Role of a Trust Governor

Role of a Trust Governor

Although the Trust works with all schools in North Tyneside, we appoint two Trust Governors to join each of our 43 foundation member schools.

Governors perform the most important voluntary role in education and a full and diverse Governing Body is a source of enormous strength to a school. Individual roles will vary between schools in terms of frequency and timings of Governing Body meetings.

Our expectations of you include:

• To use your professional business/industry experience to support, inform and constructively challenge governing body decisions
• To promote the objectives of the Trust
• To ensure that the governing body is kept up to date and supports the school to actively engage with Trust activities and programmes
• To listen to the views of others, read as much on the subject as possible, then do what you think is best for the children in the school
• To act in a responsible manner at meetings and observe confidentiality protocols
• To spend time in the school on focused governor visits, which have been agreed with appropriate school staff, the governing body and the Headteacher
• To report back to the governing body on focused visits you have been involved in, either as a Trust Governor or as a governor linked to a specialism
• To work effectively as part of the governing body team
• To attend all relevant training sessions and Trust network events
• To be transparent in your approach to the governor role
• To promote the inclusion and non-discriminatory behaviours to all school staff, governors, pupils, service providers and partners

Trust Governors should declare any personal or professional association with their preferred school and any member of the schools staff or governing body. This includes having a relative as a pupil at the school. NTLT reserves the right to recommend alternative schools for appointment if it is deemed appropriate.

It is also expected that Trust Governors should not receive personal or professional gain from becoming a Trust Governor; any potential such gain should be raised as a potential Conflict of Interest at relevant governing body meetings.

Becoming a Trust Governor will:

• Help to develop your existing and new skills
• Develop your board level skills
• Help you get to know the communities in which you live and/or work
• Build you experience in strategic planning and development
• Help you to gain experience in financial planning, budget control and setting pay policies
• Give you experience of working with a diverse team
• Give you a greater awareness of the education system

In return the Trust will:

• Host regular networking opportunities for Trust Governors to meet and share experiences, provide peer support and receive updates on the work of the Trust
• Regularly email updates on current Trust programmes and activities
• Distribute a bi-termly electronic newsletter
• Annually assess the training needs of governors and put in place training programmes, as appropriate
• Encourage attendance at training sessions ran by North Tyneside Council’s Governor Services
• Be available for contact either in person, over the phone or by email

Read more about being a Trust Governor here

Watch our NTLT Trust Governor Spotlight videos here:

Further information – Department for Education Governance Handbook