Governance Officer Wokingham, England
Job description
KEEN TO DEVELOP YOUR
CAREER AND LEARN NEW SKILLS?
PASSIONATE ABOUT EDUCATION?
Become a Governance Officer
Part-time. Term-time only. Flexible hours and working location to suit
(with some twilight meetings and ability to travel to local school sites essential).
Competitive hourly rate.
No previous experience necessary – full training and support provided.
This is a great opportunity to make a real difference to the educational experience and lives of our amazing children and young people by using your transferable skills:
- Clear communication and advice
- Strong organisation and initiative
- Utmost discretion, integrity and diplomacy
- Sound IT skills e.g. Microsoft 365
Be part of our growing community of schools working with: St Crispin’s School, The Emmbrook School &
Shinfield Infant and Nursery School.
The Role:
As part of our governance team, you will support our volunteer Local Advisors. Local Advisors play a pivotal role in the governance of our Trust and its family of schools and include parents and highly regarded members of the community who bring a wide range of commercial, professional and educational expertise to our Trust.
Your vital administrative, organisational and process support and advice will ensure effective and efficient governance at school level that is consistent with Trust wide practice.
If you are looking for a diverse, interesting role at the heart of a friendly, supportive team who are passionate about what they do, we would love to hear from you.
To apply, complete the application form (here) and email to Mel Knight, Operations Manager,
Closing date: 22nd May Interviews: 24th May
For more information: Mel Knight on 0118 338 1961
The Circle Trust – a local, multi-academy trust focused on ensuring the best educational outcomes for our children and young people. www.thecircletrust.co.uk
GOVERNANCE OFFICER OPPORTUNITY PACK
Job description
Title: Governance Officer
Salary: Competitive
Contract: Permanent, term time only
Hours of work: Flexible depending on Local Advisory Board(s) successful candidate appointed to
Reporting to: The Circle Trust Company Secretary and Chair(s) of Local Advisors
Main purpose of the role
- To provide governance support and advice to the Local Advisory Board(s) to which they are appointed, working effectively and efficiently with key stakeholders including the Chair(s) of Local Advisors, Local Advisors,
Headteacher(s) and The Circle Trust
Company Secretary.
- To ensure that each school’s Local Advisory
Board delivers the required key functions and is compliant with legal and statutory requirements and Trust policy.
- To work in line with The Circle Trust’s operating procedures and ensure each Local
Advisory Board fulfils their roles and responsibilities in relation to the Trust’s governance arrangements within the Scheme of
Delegation, Terms of Reference and Articles of Association and in line with Trust practice.
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Key accountabilities
Governance support
- Deliver high-quality, comprehensive clerking, administrative and process support to each individual school to which they are appointed.
- Prepare agendas for Local Advisory Board meetings in consultation with the Chair of Local
Advisors and Headteacher.
- Convene meetings and collate and upload meeting papers to the Trust’s information management system (SharePoint) so that documents are available to meeting attendees at least seven clear days in advance.
- Ensure meetings are quorate, inclusive and well-structured.
- Attend all required meetings and draft accurate minutes that record attendance/apologies and capture decision-making processes, actions and responsibilities within defined timescales.
- Provide draft minutes of meetings for approval by the Chair and then despatch approved minutes as required to all Local Advisors and the headteacher and upload to the Trust’s information management system within pre-agreed deadlines.
- Maintain records of approved minutes and supporting papers for the public record and for use by
Local Advisors, Trustees as well as school and Trust staff.
- Liaise with the Local Advisory Board Chair(s) before the next meeting to receive/provide updates on progress of actions previously agreed.
- Take responsibility for the creation of an annual meeting schedule for each school Advisory Board and circulate to relevant parties.
- Set up and administer Local Advisor panels including panel hearings for complaints and exclusions, seeking advice and support from the company secretary as appropriate.
- Maintain confidential records of Local Advisory Board papers and correspondence as appropriate.
- Oversee the governance pages of the school website(s) to ensure compliance with statutory and
Trust requirements.
- Work with the headteacher and Chair of Local Advisors to keep all school policies up to date and accurately uploaded and recorded on the Trust information management system.
- Support the Company Secretary in maintaining a schedule of policies ensuring that the
Headteacher is alerted in advance when policies are due for review and approved policies and key documents are published on the school website and Trust information management system when required.
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- Maintain accurate, up to date Local Advisor records and registers, including members, terms of office, training and professional development, declarations of interest and DBS and other relevant checks.
- Ensure this information is up to date on the school website and ‘Getting Information About
Schools’ as required.
- Co-ordinate and ensure safeguarding and other relevant checks on Local Advisors are carried out and recorded and reported as required.
- Support Local Advisor board self-evaluation, skills audit processes and training and professional development.
