CYP Now - Editorial: School plans must not sideline governors

The potential benefits, and challenges, of the extended schools philosophy come from the idea of bringing together a range of professionals onto school sites to work with local children and parents. As a result, much of the discussion around issues of accountability have so far centred on the roles and responsibilities of the senior school team, and headteachers in particular.

However, one important group of people seems to have been bypassed - school governors. There are around 350,000 governors nationally and their responsibilities are wide ranging. But, as Professor John Adams, chair of the National Association of School Governors, pointed out in the closing session of Children Now's extended schools conference last week, the Government seems to have ignored the impact that opening up the school to the entire community will have on governing bodies (News, p7).

He believes that extended schools are the biggest challenge school governors have faced since the 1980s. For instance, governing bodies will very soon have to start thinking about a huge range of issues, such as how will the school's services be extended? What charging regimes should be put in place? And who will be accountable if a cluster of schools comes together to offer services?

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