Attending two important meetings of Christ the King School Governors this week, I was reminded of the dedication of those who volunteer for this service to our schools and the Church. Both Christ the King and Corpus Christi schools have made and are making vital decisions about their future at present, and will continue to do so, as they both hope to set out to seek new head teachers in September. Simply put, the Governors are responsible for deciding who is admitted to the school, who teaches them, making sure they are taught in the best way possible, and sharing out the cash to do it all. Pretty important stuff!
It’s a long time since being a Governor (or Manager in the old days) was a sort of reward for being a good parishioner. The responsibilities are tremendous, and so we should all be very grateful to those who volunteer to be appointed by the diocese. One of the healthiest signs in our 3 Churches that I have seen in recent time was the very good response I received when I invited people to put themselves forward to be a Foundation Governor of Christ the King. The Archbishop’s education office was amazed when I told them how many had stepped up…
In Church schools the majority of the Governing body represent the Church and are called the Foundation Governors. They are appointed by the Trustees of the diocese, and will outnumber the other governors (head, elected staff, elected parent(s), local authority rep etc), thereby protecting the Catholic nature of the school.
For me it’s an inspiration and pleasure to work alongside our dedicated school governors, and someone said to me recently that they get the least recognition for such great responsibility.
So – consider yourselves well and truly recognised and thanked, fellow Governors both past and present!
Fr Matthew
