School governors

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School Governors

Governing bodies of schools are made up of all kinds of different people. There are parents, people who work in the school, representatives of the local community and governors appointed by the local authority or diocese.

You do not have to be an 'education expert' to be a governor, but you do need to be willing to work as part of a team and open to learning more about being a governor.  This can be done by attending training, school visits and sharing information and experience with other governors.

For further details about the role of the school governor, click on the attachment - Make a Difference: Become a School Governor.

How can I become a school governor?

Contact the School Workforce and Governor Support Team in the first instance on (01273) 293511 or 293465, or email governor.support@brighton-hove.gov.uk.  They can tell you more about the different types of governor, the level of commitment and which schools have vacancies.

If you have experience in children's services, you could be eligible to be an Authority Governor.  These are governors who are appointed by a panel at the local authority, which meets once a term to consider applications.  There is more information about this below, as well as an application form.  The next panel will be on 17 June 2013 and the deadline for applications is 17 May. 

• Authority Governors: Q&As - updated Jan 2012
• Authority Governor Application Form - updated Sept 2012

If you do not have a background in children's services then you could be a Community Governor.  These are usually people who represent the local community and can often bring specific areas of expertise to the governing body.  The Governor Support Team can provide a list of vacancies in your area.  An application form and further details are below:

• Community Governor Application Form

If you would like to be considered as a Parent Governor at your child's school, contact the school to find out when they will next be seeking nominations for a vacancy.

If you are interested in becoming a Foundation Governor you should contact the appropriate Diocesan Authority:

Diocese of Chichester (Church of England)
Director of Education
211 New Church Road
Hove
BN3 4ED

Diocese of Arundel and Brighton (Roman Catholic)
4 Southgate Drive
Crawley
West Sussex
RH10 6RP

Governing bodies also have Staff Governors, who are elected by the members of staff in the school

School Workforce and Governor Support Team

The team is based in King's House in Hove and helps schools and governing bodies in the following ways:

• Recruitment and appointment of governors
• Providing training and support through the training programme and work with individual schools and governing bodies.  For details please tel: (01273) 293466 or email governor.support@brighton-hove.gov.uk
• Advice and guidance about legislation relating to schools
• Communicating practical information such as term dates

The team also works with groups such as the Brighton & Hove Governors' Association to consult on government regulations, local authority procedures and other issues relating to school governance and management.  It then provides information and clarification on their implementation via termly Governance, Strategy and Partnership meetings.  These are open to all governors at schools in Brighton & Hove and details are listed in the training programme. The elected committee meets more often and undertakes consultations on behalf of local governors. For details of the next meeting date tel: (01273) 293506.