Ready to make a meaningful difference for some of the most disadvantaged communities at one of the most exciting schools in the heart of London’s Knowledge Quarter? 

Job Title:	Chair of Governors
Salary:	Voluntary Role
Location:	London
Closing date:	Ongoing
Contract period:	Initial 4 year term.

The Governing Body of Regent High School is seeking a highly successful and innovative leader to become its next Chair of Governors.

Applications for the role – in the form of a current CV and a letter of application detailing the professional and personal experience that you would bring to the role – should be submitted to Paula on governors@regenthighschool.org.uk.

Regent High School is a state-maintained, 11-19 co-educational comprehensive school located in Somers Town in the London Borough of Camden. It serves an incredibly diverse but economically disadvantaged community, which is represented in the demographics of our student body.

Students and their parents/carers are highly aspirational, and as a school it works with an extensive range of partner organisations to provide enhanced opportunities for our students, staff and the wider community. It became the first school member of the Knowledge Quarter in 2015, and continues to be the only secondary school member of this partnership of over 100 organisations each focused on advancing and disseminating knowledge.

Regent High School is the only secondary school partnership in the Knowledge Quarter and is now nationally-recongnised through a number of prestigious awards. As Chair you will have the opportunity to support an incredibly diverse but economically disadvantaged community at a time of unprecedented change. 

It is a nationally-recognised school, recently winning ‘Teaching Assistant of the Year’ awards in the Teaching Personnel, London Teacher of the Year and Pearson Teaching Awards. It was a finalist in the ‘Headteacher of the Year’ category at the 2018 TES Awards. It opened its new, £25m building in 2015, which has since won a Camden Design Award, three RIBA Awards (including a prestigious RIBA National Award) and a Civic Trust Award. It has over 1000 students on roll, including c.120 in the Sixth Form, which is increasing yearly.

It was judged by Ofsted to be ‘Good’ when they last visited in January 2018. Its current Headteacher, Gary Moore, joined the school in 2016 and is working to ensure the school builds on its recent successes. This is a hugely exciting time to be a part of Regent High School, leading and developing our Governing Body and supporting the senior leadership of the school in achieving our key strategic priorities.

About the Governing Body and Applying

It has a team of dedicated and experienced governors, including parent and staff governors, representatives from our partner organisations and members of the local community. Our current Chair of Governors, Tim Robertson, is standing down after serving five years on the Governing Body. In joining us as our next Chair, you will be leading a highly effective, supportive and knowledgeable team of governors as the schools seeks to achieve excellence in every aspect of its work.

As Chair of Governors, you will chair half termly meetings of the Full Governing Body, and any necessary ad-hoc sub-group meetings. You will meet regularly with the Headteacher for 1:1 meetings, and occasionally with Camden Learning, for instance at the annual standards meeting. You will lead the Headteacher’s appraisal meetings. You will also attend Camden Learning’s Secondary Chairs’ Network meeting, and the Chairs and Governors’ Forum meeting on behalf of the Governing Body.

The attached role descriptor provides further detail about the role of chair. The school offers induction support and an ongoing programme of learning and development to help all governors maximise their effectiveness, and governors are able to benefit from the specialist training programmes offered by Camden Learning and the National Governance Association.

The Governing Body is looking to appoint a co-opted governor as Chair of Governors for an initial four year term. To supplement the skills of existing governors it would be a distinct advantage – but not a necessity – if, alongside your successful strategic and leadership experience, you could offer one of more of the following skills and/or experience: financial planning and management, Special Education Needs and Disabilities, legal compliance, knowledge of school education policy and practice and/or human resources policy and practice.

If you are interested in finding out more about being a governor at Regent High School, please visit its website at www.regenthighschool.org.uk and governors’ pages at www.regenthighschool.org.uk/Our-Governors. You can also e-mail the Clerk to Governors, Paula Reed, on governors@regenthighschool.org.uk if you have any questions about the role. If you already have other commitments but are aware of colleagues who might be interested in becoming a governor, please make them aware of these opportunities and ask them to e-mail Paula.