Who are school governors?

Governors are Britain’s biggest volunteer group and come from all walks of life and bring a range of skills to governing bodies.  They are unpaid volunteers who are passionate about education and participate regularly in several areas of work. Most governors spend approximately 80 hours a year attending meetings, reading papers and taking forward actions, but it may require a considerable amount more time than that depending on the work needed.

What do school governors do?

The governing body is the strategic leader of schools and play a vital role  in making sure that every child gets the best possible education.  The purpose of all governing bodies is to ‘conduct the school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement at the school’.  They  have a strong focus on four core functions:

• ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction for the school
• holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils
• overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.
• ensuring the voices of stakeholders are heard

An effective governing body is a source of support and strength for the school and helps its leadership team cope with major issues and handle change.

School governors do not:

• Inspect the school
• Have involvement in the day-to-day running of the school
• Authorise all expenditure
• Decide which pupils will be admitted to the school
• Decide how pupils are taught individual subjects
• Have powers as individuals, as any powers and legal rights are with the governing body as a group

 However, governors are:

• Fully committed to the role
• Discreet, open minded and fair
• Willing to raise questions constructively and participate in discussion and decision-making
• Prepared to participate in the life of the school
• Committed to attending governor meetings and training
• Open to new ideas and ready to learn
• Acting with honesty and integrity and ready to explain their actions and decisions to staff, pupils, parents and anyone with a legitimate interest in the school
• Following the Nolan Principals

Your role as a parent or carer:

As a parent or carer, you are hugely important to your child’s education and personal development.  Engaging with your child’s school will benefit their education and provides the opportunity for you to share what’s going well and what needs to be improved.  For a parent or carer, here are some ways you can engage with your child’s school when you have the opportunity:

• Respond to the surveys that are released
• When attending parent’s evenings, school performances and other events that invite parents to attend, take the time to speak to school governors
• Let the school know what support would be beneficial to help your child’s learning, wellbeing, and experience

Engaging with governors isn’t about who does what or how they do it. Instead, it’s about helping the people who make the decisions to shape the what and the why of the education and experience offered to all children.  You can talk to governors about things like:

• Your views on changes that have taken or are taking place
• Challenges and opportunities facing families and the community
• Your views on what the school is doing well or needs to do better
• How topics like mental health, behaviour or the curriculum affects your child

Governors are committed to:

• Look at the results of parent survey – this provides essential information about parents’ views
• Update parents about the board’s work through the school website

Meet our Owslebury Primary School Governing Body.

Allison Jordan

Allison is a parent governor and serves as the Chair of Governors. Allison works in analytics for NHS England and brings a focus on data as well as 16 years’ experience in team management and leadership.  Allison has one boy at the school (Year 4) and one that left last year (now at Westgate) and was keen to volunteer at the school to help make a difference and enjoys being a part of the school alongside the children. 

Sumaiya Hussain

Sumaiya serves as a co-opted governor and Vice Chair who brings 10 years of teaching and leadership experience, alongside a decade of her more recent work in health operations and project management.  Sumaiya holds a Masters in Education and currently works in Adults' Health and Care at Hampshire County Council.  She was keen to get involved in her village school and use her passion for education.  She lives locally with her husband, two children and cat - they love the beautiful setting and have enjoyed being part of the wonderful local community.

Isobel Pinder

Isobel lives in the local area with her husband and her flat-coated retriever, and is proud to serve the community as a Governor at Owslebury Primary.  She is a management consultant by profession, and brings her experience of strategic, policy and governance issues to the role.  Isobel also holds a part-time role with an educational charity which takes her into schools across the south of England, where she works with pupils to develop their knowledge, skills and aspirations.  Isobel is passionate about the power of education to transform lives and to improve society, and hopes to make a positive contribution to the work of Owslebury school.

Rebecca Thompson

[Space for photo and biography]

Brigid North

Brigid is a new parent governor having moved to the village mid-academic year with her husband and children a couple of years ago. Brigid's children started at Owslebury immediately following the move and have thrived there. For work, Brigid is a partner in an international law firm and hopes to use her experience in serving the school community and all of its children as a governor.

Adrian Dolby

[Space for photo and biography]

Vacancy

Staff governor

[Space for photo and biography]

Vicky Marr

Clerk to Governors

[Space for photo and biography]

Upcoming Governor Priorities:

The governing body is committed to providing confident and strong strategic leadership for robust accountability, oversight and overall effectiveness around school priorities and opportunities for improvement.  Our impact statement from last year can also be reviewed here.

Governor Vacancies

If you are interested in becoming a governor you can find out more on the Governments webpage, or come and speak to any of us.