 |  | Bully of a head
Making sure a school's complaints procedure is in place and publicised. |
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| | Can a headteacher select or bar staff from standing for staff governor posts?
How much control does a headteacher have in the choice of staff governors? |
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| | Clearer guidelines on a governing body's role in staff promotion
Just to clarify a point in regard to the question about assistant headteachers in "Governing body's involvement in internal promotion". |
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| | Is there an upper age limit for governors?
What's more important when choosing governors - age or commitment? |
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| | Protecting staff - a governor's duty of care
After three formal complaints of a staff member's bullying others, what is a governor's duty of care in protecting these staff? |
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| | Can parents remove a governor?
If parents are unhappy with the performance of a governor within a school, what steps could they take to have him / her removed? |
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| | Chair of governors is forcing us to vote for his preferred candidate
Primary school faces third rounds of interviews to appoint a new head. |
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| | Governing body's involvement in internal promotion
Can the headteacher promote internally to the post of assistant headteacher without the governing body's involvement? |
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| | How long can a person serve as a governor? (02/08/06)
Question about length of service. |
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| | How to elect a staff governor
Question about the procedure for appointing governors |
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| | I am being investigated over an assault (02/08/06)
The chair has informed the governors of the investigation, that they have elected her as the investigating officer. |
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| | I have a grievance against the head, chair of governors and HR (02/08/06)
Whom do I address the grievance to? |
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| | Independent school governors (14/08/06)
Is the role of a school governor the same in an independent school as in a maintained school? |
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| | Overseas-trained teacher without QTS for deputy head? (02/08/06)
Can the governing body appoint an overseas-trained teacher without QTS to a post of deputy head even though QTS was an essential criteria for the post? |
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| | Will acting deputy head face redundancy? (02/08/06)
A senior member of staff has been asked to cover for our departing deputy head for one term, in a school that has to have one redundancy next year. |
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| | Can we have two co-chairs of governors? (19/07/06)
No one person wants to steer the school through the next 18 months alone. |
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| | Governors in the staffroom (19/07/06)
Should governors be allowed unfettered access to the staffroom, for example during lunchtimes? |
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| | LEA governor interfering in governor business (19/07/06)
What can be done? |
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| | No training for child protection governor role (19/07/06)
I need to know what is required of me before I approach the teacher responsible for child protection in the school. |
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| | Parent governor with criminal past (19/07/06)
Can this person be excluded from taking up new governor's post? |
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| | Procedures for parent governor elections (19/07/06)
Can we move from "one vote per family" to "one vote per parent" or even "one vote per child"? |
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| | Spouse of staff as chair of governors (19/07/06)
Can a person married to a permanent full-time teaching assistant at a school become the chair of governors at that school? |
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| | What are the general pros and cons of confederation? (19/07/06)
I am a community governor at a rural primary school considering confederation. |
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| | Will the governing body support me if I refuse to teach classes over 30? (19/07/06)
I've been asked to teach a class of 33, but don't classes over 30 in KS1 require an additional teacher? |
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| | Can school staff chair governor committees? (07/07/06)
What is the rule regarding school staff chairing governor committees? |
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| | Defending against an appeal of entry (03/07/06)
This school needs support if they decide to defend an entry appeal. |
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| | Finding a sympathetic ear (03/07/06)
How appropriate would it be for a teacher to discuss a grievance against the headteacher with the Chair of Governors? |
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| | Governors' roles on disciplinary panels (03/07/07)
What training and prior knowledge of a case do governors need to take part in a disciplinary hearing? |
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| | Headteacher's right to vote? (03/07/06)
Is it a good idea for a headteacher to take part in electing a teacher governor? |
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| | Nepotism in the ranks? (03/07/06)
What are the rules when appointing family members as staff? |
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| | No quorum, no head (03/07/06)
An inquorate meeting has caused problems in appointing a new head teacher. |
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| | Teacher governors at teaching post interviews (03/07/06)
Teacher governors on interview panels - necessary or desirable? |
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| | Threat of closure (03/07/06)
A parent feels the head teacher is not supporting the community's wish to stop the school from closing. |
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| | Updating school policies (03/07/06)
Is there any standard practice as to how often school policies should be reviewed? |
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| | What's the point in sitting on this committee? (03/07/06)
As teacher governor on the staffing sub committee I need to know when it's inappropriate for me to attend. |
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| | Asking the right questions - key points? (30/06/06)
What are the key points to cover when asking faculty heads questions? |
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| | Can a headteacher become a teaching staff governor? (30/06/06)
