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"Supporting your people - Creating a school governor network with University of Southampton
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In this episode, Josie Love-Murelli from the University of Southampton joins us to explore the benefits of implementing a school governor programme and network. Listen to find out how your university or organisation can open new doors for employees and students alike, while supporting local schools and the next generation.
Visit our website for more information on our university partnerships:
https://governorsforschools.org.uk/work-with-us/partners/university-partners/
If you have any queries about our volunteer recruitment or partnership offers, please email our Senior Partnership Manager:
Charles Western Charles.Western@governorsforschools.org.uk
Music credit - Adobe Audio Stock: Corporate Ambient
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Focus on School Governor Networks
00:00:09
Speaker
Hello listeners and welcome to this episode of the Governors for Schools podcast. My name is Charlie Weston, Senior Partnerships Team Manager here at Governors for Schools and I'm delighted to be speaking with you on today's podcast.
Significance of National School Governors Awareness Day
00:00:21
Speaker
In today's podcast we will be joined by one of our valued university partners as we discuss the creation of a school governor network, the reasons why universities or indeed other organisations may wish to launch a school governor initiative and the challenges and successes that are faced along the way.
00:00:40
Speaker
It's also incredibly fitting that we're talking about the value of volunteering as a school governor today. And that is because today is the 13th of February, 2025, which is National School Governors Awareness Day.
00:00:53
Speaker
Although this podcast will be released at a later date, we'd like to take this opportunity to celebrate all the committed volunteers that are placed on school governing boards. Hopefully we'll also encourage our listeners today to engage in a school governor network initiative or indeed apply as a school governor.
Introductions and Roles of Harriet Bowen and Josie Lovemorelli
00:01:12
Speaker
That's enough from me for now. I'm now going to pass over to our two other speakers to introduce themselves. Firstly, over to my colleague, Harriet. Hello, everyone. um I'm Harriet Bowen, and I'm one of the partnership managers at Governors for Schools, and I'm really excited to be part of this podcast.
00:01:30
Speaker
Thank you, Harriet. Now over to our guest for today, Josie from the University of Southampton. Hello, I'm JC Lovemorelli and I chair the School Governor Network at our university, the University of Southampton, and I'm also a proud School Governor volunteer.
00:01:47
Speaker
Thank you. and Great to have you with us today.
Role of School Governors in Schools
00:01:50
Speaker
and So, before we get started, I think it's useful to give some listeners who might be less involved in school governance a quick run through of self what that what that involves, what is school governance,
00:02:03
Speaker
Harriet, can you give us a bit of a brief outline of what a school governor does, please? Yeah, absolutely. So school governors are volunteers who volunteer their time, their experience, their skills, their opinions to a local school. It's very much a strategic role rather than operational role. So you don't get involved with the day day running of the school, but you're there to kind of support the strategic plan.
00:02:29
Speaker
um oversee the budget and also hold senior leaders to account at that school. Thanks Harriet. and So if you'd like to find out more about the responsibilities of a school governor or indeed who governors for schools are, please do head over to our website. a whole range of reading materials that you can get stuck into to find out a little bit more.
University of Southampton's School Governor Initiative
00:02:51
Speaker
and But to sort of get more into the topic for today, and I want to sort of explore why Southampton got involved in a ah governor initiative in the first place.
00:03:03
Speaker
and what was What was the draw there and for for the university, Josie? Yeah, that's a really good question. um We had heard about ah similar partnerships at other universities um and the difference that that had made.
00:03:17
Speaker
So that had been on my mind for quite a while. um And then out of the blue, we got an email from governors for schools asking about governors within our community and whether or not we might be interested in a partnership.
00:03:29
Speaker
And I think it was just perfect timing because I think At that point, we were looking at how can we do more for the community that our university is in? How can we, as the largest employer ah you know within our community, um use our resource and expertise to to improve um the situation for young people?
00:03:49
Speaker
And also as a university, how can we be delivering on our widening participation ah priorities? So it was perfect timing when we got the email and it led to lots of conversations about how best to take that forward. um From my side, I work in the alumni office.
