Report to:

County Consultative Committee

 

Date of meeting:

 

10 February 2022

By:

Clare Cornford

Title:

Local Authority Governor Update for Councillors

 

Purpose:

To update Councillors on the nomination for appointment of local authority governors and governor vacancies

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

1) For information

11        Background

1.1       The local authority has a statutory duty to approve nominations for local authority governors. Once nominated, schools then appoint local authority governors onto their governing board. 

1.2       This report provides a summary of local authority governor applications approved for nomination, and information about the level of governor vacancies across the county. 

2          Supporting information

2.1       Since the report sent to Councillors on the 13th October 2021, 14 local authority governors were nominated for appointment, all were approved for a 4 year term of office.  Of the 14, 6 were reappointments and 8 were new appointments.

Stephen Bowles

Reapplication

Stone Cross Primary School

Ann Marie Murphy

Reapplication

The Genesis Federation

Susan Halliwell

Reapplication

Wivelsfield Primary School

Andrew Barnard

Reapplication

Southover Primary School

Shannon Marchesani

New Application

Willingdon Community School

Hollie Norman

New Application

St Mary’s Primary School Crowborough

Ian Stewart

Reapplication

Ashdown Primary School

Louise Peers

New Application

Rotherfield Primary School

Sarah Hungerford

New Application

Rocks Park Primary School

Rosemary Williams

New Application

The Bridge Federation

Kevin Millington

Reapplication

Stonegate Primary School

Paul Page-Mitchell

Reapplication

Manor Primary School

George Bishop

Reapplication

Denton Primary School

Russell Kemp

New Application

Harlands Primary School

 

2.2       Of the 96 local authority governor places in East Sussex maintained schools, there are currently 9 vacancies, we are working with the relevant boards to recruit governors for these vacancies. This is a vacancy rate of 9.3%. The overall vacancy rate for all types of governors in East Sussex is currently 15.9%. We would expect for vacancies to be slightly lower in January than in September and October as boards have made new appointments. 159 new governors, including Associate Members, have been appointed since 1st September 2021.

 

2.3 Further information on the governor vacancies across East Sussex, by type of governor is shown in Appendix 1.

2.4       Information on governing boards and governors is accessed through the governors online database. This is a database maintained by the local authority; clerks to governing bodies for local authority maintained schools are responsible for updating the information on their governors and governing boards. The governor and clerking service conduct regular checks of the data to highlight inaccuracies and missing data. Clerks have dedicated training through the clerk network meetings and training sessions on using and updating the database.  The local authority does not hold governor information for academy schools.

2.5       The Governor and Clerking Service (GCS) supports governing boards in a number of ways to recruit governors. The launch in January 2020 of the new, more localised recruitment campaign where the GCS match potential governors directly with schools has been a success. Since the launch of the campaign, 101 people have expressed an interest to become a governor. All applicants are matched with a school and very few have not resulted in an appointment.

 

Governor Training

2.7       Since September 2020, GCS moved their training programme online and have also developed a comprehensive networking and briefing programme for governors. Between 1st September and 31st August 2021, 2675 governor and clerking training places have been accessed in over 147 training, briefing and networking sessions. Since 1st September 2021, 1390 training places have been accessed in over 78 training, networking and briefing sessions.

 

Clare Cornford
Project Officer: Governor and Clerking Service

Contact Officer: Clare Cornford
Tel. No. 01323 466885
Email: clare.cornford@eastsussex.gov.uk

 

 

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS

None