Ealing Learning Partnership

Categories of governors

In brief, the different categories of governors are:

  • Parent governors: Selected by election/appointment if insufficient people stand for election and drawn from parents and carers of children at the school
  • Staff governors: Selected by election from teaching and support staff paid to work at the school
  • Co-opted governors: Appointed by the governing board because of specific skills / experience they bring
  • Local authority (LA)/LA citizen governors: Nominated by the local authority
  • Foundation governors (not community schools): Appointed by the school's founding board, church or other organisation named in the school's instrument of government
  • Partnership governors (foundation schools only): Replace foundation governors if the school does not have a founding body, church or other organisation
  • Associate members (not governors): Appointed by the governing board to attend committee meetings and/or full governing board meetings due to their particular skills or experience. As they are not governors they are not recorded on the Instrument of Government and do not have full voting rights.

Co-opted governors or associate members

SGOSS - In Ealing, we work with SGOSS, an independent school governor charity, that provides free services for volunteers, schools and employers.

To become a co-opted governor or an associate member, complete the application form and state your interest in becoming a governor in an Ealing school.

Inspiring governance - The national online service connecting skilled volunteers interested in serving as governors and trustees with schools and colleges. It provides free, expert support for volunteers and governing boards, as well as for employers wanting to run programmes for their staff serving as governors.

The service is supported and funded by the Department for Education. When applying please state you are interested in an Ealing school.

Parent, staff and foundation governors

Please contact your child’s school for more information.

LA governors /LA citizen governors

In Ealing, the political parties represented on the council have an opportunity to nominate local authority governors on school governing boards.

The Chief Whips, the portfolio holder for children and young people, our legal services and Council officers have all been involved in developing the process to ensure clarity and speed in filling LA governor vacancies.

All governing bodies (GBs) must make sure they follow this process when they have a LA governor vacancy. Not doing so may result in delay or failure to fill a vacancy as necessary.

If after 14 weeks a vacancy for a LA governor has not been filled, the governing board can consider appointing an LA citizen governor. A completed application form together with the change of membership form (see below) should be sent to the school workforce and governors team (SWG).

Upon receipt approval will be sought from the assistant director, school effectiveness and the portfolio holder for children and young people, and the clerk will be notified when this has taken place. The reason for this is that if necessary only the LA can remove a LA governor from a governing board, so we would want to have sight of who was filling a vacancy.

LA governor complaint/removal process

Asterisk (*): Please note an EGfL user account is required to view this document, please email egflwebteam@ealing.gov.uk to register for an account.

Where a concern or complaint is raised that has not been satisfactorily dealt with through informal means this new procedure should be used.

Whilst these documents refer to LA governors we would recommend that all GBs have clearly agreed processes in place for the election/ appointment of all other governors. These documents can be adapted and further tools can also be found in out toolkit section.

We also recommend that you review your complaints policy to ensure the process for complaints against the GB is also clearly outlined.

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Last updated: 18 Oct 2021