Verulam School 's governing body has 15 members, including the Headmaster. All governors serve a four- year term, although many choose to stand for more than one term and are either voted back onto the governing body or stand for re-election depending on the category of governor. The 4 community governors are invited onto the governing body; the 7 parent governors are elected by the school's parent body; the 3 staff governors are elected by the staff.

What do school governors do?

Governors have a strategic role to play within the school organisation, leaving the day-to-day running to the Headmaster and his staff. Governors need to be clear about the aims and values of the school and prepared to work with the school as a critical friend recognising and celebrating achievements, supporting and encouraging strategies to bring about improvements, but also asking challenging questions to ensure objectives are met. The governing body is one of the key players in the school development/improvement planning process and governors are involved in the review of the school development plan and the drawing up of the priorities for the coming year. Governors receive information and discuss issues at the full governing body meetings (2 evening meetings a term), through the sub-committees (LT:PP - Learning & Teaching: Pupil Progress, Finance, Human Resources and Premises) and through links with specific departments and sections of the school. Governors are responsible for the appointment of the Headmaster, and are frequently involved in the interviews of other staff, particularly at senior level. Governors are very rarely experts in educational matters. The fact that all governors have different backgrounds and are able to bring a wide range of expertise and experience is of great value to the school. Governors work as a team, both as part of the governing body, and in a wider sense as part of the whole school community. A wide range of training courses and guidance on the roles and responsibilities of governors are available from School Governance.

How to contact the governors

If you would like more information about the work governors do, or have any concerns or queries you would like to raise with the governors, please contact Richard Kennedy Chair of Governors by telephone, letter through the main school address. If you wish to email Richard Kennedy directly please click here and complete the form. Because governors have historically joined the governing body at different times, or a governor may not serve a full term of office, vacancies occur at varying times during the year. If you think you may be interested in joining the governing body as a parent governor, or know of someone in the community who may be interested, we should be very happy to hear from you and discuss this further.