England area manager volunteer volunteer roles

​Who are Governors for Schools?

Governors for Schools operates across England and Wales to improve educational standards and ensure all children and young people have the chance to realise their full potential.

We believe the key to improving school performance is effective governance. By finding, nurturing and supporting a committed network of governors, we drive positive systematic change that benefits each and every student, regardless of their background.

Governors for Schools recruits and matches volunteers with school governing boards and provides ongoing support.

What’s involved?

There are governor vacancies across England and Wales. Some schools are also looking for remote governors who don't need to live near the school they support.

Governors volunteer at board level to set the strategic vision for their school. This involves constructively challenging current processes, using your unique skills to support senior leaders, and overseeing school finances. You’ll be involved in areas such as monitoring, budget management, and data analysis. As well as putting your expertise to good use, you’ll have the opportunity to develop your professional skills. Ultimately, you’ll work towards facilitating the delivery of a broad and exciting curriculum and oversee wellbeing and inclusion initiatives. Governance represents a fantastic opportunity to develop yourself while making a real impact on the education of children and young people.

Governors work collaboratively with the headteacher and other members of the board, including parents and school staff. In most schools, full board meetings are held termly, as are committee meetings. Many governors will sit on a committee linked to their expertise or interests, such as teaching and learning or finance and resources. In addition to attending meetings, governors will need to read the papers in advance, complete training courses, and occasionally visit their school.

Governors usually support schools for a period of four years and with an estimated time commitment of 7 hours per month. During these hours, you will attend meetings, read papers, attend training sessions, and make occasional visits to school.

Who can be a governor?

The most important part of being a governor is the ability to ask questions, provide support and have the best interests of the school at heart. You don't have to be a parent or have experience in education to become a governor. Schools seek a  wide range of skills to support the board, including finance, HR, and data analysis.

Boards also need governors with a diversity of backgrounds and lived experiences to ensure a range of perspectives are considered during board meetings.

Schools welcome professional experience, as well as community insight and experience of working collaboratively.

You need to be aged 18 or above and there are certain criminal convictions that would exclude you from the role. A Disclosure and Barring Service check will be carried out by the school.

What’s the process?

You can find out more about the school governor role by attending one of our recruitment webinars.

You can complete your online profile on the website, including your motivation to take on the role, your skills and your school preferences. Your regional Partnership Manager will then look at vacancies that match your requirements. Once a school is identified, you will have the opportunity to discuss the role with them in more detail, visit the school, and observe a meeting. If appointed, a DBS check will take place and, in some cases, the school will seek references.

Ongoing support

Governors for Schools isn’t just a matching service. We want to help you thrive in your role through bespoke and ongoing support. We provide eLearning and monthly webinars covering a variety of topics to increase your knowledge of the education sector and governance. You’ll also have access to The Key for School Governors, an information hub designed to show new governors the ropes and offer a useful point of reference for existing governors.

Do you have experience in digital and social media? Can you help us improve our communications and raise the profile of the work we do?

We are seeking an expert, creative Volunteer Digital and Social Media Lead. You will help us promote our programmes supporting people in prison and young people at risk of entering the justice system, as well as our Community Bike Shop, which funds and strengthens this work.

What you’ll do:

• Design and schedule engaging posts, stories, and reels across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and more to grow our audience.

• Develop strategies for viral campaigns and collaborations to boost awareness and donations and share your expertise with our team.

• Analyse metrics (engagement, reach, growth) and refine tactics based on what resonates.

• Create eye-catching visuals using tools like Canva.

• Update our website as required and make suggestions for improvements.

• Work with our expert Trustee to consider how we can use online retail platforms to sell our refurbished bikes.

What we’ll provide:

· Creative freedom within agreed priorities and tone of voice.

· Access to the right tools plus shared photos, stories and impact stats.

· A named contact, light-touch sign-off, and occasional check-ins to remove blockers.

Time commitment: we’ll agree a realistic scope with the right volunteer based on their availability.

