Thank you for volunteering to become a governor in Buckinghamshire. The education system and our schools could not exist without the dedication, time and effort of every single volunteer governor, both locally and nationally.

Working collectively, governing boards across Buckinghamshire represent an impressive network, able to exchange ideas and experience whilst supporting each other through challenging times and developing partnership arrangements whether in a maintained school a federation or a Multi Academy Trust.

On volunteering to become a governor you will probably have tried to understand what is expected of you, how much time it will demand and how you can contribute. Getting off to a positive start will mean that you can contribute effectively and more quickly; preparation is key to your success.

We have pulled together useful resources, both from with Buckinghamshire Council and beyond, to support you in your new role.

New Headteacher and Governor Handbook

Each year Buckinghamshire Council publishes a ‘New Headteacher Handbook’, which this year has been extended to also cover new governors. The Handbook includes sections on:

• The statutory role of the local authority
• The Side by Side model for school improvement
• Details of all the key services, provided by Buckinghamshire Council, for Buckinghamshire schools.

A copy of the 2022/23 Handbook will provide you with the key contact details for each of the services within Buckinghamshire.

Buckinghamshire New Governor Welcome Package

We are committed to ensuring newly appointed governors are up to speed and effective in their roles as quickly as possible. We, therefore, provide welcome support to all new governors, delivered through BESST (Buckinghamshire Education School Support & Training).

We run various training courses that are particularly suitable for new governors, including an introduction to safeguarding, and introduction to schools finance and new governor drop in sessions. The course ‘Being Strategic, What Good Governance Looks Like’ provides a thorough overview of the role of governors and enables governors to meet representatives from the Bucks Association of School Governors.

Governor training can be booked ad hoc, or your board can sign up for a training package.

Go to the Governor Training Page for more details.

Corporate Director Briefings for new Chairs of Governors

Buckinghamshire Council hold a Corporate Director Briefing each term and all headteachers, chairs of governors and clerks are invited to attend. 

The Corporate Director briefings are an opportunity to hear about strategic developments in the Children’s Services directorate at Buckinghamshire Council and how these will affect schools across the county.  There is plenty of opportunity to ask questions of the Corporate Director for Children’s Services, Richard Nash and the Service Director for Education, Simon James.

For academic year 2022/23 these briefings will remain online.  Dates of these briefings will be circulated in School Improvement newsletters to all headteachers and chairs of governors and can also be found.

 Go to Governors Zone - Corporate direct or briefings

Child Protection

The statutory guidance, Keeping children safe in education, places requirements on all governing boards and as a new governor, reading this guidance and understanding your responsibilities must be one of your immediate priorities. Boards must ensure their schools have effective safeguarding policies and procedures in place that take into account local risks, any statutory guidance issued by the Secretary of State, any LA guidance, and locally agreed on inter-agency procedures. Below are links to safeguarding resources for school governors. In addition, BESST offer a comprehensive training package for governors, including an introduction to safeguarding.

Safeguarding toolkit

Safeguarding toolkit governor resources (includes a safeguarding checklist for new governors).

The Buckinghamshire Association of School Governors (BASG) was founded in 1997 and is a voluntary organisation of school governors, for school governors. The main purpose of BASG is to support robust and effective governance across all Buckinghamshire schools. BASG is a completely independent organisation, committed to working with all relevant stakeholders to ensure this happens.

All Governors in Buckinghamshire are full members of BASG, including members of academy and MAT boards and those of Local Governing Bodies within MATs.  Membership is entirely free.

As an Association BASG is committed to

• working independently with all relevant stakeholders to support governance
• ensuring that governors have a collective voice
• seeing the importance of governance recognised as it needs to be across the county
• liaising and working in partnership with the Local Authority on local and national matters that affect governance

Please see the BASG website for more information on resource, meetings & events and how the BASG can support you in your new role.

The Department for Education is responsible for children’s services and education, including early years, schools, higher and further education policy, apprenticeships and wider skills in England. We work to provide children’s services, education and skills training that ensures opportunity is equal for all, no matter background, family circumstances, or need.

At our heart, we are the department for realising potential. We enable children and learners to thrive, by protecting the vulnerable and ensuring the delivery of excellent standards of education, training and care. This helps realise everyone’s potential – and that powers our economy, strengthens society, and increases fairness.”

