The Open University is supporting national charity School Governors’ One-Stop Shop to encourage more people to volunteer as school governors. Click here to find out more. Here, OU graduate Violet Rook gives us an insight into being a school governor...

The other morning I went to school early and stayed until lunchtime. When I was a child, I would have not welcomed  the idea of going back to school in the school holidays. Yet there I was! Why? I had come to a meeting for school governors.

I have been a Governor for more than five years now. It is not very usual to meet before term starts, but it was a special meeting to discuss some development plans. Being a School Governor, one sees the process of running a school from many angles.

A governor needs to understand the management of the staff, the administration processes, new legislation in regard to school life and how this can effect the pupils and the parents. It is a lot of responsibility that is rewarded via the knowledge that the future of the next generation will be helped by being a 'critical friend' to the school. One can attend conferences where local and national figures in education speak and debate and one can even network with these same people depending on one's level of  confidence.

Confidence

Confidence grows with experience and fosters knowledge. One might be nominated to be a member of a local 'Children and Young Peoples Scrutiny Panel' of the Local Authority. Such panels discuss the targets of Local Area Agreement regarding education and how local priorities are progressed.  Members include Counsellors and Officers of the Local Authority.

Walking through the corridors of the local civic centre one might meet the Mayor or the lead of the council. For example, the National Governors Association had a conference in Leeds this year where the leader of Leeds city council addressed the delegates. 

There are different types of School Governors. Parent Governors, Community Governors and Local Authority Governors.  All Governors attend at least one full Governing Body meeting a term. I got up to go with the close of the meeting at the primary school and  the 'Head' gave me a copy of the new school handbook, indicating the improvement since last year. Just knowing that one's efforts have helped a school keep going and resources have been found, used and brought benefit to at least the 200 pupils there, makes getting up early and attending school during the holidays really worthwhile.