My Role As A Governor - Ann Sylph

As both a Governor and a school volunteer you may imagine the roles would be completely separate but there is overlap and the roles inform each other. Today, as I do on most Thursday mornings, I went into school as a Library Volunteer. I am a professional, chartered librarian with an MSc in Information Science, I volunteer so the school can benefit from my skills in library and information management. Chatsworth is fortunate to have an amazing bus as the school library and I am keen to develop the library to encourage the children to enjoy reading and develop information literacy skills. The library catalogue is an incredible resource, listing the books in the school’s library as well as many online resources which have been checked as being both safe and child friendly so do please make use of it to develop interests and help with homework https://u014837.microlibrarian.net/?ad=true My tasks in the library vary but I do enjoy chatting to the children making use of the library and working with the Year 5 pupil librarians!

This afternoon I returned to school in my role as a Governor to attend a meeting of the School’s Finance Committee, the Committee is accountable to the Governing Body and monitors the school’s budget and questions how the school is spending money on resources. A key role of a governor is overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent hence this Committee is a vital part of the governance of Chatsworth.

The roles of governor and volunteer may seem different but they inform each other. As a volunteer I  see the school, staff and pupils on a weekly basis in a more informal setting and this of course informs my knowledge and views of the school helping me to be more effective in my role as a governor.

Ann Sylph, Community Governor, 29 Jan 2015