Governor Application Form

Please complete all sections of this form as applications will only be accepted if they are completed in full.

The sections of this application form that include your personal details will be detached prior to shortlisting. This is to ensure that your application is dealt with objectively.

Name of School you wish to Apply*

Personal Information

Title Full Name* Current Address* Telephone Number* Email Address*

Employment and Education History

Current Employment*
	Employer	Job Title	Length of time in the role	Responsibilities of the role

Relevant Previous Employment

Highest Level of Education Received*
	Institution	Qualification Received	Classification

Relevant Education and Training Courses Other relevant interests and experience

Information About You

Why would you like to become a governor?* Why would you like to become a governor at our school in particular?* What skills can you bring to the role?*

Skills Audit

Strategic Leadership

SETTING DIRECTION

Do You Understand...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
National and local education policy and news
What the key features of good governance should be
The difference between strategic and operational decisions
How to carry out strategic planning, and what tools you need to do this

Can You...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Think strategically about your school’s development
Explain your school’s strategic priorities and goals, and how these will be monitored
Champion the reasons for changes, and explain how these benefit the school’s community

CULTURE, VALUES AND ETHOS

Do You Understand...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Your school’s values and ethos
Your school’s strategic improvement plan
Your governing board’s code of conduct, and how it reflects the school’s vision and ethos

Can You...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Act in a way that reflects your school’s culture and values, and ensure that policies are in line with these
Agree the school’s distinctive characteristics and culture

DECISION MAKING

Can You...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Identify the decisions that are likely to achieve your school’s goals
Put aside your own interests to make decisions in the best interests of the school
Act with honesty, objectivity, and integrity
Ensure your decisions are well-informed and impartial
Recognise when your governing board will require external advice
Stand by the decisions of the governing board, and respect collective decision making

COLLABORATIVE WORKING WITH STAKEHOLDERS AND PARTNERS

Do You Understand...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Who your main stakeholders are
How to work with stakeholders and members of the school community

Can You...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Proactively consult with a range of views, and welcome feedback and challenge
Work with other organisations where necessary
Be clear, honest and open when communicating with parents, pupils and staff
Consider how the decisions governors make affect the school community
Act as an ambassador for your school
Support community cohesion and challenge your school’s leadership team to do the same

RISK MANAGEMENT

Do You Understand....?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
What risk management is and how it applies to your school
How risks are managed in your school and how concerns are escalated
How conflicts of interest and breaches in confidentiality lead to risks for the school

Can You....?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Identify the main risks facing your school, and the contingency measures that are in place
Ensure your school’s risk management systems are robust and regularly reviewed
Advise on how to achieve the right balance of risk and how to mitigate the impact of risk
Actively avoid and manage conflicts of interest

Accountability for educational standards and financial performance

EDUCATIONAL IMPROVEMENT

Do You Understand....?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
How teaching and learning is evaluated in your school
The importance of a broad and balanced curriculum
How the curriculum in your school promotes the school’s ethos and values
Relevant national standards and assessment systems for your school
The rationale behind your school’s assessment procedures
How behaviour and safety are monitored in your school

Can You...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Set expectations for school improvement with your senior leadership team (SLT)
Let your SLT know what data you need to fulfil your role
Request evidence of the effectiveness of proposed improvement initiatives

RIGOROUS ANALYSIS OF DATA

Do You Understand...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
The DfE’s performance tables and school comparison tool
Analyse School Performance (ASP) for school and pupil data
Your school’s context on a local and national basis
Where the data you receive comes from and is quality assured
Information about attendance and exclusion in your school
How you should use a range of sources of information, such as guidance, parents or staff members

Can You...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Analyse and interpret data to evaluate how pupils in your school are performing
Use data to inform decisions about school improvement
Challenge the SLT to ensure that the data you receive is valuable and efficiently collected

FINANCIAL FRAMEWORKS AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Do You Understand...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Your school’s financial policies, funding arrangements and methods of assuring financial accountability
Your school’s internal control processes, and how value for money is secured
Your school’s financial health and efficiency, and how it compares with other schools

Can You...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Be confident in the financial information you receive
Interpret budget monitoring information, and communicate this to others
Take part in financial self-evaluation activities
Rigorously question how the school is approaching financial efficiency

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING

Do You Understand...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
How your school receives funding and how this funding is spent
The importance of a robust financial strategy and plans to ensure sustainability
How your school allocates resources, and how these translate into outcomes for pupils
How the budget is set and monitored

Can You...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Make decisions about funding, based on your school’s priorities
Interpret data relating to finances
Ask informed questions about income and spending

STAFFING AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Do You Understand...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
What your school spends on staffing, and how to benchmark this against other schools
How staff are recruited
How staff performance management and pay progression works in your school

Can You...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Ensure that staffing structures are fit for purpose
Take responsibility for maintaining a robust pay policy
Be confident in how you apply procedures to the performance management of senior staff members
Identify how pay decisions will affect the budget
Have due regard to the work-life balance of staff members

EXTERNAL ACCOUNTABILITY

Do You Understand...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
The purpose of formal scrutiny and accountability (for example, by Ofsted)
How national performance measures are monitored and reported, and the minimum standards at which intervention is triggered