00:04:04
Speaker
So not only am I one of the employees of this big organisation, but i also work with 285,000 alumni, many of whom stay in the local region and also are you know looking for ways to give back.
Creating a Supportive School Governor Network
00:04:18
Speaker
So it seemed like the best way forward might be for us to work together across the organisation with our widening participation team, with myself, with our comms colleagues and figure out how a network and an initiative might be able to support those multiple priorities, but also target those multiple audiences as well.
00:04:37
Speaker
Amazing. Great. Thank you. um I suppose that that initial email that came from came from you, Harriet. Yeah, I think it did. Yeah. Fab, fab.
00:04:49
Speaker
So we at Governance for Schools do partner with lots of universities across England and Wales and and each one has its own different ways of working or ways that they sort of want to set up that set up the partnership in the first instance. So it's quite a back and forth and a conversation on how that happens. and How does that like how How did it work in this instance for you, Harriet, and sort of the way that we worked this out, suppose?
00:05:19
Speaker
Yeah, um I think we originally set up a meeting on Teams, didn't we, Josie, just to talk through how this could work, what the priorities were for the university and how that could align um with governors for schools.
00:05:34
Speaker
And it definitely was the right place the right time. Everything seemed to fit very, very nicely. So we had a conversation about setting up an initial webinar um to kind of launch the the partnership.
00:05:46
Speaker
That was something that we really wanted to do the University of Southampton and something that we do with a number of our other partners. um I think our first one was in February 2024, so about a year ago um now which is absolutely crazy to
Reviving School Governor Networks Post-COVID
00:06:03
Speaker
think.
00:06:03
Speaker
And then it was speaking with Josie about all the possible avenues for spreading the word and within the university network, which obviously is so vast. and And Josie has some amazing links with the communications team at the university and was able to kind of use that to really get that launch up off to a successful start Yeah, that's right. It was National School Governors Awareness Day last year, i believe, that we did the first webinars.
00:06:31
Speaker
um So it has. It's been a year, which is fantastic. um And I remember thinking at the time, you know, ah we already know that there are a number of people who are school governors already.
00:06:42
Speaker
um And through the conversations that we had about doing the webinars, it became a apparent that actually there had previously been a school governor network, which had existed sort of well before this campaign and unfortunately dried up a little bit during COVID. But it it seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore whether or not we could then ah bring that back as well.
00:07:02
Speaker
And as we recruit new governors, give them that additional network ah for support. um and And also as a really nice extra bit of um incentive to become a school governor off the back of our initiative.
00:07:15
Speaker
Definitely worked quite nicely, didn't it? Because some of those people who came forward to say, um'm I'm already a school governor, they then joined us for the event as guest speakers and spoke a little bit about their story and their experience. So it all worked together very nicely.
00:07:30
Speaker
Yeah, and I think since then that's been such a key part of our school governor activity has been having those people who are already doing it and able
Support to New Governors through Experiences
00:07:40
Speaker
to, i you know, testify to the life changing experience it really is to be a school governor.
00:07:46
Speaker
I've now taken part of one of those as well. So I know that it's it a really lovely opportunity to share your experience today. um But I also know that our audiences have responded so well to being able to speak to someone who's doing it already and ask those key questions. um Even today, we've got a story about one of our school governors who was recruited through one of the webinars going out across our university channels. So it's really nice to see the kind of full circle that we've gone on this year and continue to go back to those people who we know are already doing this and working day in, day out to support local schools um and get them to share their excitement and passion with our prospective school governors too.
00:08:21
Speaker
Definitely, that's fantastic. Yeah, that's that's amazing. This is quite interesting. I think we see it quite often with university partners and other partners where there's been some engagement with school governor initiatives previously, but because of competing priorities, I mean, particularly in the higher education sector or staff coming and going, it's dropped out.
00:08:48
Speaker
and And I think that actually being able to take stock and look at what's happened previously and then go, oh, right, well, we've actually got existing school governors that could form a network.
