Governance
Become a school governor or trustee and make a difference in your community
Volunteering as a school governor or trustee brings amazing rewards and satisfaction. With over 500 schools currently advertising vacancies on their governing bodies and trust boards, the search is on to find more volunteers, particularly for our special needs schools, faith schools and small schools.
There is no requirement to have an educational background, just a passion to support every child to have a safe and positive school experience.
There are many roles available, so a diverse team with different skills, and work/life experiences is important to ensure that all our county's young people, from all areas of our community are represented. Governors and Trustees can also be parents, grandparents, or carers of a child in a local school.
Remember being a school governor is a ‘convenient’way of volunteering, you don’t have to commit to every Thursday, 4:00pm – 6:00pm for 52 weeks of the year – most of your volunteering (link role
visits) you undertake in your own time, at your own convenience.
Remember too, you get free training – useful for building your own CV and potentially enhancing future career prospects.
“We want every child in the county to be able to achieve their full potential, and Hertfordshire schools provide a great school experience to thousands of pupils. School governors play a vital role in this, and we need to make sure that we have enough governors at all our schools to support head teachers, school colleagues and pupils.” Cllr Terry Douris, Cabinet Member for Education.
Help and support is provided every step of the way:
- a comprehensive online and face to face training programme
- a helpdesk, five days a week, to answer any questions and to access any support
- a variety of webinars and briefings to ensure governors are kept up to date with any education changes
Juliet Whitehead who is a school governor alongside her full-time role at Hertfordshire County Council, said:
“After the challenges of the past few years, it’s an exciting time as schools adapt and change to ensure the best outcomes and opportunities for their pupils and more school governors are needed to be part of this journey.
Being a governor is so rewarding and fulfilling. Governors help to make sure that pupils are provided with a high-quality education. Over the years, I have not only gained a much better understanding of the school system but have also had invaluable opportunities to develop my skills both professionally and personally.”
Have a look at the following video clips to find out more about being a Governor or Trustee:
To find more or express your interest, please visit https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/schoolgovernors or call the HFL Governance team on 01438 544487 or email governance@hertsforlearning.co.uk
Clerking
If you are familiar with school governance, have excellent administrative, communication and organisation skills, you may also be interested in working as a part time Clerk to the governors. For more on this please contact clerking@hfleducation.org