All new governors must read the Department for Education’s publication: Keeping Children Safe in Education. This is statutory guidance for schools and schools must have regard for it when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

The Department for Education publishes an annual Governance Handbook. 

This is a guide for:

• governing boards in local-authority-maintained schools
• boards of trustees in academies
• others involved in school governance, such as sponsors, foundations and dioceses
• organisations that help governing boards be more effective, such as governance training providers
• anyone providing clerking services to a governing board

The ‘Governance Handbook’ explains:

• governing boards’ roles and functions
• their legal duties
• where they can find support
• the main features of effective governance

The DfE ‘Competency framework for governance’ sets out the knowledge, skills and behaviours that school and academy governing boards need to be effective.  This is made up of 16 competencies underpinned by a foundation of important principles and personal attributes.

• It is based on the Nolan Principles – Seven Principles of Public Life
  • Selflessness, Integrity, Objectivity, Accountability, Openness, Honesty, Leadership
• Describes how effective governance is underpinned by the following “7 C’s”
  • Committed, Confident, Curious, Challenging, Collaborative, Critical, Creative

The DfE ‘Clerking Competency Framework’ sets out the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to provide professional clerking to school and academy governing boards.

The DfE ‘Statutory policies for schools’ page outlines the policies and other documents school governing boards are legally required to have and the DfE Constitution of Governing Bodies of Maintained Schools sets out the different types of governors and skills needed by governing boards.

Finally, the DfE publish a monthly update for all governors, with important news and communications relating to governance in maintained schools and academy trusts.

Ofsted

The education inspection framework sets out how Ofsted inspects maintained schools, academies, non-association independent schools, further education and skills provision and registered early years settings in England. It sets out the principles that apply to inspection, and the main judgements that inspectors make when carrying out inspections.

Ofsted Education Inspection Framework 2022

Buckinghamshire Council offers a 50% subsidy on standard NGA membership for Bucks maintained schools in 2022/23, and a discount to all schools (including academies) on other membership options. New governors should check with their Chair of Governors as to whether their school is a member and, if so, ensure they give you log on details.

• The NGA provides a range of training, services and resources to support governors and trustees during the first few months of their role and beyond
• NGA’s Knowledge Centre offers exclusive online access to practical governance resources including model policies, templates, checklists and best practice guidance.
• Subscribers to NGA Learning Link can access flexible e-learning with a choice of over 50 modules including core modules for new governors and trustees.
• NGA’s glossary of governance terms is a useful addition to any induction information pack

Please click here  for more information about NGA membership and details on how to sign up

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is an independent charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement.  It has one overriding purpose: to use evidence of what works in schools to improve teaching and learning, especially for the most disadvantaged.

The EEF regularly publish

• Evidence Summaries - accessible summaries of educational research to guide teachers and senior leaders on how to use your resources to improve learning outcomes
• Practical Tools - Evidence-based resources to inform the practice of teachers and senior leaders
• Projects & Evaluations - Testing the impact of high-potential projects to generate new evidence of 'what works'

Finally, here are a few practical tips on what you need to do when starting as a new governor

• Provide the clerk to the governing board with your contact details and information required for Get Information About Schools Database
• Ensure that you have submitted all the required documents for your registration as a member of the governing board, including your DBS check to the school office within 21 days of appointment.
• Read and sign the following documents:
  • Your Governing Board’s Code of Conduct
  • Keeping Children Safe in Education – Part 1, 2 and Annex A.
• Complete your Declaration of Interests (ask the clerk about it if you have any questions)
• Ask the governing board if they have a Governor Skills Audit for you to complete and return.
• Make sure you have all the governing board meeting dates in your diary and have set aside time to read papers and prepare in advance of meetings.
• Ask for a copy and familiarise yourself with the school’s safeguarding policy, procedures and arrangements.
• Complete online safeguarding training and return certificate to the clerk or school office.
• Arrange a meeting with the headteacher and chair of governors, ask for a tour of the school.

All the best in your new role and thank you once again for committing to support education in Buckinghamshire. 

Please contact schoolgovernance@buckinghamshire.gov.uk if the school improvement team can provide any support or answer any questions to support you in your new role.