‘Curious’, ‘collaborative’, ‘exciting’, and ‘worthwhile’. These are some of the words school governors across East Sussex use to describe their roles.
If you’re thinking of becoming a school governor, but are unsure of what it takes, don’t worry. Schools’ governor boards include people from a broad range of professions and backgrounds with a variety of skills.
We spoke to four governors about their hugely rewarding roles helping schools in East Sussex continue to deliver an excellent education to students.
School governor training
Are you concerned you might not have the right skills, knowledge and soft skills to be a governor? Training is provided to help people develop and progress their skills and develop expertise through hands-on experience.
Jane Branson (above) is a consultant in the educational world and a governor at Willingdon Community School and Chyngton Primary School. She says: ‘You don’t need any experience at all to be a governor. You just need to be the kind of person who’s interested and invested in education. If you believe in education, if you believe in the power of it to transform lives, you’re qualified to be a governor.’
New governors are encouraged to attend an induction training course that looks at everything from how schools work to the responsibilities of governors. After that there are packages of training people can opt into, for example a ‘new to primary education’ course and a similar one for secondary schools. This enables people to plot their own journey.
Former English teacher Jane adds: ‘We wouldn’t expect one governor to go on every single course that’s available. But because there’s such a wide array of training, people can choose either to go on courses that particularly interests them, that represents areas that they know nothing about or that match areas that are in their day jobs, things that they already know something about and they want to apply that to their new role as a governor.’
Getting support
Denise Kong has been a governor for 15 years. From knowing nothing about the role, she found a ‘very supportive’ organisation and met people that were happy to share their experience and give advice. The role gives her professional portfolio an ‘extra dimension’ to her day job working with computers.
Denise advises new governors not to expect to know everything at once. It can take up to a year of learning and gaining valuable experience. ‘The first year’s going to be really hard and don’t be put off by that because there’s a lot of safeguarding to come up to speed with,’ she advises. ‘But [new governors] should expect help from their school.’
Giving back to the community
Jessica Tye’s (above) training gave her the confidence to be a safeguarding link governor. A role she began without any prior knowledge, but which is important in making sure children are safe in education.
The projects manager at the Advertising Standards Authority is a governor at King’s Academy in Ringmer. She has been a governor for around 18 months.
Jessica became a governor to give back to, and be part of, the community she moved into five years ago. ‘I really wanted to do something that meant I could learn more about the community and really feel part of it,’ she says. ‘And being a governor has really given that to me. I would encourage anyone that’s interested in being a governor to give it a go.’
She is also passionate about the importance of having diversity on a governing board. ‘I think a diverse board is a strong governing board. And I think, as far as possible, you want the governing board to reflect the local community because then everyone is bringing their own kind of personal perspectives and experiences to their board, rather than just everyone thinking the same thing.’
Wide support network
When Denise Kong (above) became a governor at her children’s school, she realised the role was about wanting the school to be ‘really good’ for the community.
Denise is a governor at six schools and is the Chair of the East Sussex Governor Forum. The forum is a group of governor volunteers who meet three times a year. The forum brings together the experience of governance across the county. Its roles ranges from deciding where extra training is needed to speaking with Governor Services and leading meetings.
Being the Forum’s chair has reassured Denise of the importance of communication. ‘For example, say a school is struggling with some area, I’ve usually been able to point at another school where I’ve seen that problem in the past and say, well, this school got out of it by doing this,’ she says. That might include advising on solutions to look at and explore, and this can give schools the confidence there is a suitable solution.
How school governance is developing
Jenny Barnard Langston (above) has been a governor for around 35 years. She began as a governor because she fostered teenagers who had been excluded from school and wanted to support them to get an education. ‘I still hold that children have the right to be given a quality education, whatever experience they have, and that no child should be left out,’ she says. ‘It’s about quality-of-life experiences for the children.’
The biggest shift in the past three decades of governors, says Jenny, is a shift from older, retired people sitting on boards to there being a lot more professional people. This is because it helps with career development, from getting leadership experience to oversight of management.
The skill sets required of a governor have also developed over the years. There are new priorities when appointing or recruiting governors. It’s not just the soft skills, although they are still valuable, but management and financial skills as well as the ability to communicate clearly and influence decisions are important, says Jenny.
‘A lot of people are coming forward with those skills who’ve actually developed those school skills in business and can help the school to promote itself,’ Jenny says.
If you would like to learn more about being a governor, or would like to apply, please visit our Becoming a school governor website page.
