I’ve worked with the chair of governors, the local authority and the senior leaders to rebuild the school after an extremely tough OFSTED inspection and celebrated the success of the school as they have delivered substantial improvements for the pupils. I’ve had meetings with distraught parents, interviewed teachers and challenged underperforming governors. In my time as a governor I’ve overhauled the school’s training and recruitment practices and mentored pupils through mock university interviews. I’ve taken unpaid leave to serve the school, trained governors from other schools and completed leadership training to become more effective. I’ve dialled in to meetings from around the globe and lost evenings to reviewing dozens of policy documents.
In short: I’ve been seriously busy.
So, why do this? Why become a governor? The work is stressful, unpaid and, if you do it properly, almost unnoticed. I became a governor because everything I have achieved in my life, modest as it is, was through the support of my family, through my education and through the grace of God. I feel a debt to all three and becoming a governor was one opportunity I had to repay that debt. Whilst being a governor isn’t easy it is hugely rewarding, and it has, without a shadow of a doubt, made me better at my day job. The skills it takes to become an effective governor map very closely to the skills it takes to manage a team of talented engineers and deliver to clients. I hope that some of you reading this will choose to become governors and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me through the company website.
For now, it remains for me to wish the staff and pupils at St Paul’s all the very best for the future and thank them for putting up with me. To my colleagues on the board, and especially to the chair Paul Herbert, I wish you all the very best and I leave you secure in the knowledge that the school will go from strength to strength.
