School Governor- St. John's Catholic Primary

St John's is a Catholic faith school who are currently seeking a governor to join their small governing body.  It is not vital that you are a Catholic but they would like someone who has a faith. 

Being a school governor is a challenging but hugely rewarding role. It will give you the chance to make a real difference to young people, give something back to your local community and use and develop your skills in a board-level environment. As a governor you will be able to:

• Use your own experience of education and life beyond school to inform conversations

• Develop and utilise your skills in a board-level environment

• Make a valuable contribution to education and your community

• Support and challenge the school so that it improves for pupils and staff

• Bring your unique experiences, perspectives and insights in to decision-making in the interests of the school community

Governors set the aims and objectives for the school or group of schools and set the policies and targets for achieving those aims and objectives. They monitor and evaluate the progress the school is making and act as a source of challenge and support to the headteacher. In action, this means:

• Managing budgets and deciding how money is spent

• Engaging with pupils, staff, parents and the school community

• Sitting on panels and making decisions about things like pupil exclusions and staff disciplinary

• Addressing a range of education issues within the school including disadvantaged pupils, pupils with special needs, staff workload and teacher recruitment

• Looking at data and evidence to ask questions and have challenging conversations about the school

• Appointing and performance reviewing the head teacher and senior leaders, including making decisions about pay

Skills

Anyone aged over 18 can be a governor and you do not need to be a parent. There is no requirement for you to have an understanding of the education system, just the necessary skills, character and time to contribute. There is plenty of training available to help you learn about education. 

Schools needs and benefit from a range of professional knowledge on their governing board including education, finance, human resources, legal, marketing and public relations, property and estates management, and organisational change. St John's is currently particularly keen to bring governors with skills or experience in Finance and Safeguarding.

It is also important that you have time to commit to the role. School governors typically attend 6-12 meetings per year, as well as making school visits and having background reading and training.

The current timetable at St John's is two 2hr Full Governor’s Meetings each term on Tuesdays (ie one each half term; currently 1700-1900); prior to these, on the Friday afternoon, are Finance meetings (not the full FGB) and, at least termly Curriculum Committees. There are also a few other committees that meet occasionally, but the basic commitment (not including training) would be the 6 x 2hr Governor’s meetings each year and probably one committee, or random visits to the school in the early stages.