Supporting Governance in Surrey schools  

Provision of Governor Services for Surrey Schools is Provided by Schools Alliance for Excellence

SAfE now provide Governor Services for maintained schools on behalf of Surrey County Council in addition to extending our own purchasable training and development services which are offered to all Surrey schools and academies.

We provide the following support to schools, Governors and Clerks:

• General ‘governance’ advice and guidance

• Specific advice and guidance for the appointment of Parent, Staff and LA governors

• Development and deployment of our Local Leaders of Governance network (LLGs).  Our LLGs are usually deployed to support schools to improve their governance or to mentor new or inexperienced chairs. 

• A new termly welcome and induction for all new Surrey Governors (Coming Soon). 

• A limited programme of training and development opportunities linked to supporting school improvement. These include webinars and network sessions. They are free to all those involved in governance in Surrey schools and academies.

In addition to the support listed above, we are fulfilling Surrey’s statutory duties by maintaining up to date records of Governing Bodies in all maintained schools, including their constitution information and Instruments of Government.  

Our Governance team members are Penny Garry and Katy Waters; we are delighted to have engaged Ruth Murton, of Leadershipwise Ltd, to provide governance expertise,  support, training and consultancy services to help us build and enhance our Governance service offer. 

                  Ruth Murton              Penny Garry                 Katy Waters

SAfE communicates with Heads and  Chairs of Governors on a regular basis through our  SAfE Bulletin and our weekly update. During 2021 we launched our Governance Bulletin.  If you would like to subscribe to our Bulletin please complete this simple online form.

On occasions where we have information relating to our statutory duties to share with all governors in Surrey, we will email you using the details held by Surrey on the  Local Authority database. 

We are continuing to deliver our successful half termly Governance Support webinars, these are available to attend live or to access via a recording. In addition, we have developed a network of governors from our Special and Alternative Provision schools. 

For all enquiries or to contact our Governance team please email govsupport@schoolsallexcel.com or phone 01483 749954.

Governors and Trustees are the ‘back-bone’ of schools

They are one of the largest volunteer forces in the country and effective governance is key to strong school improvement. 

The Schools Alliance for Excellence is working with Surrey County Council and Phase Councils to provide support for all schools and academies in Surrey. We are in regular contact with the Regional Schools Commissioner.

We have developed two areas on this section of the SAfE website to assist Clerks' and Governors' in their roles; Clerks' Corner and Governance Resources area.

The Governance Resources area contains statutory requirements, legislation, advice and guidance and Governance Support webinars. 

The Clerks’ Corner contains all the relevant documentation and guidance required for Clerks' to provide administrative support to the governing body. We hope that both Clerks and Governors will find the information provided interesting and useful.

Please do email us at govsupport@schoolsallexcel.com if you have any suggestions for improvement.