Effective Governing Body Meetings How does your governing body measure up?

Effective Governing Body Meetings
How does your governing body measure up?

The effectiveness and efficiency of the governing body and in particular its
meetings, has a relevance in many areas, but most importantly in school
improvement and School governor retention and improvement. Governing bodies have a lot of business to cover, therefore prioritising and effective working practices play a key role.

It is good practice for all governing bodies to self review, the working practices and efficiency of meetings should feature highly on that review.

The contributors to effective governing body meetings are:

•Time management
•The head teacher
•The chair of governors
•The clerk
•All governors

Checklist – Effective Meetings

The checklist can be circulated to all governors at the beginning of the
academic year as a quick review of governing body practice and procedure.

Carried out as a 15 minute exercise, it can help to focus the working practices of the governing body.

In General:

•The timing of governing body meetings should have regard to the worklife
balance of school leaders attending meetings

•Equally school leaders need to have regard to governors’ work and
other commitments.

The Clerk:

•Ensure that dates for Governing Body (GB) meeting are set by chair with governors for the year

•Set up contact details for all governors, preferably e-mail to ensure quick and easy communication with all governors

•Agenda agreed with chair of governors and head teacher at least 2 weeks in advance of GB meeting

•Ensure that agenda includes the relevant topics for that meeting

•Agenda and any papers sent to all governors at least 7 days before GB
meeting

•Ensure that any tabled papers are ready for the meeting and copied

•Arrives promptly ready to prepare for the meeting

The Chair:

•Liaises with head teacher and clerk with regard to the agenda for the
meeting, at least 2 weeks in advance

•Has met with the head teacher recently to discuss issues and prioritise business

•Reads and familiarises himself/herself with the agenda and papers before the meeting

•Starts the meeting on time

•Follows the agenda

•Facilitates and encourages discussion from all members of the GB

•Keeps all GB members on track and avoids distractions away from the agenda and decisions needed

•Ensures that discussions do not get heated or dominated by one person

•Is firm over ‘Any Other Business’, only items previously submitted will be discussed

•Ensures GB meetings only last 2 hours. 2 and ½ hours is the maximum

•Finishes the meeting on time

The Head Teacher:

•Liaises with chair and clerk with regard to the agenda for the meeting,at least 2 weeks in advance

•Has met with the chair of governors recently to discuss issues and prioritise business

•Ensures that the room for the GB meeting is prepared

•Ensures some sort of refreshment for governors is provided – water,tea, coffee

•Ensures that where possible, reports and papers are prepared & sent to the clerk to forward to governors at least 7 days before the meeting

•Limits the number of papers tabled for the meeting

•Limits the use of jargon and acronyms in papers

•Ensures relevant members of the senior leadership team attend the meeting

All Governors:

•Read any papers circulated before the meeting

•Attend all meetings and arrive on time

•Send apologies to the clerk before the meeting if cannot attend

•Contribute to the discussions where relevant

•Avoid anecdotal distractions

•After debate, accept the majority view of the governing body

•Respect the confidentiality of issues raised

I have slightly edited this checklist down for the blog but the full checklist produced by Bedford Borough Council can be found online here. My thanks to them for sharing this resource on the web
http://www.bedford.gov.uk/education_and_learning/schools_and_colleges/school_governors/idoc.ashx?docid=a609cc60-a32e-4115-91b4-09618159567c&version=-1