00:08:59
Speaker
um all you know School governors are one of the largest volunteer groups in England and Wales. So everywhere is going to have, or every large employer is going have some school governors already in their workforce. and So why not sort of lean on that a little bit to help help them help but take off the the the initiative and the network?
00:09:21
Speaker
So we've got sort of the the drive to recruit that we do with with you, with the University of Southampton. But then we've also got sort of the ongoing support of the school governor network itself.
00:09:35
Speaker
and And I think that's something that is quite often not forgotten about, but it's sort of secondary because you need you need the recruits in the first instance. and how does How does the actual network work? and How do you communicate?
00:09:50
Speaker
what What goes on there?
Setting Up Communication Channels and Student Integration
00:09:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's a very good question. I think the the feeling was that a network was important because not only do we want our school governor community to be made up of people recruited through our partnership.
00:10:06
Speaker
but we also want to support people who are already school governors um so that they can yeah do more, feel more equipped, feel more confident. um And actually what's happened is we've ended up with a ah really nice mix of people who are school governors off their own initiative, um who are part of the network, but we also have people who have come directly through the webinars, some of whom aren't yet school governors, but are exploring it and the network's also helping get them over the line.
00:10:32
Speaker
um And I'm really delighted to say that our network also includes students. So we've been able to encourage some of our students to become school governors too through the initiative, which given some of the shortages um and disparities and sort of who becomes a school governor is a really fantastic thing to be able to say.
00:10:49
Speaker
So with the network, we have a teams channel. So we are a staff network at the moment, but I would really like to expand that. beyond our staff to include our alumni as well.
00:11:00
Speaker
and But we have a Teams channel within our organisation. um And we also have SharePoint. So that is regularly updated with campaigns and news and network updates. um It does take a bit of work.
00:11:12
Speaker
I think it's definitely got to be a bit of a passion project. I'm very, very lucky that volunteering fits within my job remit. um So it's been quite straightforward for me to be able to to work on this as a priority. And my my colleague, Adrian, who is my co-chair, works in our widening participation team. So he's also, um you know, got the got the drive and the passion and and can recognise the importance of that network for our widening participation priorities.
00:11:39
Speaker
um So the network is an opportunity for people to post questions that they might have. um I definitely see people sharing resources too, which is fantastic. And then we also organise networking lunches.
00:11:51
Speaker
So we're having our second one ah in about a month. um And then we're inviting external speakers in to hear about different training and support and resources available. We did do a network survey.
00:12:02
Speaker
So once we launched the network, we asked colleagues to tell us what they wanted, what days they might be in, what kind of support they were looking for, how that network could really work for them.
00:12:13
Speaker
And then we sort of worked backwards from there and identified, you know, what it was that our network members were looking for so that we could create something really meaningful um that really was sort of meeting the needs of our members.
00:12:25
Speaker
um And I'm delighted to say we have about 40 people in our team's channel. Every time
Impact on Local Communities and Volunteering Targets
00:12:29
Speaker
we do a recruitment campaign, that number goes up as well. um And I know that we have more school governors than that across our community.
00:12:36
Speaker
So we're still aiming to get the word out and continue to recruit people to the network. um But yeah, in a nutshell, being member driven, um a membership survey, understanding why people would join a network and then regular communications, which are then supporting those priorities and needs.
00:12:52
Speaker
And that's worked really well for us. I think that's fantastic. I think especially the space in that network for people to ask questions, because when you first become a school governor, it can be quite daunting. There's a lot to learn.
00:13:05
Speaker
I always say that education has a language of its own. with all the acronyms, et cetera. So I think that is a really, must be a huge advantage to everybody within that network.
00:13:17
Speaker
A lot of people that become a school governor are completely new to it. You know, they don't necessarily have to work in education. They might not be parents or carers themselves. And this is their first go at dipping their toe into into the world of schools and trusts.
00:13:31
Speaker
So i think that must be an incredible support for all of those people. Yeah, I mean, even I've made use of it. It's been invaluable, really. I only became a governor last May, so I'm quite new to this too.
