Air Balloon Hill Primary School is a 4 form entry, Local Authority maintained primary school, located in St George in East Bristol. We currently have vacancies for Co-opted governors, formally known as community governors, on our governing board and are seeking enthusiastic, community focussed and committed members of our local community to join us.

There are no particular qualifications required for the role, but following an analysis of our current membership we are particularly keen to ensure the board membership reflects the diversity of the community we serve and would particularly welcome nominations from under-represented and minority groups, who are committed to providing the highest quality primary stage education possible to our pupils.

Additionally, in light of the results of our skills audit, we would also be keen to receive applications from someone with experience in the following areas human resources, communications, finance and property management

School governors have a varied and important role helping the school run effectively. They have 3 core functions:

•          Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and planning the strategic direction of the school

•          Overseeing financial performance of the school and ensuring money is well spent

•          Holding the headteacher or school leadership to account for the educational performance of the school, its pupils, and the performance management of staff

The governor role is strategic rather than operational. Governors don’t get involved with the day to day running of a school, instead supporting and challenging the school’s leadership team to drive school improvement

Your Commitment

The term of office for all governors is four years.

At Air Balloon Primary School, we always aim for positive and purposeful partnerships with parents, carers and the wider local community, which undoubtedly bring important benefits to our pupils. One of the most significant ways you can help in promoting this aim is to volunteer to be a school governor. The governing board’s main tasks are to support the school, ensure that all pupils receive a high quality education and plan for future development and improvement.

The constitution of the governing board includes, parent, staff, local authority and co-opted governors. All governors are welcomed as valued members of the team and play a vital role in ensuring the governing board is aware of the views of all stakeholders in the school and wider community. We are looking for members of our local community prepared to volunteer to take on this key role and give their time and commitment to help us continue to develop and improve the experience of our pupils and the school's performance.

Governors currently meet as a board five times a year and meetings which are held on a Monday at 6.00pm and finish around 8.00pm. All meetings are held at the school. If needed, additional meetings will be planned with, unless there are extraordinary circumstances, seven days’ notice given.

We also have an education committee and finance committee which is where the main work of the governing body is undertaken and these meet termly on Monday at 4.45pm and 6pm respectively. All governors are invited to join the committee that their skills and experience match with, or they have a particular interest in.

Governors are occasionally required to visit the school during the day for monitoring visits and are encouraged to support school events, where possible. We aim to offer new governors a comprehensive and supportive induction, and an assigned ‘buddy’. Full training for the role is also available at no cost to individual governors via the local authority Governor development service.

You will be required to sign the governing body’s code of practice, and in line with the schools safeguarding policy to apply for a DBS enhanced disclosure.

Interested - What do you need to do next?

If you are interested in becoming a school governor, you can find out more information at https://www.inspiringgovernance.org

For more information about our school please visit our website https://www.abhps.com including our governor web pages at https://www.abhps.com/governors/ where you can apply using an online form.

Should you have any specific questions about the role please do not hesitate to contact the clerk on clerk@abhps.com who, if provided with a name and email / phone contact details, will be happy to arrange for a governor to contact you to discuss these.

In applying for the role of governor, you do so believing you have the skills and commitment to undertake the role. You undertake to represent the local community when working with other governors and the headteacher, to promote high standards of primary education and strategically develop the school.

Once your applications has been received, you will be invited for an informal discussion with the Chair of Governors or Headteacher, before your anonymised details are considered by the full governing body and any decision made to ratify your appointment to the Co-opted governor role. Please be advised that given the schedule of full board meetings it can be several weeks before this stage is completed. We will of course aim to keep you updated during this time.