Where does a headteacher stand in doubling up as a teacher governor? |
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| | Claims of harassment by head (30/06/06)
A member of the extended school has issued a complaint against the head teacher. |
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| | The right to a clear complaints procedure (30/06/06)
Parents of a child with special needs need advice on the school's complaints procedure. |
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| | Agencies will not register me without a QTS (06/06/06)
I am currently unemployed after twenty years' teaching experience |
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| | Can a governing body decide that they won't have a staff governor for a period of time? (06/06/06)
The last rep left with plenty of notice and two people are interested, but the headteacher refuses to hold an election or get nominations. |
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| | Can a staff-governor chair a governors' committee? (06/06/06)
I am chair of the Standards, Teaching and Learning Committee, and want to stand stand as staff-governor. |
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| | Collusion in sacking (06/06/06)
The head, teachers and the chair of governors may have colluded to sack a teacher to save money. What can one do? |
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| | More discussion on a previous Q&A about references (06/06/06)
Is there any written guidance on references being taken up prior to shortlisting and forming part of the interview process? |
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| | No confidence in the governing body over redundancy (06/06/06)
Our school, with only seven classes, can somehow afford an acting head and a three-day-per-week deputy, yet we are to have a redudancy. |
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| | Providing support for parents with concerns (06/06/06)
I'm a junior school parent-governor who has been told to stop accompanying concerned parents to talk to the headteacher or family liaison officer. |
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| | Should a governor sit on an interview panel if there is a conflict of interest? (06/06/06)
The chair and another governor appear to have unfairly denied a new appointment because of issues of friendship. |
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| | Concern over feeder primaries (05/05/06)
Should governors at a feeder infants school have been consulted over reduction of intake at the secondary school? |
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| | Governor ready to be a deputy head? (05/05/06)
For two years I've been a teacher and governor in a two-teacher primary school and had numerous responsibilities. When should I start applying for deputy head posts? |
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| | Governors' minutes (05/05/06)
I want to obtain governors' minutes from two years ago. I left the school then after being unjustifiably threatened with formal capability procedures. |
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| | What are the rules regarding the election of a teacher governor? (05/05/06)
Can a head ask for nominations and officiate in voting? |
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| | What's the standard time frame for electing a new teacher-governor? (05/05/06)
Our headteacher has not initiated official procedure and refuses to accept that there will only be one nomination. |
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| | When can governors see references? (05/05/06)
When are governors allowed to see references when shortlisting or interviewing for a teaching post? |
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| | Books about school governors for reception age children (06/04/06)
Can you recommend a text that explains to reception age children the role of school governors? |
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| | Complaints against the head - follow-up question (06/04/06)
Can government body members really be involved in a decision about whether a complaint should be heard by a committee? |
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| | Governors' concerns about new headteacher (06/04/06)
Is the time now right to do something about a new headteacher who has been causing concern? |
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| | Is a cluster group the first step towards federation? (06/04/06)
Our primary school is to form an alliance with two others that are not in good health. |
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| | Mistrust and unhappiness with a headteacher (06/04/06)
Can the governing body put forward a vote of no confidence? |
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| | Parent-governor vs. the music co-ordinator (06/04/06)
I'm a new junior school parent governor with responsibility for music, but the music co-ordinator hasn't taken this fully on board. Should I be pushing this further? |
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| | Re-starting the staff council (06/04/06)
Can I insist that senior management not attend the new staff council? I stopped attending the old one as it was chaired by the head. |
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| | What is the evidential burden of staff investigating offensive material in a pupil's possession? (06/04/06)
A pupil was excluded for sending offensive video footage on his mobile phone, even though the head and staff had not seen the material. |
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| | A headteacher's line manager (22/03/06)
What can be done about a primary head who does not consider the Board of Governors to be his line manager? |
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| | Can a headteacher also be the Special Needs Link Governor? (22/03/06)
Would this lead to a judge-and-jury situation? |
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| | Can a part-time member of staff be chair of governors? (22/03/06)
And can anyone employed by the school be chair or vice-chair? |
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| | Can a support-staff governor post that gets no nominations be offered to a teacher? (22/03/06)
A non-teaching staff-governor vacancy in our school is being offered to teaching staff because there were no nominations. Can this be right? |
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| | Should parent governors be part of the staffing sub-committee? (22/03/06)
We are trying to help an underperforming senior teacher who has had a month's absent due to stress, and are concerned that parent governors on the staffing sub-committee may ask awkward questions. |
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| | Grievance issued against primary headteacher (08/03/06)
14 primary staff have issued a grievance against their headteacher. What will be the procedure? |
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| | Minuting disciplinary meetings (08/03/06)
