Urgent plea for new governors at Peterborough schools

A Peterborough schools trust is putting out an urgent call to recruit new school governors across their five schools in the city, due to a significant decline in the number of volunteers coming forwards.

Peterborough Keys Academies Trust (PKAT), which runs Jack Hunt secondary school, Longthorpe Primary School, NOVA Primary Academy, Ravensthorpe Primary School and Thorpe Primary School in the city has made the call after governors left their roles.

"If you want to make a difference this could be the role for you.”

Dr Ian Young, CEO of Peterborough Keys Academies Trust said: “We are urgently seeking new school governors to support our schools throughout Peterborough. We have had some amazing governors whom we have either lost due to retirement or moving away. We are putting out a call to our community to ask if anyone can volunteer their time to one of their local schools? We are looking for governors from a wide range of backgrounds and we want to bust the myth that you can't be a school governor if you don't have a child at the school. If you want to make a difference this could be the role for you.”

School Governor Colin Hammond at Longthorpe Primary School said: “A lack of school governors is a sad situation as we need governors to work together to provide oversight of the management and operation of a school, with the aim of improving the quality of education provided and raising standards. School governors do not run the school on a day-to-day basis; this is the job of the Headteacher and other senior staff, however the role of a governor is vital in supporting their work.”

In PKAT, local governors support the Trust Board to carry out the three main functions, strategic leadership, accountability and assurance and engagement.

The focus of local governors is particularly on educational standards and improvement, safeguarding, special educational needs and stakeholder engagement.

What does a governor do?

Each Governor holds a four-year term and opts to select a specialism within school to be the nominated Link Governor for. This can be very rewarding including such areas as SEND, Safeguarding, Curriculum and Learning and Careers and others, they vary from Primary to Senior school settings.

The Jack Hunt School Academy Committee is made up of:

Two Parent Governors

One Staff Governor and

Six Trust Appointed Governors

Shelagh Crossley, Chair Jack Hunt School Academy Committee said: “Due to significant vacancies last year and losses of Governors we managed to recruit to some posts late in the last academic year, leaving us with a very promising but 'young academy committee' in respect of numbers and experience. A further Trust appointed Governor will leave April 24 as term of office ends leaving us with further recruitment. It will always be a cycle and especially so if you recruited several staff at the same time who then have terms coming to an end at the same time.”

To find out how you can become a governor in your local school, contact Emma Stephens-Dunn - [email protected]