Reasonable agreed expenses will be paid.

Thank you

Mark Flannagan
Chief Executive

About us

UpCycle, works with individuals in prisons and young people at risk in marginalised communities.  We use bicycle maintenance workshops to help build life skills, enhance employability, prevent offending and reoffending, and foster social reintegration.  We also offer lead rides, bike fit-it sessions and other ways to engage with vulnerable people.

In prisons

· We delivered 956 un-refurbished bikes and received back 768 refurbished bikes across eight prisons and one Young Offenders Institution, training over 238 individuals.

In the Community

· Over 1034 bikes were donated to our Community Bike Shop, of those we refurbished and distributed more than 612 to underserved communities locally and overseas.

· Workshops in Bradford engaged 361 participants in diverse cycling-related activities across the area.

· "Bike to the Future" and other initiatives reached 220 young people with more complex needs.

Make a Meaningful Difference in Your Community

De Aston School has been at the heart of Market Rasen since 1863. As a vibrant, friendly, and truly comprehensive 11–18 school, we are passionate about providing exceptional education for every young person—regardless of background or starting point. Our ethos, Believe. Strive. Achieve., shapes everything we do: we believe in potential, we strive for excellence, and we achieve through commitment, care, and community.

This commitment doesn’t stop with students—our governors and staff are valued, supported and invested in. During a recent Ofsted inspection, staff described De Aston as “one big family”, praising the school’s supportive culture and strong sense of belonging.

Why Volunteer With Us?

Becoming a School Governor is one of the most effective ways to help shape the future of young people in your community. You don’t need previous experience—just a desire to make a positive impact. We provide full training, induction, and ongoing development, alongside a genuinely welcoming and committed governing body.

By volunteering, you’ll:

• Influence strategic decisions that improve outcomes for hundreds of students
• Gain meaningful board‑level experience
• Build leadership, oversight and analytical skills
• Support an inclusive, ambitious, and high‑performing school
• Join a school with an outstanding reputation for pastoral care and evidence‑informed practice

About the Role

As a School Governor, you will work as part of the governing board to provide strategic leadership, oversight and challenge. You’ll act as a critical friend to senior leaders—supporting them to deliver excellence while holding them accountable for performance, safeguarding, resources and compliance.

Your insight will help shape school priorities, ensure financial sustainability, and uphold the values and vision of the school. This role has a real and lasting impact on the life chances of young people.

Key Responsibilities

As a Governor, you will:

• Help define the school’s mission, values and long‑term vision
• Review and approve key policies
• Support the appointment and appraisal of senior leaders
• Monitor educational outcomes and ensure a broad, balanced curriculum
• Oversee financial management and resource allocation
• Assess risk and ensure robust safeguarding procedures
• Attend a minimum of six meetings per year
• Build strong professional relationships with leaders and fellow governors
• Make occasional school visits to deepen your understanding of the school environment
• Undertake induction and ongoing training

What We’re Looking For

No formal qualifications are required. We welcome volunteers from all backgrounds—especially those who bring diversity of thought, lived experience or specialist knowledge in areas such as education, finance, HR, law, community engagement or data analysis.

You’ll be a great fit if you are:

• Passionate about improving outcomes for children and young people
• Able to communicate clearly and listen constructively
• Objective, fair, and committed to confidentiality
• Willing to give time to meetings, reading papers and preparing questions
• Collaborative, professional and supportive of team decision‑making
• Committed to safeguarding and the Seven Principles of Public Life
• Open‑minded, resilient and eager to learn

De Aston School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All posts will be subject to an enhanced DBS disclosure, medical and reference checks.  All pre-employment checks are in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education. 

If you share the belief in the transformative power of education, bring your experience and knowledge of post-16 education to help Derwentside College realise its vision of creating positive futures for its learners, community and region.

Applications close: 9 a.m. Monday 2nd March 2026

Location: Consett, County Durham

About Derwentside College

Derwentside College is not your traditional FE college.

