Whole of Governing Body Resigned

[MaskedRider]

I’ve just found out today that the entire governing body has resigned at my secondary school.

Is this a serious issue? Surely this would only happen if something major had happened that they weren’t happy with?

The school is converting to an academy very soon and the chair of governors was massively pushing for this to happen. The majority of staff and parents didn’t want this to happen but it went through anyway.

Nothing has been announced yet. Do they have to make the reason of the mass resignation public?

Are they joining an existing multi academy trust? Could be that the Trust doesn't have local governing bodies at school level and instead has one governing body across a bunch of schools...

Yes, joining an existing multi academy trust.

Ahhh, the one governing body across a few schools may be the reason why. Before the mass resignation one of them was an interim board (or maybe trust?) member.

Normally you'd have a representative or board member at the across the school board/ committee, especially say if a big school or lead secondary with a lot of primaries.
Either way they really should be telling parents what is going on!

It could be that they are resigning from the old board and applying to the new one which hopefully is the case. Clearly less good if they are all resigning in protest though unlikely as the governing body is likely to have had to vote for the move.

I agree that they should be telling parents what is going on but they don’t normally bother telling staff so not expecting any official info soon.

We will be their biggest school by far.

They did all vote for it but would have been under immense pressure from the chair to vote it through. She would have made their lives hell if they didn’t vote it through. Hard to explain how much power she has over the school/head unless you work there.

Some trusts don't have governing bodies at school level.

There are lots of reasons schools join a trust. Do you know why this school has??

Has the Chair resigned? (and how do you know?)

When we joined an academy our school governing body stood down, and then we had a new governing body across a number of schools. It could also be that this academy doesn't have school governing bodies.

Yes its a different set up. Your school Governors are replaced by a powerless subcommittee with no teeth and a not very accountable central committee covering several schools

We joined due to funding issues. Like all in education we are massively underfunded and apparently now all our problems will be solved by converting to an academy.

I’m looking forward to opening windows, a non leaking roof, door handles not falling off and being able to have the heating on.

Was also looking forward to a massive pay rise until I found out that it’s only those at the top of the tree that are paid mega bucks.

Unfortunately for secondary schools, in some areas there is more access to funding, especially capital funding for builds and repairs under the academy umbrella.

Whilst it might be that by becoming part of a MAT that there will be more access to funding, the idea that this might be the main reason for making the decision strikes me as being a very weak argument.
Having said that if the school was being run by an Interim Executive Board then they would all be finishing at the point where they joined the MAT as it would be the current Trust Board of the existing MAT that would be running the school in the future.

Is an Ofsted inspection making this change happen? Poor results and progress by DC? It’s rarely just about money but the governors might feel they would get better support from a MAT if they have lost faith in the LA. Maintenance is a school issue at some levels but the school sounds as if it’s poorly run.

Chairman of Governors are not dictators. You appear to have a GB that is poor if staff and parents are not involved in the process or have anything explained to them. I would have thought any change would be better than this GB.

Also the Head and Staff governors have resigned. As a member of staff, could you not ask them? Is your pay not determined by Performance Management criteria? Who the GB is makes no difference to this process at all.