Clerk to Governors

• Administrative and organisational support  
• Guidance to ensure Boards and Panels operate within regulatory frameworks (internal and external)  
• Advise on procedural matters for the operation of Boards and Panels

• With the Chair and Principal, prepare focused agendas for all meetings  
• Liaise with those preparing papers to make sure they are distributed on time and in-line to network-wide standards  
• Monitor attendance and take appropriate action in relation to absences  
• Attend all meetings and take detailed minutes that accurately reflect the meeting, discussion and decisions  
• Draft formal minutes and liaise with the Chair and Principal to review prior to final approval by the Board/Panel  
• Ensure all papers and final minutes are filed and accessible on internal systems  
• Coordinate the annual meeting schedule and agenda planner, in discussion with the Chair, Principal and Central Governance Team  
• Coordinate Governor Review Panels within statutory procedure and timeframes  
• Draft decision/outcome letters on behalf of governors, liaise with the Chair to finalise and circulate to relevant parties within statutory timeframes  
• Administrative support to the Regional Governance Officer for governor recruitment and induction  
• Maintain up-to-date membership and training records on internal systems  
• First point of contact for governance queries from Principals and local governors, in discussion with the Central Governance Team as needed 

• Right to work in the UK
• Boards and panels meet at various times throughout the day and evening during the school term (Monday – Friday). The Clerk must be available to prepare for and attend all meetings in the academic year
• This post will require attendance at Ark’s central office near White City for meetings, essential training and supervision. The Clerk must attend these events
• English and Maths GCSE, or equivalent, at grade 5 or above
• Qualification in Clerking to Local Governors  
• Experience of accurate minute taking in a formal setting  
• Experience of governance in a school and/or corporate environment
• IT literate and competent using MS Outlook, Word and Excel  
• Advanced IT skills with experience of Microsoft 365, GovernorHub and/or GIAS  
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal) with the ability to foster relationships
• Self-motivated and able to work with remote supervision
• Excellent time-management skills and ability to manage multiple workloads
• Proactive, organised and flexible to ensure deadlines are met when reliant on others for information

Ark is an education charity that exists to make sure that all children, regardless of their background, have access to a great education and real choices in life. Our network of 39 schools reaches traditionally underserved communities in Birmingham, Hastings, London and Portsmouth. We educate 30,000 pupils and have nearly 3,000 teaching staff across our network. We also incubate and scale innovative ventures, which we roll out beyond our network of schools for the benefit of teachers, pupils and the education system as a whole. Current Ventures include Ark Curriculum Plus, which equips teachers with the subject expertise needed to ensure students succeed, and Ark Start, a growing chain of nurseries offering affordable, high-quality early years education.

Recently, Ark moved to new offices at EdCity – a unique not-for-profit development in West London, in partnership with Hammersmith & Fulham council. EdCity is designed to bring mission-aligned organisations together to focus on improving the lives of children, especially through education. It offers leased offices, a range of venues for training and events, and an innovation hub for the education sector to connect, collaborate and learn together.