Valuing and thanking our school governors

19 Nov 2021 Home / Blog / Valuing and thanking our school governors /

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I read an Ofsted report in the spring which praised a secondary school for its actions in sending a van to nearby housing estates when school children were at home as a result of Covid. This van was delivering school equipment, including pens and paper, to children who needed it. The school also checked that the children and young people were okay, and that they had internet access. I was impressed by the actions of the school. Other schools across the country would have been doing the same, of course.

I was pleased that the comment had not been amended or removed by the Ofsted moderation process. I commented to Ofsted colleagues and thanked them too, as it is not always the case that this type of comment would be made in reports. When I spoke with the Chair of Governors of the school, she informed me that when the van visited her estate she had personally bought the van driver, and his assistant, fish and chips for their lunch. To the Chair, this was the obvious thing to do.

This led me to ponder whether we value and thank our school governors enough. We have heard a great deal about the commitment shown by headteachers, and rightly so; we know they value the praise and thanks that they receive from the community. Our school governors have also worked throughout the pandemic to support their schools in a way that demonstrates just how committed they are, although they do not seem to have received as much recognition for this.

School governors are so important. They are often connected with the community in a way that senior staff at school are not. The Chair of Governors may be the consistent presence when the senior management at a school change.

The important role of a school governor is explained on the National Governance Association website. I urge you to look at that.

So, I would like to send a personal thank you to all our school governors.