Did you know that school governors are the largest volunteer community in the UK? There are over 300,000 people who volunteer their time and expertise to make a difference in children’s futures and support our local communities.
National School Governor Awareness Day is an annual awareness day on Thursday 13th February 2025 to raise awareness of and give thanks to the many governance volunteers who serve our school communities.
Our NEAT Academy Trust Local Governing Committee (LGC) members are from all backgrounds and are as diverse as the children they support to meet their potential in our schools.
Today, we’d like to say an extra special thank you to all of our LGC members for being the eyes and ears that link our schools with local people and community partners. You provide insight into what life is like for our students and make sure NEAT schools are part of and serve our communities.
Thank you for coming together as individuals with wildly different backgrounds and experiences to work together in so many ways to help our students achieve their potential.
Thank you for:
– providing support and challenge to school leaders
– making sure the trust and our policies operate effectively
– listening to parents, pupils and our wider community, being their voice and raising issues that need attention with the trust board.
For more information about what our LGC members do, please read our blog post about the responsibility of a governor.
Who are NEAT’s local governance volunteers?
You might have already met LGC members at school events. They’re a dedicated group of talented and passionate people, but there’s no such thing as a typical LGC member.
Gary Hunter joined Tyneview Local Governing Committee in 2021 after retiring as a Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) professional in 2020. His main area of support is as the Health and Safety Link Governor. Gary wanted to give something back to the community, and brings his expertise with the belief that a safe place to work and learn is a happy place.
Shah Yaseen Ali has lived in the North East his whole life. After studying law at Newcastle University, where he chaired the Student Union Trustee Board, he’s now early in his career as a solicitor and Local Governing Committee Co-Vice Chair at Benfield School. While Yaseen has previous experience sitting on non-executive boards, many governors have little or no board experience before becoming a school governor.
You don’t need an educational background to be a governor. Our induction and training programme will guide you through the ins and outs of the role and what to expect, like what happens at school governor meetings.
Parent governor at Walkergate, Laura Bridges, retrained in psychology during the pandemic and now works in the mental health sector after an early career in theatre making. She first became a governor to help the school in return for the help it gave her son when he started. Being a governance volunteer makes Laura feel proud, connected and active, and she loves getting an inside look at how the school works day-to-day and seeing the brilliant work that is happening across the school.
You can learn more about NEAT Academy Trust governors by watching our NEAT Governing YouTube Videos.
Some of our NEAT schools also have dedicated governor profile web pages:
– Meet Walkergate governors
– Meet Benfield governors
– Meet Tyneview governors
– Meet West Walker governors
Could you volunteer to support children’s futures?
We’re always looking for dedicated individuals with fresh perspectives to join our governance community. You will get all the training you need to get started with a thorough induction and training program. You will also have the opportunity to connect and work with other people who are committed to changing the lives of young people in our local communities.
If you’re interested in becoming a LGC member or finding out more about how you can be involved in the NEAT governance community, please complete our Expression of Interest form
You can find out more about Governing within NEAT by:
– Reading our governor information
– Learning about the governance structure and meet other volunteers in our NEAT Governing YouTube Videos