I believed in them literally, as some people believe in Holy Writ.

If I were responsible for all these areas of school life, I was determined to understand them. I must have spent days reading policy documents, books on How to be a Good Governor and financial statements, I think the fashionable phrase is “steep learning curve”. In my first term as chairman I found myself in charge of an interview panel, firmly instructed by the head that it was my job to summarise the candidates’ interviews and lead the discussion. When one nervous candidate confided that this was his first interview, I couldn’t resist telling him it was mine too. About as reassuring as the same reciprocal confidence from one’s midwife.

Then the head left.

We politely but firmly excluded him from anything to do with the appointment of his successor. That is the governors’ job, as is writing the annual report to parents, completing the annual budget intention return and responding to LEA consultation papers. That’s what the books say.

But at courses and conferences, I have met many governors who have never seen a consultative document or a DFE circular. Papers for governors come addressed to the school, and some heads clearly edit out anything they think is too taxing or contentious for the governors’ eyes.

Many heads write the annual report and prospectus, and appoint staff with only a token nod to the governors. Termly governors’ meetings are held to rubber-stamp decisions made by the head, or sometimes the head and chairman. Perhaps they have got it right. Some areas of school life are so complex and hedged about with legislation that it is impossible for governors to have more than a very general overview.

I have spent several hours this weekend typing up the school’s new health and safety policy. I was elected chairman because I have a word processor and a bike, thus saving on clerical hours and postage. The policy makes frequent reference to LEA administrative memoranda, on letting of schools’ kitchens, reporting of accidents. outdoor pursuits, fire regulations, use of minibuses, etc.

Now I know they are there, I feel obliged to read them, but I am not looking forward to it. This may finally be the policy that defeats my attempts to provide a one-page summary. “Keep your fingers crossed and leave it to the head” might cover it.

Then there’s OFSTED. To suggest that governors should draw up an action plan following an inspection is clearly nonsensical. Our “authorship” can only realistically be of the same nature as Naomi Campbell’s - we will read the synopsis before it is published.

I don’t think I’ve done any great harm by taking my responsibilities so seriously - though it is chastening to observe that while I have been learning my job as chairman over the past two-and-a-half years, the school has continued to run smoothly with merely the head in charge.

But I do think there is potential for great discord and disruption if an officious governing body with a bee in its collective bonnet were to use the legal powers it undoubtedly has to bypass or over-rule the head on important issues.

So one of my self-imposed tasks for this term will be to draw up clear guidelines of powers delegated by the governing body to the head, to protect her from my hypothetically over-zealous successor and us from being held responsible for matters outside our control.

Joan Dalton is a governor in the Midlands.