Re board of governors

[autienotnaughty]

Hi not sure if I'm in right place but does anyone know much about being a parent governor? What it entails, commitment etc Thanks

Yes, do some research. You aren't just there to make up numbers. It's a very important role and can, depending on what's going on in the school, be quite full on. If the head suddenly leaves or there's a complaint etc it falls to governors to deal with.

You could have a period of not doing more than a few hours a month and then might suddenly have something happen which means you put in 60+ hours that month! It's quite rare though.

By research though I mean don't ask on here.
Check out guidance from the national governance association and the key.

Department of Education - statutory guidance for governing boards.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/governance-handbook

I was a parent governor.
Typically it entailed a full govs meeting every 6-8 weeks lasting about 2 hours, plus a sub committee meeting in between.
So you are looking at a time commitment of one evening roughly every 3-4 weeks.
Before the meeting you need to read through the paperwork- there are usually lots of policies to read through! This used to take me an hour or two before each meeting.
Occasionally something would crop up in between meetings and I would need to attend an extra meeting but this was pretty rare.
It's a really interesting and rewarding role if you can commit the time. I found juggling it with full time teaching and a family too difficult so I stepped down after a year. I think the turnover is quite high for this reason.

@HamCob

I was a parent governor. Typically it entailed a full govs meeting every 6-8 weeks lasting about 2 hours, plus a sub committee meeting in between. So you are looking at a time commitment of one evening roughly every 3-4 weeks. Before the meeting you need to read through the paperwork- there are usually lots of policies to read through! This used to take me an hour or two before each meeting. Occasionally something would crop up in between meetings and I would need to attend an extra meeting but this was pretty rare. It's a really interesting and rewarding role if you can commit the time. I found juggling it with full time teaching and a family too difficult so I stepped down after a year. I think the turnover is quite high for this reason.

That’s a very high number of full governing body meeting? Most schools have one full board meeting a term, and each committee meets once a term too.

It’s a really interesting role if you have the time to give. The keys things to know is that firstly, governors are strategic leaders and aren’t involved in decisions about the day to day running of the school, and they can only act as a body. Secondly, a parent Governor is not a parent rep, ie, they’re not there to raise concerns from parents at the meetings and they’re not there for parents to raise issues with. Instead, A parent Governor is a representative parent who is giving their views to the board based on their experiences as a parent.