Launch: Wednesday 24th March 2010, Staffordshire University.

The throng of people in the foyer and the fast filling registration forms were a veritable feast for the eyes of the committee - not to mention a great relief.

David Owen was master of ceremonies and started the evening off with a light hearted welcome and introduced the Executive Committee.

Out first speaker was Jackie Krafft who is one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools and an Ofsted national advisor. Now working for a local authority part of Jackie’s brief is to support the training and development of governors. I felt our guests behaved with great decorum when asked if there were any questions.

Gillian Allcroft of the National Governors Association was next to speak and she gave us a delightful insight into the workings of the NGA from the workings within the National Office to life out on the road and working with other Associations etc. Gillian brought along with her a lot of literature which was well received.

Peter Traves entertained and informed, having been in all walks of education, teaching, parent and governor he can see the picture from all sides. The audience posed some pause for thought when asking questions such as “What do I tell my Primary School Children when they ask me what I do?” – bearing in mind we all had homes to go to the answer needed to be kept incredibly short, or “How to motivate Governors?”

Well we all need motivation now and again no matter how dedicated we are, this is where the SGA could prove to be a great help to Chairs of Governing Bodies. It’s with these sorts of questions in mind that the Association came into being, to provide a network of Governors who can mentor, assist, visit your Governors meetings and give support and suggestions. We can listen to your needs and work with the LA to work towards meeting them.

The Modern Governor team seemed to have a busy night and a lot of people who visited their stand came away smiling and I am sure thinking what a splendid idea.

Those attending on the evening were given a questionnaire*, a cursory glance of those handed in showed that there was some very positive feedback and a lot of universal concerns.

So last but not least the Executive Committee would like to thank you all so much for yet again giving up your valuable time and joining us for the evening. We would also like to thank all those schools which have joined the SGA and look forward to your support in future events, which will be staged based on your feedback not only from our questionnaire but questions posted on the website and general day to day communication with other Governors.

* Click here to download the Launch Evening Questionnaire

(We'll be adding videos of the key speakers just as soon as possible)