- Work with the Local Advisory Board regarding Local Advisor recruitment and succession planning as required, advising the Chair of Local Advisors in advance of the expiry of Advisors’ terms of office and the impact of this on the Board’s capacity, diversity and skills mix.
- Maintain and keep up to date the Local Advisory Board area on the Trust management information system in line with Trust procedure.
- Liaise with the Company Secretary as may from time to time be required to provide effective and efficient governance across the Trust.
Advice
- Advise the Local Advisory Board on their legal duties and responsibilities, national and Trust guidance and policies, constitutional requirements and board procedures, annual tasks and decisions, seeking support from the Company Secretary where required.
- Accessing advice from the Company Secretary as appropriate.
Training and development
- Keep up to date with current educational developments and legislation affecting school governance as well as changes in Trust governance policy and practice.
- Draft briefing papers for the Trust governance team as required.
- Contribute to the coordination of learning and development opportunities for Local Advisors, including induction and continuing professional development.
- Participate in annual performance management with the Company Secretary and Chair of Local
Advisors.
- Complete training requirements in a timely manner.
To carry out tasks as reasonably required by the Company Secretary and/or Chair of Local Advisors.
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Details of line management
This post is line managed by the Company Secretary in consultation with the Chair of Local Advisors.
Notes:
Whilst every effort has been made to explain the accountabilities of this post, each individual task undertaken may not be identified.
This job description is current, but following consultation with you, may be changed to reflect or anticipate changes in the job which are commensurate with the salary and job title.
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GOVERNANCE OFFICER OPPORTUNITY PACK
Personal specification
Key Criteria Essential Desirable
Qualifications Minimum educational qualifications to A Level or and Training equivalent.
Good literacy and numeracy skills.
Strong IT skills (MS Office experience, including word- processing, spreadsheets and e-mail).
Competence Verbal and written communication. Experience of working
Summary Advisory skills (recommending a course of action). within a learning
(knowledge, Experience of building good working relationships environment. abilities, skills, across a range of stakeholders. experience) Able to work constructively as part of a team and
Previous or current independently. experience of Clerking.
Strong organisational and planning skills and ability to implement and adhere to processes and procedures.
Able to prioritise own workload and work to competing Knowledge of relevant deadlines. policies/codes of practice
Experience of general clerical/administrative work. and awareness of relevant
Experience of minute taking, preparing agendas and legislation papers.
Able to produce correspondence. Knowledge of the core
Willing to attend twilight meetings and travel to local governance functions and schools. elements of effective governance and practice as they apply to the school/Trust
Work related Committed to equality of opportunity. personal Ability to maintain strict confidentiality. requirements Discretion, integrity and diplomacy.
Other work Suitable to work with children. requirements Participate in training and development opportunities.
Attributes Personal integrity and commitment to the 7 principles of public life.
Respect for confidentiality.
Confidence and resilience (to challenge where necessary).
Commitment to professional development to maintain knowledge and improve practice.
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GOVERNANCE OFFICER OPPORTUNITY PACK
The Recruitment Process
S afer recruitment
The Circle Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and applicants must be willing to undergo screening appropriate to the post. This will include an enhanced DBS and checks on references.
A pplication form
Please complete The Circle Trust application form. This is the only form that will be accepted. You should ensure that your personal statement is no more than two pages of A4 and that it reflects your suitability in terms of the Person Specification.
R eferences
We require two references from all candidates, one of which must be from your most recent employer. If any references relate to employment at a school/college, your referee must be the Headteacher/Principal.
If you are short-listed, the school will contact your referees without further reference to you.
C losing date
The closing date for applications is 9am , Monday 22nd May 2023. Please send your application to Mel
Knight , Operations Manager. Email: [email protected]
Receipt of applications will be acknowledged by email on the next school day. If you do not receive such an acknowledgement, please contact Mel Knight as above.
S hort-listing and interviews
Shortlisting will be against the Person Specification criteria as detailed in this pack. We will also check all applicants for gaps in employment history. Those applicants that best meet the Person Specification will be invited for interviews on Wednesday 24th May 2023.
C hecks
If you attend for interview you will be required to bring photographic identification, proof of the right to work in the UK and proof of qualifications.
O ffer of employment
We will make a verbal offer of employment to the successful candidate by telephone. This will be followed up by a written offer which will be emailed. Any offer is made subject to satisfactory references, satisfactory
DBS clearance, and any other safeguarding checks required and a satisfactory health check.
Unsuccessful candidates
Unsuccessful candidates will be notified by telephone.
