Welcome to this introduction for considering becoming a foundation governor or director. Please work your way through the content below.
Our Catholic schools and academies would not be able to function and exist without the hard work of all of our governors and directors.
Foundation governors and Directors are appointed by the Archbishop to represent his education policy in his school and to preserve and develop the Catholic ethos of the school.
Foundation governors and directors are there to ensure the Catholic ethos of the school/academy is upheld. In order to do that they must:
*Hold the headteacher to account.
*Oversee the financial performance of the school/academy and set the budget.
*Manage the school’s/ academy’s admissions criteria
*Recruitment of headteacher and
*fulfill the Archbishop’s vision of education. At the moment, the Archbishop’s Vision is that all his schools should be Academies within one of the 5 Multi Academy Trusts in Southwark.
Here is an example of how governors carry out their role. Governors visit the school, talk to the pupils and staff, and ensure that policies agreed by governors are actually being implemented and understood by the whole school community. If there is an Assessment for Learning Policy, are the pupils and staff using the policy regularly? Evidence of usage could be teased out by talking to the pupils and staff or else looking in marked pupil work.
Governors would need to be aware of how well managed the school’s budget is. Is the school’s expenditure in line with other schools within the LA? Or other schools of a similar size? Ask the SLT to provide this information as part of their paper work for a GB meeting.
The Archbishop’s Vision for his schools is that they should all be in one of the 5 Multi Academy Trusts? Is your school in a Multi Academy Trust? If not why not? What is preventing the school from joining a Multi Academy Trust? Is the Archbishop aware of what is preventing the school from joining a Multi Academy Trust and what are you as governors and the SLT doing to overcome the obstacles and join a Multi Academy Trust?
You must be aged 18 and over, be a practicing Catholic and have wide skills
It is a voluntary role.
Inclusive of reading documents and attending meetings, it is roughly 10- 12 hours per term. Depending upon what may be happening in the school, there may be more hours required.
It depends upon the school/ academy. There are usually about six meetings a year.
Ideally if possible do attend all meetings. Hopefully there are no more than 6 meetings a year.
In many schools, the meetings can take place in person or online. At meetings governors are expected to ask questions about information/ papers that have been circulated.
Your role is to be a critical friend. This means you are there to ask questions about the reason behind decisions or decide on a range of options offered. It is not a governor or director’s role to agree with every concept that is put forward. Do not be concerned about asking questions or about postponing decisions until another meeting in order to obtain more information, if you are not satisfied with the information provided.
If you can attend any event when invited then you should, but at the very least it should be once a year. It is always wonderful and supportive of the Senior Leadership Team and the school for governors or directors to visit the school. However, life also happens and many times governors are not able to attend because of work and other commitments.
You are not an employee of the school. Your role is not operational it is strategic. Your role is not to fulfill any paid role within the school. You are there as a volunteer and governor.
Governors and Directors are not the Headteacher and so are not involved in the day to day running of the school. For example, it is not the role of a governor to stipulate that a school must purchase a particular poetry book or novel. Governors could ask the school what genres of books do they have and are the range of books in school catering to needs of all pupils, including the different genders, disability, cultures etc.
Foundation governors and Directors are appointed by the Archbishop to represent his education policy in his school and to preserve and develop the Catholic ethos of the school.
Do attend training provided by the Diocese, Local Authority, or any other provider of Governor training.
Please join us in the role of foundation governor or director. You may not be able to join at this precise time because of other life events. Do you know anyone in your family, friends or parish who may be willing to become a foundation governor?
Must remember that an Academy is a company owned by the Archbishop and Trustees of the Diocese. You need to be aware that there are therefore Company and Charity Law implications.
Thank you for taking this time to read the above information. If you have any further question please do not hesitate to contact Yvonne at the Education Service