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Thursday 20 October 2016

Governor Situations Vacant

Governors. What are they for, exactly?

For starters, we set the vision of the school. A vision may be defined as 'a clear mental picture of what  could be, fired by the conviction that it should be.' You will find our Vision Statement on the right hand side of this blog. It offers, we think, a compelling picture educational excellence. In essence we want Matravers to be 'a world class centre for teaching and learning at the heart of the Westbury Community'. What's not to like? 

It's one thing to have a vision, but you also need a carefully devised plan to make it happen. Governors work with the Headteacher to develop an all-encompassing school improvement strategy that is designed to make our vision a reality. 

We also set 'Key Performance Indicators' so we can judge whether the actions detailed in the strategy are having the desired effect. Some of them concern the academic progress of pupils, others are related to student attendance and behavior, staff development, enhancements to the school site, and so on. Governors then hold the Headteacher to account for delivering these goals.

Governors monitor the school budget to make sure that funds are spent on our strategical priorities and that value for money is achieved. 

But it isn't all facts and figures. We have two Governor Visit Days per academic year. Governors get to sit in on lessons and speak to students about their experiences of school life. We never cease to be impressed by what we see. Fascinating lessons. Exceptional students.

When we visit the school, we often ask students what they think we as governors do. Recently a Year 7 student piped up, 'You try and make the school better'. That's about it, really. Under the leadership of our Headteacher, Dr. Riding, Matravers has been on a rapid journey of educational improvement over the last few years. It's been a privilege for those of us who have served on the governing board to have played our part in this transformation. But we are not at all complacent. We want Matravers to be better still, for our students, staff and the local community. 

Being a governor takes time, effort and commitment. We make no bones about that. But we believe it's worth it. Education can have a massive effect on children's life chances and they only get one shot at schooling. We want to make sure that the education they receive at Matravers is nothing less than 'world class'. 

Right now we have a number of vacancies on the Board of Governors – 1 for a parent governor, 2 in a ‘co-opted’ governor position and 2 in a ‘partnership’ position. Co-opted governors can be anyone with the relevant skills, including parents of children at the school, and local authority or school employees, as well as other members of the community. Partnership governors are nominated by parents or other members of the community, but cannot be parents of children at the school, or members of staff. 

See the Governor Vacancies page of the school website, which also contains contact details if you want to find out more. We have extended the deadline to 18 November to give time for more people to apply.

You don't have to be from the world of education to be a school governor. Current members of the board bring a wide range of skills and experience to their role. New governors receive induction and training. Opportunities will be flagged up to undertake further training for specific areas of governor responsibility. We may not be paid for what we do, but that does not make us any less professional in our attitude and approach to governing the school.

Help make Matravers even better. Consider becoming a school governor.