00:13:44
Speaker
um And knowing that when you get a question like, would you like to chair a committee, you can reach out to somebody who you know already does that and have a whole conversation with them about... Is that good idea? How much work will that be? You know, what am I signing up to?
00:13:59
Speaker
Has just been completely invaluable. So I've made real use of it that way. One of our members put together a helpful acronyms sheet, um which they then shared with the network as well. So precisely what you're talking talking about.
00:14:11
Speaker
um But I know that people have then also used the network as an opportunity to bring forward colleagues who are thinking about being a school governor, but not completely sure. And I i got an email just last week from somebody who was thinking about it came to one of our network lunges and then said to you know what I've gone and taken the plunge and I've become a school governor too so it's it's so helpful and I say that as both the chair but also as a governor who's benefited from our membership fantastic that's great really great to hear um I suppose this is the Governors for Schools podcast I will say that we do have our um
00:14:49
Speaker
mail outs that we do to our university partners and on our website, there's various resources that are in place, not just for that recruitment drive with with our partner organisations like universities, but are also in place to support and those networks when they are formed.
00:15:06
Speaker
and So we do host regular webinars and have access to various them blog posts that can really help help existing governors. And and i think that's something that obviously is beneficial to University of Southampton and has been beneficial to lots of other partners.
00:15:23
Speaker
Um, so I would encourage our listeners to have a look around on our website and ah find, find those, um, those, um, materials to, to take a look at. I'm going to jump back to, um, something we talked about before in terms of the, um, creation of the, the, the school governor initiative starting.
00:15:43
Speaker
We, um, well, you mentioned Josie, um, it's, um, aligning with widening participation and and those sort of themes. Are you starting to see the sort of impact stats that you want to see through taking part in a school governor initiative at the university?
00:16:01
Speaker
um And sort you seeing the value yet is what is sort of what wanting to get at? Yeah, absolutely. So I'm sure that colleagues at other universities will be aware that um there's a huge push on a civic agenda um and the responsibility of universities to contribute to the local area, um skills development,
00:16:25
Speaker
economy, etc. um And so a huge driver for us getting involved in the school governor initiative was with our civic a agenda in mind. um And it's just been fantastic to see the number of people sign up ah for the webinars and then also to become school governors just go up and up and up.
00:16:42
Speaker
I think we're over 40 people have now been placed or something along those lines from across our alumni, our staff and our students, which is just tremendous. and We also have a ah volunteering target ah for the university.
00:16:55
Speaker
um So colleagues at other universities will also have volunteering programmes. And it's been so helpful to be able to track not only a really tangible civic contribution to our volunteering targets and objectives, but also see the number of hours that it generates.
00:17:09
Speaker
I think it's about six and a half hours a month. per school governor? On average, yeah. Over four years. So it's a big chunk of hours towards your volunteering target if you if if as a university you're working that way.
00:17:21
Speaker
But even if you're not, having ah an an opportunity for your staff and your alumni to really, really get involved and get behind that civic agenda and that civic priority is just a fantastic reason to do it.
00:17:33
Speaker
We've had three sets of webinars now and we're working on our fourth and we certainly haven't noticed
Engagement through Webinars and Alumni Involvement
00:17:40
Speaker
a drop off in terms of people wanting to attend. um You know, the audiences that join are highly engaged.
00:17:45
Speaker
They stay on for the whole webinar, ask lots and lots and lots of questions. And I know off the back of all of them, ah we've had applications, um which is fantastic. I go out into the community. In fact, on my own governing board, I have alumni who say to me, Josie,
00:18:01
Speaker
You're running another governor initiative. I'm already a school governor, but it's really great to see my university really cares and is actually taking an interest in local schools. um So it's been wonderful to kind of hear those things when I meet our alumni out in the community that they see this and say, finally, the university, that's like it's taking an interest in my city, which is you know precisely what we want from ah from our volunteering programme and from our alumni communications.
00:18:25
Speaker
Over those three, the first three webinars that we've hosted with your university, We've had over 600 registrations in total, and which just shows that the word is out there. People are engaged. People want to find out more.