Can You...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Ensure appropriate structures are in place to support external scrutiny
Ensure that the board is open and accessible to members of the school community
Use your understanding of data to inform responses to external scrutiny

People

Can You...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Show your commitment to your role through active participation
Find the information you need to support you in your role
Accept constructive challenge and feedback
Raise doubts and differences of opinions in an appropriate way, and encourage others to do the same
Acknowledge your mistakes, and the lessons learnt from these
Influence others and build consensus through persuasion
Demonstrate professional ethics and values, and sound judgement
Recognise the importance of the clerk’s/governance professional’s position and advice

Structures

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Do You Understand...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
The role of the board and its three core functions
How the strategic role of governance is different to operational leadership
For academies, the role of members and how this is different to the role of trustees
The governance structure of your school and how decisions are delegated
How the governing board and its committees are constituted

Can You...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Help your governing board design a committee structure that is appropriate to your school, and make changes where appropriate

Compliance

STATUTORY AND CONTRACTUAL REQUIREMENTS

Do You Understand...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
The governing board’s legal, regulatory and financial duties
The importance of having regard to statutory guidance, such as the Governance Handbook
The governing board’s obligations under: • Education and employment legislation • For academies, the Academies Trust Handbook (formerly the Academies Financial Handbook) and their own funding agreements • Equalities, and health and safety legislation • Data protection and freedom of information legislation
The governing board’s duties with relation to safeguarding and the Prevent Duty
The governing board’s duties with regard to pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
Your instrument of government, or in academies, your articles of association
Your school’s whistleblowing policy, and how these relate to the governing board’s responsibilities
The importance of observing the school’s policies, for example, with regard to parental complaints

Can You...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Speak out when you are concerned about non-compliance
Explain the governing board’s legal responsibilities
Recognise when the governing board may need specialist advice

Evaulation

MANAGING REVIEW AND SELF-DEVELOPMENT

Do you understand...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Your own strengths and areas for development

Can You...?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Be ‘outward facing’, and learn from others
Maintain your own personal development plan
Be ready to accept opportunities for training and development
Accept a wide range of feedback, and use this to inform your development
Carry out self-reviews, and reflect on your own performance

MANAGING AND DEVELOPING THE BOARD’S EFFECTIVENESS

Can You....?*
	Yes	No	Unsure
Evaluate how the governing board’s decisions affect pupil outcomes
Use feedback from inspections to inform decisions about the governing board’s development
Contribute to the board’s self-evaluation

Legal Requirement Checks

The School/Trust is legally obligated to process an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check before making appointments to relevant posts.

The DBS check will reveal both spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings, and any other information held by local police that is considered relevant to the role. Any information that is “protected” under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 will not appear on a DBS certificate. If you are going to be involved in regulated activity, the DBS check will include a barred list check.

Any data processed as part of the DBS check will be processed in accordance with data protection regulations and the School’s/Trust privacy notice.

Do you have a DBS certificate?*

If you have lived or worked outside of the UK in the last 10 years, the School/Trust may require additional information in order to comply with ‘safer recruitment’ requirements. If you answer ‘yes’ to the question below, we may contact you for additional information in due course. The trust will carry out checks to confirm your right to work in the UK, and any other checks deemed necessary where you have lived or worked outside of the UK.

Have you lived or worked outside of the UK in the last 10 years?*

Your position as governor will be conditional on the satisfactory completion of the necessary pre-employment checks.

We will not ask for any criminal records information until we have received the results of a DBS check.
Any convictions listed on a DBS check will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Applicants should be aware of the following circumstances which might prevent them from being appointed as a governor:
• Inclusion in the list of those unsuitable to work with children
• Having been sentenced to 3 months or more in prison (without the option of a fine) in the 5 years before becoming a governor or since becoming a governor
• Having received a prison sentence of 2 and a half years or more in the 20 years before becoming a governor
• Having received a prison sentence of 5 years or more
• Having been fined for causing a nuisance or disturbance on school premises during the 5 years prior to, or since, appointment or election as a governor

Section 128 Check

The School/Trust will carry out a section 128 check. A person issued with a section 128 direction under the Education and Skills Act 2008 is prohibited or restricted from taking part in the management of a school.

This includes trustees, and governors on local governing bodies who have been delegated any management responsibilities.

Eligibility

I confirm that I:

• Am aged over 18
• Am not a current pupil at the school
• Have not been declared bankrupt
• Am not the subject of a bankruptcy restrictions order or an interim order
• Am not subject to any of the disqualifying reasons set out in the 'disqualifying reasons table' (see the first section of this guidance)
• Have not been convicted for any unspent criminal offence, excluding any offence for which the maximum sentence was a fine (except for offences specified in the above table which will still count)
• Have not been disqualified from holding office as a governor
• Have not been disqualified from being a company director and/or a charity trustee
• Have not been removed as a trustee for a charity by an order made by the Charity Commission or the High Court on the grounds of misconduct or mismanagement in administration of the charity
• Have not had my estate seized for the benefit of creditors and the declaration of seizure hasn’t been discharged, annulled or reduced
These criteria are set out in more detail in articles 68 to 80 of the Articles of Association.

Please sign and date to indicate that you have read, and agree to this information:

Signature* Date*

Cookie Policy

This site uses cookies to store information on your computer. Click here for more information

Aletheia Academies Trust