BECOME A GOVENOR
If you want to make a difference in your community and develop your own professional skills, come and volunteer as a school governor and you can do both. We all want the best for children and for our local schools: governors play a key role in leading, supporting and improving these schools, and becoming one can be a very rewarding experience. Plus it may not be as time consuming as you think, and we offer lots of training and support to help you.
It doesn’t matter whether you have children or not, what role you have in an organisation or whether you know anything about education: everyone brings a unique perspective and can have a truly transformative impact on outcomes for children and for local communities. All you have to be is aged over 18 and possess the necessary skills, attributes, and time to positively impact our learners.
your skills can make a difference to children’s lives
what do school governors do?
School governors play a key role in leading our schools. They set the strategic vision and direction, approve budgets, support staff recruitment, monitor school performance, approve school policies and procedures, and hold the senior leadership team to account.
why become a school governor?
There are significant benefits of being a governor, both personally and professionally. And it may not be as a big a time commitment as you imagine – governors meet on average around twice a term.
As a governor you will:
- Have a genuine, positive impact on the lives and education outcomes for children and young people
- Use and develop your professional skills and experience in areas such as strategic planning, leadership, financial planning, good practice, and team working – skills that feed back directly into your own career and personal development
- Build relationships and networks in your locality
- Gain satisfaction knowing that your input directly supports young people and the wider community served by the school
- Being part of a multi-academy trust also enables your knowledge to be shared across other schools to provide support to more teachers and students
what you need to commit to
- Take part in regular governors’ meetings, usually four times per year with additional committee meetings as required.
- Spend time on training and getting to know the school through termly link governor visits.
- Occasionally sit on appointments panels or panels that handle staff or student discipline issues or complaints against the school.
how we’ll support you
We know that not all, in fact sometimes not even the best, governors have education experience, so we offer a comprehensive programme of training and support to help you gain confidence and build your skills. These include access to professional governance support both inside the Trust and outside, using The Key and the National Governors Association, 1:1 training on specific topics as needed, and lots of opportunities to link with governors in other schools to support and learn from each other.
what do our current governors say?
“I love how I get to play a part in helping my local school to improve and develop, but my biggest reason for serving is the opportunity it gives me to encourage and champion the great work that is already being done by such a hard-working group of staff and teachers”
“I’ve been involved with UTC Reading for a couple of years now. There has been a lot to learn to make an effective contribution but the reward in helping to support professional and committed staff and creating a high quality educational offering is huge. ALET has been extremely supportive in helping me understand the role, its requirements and the wider Trust objectives.”