Bursar’s Review Autumn 2019.

Feature 13 @the_isba Autumn 2019 is sometimes described as the guide and guardian of the governing body’ which starts to identify the additional value that might be added by the dual role. However, the guidelines stress ‘the important responsibility of the clerk to ensure that the governing body understands and meets its responsibilities, including observing Charity Commission guidance and complying with regulation, and that the governing body never acts beyond the power conferred by the governing instrument’ which appears to be a strictly company secretary role. The document does identify some disadvantages to a dual role, ‘from time-to-time a governing body has soured relationships with its head through too much reliance on, or private contact with, the bursar as their clerk for information about the school’ and ‘if, unfortunately, governors and [the] head are in dispute, the bursar can face a conflict of loyalty’ . But I want to explain why I think there are significant advantages to maintaining a dual approach (AGBIS, 2019 pages 14-15). To complete the review of the AGBIS guidelines, an appendix lists the specific roles in a similar fashion to the ISCA list: ■ ensuring that governance is carried out in accordance with the governing instrument for the school; ■ preparing, reviewing and updating additional governance protocols; ■ conducting induction and training for all new governors; ■ organising training for all governors and recording such training; ■ ensuring that all governors are aware of their statutory responsibilities, especially their responsibility for the safeguarding of all pupils at the school; ■ in addition to matters of statutory compliance, ensuring compliance with instructions of the charity regulator and Companies House; ■ ensuring the efficient functioning of governance; ■ working with the chair and with any committee that might have been established for this purpose, ensuring that an appropriate process exists for succession-planning for the governing body, maintaining a skills matrix (if appropriate) and advising the chair accordingly; ■ following instructions from the governing body regarding routine appraisal of the head and the bursar; ■ following instructions from the governing body regarding processes for the appointment of the head or bursar when the need arises; ■ organising and making appropriate arrangements for the establishment of any panels of the governing body that may, from time-to-time, be required to hear appeals or to deal with complaints or grievances (including the identification of independent members to join these panels where appropriate); and ■ maintaining full and appropriate records of all governance activity (AGBIS, 2019 pages 45-46). One task of many ISBA refers to the role of the clerk as one of the tasks a bursar may undertake under the heading ‘general management and administration’ stating that the bursar may also act ‘as clerk to the governors and secretary to various committees and trusts’ (ISBA, 2019). In the ISBA reference library there is a very comprehensive document (the Bursar's Guide Chapter I (A) The Bursar's Role as Clerk to the Governors (2009)), explaining the bursar’s role as clerk to the governors. This 30 page document gives a thorough review of the role of the clerk and highlights the importance of separating out the ‘strategic’ responsibilities of governors from the operational remit of the executive; particularly the head and the bursar. The author states that ‘besides carrying out