Located in a semi-rural location, high on the edge of the Pennines, the College is based on a single site in the heart of the town of Consett. We offer a diverse range of provision to young people and adults from across the local, predominantly rural, community. We currently deliver education and training to around 4,000 learners across over 200 courses, supported by around 170 staff.

Whilst we deliver a broad range of 16-18 classroom-based provision, including construction, engineering, hairdressing, beauty therapy, catering, health and social care and digital technology, along with maths and English, the majority of our students, 55%, gain their education through apprenticeships. Our differing mode of delivery is one of the things that sets us apart from other colleges across the northeast of England. Indeed, through this, we deliver more apprenticeships than other local colleges.

Graded ‘Good’ by Ofsted in 2022, and with a refreshed strategic plan that will take us to 2031, we have a firm base from which to progress with our ambitions for growth, development and excellence.

About the role

Our board is led by our Chair, David Allsop, who has worked tirelessly with our Principal & CEO, Chris Todd, and other colleagues across our leadership team and board to refocus our direction and culture and to grow our aspirations as a college.

Part of this process has seen David and Chris work together to build a renewed sense of collegiality across our board. We have appointed several new and experienced members, successful experts in their respective fields who are already offering a new level of challenge, scrutiny and support. This is resulting in driving a more inclusive culture of successful governance.

Given the depth of our ambitions and considering our future strategic priorities, we are now seeking to recruit a further governor to our board.

Who we are looking for

To achieve our organisational aims, our board must continue to consist of experts and experienced professionals who can provide the appropriate levels of challenge and questioning to enable us to grow, develop and improve.

Following recent successful governor recruitment and further consideration of the expertise we need across our board, we have identified that it would be helpful to us to deepen the education expertise within our membership.

We will welcome applications from candidates with:

• Expertise in the areas of FE quality improvement and assurance
• Experience as a senior leader of FE curriculum and more broadly, FE institutions
• Experience and knowledge of inspection and compliance requirements relating to the FE sector
• Extensive experience as a strategic leader within the post-16 sector
• Experience of the development of study programme for young people and/or adult learning

We seek candidates who can bring their professional expertise to scrutinise our practice and offer insights on how we can be more innovative in this area of our delivery.

Peridot Partners and Derwentside College are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and our client expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check and satisfactory references before any final offer can be made.

Please click 'Redirect to recruiter’ to be redirected to the Peridot Partners website, where you can find full details of the candidate profile and register your interest to apply.

Applications for this role close at 9 a.m. Monday 2nd March 2026

Do you have a passion to make a difference in the lives of children and families? Spurgeons is seeking new trustees to join our current Board in bringing prayerful wisdom and strategic guidance over the coming years.

Spurgeons is one of the UK’s leading children’s charities, supporting vulnerable and disadvantaged children and their families for 150 years. Inspired by Christian faith and our founder Charles Spurgeon, we’re here for all families. Together, we create family hubs where we’re needed most, with counselling, early years and family support. We partner with local councils, churches and communities to care for every family, putting children and young people first in everything we do. Our services also include parenting support and resources, mental health support for children and young people, and working with families affected by domestic abuse and imprisonment.

These services are needed more than ever, and our current strategy focuses on growth, innovating in partnership with churches, developing online family hubs to expand our reach and ensuring fundraising is a strategic priority. We are ambitious and hopeful about how we can grow to make a significant impact on many more children’s lives in the future.

To support Board succession planning, we are seeking to appoint five new trustees with a range of skills and experience including:

· Fundraising and marketing

· Finance

· Children’s services e.g. senior leadership experience within social services, the care sector, local authorities, health, education, or charitable contexts

· Safeguarding

· Cultural change and transformation

Given an occupational requirement for these roles to be filled by Christians, we are seeking candidates with a personal and active Christian faith who are comfortable and aligned with the statement of faith outlined on our website.

In order to build on our Baptist heritage, we are also keen to ensure that at least one of our trustees is a member of, or has a connection with, the Baptist church.

