Sign in to access your Salford customer account, or see our other accounts.
Sign in or register for an accountThe chair and vice chair are elected by the governing board, usually at the summer term meeting for a term of office agreed by the governing board to begin from 1 September.
Most governing boards choose to elect the chair each year, however a chair can be elected for up to four years. Staff governors cannot be elected as chair.
The chair clearly has an important role and to be effective needs the confidence of all of their colleagues.
The vice chair of the governing board acts as chair in the absence of the chair of governors.
Their main tasks are to:
At the meeting, they should ensure that:
The headteacher:
As a general rule, the governing board is responsible for some statutory school policies and strategic direction; the headteacher is responsible for the school's day-to-day management and decision-making.
High quality professional clerking is crucial to the effective functioning of the board. Clerking is not only about good organisation and administration, but also, and more importantly, about helping the board understand its role, functions and legal duties. This is crucial in helping the board exercise its functions expediently and confidently, so that it can stay focused on its core functions.
The local authority's (LA) role in supporting and advising governing boards is one of major importance. In recognition of this, Salford LA offers a service level agreement (SLA) to governing boards. Under this SLA, governance professionals from the Governor Services Team of Salford City Council provide advice and support to governing boards in a number of different ways:
Statutory services provided by the Local Authority to maintained schools:
Additional services provided by Governor Services:
The Governor Services team aim is to provide a high quality, effective and efficient service to governors and governing boards.
The Strategic Director of Children's Services is not the clerk to the governing board in every Salford school. Governing boards of all schools may, if they wish, appoint someone other than the Strategic Director of Children's Services to act as their clerk. However, regulations state that the appointed person must not already be a member of that governing board.
The clerk to the governing board has an important role to play in making sure the governing board's work is well organised (e.g. notice of meetings, agenda, minutes) and should also be able to offer advice and information, particularly on matters involving the law and meetings procedures.
For governing boards appointing their own clerk, the link officer's primary role is one of liaison between the LA and the governing board, and to provide advice on local authority policies and procedures.
Governing boards may also choose to make their own arrangements for the minuting of meetings. This is normally the responsibility of the clerk but may be undertaken by another person who is not a member of the governing board.
This page was last updated on 21 February 2023