A new web-based tool to help schools find a school governor with the right skills and talents has been launched this month.
After feedback from head teachers, chairs and clerks, School Governors’ One-Stop Shop (SGOSS) has developed its Online Governor Recruitment Service to allow schools to register their vacancies on the SGOSS website. This package also provides access to resources for parent governor recruitment. The Online Governor Recruitment Service is completely free and can be accessed at www.sgoss.org.uk/schools.
Many companies actively encourage staff to share their skills and time with the communities in which they live and work.
Samantha Bulkeley, UK Schools Education Co-ordinator at BP said:
“We want schools to utilise our staff and their skills, we want to add value to education, and we believe the Online Government Recruitment Service from SGOSS is a good tool to make this happen more efficiently.”
Janet Scott, Operations Director at Schools Governors’ One Stop Shop said:
“School governors perform the most important voluntary role in education, helping to guide the future of millions of school children.
SGOSS has eleven years experience in school governor recruitment and has placed over 3,500 volunteers nationwide in the last two years. We currently have highly skilled and enthusiastic volunteers ready to go; schools simply need to register to take advantage.
We want to help schools find their ideal governors and have identified that the more information and contact we receive from a school regarding its vacancies, the better we can help them. ”
Schools Minister Lord Hill said:
“School governors play a key role in driving up standards in our schools and so I am very grateful for the work that the School Governors One-Stop Shop (SGOSS) does.
Their new Online Governor Recruitment Service is the first of its kind, providing an online resource to support schools’ recruitment of all types of governors. Schools will be able to use the self-help tool to help them find a new governor with the skills they need. It will also give them the opportunity to think about the structure and capacity of school management, helping with school improvement.”
Established by the Department for Education in 1999, SGOSS is a national charity working to recruit skilled governors for schools that need them the most. Its services are free to all types of school and educational establishment.
Jane Wallington, head teacher at Mabel Prichard School has experienced the benefits of working with SGOSS:
“Of our current governing body, an incredible 60 % have been provided by SGOSS. They are from diverse backgrounds and are professional, enthusiastic and committed. At a time when my school is expected to become increasingly autonomous, the skills available to me on my governing body are progressively more important.”
There are approximately 300,000 governor places in state schools in England – the largest collective of volunteers in the country. At any one time around 40,000 of these places are vacant and schools with vacancies are missing the opportunity to benefit from a full complement of skilled and enthusiastic volunteers.
For more information about the School Governors’ One Stop Shop and to find out more about becoming a school governor visit www.sgoss.org.uk.
Page Published: 10/02/2012