Spurgeons values diversity, promotes inclusion, and encourages applications from a diverse range of candidates, including those with lived experience of children’s support services. We recognise the need to increase the diversity of the Board, for example in terms of age, ethnicity, disability, gender and LGBTQ+ representation.

In terms of location, at present, Board meetings take place in London and committee meetings take place virtually via Teams.

For further information, including full details of how to apply, please see our Appointment Details Pack which can be downloaded from the application resources/ supporting documents section below. Application is by submission of CV and cover letter via email to Laura Bagley at Macaulay Search (please see Appointment Details Pack for contact details).

The closing date for applications is 9am on Monday 2nd March 2026. 

Talent 4 Good is proud to collaborate with Inspire North in the search for their next Chair.

This role presents a significant opportunity to lead a dedicated board within an impactful and unique organisation. As a charitable Community Benefit Society and regulated landlord, Inspire North focuses on critical areas such as homelessness, mental health, dementia, and domestic abuse.

The Chair provides leadership and direction to the Board, empowering Members to fulfil their

responsibilities for the overall governance and strategic direction of Inspire North.

Alongside the CEO, the Chair fosters a sense of shared purpose and dedication, ensuring that Inspire North’s vision and values are upheld at every level, driving our ambition to become an anti-racist organisation

As the Chair, you are also a Board Member. Alongside driving the strategic direction and ensuring the effective governance of Inspire North, Board Members ensure the organisation makes the best use of its resources to meet its vision and purpose. They also ensure that accountability to key stakeholders is effective and robust

All applicants will need to demonstrate:

• Alignment with Inspire North’s vision, purpose and values.
• An understanding of the duties and responsibilities of being the Chair/board member.
• A willingness to devote the necessary time and effort to the role.
• A commitment to, and understanding of, what it means to become anti-racist, as well as demonstrable commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
• Ability to chair strategic meetings, giving guidance or mediating where required.
• Experience as a trustee / board member including an understanding of organisational governance, risk management, financial accounts and strategic planning.
• IT literacy (Papers are shared via an Online portal)
• Integrity and credibility
• Able to see the bigger picture and seek to understand challenging and complex issues. Able to listen, provide clear, balanced advice and guidance with the ability to challenge constructively.
• Experience of working in collaboration with others, working towards common goals and shared objectives.

For a full recruitment pack including responsibilities, apply and you will be contacted directly. 

We are currently looking to recruit an external trustee to join our Board of Trustees and also act as chair to the Finance and Audit Sub-Committee. We will also require the trustee to support our whistleblowing policy, acting as the nominated trustee contact for whistleblowing concerns.  You’ll champion openness and ensure the organisation has safe, fair, and effective processes for raising and handling concerns.

Your SU is overseen by our Board of Trustees, and our trading subsidiary (CUSU Services Ltd) is overseen by our Commercial Services Board . They are both made up of a collection of our elected Officers, students, university staff and external professionals that ensure the Charity and the Trading Subsidiary remain sustainable in terms of finance, legality and reputational status.

You will be expected to attend Board meetings 4 times per year – these will be a mix of in person and Teams meetings. You will also be expected to support at least one sub-committee of the Trustee Board (3-4 times per year) as well as complete training and induction. You will need some time to allow for prereading of reports and other documentation before meetings. 

Trustee meetings are typically held on a Friday afternoon 1pm-4pm. Most of the meetings are online, although you would be offered travel expenses for any face-to-face meetings (and hybrid meetings are usually offered if you do need to join remotely.) There is also a strategy day once a year as well as the occasional social activity!

For this trustee role, we are looking for an experienced professional ideally with third-sector governance experience. In addition to being a member of the Board of Trustees the trustee will be required to chair the Finance and Audit subcommittee and should possess a strong finance background with analytical skills and the ability to communicate complex financial information.

We are especially keen to encourage applications from people currently under-represented within the organisation, including but not limited to those from the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, and those from a Global Majority background. We hope that by enhancing our diversity we can extend our organisational creativity and problem solving through the different perspectives and life experiences which diversity brings.