The clerk for the governors' disciplinary panel wants to stop providing minutes of meetings for fixed-period exclusions. What should we do? |
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| | Preparing for my first governor role (08/03/06)
What will be expected of me in my new role as a governor in a special school? |
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| | Reviewing literacy lessons (08/03/06)
What should I look for when reviewing literacy lessons in my primary school? |
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| | School of concern (08/03/06)
Should it be the headteacher or the chair of governors who informs a governing body that a school is in a "concern" category after an inspection? |
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| | SENCOs and CPD (08/03/06)
What problems do SEN co-ordinators in UK primary schools face regarding professional development? |
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| | Students on appointments panels: just tokenism? (08/03/06)
I am a student who was involved in the interviewing of candidates for a deputy head post at our school. The head appointed a candidate whom the students ranked very poorly. Is a student presence on such panels just tokenism? |
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| | What is the Church of England's Barchester Fund? (08/03/06)
My school pays into it but nobody seems to know much about it |
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| | Who is eligibile for community governor? (08/03/06)
Can a member of the non-teaching staff be appointed a community governor? |
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| | Complaints against the head (25/01/06)
If parents have complaints about the head and the chair, whom do the complaints go to if there is no vice chair and hasn’t been for nearly a year. |
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| | Induction pack for new governors (25/01/06)
We have just reconstituted our governing body and now have a full complement of 18 which includes 6 new parent governors. Can you give me some guidelines on what to include in an induction pack for them? |
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| | Information needed about governor vacancies
Where can I find out information about governor vacancies in my local area? |
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| | Teachers and students to become associate governors (25/01/06)
Our governing body is considering inviting teachers and senior students to become "associate governors". What pitfalls await us? |
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| | Can a school employee be a vice-chair? (05/01/06)
I'm a teaching assistant with governor responsibility for literacy. I have now been appointed as vice-chair. I am worried that working in the school may cause a conflict of interest, what do you think? |
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| | Can parent governors work part-time in their school? (05/01/06)
Can an elected parent governor work part time in their school? |
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| | Conditions where the LEA can over rule a Governing Body’s vote (05/01/06)
In what circumstances can the LEA or local council completely over rule a Governing Body’s vote on going Foundation Status? |
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| | How do staff register a vote of no confidence in the head? (05/01/06)
We wish to motion a vote of no confidence in our head teacher. How do we go about this and what will be the resulting action? |
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| | Why wasn't I informed? (05/01/06)
At a meeting of my school's personnel committee, the principal made allegations about remarks that I had allegedly made during a staff meeting. Was she within her rights to do this in my absence? |
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| | Advice for teachers facing disciplinary proceedings (05/12/05)
A reader comments on the teacher with the personality clash who is facing disciplinary proceedings. |
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| | Concern over headteacher's cloak-and-dagger approach to new school structure review (05/12/05)
We don't want to rock the boat but we think the head is not really telling us enough |
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| | How do I become a deputy headteacher? (05/12/05)
I am a primary school teacher and am interested in becoming a deputy, how can I do this? |
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| | Intimidated by the governors (05/12/05)
I am working as a Primary Headteacher and feel I am being overpowered and intimidated by the Governors. |
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| | Our Board of Governors is not performing properly (05/12/05)
Our primary school board of governors have not addressed an issue of planning permission for over 12 months. Can we remove the entire governing body? |
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| | What to do when teachers act unprofessionally? (05/12/05)
I work in a school as a teaching assistant as does my friend. In our time there we have become more and more concerned with the conduct of some of the teachers and the Deputy Head. |
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| | A doomed appeal - how can I get a fair hearing? (16/11/05)
How do I get a fair appeal when I feel it is doomed by a personality clash with the new headteacher? |
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| | Advice for governors with specific curriculum links (16/11/05)
How do governors with specific curriculum links fulfil their role - e.g. a literacy governor? |
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| | Can a parent governor work full time in the same school? (16/11/05)
Should a parent governor resign if he or she wants to take on a full-time post while in office? |
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| | Can the conduct of a head influence a panel's judgement? (16/11/05)
Can the legal conduct of headteacher influence a governing body's ruling over a formal complaint? |
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| | Have you been asked to be a governor but feel unsure? (16/11/05)
I have been asked to be a college governor by staff. What are the benefits?
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| | How to handle a parental complaint over alleged child restraint (16/11/05)
How should the school handle a parental complaint over a case of alleged restraint, when several weeks have passed and diffferent accounts of the incident do not match? |
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| | Questions to ask when interviewing for a deputy head
What are the key questions a governer should ask when interviewing for a deputy head, for outside candidates and existing staff? |
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| | Vote of no confidence - What next?
What follows a vote of no confidence by staff in the school, when it is in part due to poor management by the head? |
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