Remote UK School Governor is based in New Zealand

Angie Lund remains is a remote UK school governor while based in New Zealand as she addresses issues while she is physically 11,500 miles away.

Her decision to become a remote school governor came about because the Chair of Governors wanted her to maintain her previous School governor role after she emigrated to New Zealand with her family. She had been working on a very strong development plan for the school with lots of accompanying HR related issues such as staff restructuring, new job descriptions, policies and procedures and she wanted to see this plan to fruition.

Initially, the governing body were unsure how the situation would pan out as the role of remote school governing was new to all of them. However, during the past three months it has worked very effectively for all concerned.

Technology is at the heart of my role of a remote school governor. Email and Skype are the two main tools I use, with the phone being used occasionally. My Head has had a few people issues while I’ve been away and we’ve had Skype video calls discussing what to do and I’ve emailed responses, advice and guidance to him.

Angie uses the Modern Governor service for School Governor training.

Due to the success to date, Angie would like to continue as a remote governor. She may stay on the board in an advisory capacity but with no voting rights to make things easier or she may stay on as a full member which will mean that we will Skype the meetings which is very easy to do in reality.