Have you noticed?

5th January 2001, 12:00am

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Have you noticed?

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/have-you-noticed-58
THE school’s Christmas fair threw up another interesting example of the division of responsibility between heads and chairs of governors. After some discussion and consultation of the appropriate legislation we decided she should wash and I would dry.

Governors should always work to their particular strengths. We can’t all be financial wizards or performance management experts: equally valuable are governors who provide an extra pair of restraining hands on school trips, are prepared to patrol the grounds in search of dog shit or who bring their video camera to school events. My own forte is the ability to read ad precis impenetrable documents. I also type and deliver swift, cheap communication whizzing round the village on my bike.

A governor I met at a recent conference saw his main contribution as dressing up. “I was Mr Blobby last week,” he told me. He also features regularly in the school productions as a dame. He recounted with great relish telling a particularly obnoxious Office for Standards in Education inspector that he now had a perfect role model for his next part as the wicked witch.

Let’s not reduce governing body size. We’d have to keep the serious people and lose our Mr Blobbies. Too sad.


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