Becoming a Governor
The Two Counties Trust is a family of academies with a shared ethos, common values and collective goals. Each academy within the Trust has a Local Governing Body consisting of a number of parents, staff and co-opted governors who are both elected and appointed volunteers and who support the schools and the aims of the Trust.
Local Governing Bodies are accountable to the Trust Board and play a key role by delivering support, challenge, scrutiny, and improvement, acting as a critical friend to school leaders.
Our Local Governing Bodies are made up of representative members of the school community. Chosen for a mix of skills, experience, qualifications and competence, they play an important role as set out in the scheme of delegation Governance structure and Scheme of Delegation.
Opportunities
With 9 secondary academies across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, 11,000 children and 1,500 employees the Trust often has opportunities for individuals to become governors at one or more of our academies.
Expectations
Knowledge of the education system is not essential as training will be given; however, you must have a passion to ensure the best possible education and outcomes for our students, be able to work as a team, and have the time to commit to being a Governor.
Each Local Governing Body has four meetings each year which are normally held in the early evening together with two half-day challenge days which are also held in-school.
Being a governor provides an opportunity to develop your skills and experience, give something back to the community, and support young people to achieve their goals.
What does a governor do?
A governor contributes to the work of the Local Governing Body in ensuring high standards of achievement for all children and young people in the academy by:
- Setting the academy’s vision, ethos and strategic direction.
- Holding the academy to account for its educational performance.
- Overseeing the financial performance of the academy. i.e making sure its money is well spent.
As part of a team, a Governor is expected to:
1. Contribute to the strategic discussions at local Governing Body meetings, which determine:
- The vision and ethos of the academy.
- That all students have access to a broad and balanced curriculum.
- The monitoring of the academy’s budget to ensure VFM, including the use of pupil premium funding.
- Approval of academy specific policies.
2. Hold the senior leaders to account by monitoring the academy’s performance; this includes:
- Reviewing and critically appraising the academy’s self-evaluation and ensuring this is used to inform priorities in the School Improvement Plan.
- Asking challenging questions.
- Ensuring the academy deploys academy specific policies and procedures and the academy is operating in accordance with those policies.
- Acting as a Link Governor on a specific areas, for example Health and Safety, making relevant enquiries to the relevant staff, and reporting to the Local Governing Body on progress.
- Listening to and reporting to the academy’s stakeholders e.g. students, families, and the wider community.
The role of the Governor is strategic. A Governor does not:
- Write academy policies or documents.
- Undertake audits, even if the Governor has the relevant professional experience.
- Spend considerable time working with the pupils of the academy – if you want to work directly with children, there are may be other valuable voluntary roles within the academy you may wish to pursue.
- The Local Governing Body should consider income streams and the potential for income generation, but not carry out fundraising tasks.
- Undertake classroom observations to make judgments on the quality of teaching. The Local Governing Body monitors the quality of teaching in the academy by receiving data from senior staff and external sources.
If you would like an informal conversation to find out more about our academies and becoming a governor please email us and a member of our team will get in touch with you.
