Governors, as volunteers, usually with busy professional and personal lives of their own, are the unsung heroes of the profession and are asked to commit their valuable time to carry a heavy responsibility in improving educational standards so that children and young people have the chance to realise their full potential. 

‘Trustees and governors are, in my view, the unsung heroes of the system.’ 

Sir David Carter Former National Schools Commissioner

Governors are responsible for overseeing the management side of a school: strategy, policy, budgeting and staffing. They enable the school to run as effectively as possible. They are there as a ‘critical friend’ to provide challenge, holding to account the Head and the school’s senior leadership team, by questioning the school’s performance, and are there to support and take responsibility for the Head’s wellbeing.

Assembling an effective governing body isn’t easy, not only about recruiting the necessary numbers, but if the board is going to work effectively, it needs governors who are comfortable with all kinds of tasks: from sifting through hefty policy reports and picking apart data to communicating with parents.

No one person will be able to do all of these things, but it is important that collaboratively they have a range of expertise that includes an understanding of:

Beyond all, a Governor needs commitment, enthusiasm, confidence in their role to improve the lives of children and young people. They are our future and schools provide them with the necessary foundations in helping them achieve their potential.

Governors can be set up as users on your iP system as can any other user.  The settings behind their user rights will dictate how much of the system they will see, which staff members’ performance management is shared with them, and the level of functionality.

As with many areas of iP, your site can be set up in a bespoke way to suit your organisation.  However, as a standard model, it’s suggested a Governors’ Work Area could be set up as follows:-

In this example model, the Governors are NOT given access to the following in their Work Area, but a tweak of the settings could change this, if necessary, for your organisation:-

 

In this model, only the Chair of Governors is set to be the line manager of the Headteacher/Principal.  Again, if necessary, a tweak of the settings can turn this functionality off.