Governor's Role

The governing body is responsible for both the conduct of the school and for promoting high standards. The governing body carries out its role by setting the vision for the school and then ensuring that the school works efficiently and effectively towards achieving its vision. It does this by building a thorough knowledge of the school and its community, by both supporting and constructively challenging the school, and by ensuring accountability and compliance. The governing body of the school is made up of parent governors, staff governors, Local Authority governors and co-opted governors.

Parent governor vacancies are advertised, as they arise, to all parents/carers of children at the school. If no nominations are received, governors may approach a parent/carer they believe may be interested and appoint them. Local Authority governors are nominated via Gateshead Council Cabinet. Staff governor vacancies are advertised, as they arise, to staff in school. Co-opted governors are appointed by the Governing Body and can be parents, staff, members of the community or someone from outside the community who has an interest in the school/education.

Before you decide to nominate someone (permission of the nominee must be sought), or indeed stand yourself, you may want to know a bit more about what is involved. Governors need not be experts in the field of education. What they do need is an interest in the school and in the welfare of our children and the time and willingness to get involved. The skills you have can be very useful to the governing body. Governors need what is known as ‘soft skills’ – the ability to be able to build relationships with a range of people, to be able to work as part of a team, to be able to question, and to make connections between different types of information. All governors are expected to be able to read straightforward budget reports and data on school standards.

Our governing body expects governors to

  • attend three termly meetings of the full governing body
  • sit on at least one committee and attend the meetings which are usually once a term
  • visit the school formally for monitoring purposes once a term
  • visit the school informally when available
  • commit to attend training courses, perform additional research as required

In return, our governing body commits to

  • provide you with a structured induction
  • provide access to quality training via Gateshead Council, Clerking Service
  • provide you with an experienced governor as mentor