Please note that this is an unpaid voluntary role.

For further information there is a full recruitment pack and role profile available to download or visit our website for more information.

About us

VoiceAbility is an independent charity and one of the UK’s largest providers of advocacy and involvement services. We deliver a wide range of service contracts funded by local authorities, health trusts and other voluntary and private sector organisations.

We’ve been supporting people to have their say in decisions about their health, care, and wellbeing for over 40 years. We make sure people are heard when it matters most.  For more information on what Advocacy is and the services offered then please visit our website.

About the role?

Our Trustees play a critical role in the organisation, helping set the strategy and review progress in relation to it, providing support, challenge and expertise to the Chief Executive and Directors.

A Trustee plays an essential role in seeking to maximise VoiceAbility’s positive impact as well as to stretch and hold to account the Chief Executive.

The role also has ultimate responsibility for the compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, as well as ensuring that the organisation acts in line with its charitable objectives and is financially stable. Trustees work as a team, applying good judgement and taking collective responsibility.

About you

We are looking for a Trustee with sound independent judgement, strategic vision and the ability to think creatively.  You will embody the organisations values and act in the best interests of the charity at all times. 

You will be engaged and motivated by the work of VoiceAbility and be able to build strong relationships and have experience of working as a non-Executive director or Trustee; however, lived experience is equally important.

We are seeking to recruit Trustees who bring Expertise in Finance, Safeguarding, Human Resources, Commercial and Operational Delivery.

Time commitment

Approximately one day per month.  Please note that this time commitment will be spread across multiple days and is likely to be cyclical.

There are four board meetings per annum.  Board meetings tend to be online, but face-to-face, or hybrid meetings may take place from time to time.  There would also be a commitment of two to four committee meetings per annum, a board strategy or development day and site visits.  Each trustee will also belong to at least one committee.

Equality and Diversity

VoiceAbility believes in fostering an inclusive workplace which welcomes, values, and celebrates the diversity of its staff and partners, treats all on a basis of equality and encourages all to meet their maximum potential.

VoiceAbility are a Disability Confident employer, any applicant that identifies themselves as having a disability and can demonstrate that they meet all the essential criteria for the role will be offered an interview.  If you need to apply in a different way, please contact HR for further options.

How to apply

Please follow the link to our latest vacancy page

Important Dates:

Closing date for applications: 

28 February 2026

 Interviews to be held: ongoing

We’re seeking committed new trustees to help guide a small but ambitious charity supporting children and young people with cerebral palsy, ensuring our funds deliver meaningful, life-changing impact.

Our Board is made up of a small, committed group of trustees who bring a mix of professional expertise and personal connection to our cause. Together, we oversee a grant-making charity that has a long heritage and a clear ambition: to increase our income and ensure we can support more children and young people with cerebral palsy in meaningful, practical ways.

Like many small charities, our challenge is balancing strong governance with growth. We are financially stable and well run, but we want to think more strategically about our future: how we prioritise funding, how we grow awareness and income, and how we ensure every grant we make delivers real, lasting benefit for families. The new trustee will play an active role in shaping these conversations and helping the Board move confidently from steady state to sustainable growth.

The role is hands-on and collaborative. Trustees are expected to attend four board meetings a year, contribute thoughtfully to discussion and decision-making, and engage between meetings when specific issues arise. Depending on interest and experience, the new trustee may also be invited to take a lead role in an area of work or join a small working group, for example around fundraising development, investment oversight, or grant assessment.

This is an opportunity to influence how limited charitable funds are used where they matter most. Trustees are directly involved in decisions that enable children to access therapy, specialist equipment, and support that may not otherwise be available. For someone who wants to make a tangible difference, this is a role where your contribution can be clearly seen in the lives of the children and families we support.

The Board values open discussion, shared responsibility, and a supportive culture, making this an especially rewarding role for someone who wants their time and judgement to have genuine impact.