Becoming a School Governor
The role of the school governor is rewarding and a good way to give back to your local community.
School governors are one of the largest volunteer groups in the country and play a key role in raising standards in schools. The roles and responsibilities of the school governors and the governing body are vital to the effective running of a school.
What do governors do?
School governors provide strategic leadership and accountability in schools. Governors appoint the Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher. The governing body hold the main responsibility for finance in schools and work with the Headteacher in determining the vision and ethos of the school.
Each governor is a member of the governing body, which is established in law as a corporate body. Individual governors cannot act separately of the rest of the governing body, decisions are made with joint responsibility of the governing body.
Key functions for a governing body are:
- setting the schools strategic direction, through the setting of the schools vision and ethos
- holding the Headteacher and Senior Leadership team to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils
- maintaining an overview of the schools finance and ensuring the spend is value for money
Who can become a governor?
People must be over 18 years of age to become a governor. There are no qualifications required, other than a commitment to give time to the role and a capacity for working with groups of people. There are different categories of governors:
- co-opted
- foundation
- local authority
- parent
- partnership
- sponsor
The type of governor you will become will depend on your circumstance. All governors have the same role and responsibilities once they are part of the governing body.
School Governor Application Form
