Agenda item

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

A report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services setting out the two processes that the Board could follow when appointing Governors was considered. The report explained that the Board was responsible for recommending to the Court of Common Council the appointment of governors to the City’s academies and representatives on school governing bodies where nomination rights were granted and where they did not fall within the remit of another Committee.

The Director of Community and Children’s Services emphasised that the recommended appointment process was not for the three independent Schools and was a model to be adopted for the three academies and other external educational bodies which the City would appoint Members onto.

Members reiterated the critical importance of the school governor selection process and raised a number of preliminary thoughts about how it might be improved in the future. It was agreed to defer more detailed review until a later stage.

Members discussed the appointment process for both external representations and the appointment process for Members. The following points were noted:-

·      Members of the Court of Common Council would be asked prior to a vacancy becoming available to express their interest as to whether they wished to serve as a Governor of an educational governing body. Once a vacancy became available the pool would be called upon to potentially visit the School to gain an understanding of the specific requirements of the vacancy.

·      A ‘work in progress’ database was currently in place for external representatives. A similar database for Members of the Court of Common Council would be explored which could inform the appointment process and potentially be used by the three independent Schools if they wished to do so.

·      In relation to paragraph 5 of the report an additional step would be inserted to include a pre-screening process.

·      Appendix one would be amended to ensure that the information did not run over one page. Appendix 4 would be looked at again and re-submitted to the Board for approval.

RESOLVED – That the appointment process for external representatives be approved and that the appointment process for Members be re-submitted to the next Board meeting for approval together with the amended appendices.