School Governor Vacancies – Ark Schools Portsmouth

Ark Multi Academy Trust has three schools in the heart of Portsmouth. 

Ark Ayrton and Ark Dickens are Primaries (pupils aged 4 to 10). 

We are looking for new governors to join the Local Governing Bodies (LBG) of two schools (Ayrton and Dickens currently have a joint LGB).

Ark aim to create LGBs with a broad range of skills that will enable them to:

•        Focus closely on improving education and aspiration

•        Support and challenge the school and hold it accountable

•        Contribute their skills, experience and time to building their school’s success

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

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

·       Make a valuable contribution to education and your community

·       Support and challenge the school to make improvements for pupils and staff

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

Governors are involved in the strategic management of the school and monitoring and evaluating progress of the school against specific targets.  They also act as a source of challenge and support to the headteacher. In action, this means:

·       Having an overview of budgets and how money is spent

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

·       Sitting on panels and making decisions about pupil exclusions

·       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

By volunteering your time, you are making a positive contribution to the school’s success and having an impact on the lives of our pupils, teachers and the local community. Through being a governor, you will also have opportunities to raise the school’s profile and celebrate its successes within the local community.

Process:

You will need an account to register your interest for this role. Once you have registered your interest you will receive an automatic email with next steps. If you have not received this in a couple of hours, please do get in touch as it may not have registered (volunteering@hiveportsmouth.org.uk). 

You will need to respond to the "Criteria Check" email to progress with this role. 

Please check your junk email folder in case any emails end up there.  Friendly reminder that the charities/organisations emails may end up here too. 

Don't forget you can add up any volunteering hours as part of Team 100 Opportunity - Hive Portsmouth or part of the Donate 100 things challenge Opportunity

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 a thorough understanding of the education system, just the necessary skills, character and time to contribute.

Schools 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.