Parent Governor

Role of a Parent Governor

• ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
• holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff
• overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent

Governors are expected to:

To contribute to the strategic discussions of the Management Committee meetings which determine:

• the school's vision and ethos;
• clear and ambitious strategic priorities and targets for the school;
• that all children, including those with SEN, have access to a broad and balanced curriculum;
• the school's budget, including the expenditure of the pupil premium allocation;
• the school's staffing structure and key staffing policies;
• the principles to be used by school leaders to set other policies.

Hold the senior leaders to account by monitoring the school's performance:

• agreeing the outcomes from the school's self-evaluation and ensuring they are used to inform the priorities in the school development plan;
• considering all relevant data and feedback provided on request by school leaders and external sources on all aspects of school performance;
• asking challenging questions of school leaders;
• ensuring senior leaders have arranged for the required audits to be carried out and receiving audit results;
• ensuring senior leaders have developed the required policies and procedures and the school is operating effectively according to these;
• acting as a link governor on a specific issue, making relevant enquiries of the relevant staff, and reporting to the Management Committee on the progress on the relevant school priority
• listening to and reporting to stakeholders

Ensure the school staff have the resources and support they require to do their jobs well (necessary expertise on business management, external advice, external appraisal and CPD, and suitable premises).

Meetings take place at units which are based in central Newbury, Speen, Thatcham and Calcot.

About icollege Alternative Education

icollege is West Berkshire's provision for learners unable to access mainstream education. Established in September 2017, following the amalgamation of the Alternative Curriculum Service and the Reintegration Service, the icollege operates from six separate units across West Berkshire.

We can accommodate up to 74 learners across all key stages, from 5 -19.

Our culture and ethos is to:
Help every learner do the very best they can.
Inspire learners and staff alike.
Actively engage all our stakeholders.
Work constantly to meet the needs of current and future learners.

We offer:

Offsite reactive provision to improve mainstream engagement for Key Stages 1-4.
Full time placements to support learners achieve personal and academic success for Years 9,10 and 11.
Bespoke packages including core subjects to meet individual learners needs Key Stages 1-5.
Short term pro active pre booked programmes to sustain mainstream engagement for Key Stage 3.

What skills do I need?

As many of our learners are only with us for between 6 and 12 weeks, we have difficulty recruiting a Parent Governor. We are therefore looking to recruit a Parent from the wider community. We would be particularly interested in someone who is a Parent of school aged children, either Primary or Secondary.

In order to perform this role well, a governor is expected to:

• gain a good understanding of the school's strengths and weaknesses;
• respect all Management Committee decisions and supporting them in public;
• undertake Governor Link Visits and produce a report when required by the Management Committee to do so;
• attend training and take responsibility for their own learning and development opportunities and provide feedback to the Management Committee on any training;
• join a Committees;
• attend meetings (full Management Committee meetings and committee meetings) and read all the papers before the meeting; where this is not possible tendering apologies as soon as possible;
• undertake such actions, as may be assigned during meetings, in a timely manner
• undertake a specific area of statutory or non-statutory responsibility e.g. Health and Safety, SEN;
• act in the best interest of all the pupils of icollege at all times.

Governors will need to meet eligibility criteria. Applicants must be a Parent or Carer for a school aged child(ren).

When is this role available?

This is a flexible role available on various days/times.

Details

Meetings are held 2 or 3 times a term, in the main on Tuesdays, early evening, in Newbury.

Where does this role take place?