00:18:39
Speaker
And we always say in the webinar, don't we, that you it's good to learn and listen and gain that awareness of what school governance is. Some people apply straight away and some people might not because it might not be the right time. But we've planted the seed and then hopefully... they will then consider taking on the volunteering role.
00:18:57
Speaker
and And you're absolutely right. We've had just um under 40 people who are already placed and in governor roles from people who have listened to those webinars, which is a fantastic number. And we're really pleased and happy and thankful for our partnership with you.
00:19:15
Speaker
ah I mean, it's fantastic to hear and I'm excited about the next round of webinars tea to see what happens next. I should also say i now regularly get emails from alumni or friends of alumni or friends of staff who work in the schools who said, oh, we heard that Southampton University is sort of really pushing.
00:19:31
Speaker
and encouraging its staff and alumni to become school governors. So is there any way you can help us with our vacancies or how can we be involved more? and of Of course, we always send them over to governors for schools. um But it's just been wonderful to see that ripple effect.
00:19:44
Speaker
And I think that's precisely what can come out of the partnership. It can feel the start, like, what will the difference be? um And, you know, in terms of those KPIs, it's been fantastic to see people ah register and become school governors and get those hours but actually that that sort of ah broader benefit of knowing that people across the community are hearing about what you're doing are interested and schools are kind of actively participating and getting in touch with the university to ask you know how how more can we support them I mean that's just such a fantastic place to put your institution or your organisation whatever whatever kind of organisation that might be
00:20:22
Speaker
um And it's not just it's not just Southampton or Hampshire that you're impacting through this partnership and particularly with your and alumni. They are based all over the country. so you are also making impact on other places across the country, which is fantastic.
00:20:39
Speaker
Yeah, we've tried a couple of different things. So for the first webinars, we tried very much people within Hampshire. um And then we opened that right up. And then this time we'll be opening up again. And it's just been wonderful. you know, every time we get a ah stats report um and we can see people really, you know, far away in London, ah up in the north um who are getting signed up to be school governors too. So it's just been wonderful to see that that ripple effect and see people um all across the country be so interested.
00:21:07
Speaker
I also think it's is hard as a university when you're working with alumni sometimes to find volunteering opportunities that feel truly meaningful and are also accessible for people who are working all the time and have great skills to offer but can't come down to campus to maybe meet with your students.
00:21:25
Speaker
um So Governors for Schools have given us such a great opportunity to present our alumni with a whole other kind of volunteering that you can do around your job and you wherever you are in the UK. So it's been really fantastic to be able to share that with our alumni and see the response that we've had.
00:21:43
Speaker
That's excellent. Really, really great to hear. Yeah. yeah it comes down to planting that seed that initial point. And I literally like wrote that down then you said it, Harriet, like you can see how much we talk about that at Governors for Schools.
00:21:56
Speaker
and To go a bit more into that alumni, you know, alumni side of the partnership, and
00:22:03
Speaker
it's it's interesting isn't it? Because they're quite often more early careers individuals, and potentially more young governors being engaged through that and and and taking that further afield than just Southampton.
00:22:17
Speaker
and And that's something that we're really seeing is and through engaging alumni, we can really, there's a different message when you're speaking to them, I suppose, in terms of like why they'd want to get involved and because it might not necessarily be about the Southampton community, but it's more about your skill sets and skills-based volunteering, which is ah really interesting topic to explore and probably ah topic for a whole other podcast.
00:22:41
Speaker
Yeah, it's been interesting to see the response. I think our our webinars are overwhelmingly alumni. um But of course, the response from our staff has been fantastic too. um And yeah, in terms of how you sell that to alumni, I definitely think our alumni appreciate it when we've included stories and profiles and testimonials from other alumni.
00:23:01
Speaker
um I think that's always gone down really well. So they can see, you know, i think in our first webinar, we had somebody who's like an A&E doctor ah under 30 and also a kind of public health campaigner.
