The Diocese is able to provide support and training for school governors and clerks at Church Schools. Please email Jo Willis for more information.
Church Schools need Church People. Could you become a Foundation Governor?
Do you:
- Care about children and education
- Enjoy making a difference
- Like a challenge
- Have a commitment to Christian Distinctiveness?
If so, you could become a foundation governor.
The Diocese of Bristol covers four local authorities (LAs): Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Swindon. There are 71 schools in the Diocese, 68 primary and 3 secondary. These schools are a mix of VC and VA, rural and inner city, Academies and maintained schools, large (over 1800 pupils) and small (less than 30 pupils).
Foundation governors serve in Church of England Voluntary Aided (VA) and Voluntary Controlled (VC) maintained schools. The Bristol Diocesan Board of Education is committed to leading the development of a body of confident, effective church schools that are deeply Christian, belonging at the heart of church and community, serving society’s common good. It is the statutory responsibility of the DBE to appoint foundation governors to all maintained VA and VC church schools.
School governors are the biggest group of volunteers in the country, and are invaluable in holding school leaders to account and ensuring that all children and adults within the school community are enabled to flourish. Bristol DBE deeply appreciate all of our school governors.
Foundation Governors (in some schools they are known as local board members) have a particular responsibility within Church Schools to preserve and develop the Christian character and ethos of the school and to build the community of schools throughout the Diocese.
Foundation Governors are normally practising Christians, but as a school governor, a Foundation Governor is more than a Church representative. They are a full governor with an equal share of the responsibility for things such as: supporting the school; developing the school improvement plan; making budgetary decisions; holding the headteacher to account; and monitoring the implementation of school policies. It is therefore necessary for all governors to have some skills which can support these responsibilities.
There are currently over two hundred Foundation Governors serving the Dioceses seventy schools. In most cases the PCC is responsible for finding and nominating Foundation Governors for its parish school(s), but there are vacancies in some schools, and the diocese maintains an informal register of those who might be willing to be placed with a school if a vacancy arises.
A foundation governor at a Church school should be a Christian. However, you do not need to be an education professional and in fact it is useful for governors to have skills from other areas of life, for example financial, legal, HR, or health and safety.
You should expect to:
- take part in regular governors meetings, often six times a year with extra committee meetings
- sit on occasional appointments panels or panels that handle staff or pupil discipline issues or complaints against the school
- take part in the school visits programme arranged for governors
- undertake governor training as appropriate.
Download our Introduction to Church School Governance
Download our Foundation Governor application form here.
Download the Appointment Process Flowchart
Following an informal conversation about the role we can put you in touch with an existing foundation governor who will be able to give you their perspective.
Download our Foundation Governor policy here.
Download the Academy Council Member application form here
Download our policy on Training for Church School governors here.
Policy for Foundation Governors in Maintained Schools
Resources for Governing Boards:
- Sample Terms of Reference for an Ethos Committee
- Sample Governor Visits Policy
- Sample Governor Visit Record
Watch our Governor training below:
If you know of someone else who may be interested in becoming a foundation governor, please pass this information on to them.
Recruiting a Foundation Governor
Admissions
All VA and Academy schools are responsible for drawing-up and agreeing their own admission arrangements annually, and for publicly consulting on their admission arrangements periodically. CE schools must also consult with the Diocese prior to any public consultation.
When constructing admission arrangements CE schools in the Diocese of Bristol must follow the School Admissions Code as well as Diocesan Guidance.
The Diocese is able to provide support and training for school admissions. Please contact email Liz Townend or call 0117 906 0100.
Diocesan Guidance on Admissions
Admissions training
Is your school or academy responsible for its own school admissions?
The Diocese has a responsibility to provide these schools with guidance on admissions law and the admissions process.
The Diocese seeks to support all Church schools to conduct their admissions processes correctly and within the law.
Training, suitable for governors and/or school staff to attend can be arranged by contacting Jo Willis.
The course will aim to:
- clarify governors and school staff responsibilities within the admissions process;
- highlight some common mistakes that schools make;
- answer any questions that arise.
Key Contacts:
Jo Willis – Foundation Governance and Academy Trust Advisor jo.willis@bristoldiocese.org
Ali Driver – Governance and Schools Support Officer ali.driver@bristoldiocese.org