D ata protection
In completing this application form you should refer to the Recruitment Privacy Notice on our website. The personal information collected on this form will be processed to manage your application in accordance with the Recruitment Privacy Notice. If successful, your personal information will be retained whilst you are an employee and used for payroll, pension and employee administration in accordance with the Staff Privacy
Notice which is available on our website and will be issued on appointment. Information will not ordinarily be disclosed to anyone outside The Circle Trust without first seeking your permission, unless there is a statutory reason for doing so. If you are not shortlisted or appointed, then your information will only be retained by us for 6 months from the shortlisting date, in accordance with the Recruitment Privacy Notice.
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ABOUT THE CIRCLE TRUST
The Circle Trust, established in 2018, was created to serve the area of Wokingham and the surrounding area.
The Circle Trust was borne out of a desire that all children and young people have an excellent, well-rounded education and flourish in first-rate schools where the best teaching, the best facilities and the most up-to-date resources are made available to them.
The Circle Trust is a community of schools that have shared values and an essential common ethos and vision for education and learning. At the centre of our work together is improving the educational outcomes for our pupils. We deliberately use the term “educational outcomes” to highlight that we value education in the widest sense whilst balancing our ambition to seek the highest academic performance. Currently, the Trust includes two secondary schools-The Emmbrook, St Crispin’s, and six schools at the primary phase - Nine Mile Ride Primary School,
Shinfield Infant and Nursery School, Wescott Infants, Westende
Junior School, Emmbrook Infants and Emmbrook Juniors and continues to grow.
In the early days, we spent hours debating our name! We chose “The Circle Trust” as it symbolically reflects our approach, our way of working and indeed the ethos of how we operate. It is a name that is deliberately neutral and without association of a specific school. In our Trust, we know it is important to treat every school as individual and unique and feel strongly that a name shouldn’t be connected to a single institution.
One of our core values is that of being inclusive and so we wanted our name to encapsulate all sorts of schools whatever their type or phase.
Collaboration is important to us. Being part of our multi-academy trust does not mean working exclusively within the Trust. We encourage schools to retain their relationships with other local and national partners. The Circle Trust is not, and will never be, a franchise model requiring schools to work in a regulated and specific way. We understand how to manage the balance between effective and efficient common systems whilst ensuring that the individual character and ethos of different schools is maintained.
We work in a very transparent way, where schools have the opportunity to influence and their views are taken into account, we don’t want to change schools, we want to help them be better. As a Trust we take this aligned approach and our ambition is clear, to improve the educational outcomes for children and young people.
Our Trust therefore provides the support and infrastructure that schools need to enable them to develop and improve, and for the school leadership and their local governance to achieve their objectives for their school.
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At the heart of our Trust is access to school improvement advice and guidance. We call this package of support “The
Learning Curve!” As an all-through Trust (nursery-18 years),
The Circle Trust is able to provide school improvement advice and strategy based on consistency and fluency in education.
We are able to create and promote an educational environment for the 21st century with wide-ranging opportunities for our students; accommodating a wider breadth of activities for the more able pupils as well as enabling primary age pupils to access the secondary phase specialist teacher, resources and facilities more easily.
Bespoke strategies to address the ‘dips’ in learning usually associated with transitions and transfers from school to school which begin with the opportunity for mixed age work, stage not age and learner mentoring and exploits distinctive opportunities for flexible deployment for staff. Simply put, we promote the potential to stimulate the development of imaginative approaches, which focus on achieving high levels of success for all.
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ABOUT WOKINGHAM
Wokingham has plenty to offer. Our historic market town is by no means standing still. We are coming to the end of a £100m town centre regeneration and the population continues to grow.
We are often found at or near the top of surveys for the best place to live and to raise a family.
We are surrounded by spacious woodland and lush green fields. There are plenty of options for being active in the great outdoors – we are near excellent mountain bike trails, water sport centres, play areas, skateboard parks, golf courses and bridle paths. We have lots of other ways to keep busy with nearby cinemas, ten pin bowling and theatres.
Wokingham has a strong community spirit which is highlighted by the fabulous May Fair, International Street
Concert, Food and Drink Festival and Winter Carnival. The town truly comes alive during these events to celebrate living in Wokingham. There are also plenty of community events, concerts and performances throughout the year.
We are lucky to benefit from transport links by road and rail to key towns such as Reading, Bracknell,
Windsor, Basingstoke and Guildford as well as being just 40 miles from the centre of London and 25 miles from Heathrow Airport. Reading is an award-winning shopping destination in the Thames Valley region and is the perfect blend of luxury and more affordable brands. Windsor is home to the world famous and official
Royal residence Windsor Castle.
Photo taken by Stewart Turkington Photography
WE LOVE OUR TOWN AND LOOK
FORWARD TO WELCOMING YOU.
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Job Type: Permanent
Salary: Up to £15,000.00 per year
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Wokingham, Berkshire: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Work Location: In person
Application deadline: 22/05/2023
Expected start date: 01/06/2023
