This afternoon, I made my way to Coberley C of E Primary School in Gloucestershire (https://coberleycoeprimary.co.uk/index.html) to deliver a two-hour training session for governors, entitled ‘roles and responsibilities‘, on behalf of Governor Services at Gloucestershire County Council. Sandra Shepherd, Educatuion Lead, Education Outcomes and Intervention at Gloucestershire County Council, also popped along as she was keen to see how the governing board had progressed since her last visit, as well as catch me in action. No pressure then!
After the formal welcome, introductions and housekeeping, I outlined the learning objectives for the session.
Next, we considered what governing boards are for, the features of effective governance, personal attributes, and understanding your role, before embarking upon an activity that focused on building an effective team. We later looked at a corporate body, ensuring compliance, including policies, and delegation.
The second part of the session explored the three key roles for governors in some depth, namely:
1. Set strategic direction;
2. Holding the headteacher to account;
3. Effective use of school finances.
A range of further activities were interspersed throughout to break up the content and encourage a degree of interaction and discussion. Governors were keen to become involved and shared their thoughts willingly; this always makes my job easier.
We finished by contemplating exceptional governance, leaving some time to evaluate the governing board and ponder the next steps.
I revisited the learning objectives projected at the start of the session and prompted those present to complete a short online evaluation form for the Governor Services team at Gloucestershire County Council.
This is a rather content-heavy session. Governors now need to go away and digest the material thoroughly before they meet again.
Good luck for the next academic year!
Feedback from participants:
Thank you for the training tonight for the governors at Coberley.
Thanks for today, Emma … it was really useful and we have some great starting points to be going on with.
Just a quick message to say thank you for this afternoon, Emma. Your presentation was really well-timed and well-pitched.