At New Year, governors often make resolutions to spend more time on governance, be more efficient or visit the school more often. However, these good intentions can quickly slip down our list of competing priorities.
Here at The Key, those of us who are governors are making the following resolutions. We’ve also picked out some articles from our governor service to help us stick to them.
Members of The Key for School Governors can log in to see these articles in full. If you’re a governor or clerk who hasn’t used The Key before, you can register for a free trial here.
Resolutions for the whole governing body
We will regularly review our performance as a governing body and work better as a team.
- Governing body self-evaluation: guidance and toolkits
- 360° review of the governing body’s performance: questions for stakeholders
- Helping the governing body to work together as a team
We will prepare for meetings ahead of time.
We will develop and improve our relationship with parents.
- Communicating with parents: newsletters and blogs
- Engaging with reluctant parents: advice and case studies
We will keep up to date with educational news and developments.
We will make sure our website meets the statutory requirements and our policies are reviewed regularly and thoroughly.
We also suggested some resolutions for the chair of governors and the clerk to governors.
Resolutions for the chair of governors
I will help to improve the effectiveness of governing body meetings and make sure they are under three hours long.
I will ensure that there is a proper appraisal process and professional development for the clerk.
I will encourage newer governors to contribute to meetings more.
Resolutions for the clerk
I will keep up to date with the relevant governance legislation.
- Reconstituting the governing body: a guide (maintained)
- The School Governance (Roles, Procedures and Allowances) (England) Regulations 2013
- Meetings: who can attend and vote?
I will record instances of support and challenge in the minutes.
I will follow the legal requirement and make sure governors receive notice of meetings at least seven clear days in advance, including the agenda and any papers.
What are your governance resolutions? Leave us a comment to let us know.
The third clerks’ resolution in not really a resolution. Seven clear days’ notice is not aspirational, it’s a legal requirement. You might as well have a resolution to stop more often when faced with a red traffic light.
It’s hard enough for clerks to get all the papers from Heads and others without The Key giving the impression that this is nothing more than a good idea!
(Some of the other resolutions are on the ball though.)
Spot on, Roddie.
Hi Roddie,
Thanks for your feedback. I certainly didn’t mean to imply it was only an aspiration. As you mention, and as the article linked through to highlights, it is indeed a legal requirement. I have now updated the blog post to avoid any potential confusion.
One of the reasons our governor team suggested it as a resolution was that, in our experience, this doesn’t happen in every school and can be a hindrance to being able to get on with governing!
Jessica
Hi Jessica
Thanks for making it clear in the blog post. Late papers are a real problem for good governance.
You could add a resolution for Heads – to always provide papers in good time, and for Chairs – to refuse to allow discussion of (detailed and complex) documents tabled at meetings.