WHAT IS THE ACG
WHAT IS THE ACG
It is a local governors association formed because governors in Croydon decided that they needed to come together in order to share experiences and views which relate to their role in the governance and management of schools.
Most governors welcome the opportunity to meet with other governors. No matter how skilled and effective the collective members of a governing body are, solutions to problems cannot always be found within the governing body.
There is a need to ensure that there is some effective way of sharing concerns with other governing bodies so that their collective views can be offered to the LEA or central government. Equally, where good practice is developed within one school or governing body, this can be shared by others through a local governors association.
The Association of Croydon Governors has been your local association since 1991, meeting some of these needs of Croydon governors. It was one of the first local governor associations formed in this country and was involved in formation of the National Governors' Council.
OUR AIMS
The aim of the ACG is to improve the knowledge, understanding and well being of all members of the governing bodies of schools and colleges in the London Borough of Croydon.
The meetings of the Association are open to all members of governing bodies including, Community, Voluntary, Foundation, CTCs and Special schools within the London Borough of Croydon.
Meetings of the Association occur at least once a term, often in schools in the Croydon area. The Annual Business Meeting is always held in the Autumn term, during the first meeting of the academic year. At the AGM the chairman, the three officers and the seven committee members are elected.
WHO ARE WE :
OFFICERS :
Chairman Lesley Stout Parish Church Nursery & Infant School
Parish Church Junior School
Vice Chairman Pat Keating Monks Orchard Primary School
Secretary Percy Murombe-Chivero Gresham Primary School
Treasurer Paul Dancy Ecclesbourne Infant School
Ecclesbourne Junior School
Committee
- Marlene Bourne All Saints Junior School
- Keith Bowen Shirley High School / Monks Orchard Primary School
- Alan Elliott Parish Church Nursery & Infant School/
- Parish Church Junior School
- Wendy Jackson Purley Nursery School
There are 3 vacancies on the committee, if you are interested in our work and would like to find out more , please contact the acg
The Chairman's Report for the Year 2004/2005
Last year, I reported on how The ACG, whilst finding that its reputation within both the LEA and on a National level had grown, and increasingly its opinions were regularly sought on a wide range of topical issues, it was facing its biggest challenge since it commenced in 1991. You were not surprised to find that this was Funding! Colleagues on the ?Governor Planning Group?, chaired by John Johnson, asked that 'Support for the ACG' be added to the agenda.
John Johnson asked the ACG to give a written statement on the how we perceived the Association?s Role and its relationship with the LEA and vice versa, in order to examine possible solutions. This document started as a list of the Association?s Aims and the activities that were undertaken to achieve them. But it grew over time and became a vision for the future hope?s and aspirations of the Association. This document which is still in its final draft will be submitted to the Director and the SMT shortly, aims to provide a framework for the continuation and future development of the effective partnership between the Association (ACG) and the LA. It is intended that it will strengthen the partnership between schools and the LA and facilitate the achievement of the shared aims and objectives which include:
- promoting achievements in Croydon schools
- promoting high standards of governance in Croydon Schools
- promoting mutual trust and transparency between the Local Authority and schools by working in partnership.
If I were asked to pick out just one aim from the document which I think underpins everything the Associations hopes that it has, and will achieve in the coming years it would be this:
- That the LA & ACG share the same aim for school improvement by assisting governing bodies to further the education and interests of all children Croydon schools through consultation, communication, representation and the fostering of good relationships with all relevant bodies
I hope to be able to report back at the next meeting how we have progressed with this framework and how it can enhance the support we receive.
However, I think that in 2004/2005 we had three extremely successful Networking Evenings which endorsed that very important aim. In November 2004 Stephen Twigg addressed the issues surrounding The Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners, giving an excellent opportunity for governors to put their concerns directly to a Government Minister. Stephen commented on Association?s excellent organisation in providing this forum and that he was delighted to have the opportunity to talk to Croydon Governors again.
In February 2005 the focus of our meeting was on Workforce Re-Modelling. Our guest speakers were invited to give advice and outline governing bodies responsibilities ? they were: Paul Matthews, Croydon's WFR Advisor, Wyn Knuckles, and colleagues from Educational Personell, Judith Bennett from The National Governors Council. (The NGC worked with the Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group [WAMG] and the National Remodelling Team). Also Headteacher Workforce Advisors joined us in the group discussions. Judith later attended other local governor Associations and shared her experiences of the evening, having been impressed with the amount of information that had been made available to Croydon Governors from their LEA.
April was buzzing with the proposed 'Three Year Budgets'. So we invited Andy Parkin to give the LEA views to the Consultation and Gillian Windass, Consultation and Policy, The National Governors? Council to give a National Perspective. Having then broken into smaller groups we were able to discuss governors views and respond to the most relevant questions. These responses were given to the Croydon Schools? Forum and The National Governors? Council who would be making separate responses. We then sent an Association response into the DFES.
Whether, governors like it or not, the age of electronic communication is rapidly replacing paper and we have to facilitate this need. We have worked hard on making our website user friendly, up to-date with relevant information and linking to the most informative education sites. We are working in a close partnership with GST and both websites link closely together and compliment one another. We hope that you have found this useful. We have had 2500 hits on our visitor counter since I introduced it in May. However, we do ensure that paper copies are available in the Governor Training Booklet, on our forthcoming meetings ? do remember to have a look!
The National Governors? Council continues to successfully run its Regional Associations for which I have been re-elected as the NGC London Regional Representative. Many of the pages on our ACG website are also reflected in issues that affect all
On a sad note, we were all deeply shocked at the loss of Richard Inge earlier this year, his commitment, help and support to all Croydon Governors over many years had been outstanding and he is missed by us all.
Finally, in summary, this has been a busy year, committee members have been attending Conferences and Seminars both locally and Nationally and I hope that their experiences and knowledge have helped us to provide you with the opportunity to come together in an open forum and talk about the things that matters to you ? Croydon Governors. We would welcome any feedback and ideas from you and would especially be delighted to welcome any interested governors on to our committee. In order for any Association to move forward it is essential to have fresh ideas and enthusiasm. So please speak to myself or any committee member to find out what is involved.
Chairman 2004/2005