Co-Opted Governor

Lanterns Nursery School and Extended Services is a Hampshire maintained nursery school that offers inclusive "outstanding" nursery education for 2-5 year olds, as well as a newly opened provision for under 2s. The nursery school has a governing body and we are looking for new Co-opted Governors to join us.

What is a governor?

A governor is someone who helps to: 

• set the strategic direction of the school (our vision, values and aims);
• monitors academic achievement (are the children making the progress we expect to see?); and 
• makes sure we spend our resources (the money we get from the local authority) well.

The Governing Body also play a part in ensuring that our biggest resource - our staff members - feel valued and have all the tools they need to be successful in their role.

A co-opted governor is a governor that is not a parent or member of staff at Lanterns Nursery School.

What do governors do?

Governors attend meetings (Full Governing Body), where we oversee what the Headteacher and other staff are doing to meet the needs of the children. This means reviewing papers about e.g., attendance, staffing, our strategic improvement priorities, and financial matters, and asking lots of questions! We also visit school regularly to monitor against specific areas - such as safeguarding, or health and safety. These visits are linked to the nursery school strategic improvement priorities. Each governor has a link role (such as safeguarding, SEND or curriculum) that they focus on, but visits are often undertaken in groups so we can chat to several staff members and observe the children together.

How many meetings are there? 

We have a flat governance structure, with no sub-committees. This means we have nine governing body meetings a year (none in December or April, as they can be hard to fit in around Christmas and Easter holidays!), which take place on a Tuesday from 7-9pm at Lanterns. We also have a once a year whole governing body training, where we choose a topic that we all want to learn more about as a board, so we can improve our governance. In 2026 this training focused on provision for under 2s, as we have recently opened a new Caterpillars room for children from 9 months old up, and we wanted to make sure we are on top of all the Ofsted requirements for that age group!

Monitoring visits take place on a termly basis during the day, with the number of visits dependent on what the link role is (e.g. the safeguarding governor does two safeguarding focused visits an academic year). We have a monitoring plan and agree when visits will take place so that everyone takes part. This is a lovely chance to see how the children benefit from being at Lanterns and to meet the staff.

What support do governors get?

The Headteacher and Chair of Governors meet with new governors and give them a full tour of the nursery. This is a chance to get to know the nursery and to meet the staff and children for the first time. It brings alive why being a governor is so important.

All governors have access to training through Hampshire Governor Services. New governors attend a governor induction session run by Governor Services and there are lots of courses covering everything we need to know. Many courses are offered on-line, which makes attendance a lot easier, and there is no limit on how many courses you can book on to. We also have a 'buddy' system, so you can talk to one of the other governors you are buddied with and raise any queries when starting.

We also have the ability to access expenses, to cover childcare costs if needed or travel if governors are attending courses in person.

All of our papers are stored on a system called GovernorHub, which is very intuitive and easy to use. Through this system, we also have access to extra support and training through a service called The Key. They post lots of articles and helpful 'bite size' information about changes, like the new Ofsted inspection framework for schools, as well as offering training courses on-line.

Why become a governor?

Being a governor is a great way to give something back to your local community and get involved in something that really matters - shaping our future citizens! At Lanterns, we get to see first hand how a dedicated team of experts in early years education can change the lives of the children and families who attend and to be part of that.

Our governing body is very friendly and welcoming. As well as offering a chance to give something back to the local community, it also offers an opportunity to make new friends and build new skills and experience.

Skills

What skills or experience are we looking for?
Our governing body has a range of people with different backgrounds. You don't have to be an expert in education to be a governor!

We have recently undertaken some assessments of our current board experience and we have a broad level of skills and experience across finance, leadership, governance and compliance. We would love to have some new governors with finance or marketing experience, as we always want to keep a close eye on the pennies and share how great the nursery is with prospective parents. However, what we want more than anything is people who are curious (as having a questioning mind is critical), who have lots of energy, and who want to make sure that the early education we offer to the children is the best it can be.