Services for schools: School governors

School governors are one of the largest volunteer forces in the UK. They provide schools with strategic leadership and accountability for educational and financial performance. In Southampton, we have over 65 schools meaning we need over 800 governors to ensure the schools perform at their best for their pupils. Some schools are part of an academy trust.

What is a school governor?

School governors play an extremely important role in helping schools to run effectively. They provide schools with strategic leadership and accountability for educational and financial performance, as well as playing a role in holding the headteacher and school leadership to account.

As a governor you do not get involved in the day to day running of the school. Instead, you support and challenge the school’s leadership team to drive school improvement.

Being a school governor is a commitment and responsibility which can fit in easily around your existing work and family commitments. It is a rewarding opportunity that offers you the chance to be involved and make a real impact in improving education for children in your community.

How to become a school governor

There are different types of school governor role:

Co-opted governors

• Are appointed by the board based on their skills, experience, and perspective
• Often have specialised knowledge in areas like Human Resources, finance, law, data, and education
• Are sometimes known as community governors

Parent governors

• Have parental responsibility for, or are carers of, pupils at the school or trust
• Are primarily elected by the parents of the school. They are a key part of the governing board that provide a parental perspective
• Make up 2-4 members of most boards

Foundation governors

• Are appointed by a charitable body or foundation associated with the school or trust. This also applies to trustees
• Ensure that the school or trust character is upheld. This includes the religious character, if applicable

If you are interested in becoming a school governor for any types of governor roles listed above, you can complete an application form and email it to us at governor.services@southampton.gov.uk.

Download our School Governor Information leaflet.

Current vacancies in Southampton

If you are interested in becoming a school governor and want to explore opportunities within your community, then please contact us to find out about current school governor vacancies in the city:

Email: governor.services@southampton.gov.uk.

Clerking vacancies

Are you interested in becoming a clerk in Southampton? We have a number of schools who are looking to recruit clerks to support school governing boards.

Home working, access to a computer and internet connection is vital. Attendance at school governing board meetings is required on a monthly basis. The rest of the work can be carried out around other commitments.

This is a great opportunity if you are seeking an additional income.

See the clerk to school governors vacancies.

School governor commitments

Being a school governor is incredibly rewarding. Not only are you helping to ensure our children’s education is the best it can be, but you are also networking with new people and learning or enhancing your skills.

Each school is different but, as a general guide, we suggest the role take about 20 to 30 hours per term. Meetings are usually held in the evenings.

You may also need to make visits into the school, play an active role in staff recruitment, review policies and budgets, and engage in school specific projects.

Many employees who have a school governor role may be allowed “reasonable” time off work to carry out their duties, including attending governing board meetings. This time off is in addition to your usual holiday entitlement.

See more about time off work for public duties.

FAQs

School governor training and support

Our vision is to develop, support, and maintain strong, accountable governing bodies with appropriately skilled and well informed governors who understand our priorities for children and young people. It requires a partnership approach and joint working between us, schools, and governing bodies, with other key stakeholders.

We have a number of statutory duties in relation to the governance of maintained schools. We must:

• Provide advice and guidance on drawing up and changes to the governing body formal constitution (Instrument of Government)
• Provide election procedures, advice and guidance to community and voluntary controlled schools on parent and staff governor elections
• Recruit, or nominate, and remove Local Authority Governors
• Provide information provided to new governors by the Local Authority
• Collect or maintain information provided by governing bodies to the Local Authority on its constitution, membership, and other information
• Provide or signpost to high quality governor training

Effective governance drives school improvement and development and enables young people to raise their aspirations, fulfil their potential, and develop the right skills to play a positive part in the life of the city. We need to invest in our governors and ensure that they have access to appropriate guidance and advice when carrying out their duties.

We are very pleased to share the 2025/26 Southampton Governor Services Service Level Agreement (SLA) offer for all our maintained schools and academies. We have developed a programme of universal support and this will be provided to all maintained schools in the city. This is explained in the document below.

We know that headteachers and governing boards value flexibility in the choices they make. We have developed our packages to provide differing levels of service for all boards, depending on their requirements.

If you have any questions about our services, please contact governor.services@southampton.gov.uk.