanks in advance!

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You need to understand that being the clerk is more than just being a secretary. The clerk needs to have had training on the law as it relates to school governance as part of the job is to advice the governing body on aspects of law that they might be overlooking. There is also a need to understand how schools operate and preferably have an uptodate knowledge of schools.
If you want the job go for it, if you still want it now you know what is involved. Its worrying that this information was not available to you from the school.

Well, I've read the job description. To be fair, there is a section in it about advising the governing body on procedural issues, and having access to appropriate legal advice.

They do also say full training and support is offered.. tbh, sounds like quite a lot of responsibility for the money, but I think I might enjoy it?? (I'm an ex primary teacher looking for an opportunity to do something with my brain, something that fits with family priorities and something to add to CV so there isn't a huge blank space on it.)

I've just posted on here to see if there are others out there that do it, and what they think are the ups and downs of it. The inside story, I suppose.

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I had to resign as Clerk to the Govs when my DD was in teh school - in my LEA you are not allowed to Clerk at a school where you have a child.

Given that full training and support is offered you ought to be OK.

The most important thing a good clerk does is make the life of the chair much easier.

You draw up the agendas in consultation with the chair and its your job to make sure all the things the GB is required to do by law gets on the agenda.

Minute taking is an art. Most people believe that minutes are a record of what happened at a meeting. Actually they are, at their best a record of what OUGHT to have happened at the meeting and will be accepted as such when the time comes for the next meeting to accept them!

You also advise when problems come up, and there is a guide to the law which you will be given a copy of.

NappyShedSal, thanks for that. I think I'll ring the school and double check before I go to the faff of filling in the forms.

nlondondad, I hear what you're saying about minutes. I'll ask to see a copy of what's gone before, so I've got some idea of what they're happy with first (though there'll obviously be some things I'll never know about, as I wasn't at the meetings in question..)

I think I have some doubts, but I guess the school are responsible for looking at my skills and experience, and deciding whether that's a good match for them.

Think I'll apply with limited expectations..

My perception is that it is an interesting job but quite hardwork with much knowledge involved.

I think that our clerk is clerk to several schools, thus enabling her to use her knowledge extensively.

In governors meetings it is always the clerk that has the guidance notes for referencing.

The nice thing about the job is that it is structured - e.g. you don't just make things up

In some LAs many of the clerks are LA employees who seem to be allocated to a few schools each. It means that there is less of an emotional bond with a particular GB and, I imagine, might also mean that there is no awkwardness in terms of discussions/decisions that may impact directly upon the clerk's child.

The TES website, or possibly Teachernet might be worth looking at.

If you do go for/get the position ensure that you receive training on things such as exclusions appeals - lots of the law around them seems to be misunderstood by far too many in the education world...