Governors for Schools will host its first Business Breakfast of the year in Birmingham on Thursday 1st February 2018 at Deutsche Bank, one of the charity’s top recruitment partners.
The event is aimed at recruiting volunteers to become school governors to fill Birmingham and West Midlands vacancies, and will include presentations from Governors for Schools partners at Deutsche Bank and Lloyds Banking Group, who will discuss the rewards behind volunteering as a school governor.
The event comes as Birmingham and West Midlands schools are facing an urgent shortage of governors, putting the region’s education standards at risk. Governors are responsible for overseeing the educational and financial performance of schools, supporting with decision making on aspects such as budgeting, staffing, strategy and policy. Their aim is to make the school run as effectively as possible, supporting teachers to provide outstanding education to children.
With Birmingham facing a shortage of highly skilled workers*, businesses face a challenge in recruiting their next generation of leaders. While fulfilling social responsibility goals, school governance offers volunteers a unique opportunity to develop their business skills. Volunteers get the chance to hone their skills in a challenging environment whilst giving back to their community.
Sonia Kearns, Global Professional Assessment Manager at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, volunteers with Governors for Schools as a West Midlands governor. She explained how she got into volunteering with the organisation:
“I went for a director role within RICS and they said that I had all the internal knowledge, but I needed to get more external knowledge and develop my strategic skills. I took that feedback on board and I wanted to give something back. I recently completed an MBA as well, and I wanted to use what I learned – I wasn’t always getting the opportunity in my current role to use everything. So I signed up online and registered my interest, and two schools got back to me.”
Sonia ended up choosing a place at Cardinal Newman Catholic School, where she attended as a child. She’s used her professional experience to lead a staff survey on retention, analyse statistics on the Performance Committee and manage pupil intake on the Admissions Committee. She’s also using her knowledge of the school’s history to organise celebrations for the 50th anniversary of its founding. Next year she’ll be starting as a Sixth Form Link Governor, meeting regularly with Year 12 and 13 students to discuss their options. She hopes to share her own experience at RICS to open students’ eyes to the possibility of a career in surveying.
Confirmed to speak at the event alongside Deutsche Bank and Lloyds Banking Group are Steve Edmonds from Birmingham City Council and Adam Balzano from Governors for Schools.
The event will take place on Thursday 1 February 2018, 8am at Deutsche Bank. The event is free – you can register your place here. You can find out more about school governance or sign up to volunteer on the Governors for Schools website.
