Agenda item

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Board considered a report of the Town Clerk setting out a summary of governors in each of the City Schools. The Director advised that members should consider whether there was merit in seeking different ways of recruiting governors, particularly in light of the fact many school and academy boards had vacancies, and that further vacancies would arise as the new primary academies opened. In response to a question, the Director replied that a model similar to that employed at the Academies, whereby half of City appointed governors were members of the Court of Common Council and the other half were external members chosen for their professional experience, could be adopted for further schools. The following points were then made.

·         A member remarked that it was important to be strategic, and though the immediate issue of governors for the new schools needed dealing with immediately the City should adopt a longer term approach that set out what the governance structure for the City Academies should look like over the next decade, and how to orchestrate that outcome.  

·         The Deputy Chairman commented that as he had remarked before the City Corporation should make greater use of co-opted governors, to be drawn from sources such as the Livery and City businesses.

·         The Assistant Town Clerk added that it was important to have a clear ethos that set out what exactly was expected of City Governors. Secondly, governors should be appointed according to the need for defined skills.  

·         A member commented that in any future governance structure it was important to ensure the City Corporation maintained control of each school/academy.

·         A member suggested that the cross-fertilisation of governors on each of the City independent school boards be copied over onto each of the boards of the City academies.

·         The Deputy Chairman suggested that it was important for a clear vision to be articulated for appointment of governors, potential sources for co-opted governors to be identified, and recommendations put forward on how the proposed structure should be implemented.

The Director noted that a report would be coming before the Board that would take account of these issues.

RECEIVED