13th June 2014

Schoolgovernorselected for national role

The Chair of Governors at Wakefield City Academy hasbeen chosen for a national role supporting other chairs of governors to improve governance and school performance.

John Andersonisone of only54 governors to be appointed to the role ofNational Leaderof Governance (NLG) in the latest recruitment round by the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL).

Successful candidates were invited to attend a formal induction and training event for the role.

National Leaders of Governance are highly effective chairs of governors who will use their skills and experience to support chairs of governors in schools and academies for a variety of reasons. The chair may be new, governors may want to focus more on school improvement, or need support in dealing with significant strategic challenges – for example becoming a federation or converting to academy status.

They will provide coachingand can support their counterparts in a range of different ways – for example in usingdata effectively to improve school performance orby providingmore effective support and challenge for their headteacher.

John Anderson said “It has been a pleasure to be Chair of Governors at Wakefield City Academy and I look forward to working in partnership with other Governors and their Governing Bodies.

The role builds on the success of NCTL’sNational Leaders of Education (NLE) programmewhere headteachers use their proven success as school leadersto provide additional leadership in struggling schools. In some cases National Leaders of Governancemay be partnered with an NLE.

The latest milestone brings the overall number ofNational Leaders of Governance across the country to just over 300, rising to more than500 by April 2015.

Charlie Taylor, Chief Executive of the National College for Teaching and Leadership, said: “Governors play an essential role as leaders in our schools - they are the people who appoint headteachers and hold them to account.

“High-quality governance is vital for improving school performance and it is fantasticthat chairs of governors like John Andersonare willing to step up and look beyond their own schoolin order to help others who will benefit from their support.”

For further information contact:

Chair of GovernorsWakefield City Academy on Tel: 01924 298752 or e-mail

For moredetails about the NLG programmevisit: National leaders of governance : The Department for Education