Appointment of New Governors at Burbage Primary School

Appointment of new Governors at Burbage Primary School

Below you will find an outline of the types of Governors we have in our school and the committees we are a part of.

Types of governors at Burbage Primary School

•  Parent governors: selected by election (or appointment if insufficient people stand for election) and drawn from parents and carers of children at the school

•  Staff governors: selected by election from teaching and support staff paid to work at the school

•  Authority governors: appointed by the Local authority

•  Co-opted governors: appointed by the governing body to represent community interests

•  (Other categories of governors include foundation governors, partnership governors, sponsor governors and associated members)

We currently have;

•  1 Local Authority governors

•  5 Co-opted governors (can have up to 6)

•  Headteacher

•  1 staff governor

•  5 parent governors (can have up to 6)

To ensure our Governing Body has a clear and transparent appointment system we have produced the following document to clarify the process.

We have used information from the document entitled ‘Constitution of governing bodies of maintained schools’ May 2014

This guidance states that;

1.  Governing bodies should be no bigger than necessary to secure the range of skills they need. Smaller governing bodies are likely to be more cohesive and dynamic.

2.  A key consideration in the appointment and election of all new governors should be the skills and experience the governing body needs to be effective.

3.  Governing bodies should use a skills audit to identify any specific gaps that need to be filled in the skills, knowledge and experience of existing governors.

4.  Before being nominated for election or appointment, all prospective governors should be helped to understand the role of a governor and the governing bodies’ code of conduct. New legislation out in September 2015 indicates that all candidates should be interviewed before taking up the post and as a governing body we do this anyway to ensure new governors are fully aware of what is involved before committing to the role.

5.  In a situation where governors have to appoint a governor, this can only be done if they have the skills to contribute to effective governance and the success of the school.

6.  Governing bodies and local authorities should take steps to inform governor elections so that the electorate understands the extent to which nominated candidates possess the skills the governing body ideally requires.

Parent governors are elected by other parents at the school. Any parent, or carer, of a registered pupil at the school at the time of election is eligible to stand for election as a parent governor. Parent governors may continue to hold office until the end of their term of office even if their child leaves the school.

Schools must make every reasonable effort to fill parent governor vacancies through elections. However, the Regulations make provision for the governing body to appoint parent governors where:

·  not enough parents stand for election,

From this information we will take the following steps when a parent vacancy arises:

·  We will carry out a skills audit to see where we have any gaps in our Governing Body. We will look at this alongside any gaps we have in our committees in experience or knowledge.

·  We will then inform all parents of the skills we are looking for and ask for appropriate candidates to put themselves forward with a short introductory letter.

·  We will meet with all prospective candidates and discuss with them what it means to be a governor, the code of conduct (which outlines what is expected and makes clear the element of confidentiality) and have a general discussion with them about what they can offer and the time it takes up.

·  If following the meeting they are still happy to go forward for election we will then move forward and circulate the applicants to all parents and hold a vote.

·  If a situation arises where we don’t have enough candidates then we may consider appointing a candidate if, having met with them, we feel the skills they have would benefit the needs of our governing body. HOWEVER, in order to ensure we retain a fair level of elected governors the amount of appointed governors must never exceed half the total number of parent governors.

Associate members

Associate members are appointed by the governing body to serve on one or more governing body committee. They may also attend full governing body meetings. They are not governors and therefore do not have a vote in governing body decisions, but may be given a vote on decision made by committees to which they are appointed.

Associated members should be appointed because of the specific expertise and experience they can contribute to the effective governance and success of the school. The definition of associate member is wide. Subject to the disqualifications set out in the Regulations, the governing body may appoint a pupil, school staff member, or any other person as an associate member so that they can contribute their specific expertise. This can help to address specific gaps identified in the skills of governing body members, and/or help the governing body respond to particular challenges that they may be facing.