School governors

You can register to become a governor at the Gov.uk website.

School governors are one of the biggest volunteer forces in the country, working in their spare time to promote school improvement and to support headteachers and teachers in their work.

Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills) reflects that the quality of governors’ work is a very important. Inspection evidence tells us that there is a link between effective governance, the quality of leadership and management, and the quality of provision and pupil success.

There are a number of different categories of Governor: Parent, Staff, Local Authority, Co-Opted and Foundation, however, regardless of category all governors have three core functions with regards to the school, which are:

  • Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;
  • Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the performance management of staff; and
  • Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

Once appointed, Reading Borough Council offer governors an annual training programme which:

  • Provides up to date, focused programmes of training and development for governors/trustees and governing boards to help raise standards in our schools;
  • Equips governors/trustees with skills and knowledge to be effective in their role;
  • Offers support, advice, guidance and information in various ways to meet governors/trustees’ needs; and
  • Provides a set of products to support the continuous relevant progress of governors/trustees.

Further information and annual programme of training, briefing sessions and networks provided by Governor Services.

If you are thinking about applying to become a school governor, these links may be useful:

Providers: governance leadership and clerking development

Governance handbook and competency framework

National Governance Association