Governor Support Unit

School governors in Wirral play a very important role in helping schools to improve and raise standards. There are approximately 2,000 people who volunteer to be school governors who give time, commitment and energy to the role and Wirral Local Authority values the support that governors give to schools.

Wirral’s Governor Support Service continually seeks to maintain and improve their service in order that today’s school governors can confidently and efficiently exercise their ever-developing roles and responsibilities.

We provide information and guidance to current and prospective governors, headteachers and clerks to governing bodies in a variety of ways including:

• Governors’ helpline
• Termly newsletters
• Director’s termly briefing to Chairs of Governors
• Cluster Group meetings for clerks to governing bodies
• Training for both governors and clerks
• Wirral Governors’ Forum
• Website

Governors bring a range of experience and interests from many walks of life. The governing body provides a sense of direction for the work of the school, they work together with the headteacher as a team and support the work of the school as a critical friend; to hold the school to account for the standards and quality of education it achieves.

Recruitment and retention of school governors is a priority for the Governor Support Service and good communication with governors and prospective governors is vital. Governors are often described as the largest volunteer army in the land – around 350,000.

The Governor Support Service holds an annual recruitment drive, and on receipt of applications received from prospective governors this enables local schools to fill any vacancies they may have on their governing body.

The service works closely with the School Governors One Stop Shop (SGOSS).

Wirral Governors’ Forum

The Governor Support Service works closely with the Wirral Governors’ Forum. The aims of the Forum are to provide opportunities for governors to come together for the purposes of establishing links between governing bodies in order to provide a collective voice; encourage cooperation between schools; share knowledge and experience of good practice and look at methods for addressing areas of common concern. They also seek to form a partnership with other groups in the education service both locally and nationally. Meetings are attended by key officers for the Children and Young People’s Department. This enables good networking between governors and officers.

Being a school governor can be demanding and time consuming but in the main it is challenging, rewarding and exciting.

If you would like to join one of the largest volunteer groups in England and help shape the future education of children please contact the Governor Support Service, whose contact details are shown at the top of the column on the right side of this page.