Support, training and resources for school governors

Overview

The Governor Support Service aims to provide a high quality, professional service for your governing board, assisting with your roles in strategic management, raising attainment, accountability and acting as a critical friend.

"South Tyneside Governor Support Service has provided valuable advice, guidance and training to our school and governing board. This has been instrumental in helping us achieve excellent leadership and governance."

Professional clerking service

The Governor Support Service offers a professional clerking service through a service level agreement, to assist with the administration and routine communication including statutory responsibilities. Many South Tyneside schools, as well as schools outside of the Borough, use the clerking service.

The Department for Education recognises that the quality of the clerk is a crucial element in the effectiveness of a governing board in fulfilling its strategic function of;

Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;

Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff; and overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.

In ensuring that these functions are met the clerk's role to the board is key - responsible for providing:

  • Procedural and legislative advice
  • Administrative and organisational support
  • Guidance to ensure that the board works in accordance with the legal framework and is compliant with necessary regulations.

The clerking service offers support with:

  • Programming meetings, including advice on the timing and agenda for meetings to comply with:
    • Statutory requirements of current and new legislation
    • Previous decisions of the governing board
    • Best practice
  • Convening meetings, including:
    • Production of reports on school governance to comply with current and new legislation
    • Agenda preparation
    • Expedite all other reports and papers
    • Gather, print and distribute all papers 
  • Attendance of a clerk at meetings to:
    • Give advice on school governance matters as they arise
    • Take minutes of the meeting
  • Post meeting follow-up, including:
    • Produce draft minutes
    • Record attendance
    • Notification of appointments
    • Liaise with the Council and other agencies on resolutions of the governing board
  • Help for governors:
  • Other support services including a range of tasks, such as:
    • Monitor attendance of governors
    • Disqualification of governors where required
    • Monitor expiry of term of office and liaise with appropriate institutions
    • General administrative support in the provision of material and information

If you're interested in using our clerking service

Please get in touch to find out more about how we can support your governing board.

Call us on 0191 424 7725 or email school.governors@southtyneside.gov.uk.

"South Tyneside's Governor Support Service provides an excellent clerking service for our governor meetings and information delivered at their governor briefings, workshops and conferences provides an invaluable source of the most up to date, pertinent intelligence for our governing board."

Free support

We offer some free support for Governors and Governing Boards, which is a statutory obligation of the Council. We provide this service free of charge.

We offer support including:

  • Providing Governing Boards with appropriate information to include:
    • Information pack for new Governors in accordance with DFE guidelines
    • Executive Director's reports to termly meetings of the Governing Board
    • Newsletter for all Governors
    • Governors web pages
  • Appoint School Governors as and when required or determined to include:
    • Appointment of LEA Governors
    • Appointment of additional Governors
  • The making of Instruments of Government:
    • In response to requests from Governing Boards
    • In the case of new schools
    • In the case of schools changing category
  • Appointment of temporary Governing Boards where required:
    • In the case of new schools
    • In the case of schools changing category

Using our Governor Support Service

Please get in touch to find out more about how we can support your governing board.

Call us on 0191 424 7725 or email school.governors@southtyneside.gov.uk.

Training programme

View the school governor training programme.

"The Governing Board at Hedworth Lane Primary highly values the Governor Support Service. We work hand in hand to ensure the best possible Governance for the school. The Governor's Clerk is a highly valued member of the meetings, working with the Governing Board, creating bespoke elements to the clerking when requested. The training offered by the service, the service's ability to adapt to the needs of the school and staff professionalism at all levels is second to none. The service is led and managed exceptionally well making this a flagship team within the array of various brokered services a head teacher and Governing Board may choose to engage with. This is a service that continues to go from strength to strength."

Tony Gill, Head Teacher, Hedworth Lane School

Resources for governors and governing boards

You can download the policies below and adapt them for your school or use them to review policies you already have.

Director's reports:

Directors report 2022 - Spring term

School website:

Model Code of Conduct and School Policies:

National Governors' Association: Model code of conduct for governing boards

A guide for governing boards:

Declarations of interest:

If you need the form emailed to you, please contact school.governors@southtyneside.gov.uk or ring 0191 4247725.

Time off from work:

Time Off From Work

Preparing for school visits:

Governor School Visits

Jargon Buster:

National Governors' Association: Glossary

If you have any comments, questions, or if you have any policies you would like to share with other schools, please contact us on 0191 427 7725.

Contact information

The Governor Support Service is based in the Children, Adults and Health Directorate in the Town Hall and Civic Offices, Westoe Road, South Shields and can be contacted as follows:

Or call the team on 0191 424 7725.