00:23:13
Speaker
And he was able to say, well, I'm also a school governor. So seeing somebody who can do it and balance all of these incredible demands um and do it so well it has been really, really helpful for that audience to see. ah but definitely leading on skills. To be honest with our staff, we do that we do the same thing um because there are such tremendous skills bases across our staff and our alumni.
00:23:34
Speaker
um It just makes sense to say to people, you know, whether you have the skills or you're looking to development develop them, this is the best opportunity ah for you to be able to do that while giving back and making a difference. Definitely, definitely.
00:23:46
Speaker
ah like I like how you talked a bit about sort of the ah wider, bigger picture and then brought it down to individuals and case studies and testimonials and i think that's another thing that the the network can really help with is when you're wanting to just find some really really nice pockets of case studies to to shout about and then to to go out there to to further the recruitment and we do see that with other partners as well um have you done any case studies at the University of Southampton Yeah, so I mean, every single communication we've sent out involves a testimonial or a case study.
Storytelling, Testimonials, and Engagement
00:24:23
Speaker
um Every single webinar features two or three different people who are already school governors. um And for National School Governors Awareness Day today, we have ah meet a couple of our school governors profiles going ah around the university. And I think I've never found it hard to find people who want to share their story.
00:24:41
Speaker
I normally get more stories than I have anywhere to put them. um In our staff magazine last week, we featured six different school governors who were all involved and they all shared their experiences. There's something so powerful in storytelling. And I think it will always be the main tool that we use. say anyone who's thinking of doing a campaign, I would really, really encourage you.
00:25:01
Speaker
ah to reach out and find people who are already school governors to share their experiences. When we first started and there wasn't a network, I had to kind of like look under rocks and see, well, who do I know who might or might not be a school governor?
00:25:12
Speaker
um And, you know, reached out to a few colleagues who I had caught wind, might have been the school governor at some point. And from there, it was easy. So it didn't take too long to find five or six people willing to share their stories. But as I said, it's such a such a powerful way of convincing other people to get involved.
00:25:28
Speaker
And doesn't everybody love to hear from the horse's mouth? What's it really like? How do you really balance those priorities? What's marketing and what's reality? um So I think it's really important to include those wherever you can.
00:25:41
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, I think we definitely see it. Governance for Schools, the word of mouth is the most, most effective way for actually and actually getting those recruits in.
Challenges in Developing School Governor Networks
00:25:52
Speaker
and So going back to the actual network itself,
00:25:57
Speaker
and What was most challenging to set up that that school governor network? Because we do have lots of partners that don't really have have a network in place or the amount people listening go, well, I want that network in order to make make it work.
00:26:10
Speaker
how how did that how did that How did those challenges arise and how will they overcome? Yeah, so I think there were a couple of things. First of all, I should say that governors for schools were really, really helpful in getting that network off the ground. So reaching out to Harriet, she put me in touch with a couple of universities that had networks already.
00:26:28
Speaker
And we sort of shamelessly stole their model, which was really, really helpful. um But it gave us a sense of, you know, this is how this could work. um And I think having that confidence ah to launch the network um was the first sort of you know challenge. But I think we overcome it.
00:26:44
Speaker
You worry about wasting everyone's time and is this something people are going to use and will it actually be of interest to people? So having the confidence to know it works elsewhere was really helpful.
00:26:55
Speaker
um I think the second challenge was and and is probably just about keeping the momentum going. So we have a little team of three of us who sort of push it forward.
00:27:07
Speaker
And I think that's really, really helpful. And as I said before, it's really, really important that we're all school governors. You don't have to have them running your network. But I think if you're a school governor, you understand a little bit more why a network's important. So two of the three of us are school governors, but our third sort of partner in crime is not.
00:27:25
Speaker
um And it's just been really, really helpful to and get a sense of what's coming up, what campaigns we might be able to be involved in, what training needs are you know we all experiencing and therefore on our members might be experiencing too.
