being a governorBeing a Governor

I became a Governor at Highgate Wood (a large secondary school in Crouch End) in May 2010 – with absolutely no idea what a Governor really does. Since then I’ve been quite busy!

  • I’ve attended 3 full Governors meetings (which meets 4 or 5 times an academic year and is the decision making body and discusses all major issues – but tends to review then approve issues that have been considered in detail by the various Committees).  These tend to last 3 or 4 hours in an evening.
  • actively participated in 10 or so meetings of the Finance and Premises Committee – which sounds dull;  but at our first meeting we were presented with a £500,000 forecast deficit so went into over-drive; deficit reduction plans were written and debated, a detailed forensic analysis of recent years numbers and the forecasts were analysed inside and out (by me – quite a feat given that financial modelling was never my role when I was a banker) and a series of cost reduction measures – including redundancies – were considered, reviewed and agreed.  These meetings have been held sometimes during the day, sometimes in the evenings and tend to last 2-3 hours.
  • attended 5 meetings of the ICT Sub-Committee (even duller sounding – but had to resolve the many teething problems faced by the school as it completed a major refurbishment programme and inevitable over-spend/under-specification and rolled out a new IT network and IT Service provider.  These are always early morning before the school day and tend to involve only me, one teacher responsible for IT and, sometimes, the Local Authority and the IT Service provider. 
  • spent most of a school day visiting my “link” department, Design and Technology (not something I have much experience in), talking to teachers and pupils, trying to understand their issues and concerns and then acting as their advocate with the Senior Leadership Team.  Each Governor is meant to have a link department and to visit it once a year.  
  • attended two meetings of a Working Group set up at the school earlier this year to address a number of staff welfare issues which had come out of a Staff Survey conducted by another governor. The Working Group includes Governors, Union Reps, Teaching and Support Staff and the Head.  It tends to meet immediately after school every 6 weeks or so and lasts 2-3 hours.
  • was one of a four member negotiating team which, under the auspices of an ACAS process, negotiated the end of a strike by NUT members.  This process ended up taking us 3 meetings of preparation and thought followed by 15 hours of negotiation over two days.

My sense is that this has been rather a baptism of fire and that I’ve taken on quite a number of roles quite quickly – but there is enormous flexibility in what you contribute in terms of time put in (some of our Governors limit their contributions to attendance at the full Governors’ meetings and a link department) and the expertise you contribute.

What makes it really interesting is the process of being involved in an inspiring group of volunteers from a wide variety of backgrounds and a need, in all situations, to come to decisions consensually and not by diktat (which is all I really knew having been an investment banker for most of my working life!).  What makes it really engaging is the fact that I have felt entirely welcome from the outset despite all the baggage that I bring; ex-investment banker, children at private school, no children at the school, not part of the local authority or education industry, no significant local community links or activities... Despite all that I’m made to feel completely welcome and encouraged to contribute because of what I can offer rather than what I am.

I have loved every aspect of it and cannot recommend it highly enough.  If anyone wanted to learn more about it, I would be perfectly happy to chat them through my experiences. oli@ames-blackaby.com