Talk to me about being a parent governor?

[TheBeeKeeperOfBournemouth]

Just that really.

Local grammar which DC attends in year 7 and a vacancy has arisen.

I work part time and previously held a professional role in law. Think I have transferable skills but don't know a lot about it. Also looking to boost existing skills and CV.

If you are a parent governor, is it interesting? Enjoyable? Time consuming? Frustrating?

Thanks for any insights.

I was a parent governor for about 8 years.
I would say it takes up far more time then was stated by head teacher.
I used to do learning walks where we would start in the school nursery and upto year 6 As to how the subject was taught though out the school.
Also we had meetings with the leader our area around of the curriculum. Plus monthly meeting in the evening that usually ran between 7pm and 9 pm.

I am a parent governor at a high achieving high school with over a 1000 pupils. It is all of the things you list. I specialise in the finance side with some personnel. It actually takes up more time than I thought it would and the amount of paperwork is extreme. The interesting part is actually seeing how much work is actually involved in running a school and also meeting a wide variety of people from different backgrounds. We are also expected to undertake training courses during the period of governance which are run by the local authority.
To sum up in a few words from my experience, most decisions have already been made by the senior staff and the head teacher prior to meetings and the governors are there to rubber stamp/ask questions on why that decision has been made. I estimate about three days work per month especially in the first year.

Thanks both. Useful insights. Something for the future I think due to other commitments. Going to be the classic retired middle class volunteer in 20 years.

I think it depends on the school. I have two friends who are both parent goveners and they are essentially 'yes men' to the head teacher. They have to go to meetings and give an opinion but not much more. Is there a job description or summary of what is involved?

I started as a parent governor 5 years ago and am now chair. I would say, as PP that it is all of those things. How much time really depends upon the school - how often do they meet, how many visits / panels are needed? The National Governance Association has a good introduction to what is involved.
I would say that it always takes more time than you think!

I've been involved to some degree in governing bodies at 3 different schools. They vary tremendously. They are supposed to be there to challenge the head/school and absolutely not to rubber stamp (as above). In fact at my current school's last OFSTED, just before I arrived, the GB was heavily criticised for not challenging enough.

Personally, I think it's too big a job to be left to volunteers, but the system does seem to rumble on. To do it properly it's a big commitment though.

This is very interesting as I need to write a letter to the governors about the senior staff in my DS year .
I have been homeschooling as the situation at the school was having a detrimental affect on my child and the senior staff for our school year were happy for my child to change schools rather than change his class and get his support reinstated .

Can you advise if I should write a bullet point type letter of what hasn’t been done this school year or a detailed one?
Other parents just tend to leave but I really like the teachers and my DS has made good friends .
I had the files sent to me and a lot has been deleted , his support in the first year under staff who have all left now used to keep them updated with recommendations for support etc 🤷‍♀️

Also our head has a new job but still here till the end of the year so I’m not sure if it’s good timing or not but I can’t wait till there is a new head announced .

Thanks for reading :)

@Mummymooch

The school’s complaints process should be on their website. Governors won’t get involved until the earlier stages of your complaint have been completed.

In general it is useful to keep letters short and be clear about what you want to achieve.

Thank you - I shall do that .
👌

What I don't like is that I was actually told we would challenge the school and its decisions, offer suggestions to Improve aspirations, and be a critical friend to the head in order to "improve the school," in her words.

I had no idea that it was all about being more of a "yes man" for rubber stamping, even though all significant decisions were made before meetings already. Why would I need to waste my time if not?

Being a governor and not challenging the decisions being made is the biggest waste of time. Ofsted read the minutes of meetings and can declare the board ineffective. For you to be a useful governor and for you to get most out of it you do have to do the training and do lots of reading around it. You as a board are responsible for being the health check on those decisions that go toward supporting the school development plan. As a parent governor you are there to reflect your experience and help the school innovate

I found it very frustrating and ultimately moved my child from the school. You are welcome to ask questions that help elucidate the Head's vision, but not necessarily those that challenge. At least - you can try, but you start to get shut down if you persist.

Our Head was a decent manager, but very fearful of parent involvement and transparency. Due to this she began closing off avenues to parental contribution - which was resulting in swathes of unhappy parents finding places in other local schools. She continued to put her head in the sand and entrench her position.

Most of the governors were well-meaning enough though, but at odds with the newer type of well-trained, informed governors. It meant we were pulling in different directions. The workload is immense if you take the role seriously - but it's really interesting for all that. So much really depends on the Head and the Chair.