All over the county, school governors are helping headteachers and staff in Cambridgeshire ensure our children get the best from their time in school.

Governors are the largest volunteer force in the country and have an important part to play in raising school standards through their three key roles of setting strategic direction, ensuring accountability and monitoring and evaluating school performance.

Being a school governor is demanding but rewarding and a good way of putting something into your local community. It’s good personal development, you get access to training and experience of a live board situation and an enormous sense of satisfaction. If you were to become a school governor you would be one of between 9 and 20 people making up the governing body.

Schools are keen to attract people in the community to become governors; people who can bring energy, experience and fresh ideas to the role of organising and managing a school. Governors need no formal qualifications or particular skills, but they do need to have time to dedicate to their role, to make good decisions and to make sure their decisions are followed up. Could you meet this challenge?

Together with the headteacher they set the future direction for the school and decide how the school’s budget should be spent. Governing bodies make decisions collectively on matters such as performance targets, school policies and the school’s development plan. Governors monitor the impact of policies and oversee the use of the school’s budget. They report to parents on the school’s achievements and respond to inspection recommendations. They hear appeals from pupils and staff and consider complaints.

Governors provide the headteacher with support and advice, drawing on their knowledge and experience. They ask searching questions and respect the headteacher’s position as professional leader of the school.