been asked to be a community governor.

[Mrsh3103]

I have been approached by my local primary school, they have asked me to be their community governor.
I am honoured that they thought of me

Can anyone give me some advise on what it's like being a governor, how much time it takes up, whether I will have to do governor training and if so will I be expected to do this during the day?

The school have made it seem very appealing..... but they want me to take the position!

[lisbet]

They must think highly of you

I was on the governing body of a nursery school. The school understood that we all had limitations on what time we could give to the school. The local authority had a really good evening training programme which really helped me understand the role. It wasn't too time consuming, but I wasn't working then. (Apart from being a mum of three.) It was getting babysitters so that I could attend meetings that was my biggest challenge with it. I think it was a useful experience in term of 'personal development', and I think I made a positive contribution to the school. Also good to have on my CV. x

[The Juggler]

wow! they must think highly of you to approach you hon. it's honestly no different to being a parent governor (if you've been one). You'll be expected to sit on a committee (personnel, curriculum, site and premises, finance etc) and then attend a meeting for that area plus the full governing body meeting. If they are like my school, they will value your contribution as a 'user' of the school and will want to hear what you have to say.


go for it. I was parent, then community gov. for mylocal primary for years and sat on the children's centre advisory board as a CM member when our school opened the children's centre.

[LauraS]

I was a parent governor of a local primary, which is the same thing, and it didn't work out. The meetings were all held within office hours so necessitated me taking a day off (there were something like six per year) plus I was then needed to sit on two extra committees which had two or three meeting per year each, same hours. For one of those, I was needed to go in and observe lessons, assemblies etc. the meetings were sometimes changed at short notice, I had a weeks notice of a date change for one (well, turned up to the actual meeting only to be told it had been changed to next week instead, having already had a half day off at great expense) and the lesson observations etc were last minute. I personally couldn't sustain the meetings alongside having to run a reliable business. If I were an employee who had the flexibility to book time off at short notice I would love to do it again, but wouldn't do it as se.

[LauraS]

I have been approached by my local primary school, they have asked me to be their community governor. I am honoured that they thought of me Can anyone give me some advise on what it's like being a governor, how much time it takes up, whether I will have to do governor training and if so will I be expected to do this during the day? The school have made it seem very appealing..... but they want me to take the position!

My la also ran training in the evenings, twice a year. I'd say it takes quite a bit of work in the beginning as you need to understand a how a school runs. Ongoing, it's a case of reading the minutes, looking into the issues raised for the next meeting and preparing etc. Perhaps researching or preparing reports for your particular committees by having meetings with teachers, observing lessons, reviewing current policies/practice etc.