The School Corridor Tatler

Today the School Governing Bodies in the Retreat-Steenberg-Lavender Hill belt established their historic SGB Forum. The SGB forum was a seed that was planted about three years ago by Noel Isaacs, the principal of Floreat Primary School. At the time four of our school principals headed the School Governing Training and Development Programme that was offered to the SGBs in our circuit. Then, this year, after our circuit had taken our newly-elected SGBs on an overnight training camp, one of the parent governors at Lourier Primary School, Basil Williams, approached Noel to set the ball in motion.  The rest as they say, is history. Today the parent governors with their school principals, agreed unanimously that an SGB Forum will be a powerful support structure for their schools. Most of the representatives of the schools' SGBs showed up at the meeting that was held at Delta Primary School. SGB members discussing the rationale for an SGB Forum. The governors agreed on the...

SGBs are a rich, untapped resource at poor schools. School Governing Bodies of poor schools are an untapped resource to help our schools become high performers.  I know there are many valid reasons why SGBs cannot perform their duties effectively; there is ample research and anecdotal evidence to support this. However, I believe that if we view the capacity-building of school governors as a key deliverable, we will be amazed at the profound richness that SGBs will bring to schools. I  work closely with School Governing Bodies when I have to act as the resource person during the filling of School Principal or Deputy Principal posts. If you are a regular reader of the School Corridor Tatler blog, you will know that I serve schools in poor, depressed communities in the Lavender Hill-Steenberg belt. The parents who serve on the SGBs of these schools are mainly unemployed folk who have not completed their high school education. Negative attitude towards SGBs may be biggest...

Participants at the SGB workshop: Jean Human, Mr Schippers, Margaret Smart and Janie Ross at tea break   Today's SGB session started of with a lovely comraderie spirit. It often takes only a few hours of learning together in a healthy, collaborative space. You break down barriers very quickly. Human beings are wired to be communal and if the situation removes all threats, you will find spontaneous community building. Ivan Carr summarized the key responsibilities of the SGB: policy design, financial management, administration and school development. The energy peaked during this session. The volley of questions and contributions from the participants were weighty, but based on their real experiences as school governors. The participants were reminded of their roles of managing the governance which includes the development of the school. Then the focus shifted to Discipline and the School's Code of conduct for learners. One could see the interest of the governors. Here they were...

Women Staff at Prince George Primary School receives five-star treatment from their School Governing Body I was in awe of the Women's Day Celebrations that the School Governing Body (SGB) of Prince George Primary hosted in honour of  all the women at Prince George Primary - the educators, support staff, admin staff, parent volunteers at the school - EVERYBODY. Adele Campbell, the chairperson, was the brain behind this auspicious event.The event was fit for dignitaries of our communities - the bedrock of growing healthy communities - Women! Strike a woman, you strike a rock, says Prince George Primary SGB The programme was two-fold. The first part consisted of us honouring all South African women, present and past, who have helped to shape our future. Adele, a proud alumnus of the school, peppered her talk with humorous anecdotes of the women who have influenced her, a few of her teachers being teased endlessly for their contributions.  She says she is still a child of Lavender...