00:27:38
Speaker
um I think the real ah key to getting it right was was definitely bringing our potential members forward. and together and to say what do you want from this network let's have a survey let's have a coffee let's find out from you whether or not this is something you'd like before we launch it um so we did that and that that was really really helpful and then finally we got senior buy-in so we put together a nice paper and we went up to the senior most senior people in the university and said look we want to launch this network these are all the reasons why this is what we think it's going to do this is what we might need
00:28:10
Speaker
um And it was so well received.
Tracking Success and Internal Metrics
00:28:13
Speaker
It's also held us accountable. So every six months now I get to write a report. um And I don't think you have to do that with a network, but I actually think it's tremendous every six months to be able to write, this is what we've achieved.
00:28:25
Speaker
This is what we're going to achieve. And this is the impact we've had because those check-ins for you to reflect on the difference you've made are such a confidence booster and kind of give you the motivation for the next six months to try and do even more.
00:28:38
Speaker
That's great. That's so nice to be able to take stock and go, oh, what we're doing is working and celebrate that. And because, because why not when you're doing your job well and when, when things are working, how, how you want them to work.
00:28:52
Speaker
and
00:28:54
Speaker
You've been involved in quite a few other and conversations with setting up networks at other universities, haven't you, Harriet? Does it tend to take this sort of model with the ones that you set up? I know, um like we've teed up several universities to sort speak to each other before, haven't we?
00:29:09
Speaker
like Josie referenced. and Yeah, definitely. I think the challenge that Josie mentioned around just having the confidence to just go for it is definitely something I've heard from a number of university partners that we either either currently work with or are and aiming to work with.
00:29:27
Speaker
And I think that those conversations between the universities has been really helpful. I know Josie has recently spoken to another university in the Southwest, And I think that that has been fantastic for them just to give them that confidence of, no, we can make this work.
00:29:42
Speaker
this is We just need to break it down into steps one, two and three and go from there. So Yeah, I think that the confidence to just go for it is is a common theme. and But once you go for it, people do come out of the woodwork and say, I am already a governor, I want to help you, let me be involved. And the momentum kind of starts from there.
00:30:02
Speaker
And we provide our university partners with regular reports to show the number of people that are coming through the partnership, the people that have been placed, etc. And I think that kind of really helps to continue that engagement and motivation when people start to see the results that the partnership is bringing.
00:30:22
Speaker
I also think it's important as a university or any organisation to not try and compare your network and your success of your initiative with with others. um I think that it can be quite overwhelming when you look at, let's say, you a long-standing partner.
00:30:38
Speaker
who's contributed 10 billion hours of volunteer school governance. um I think sometimes we can lose sight of the fact that we're very, very different institutions. Our size is completely different. We might have half as many students, half as many alumni, a quarter of the number of staff.
00:30:54
Speaker
um And the needs of our of our school governors might be different. So I think it's great to get those models, but not to not to say, oh, we've only recruited this many or we've only got a network that you know is this small and compare that to another institution that's completely not alike.
00:31:11
Speaker
um It can be quite intimidating. So my suggestion will be do what works for you. Focus on the wins and, you know, develop something that's going to serve your school governors um as best that you can.
00:31:24
Speaker
um And don't worry too much about what everyone else is doing. I think that's a really, really nice message to end on. and Yeah.
Conclusion and Resources for School Governance
00:31:32
Speaker
Any impact is is is the impact that so we want to see and have the confidence to go for it from Harriet. I think, yeah, 100%.
00:31:40
Speaker
So before wrapping up today's episode, I'd like to thank Josie for joining us today. and thank the wider team at the University of Southampton and for their commitment to supporting school governance.
00:31:51
Speaker
I hope that today's conversation has prompted you to consider what your organisation could be doing to support school governance. We have a range of easily accessible resources for our partners to share on our website, and I really encourage you to take a look there um and see where your organisation could get started, or indeed where you could get started in and submitting an application to to volunteer as a school governor yourself.
00:32:17
Speaker
If you have any questions about the topics we've discussed today, please do get in touch via email. You'll likely get a response from myself or Harriet and we'll be more than happy to i to answer any questions you've got.
00:32:31
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Governors for Schools podcast today and I hope we'll be in touch with you soon.