Chair's Welcome

Welcome to our website. Essex School Governance Association (ESGA) is the only Governor’s Association supporting all Maintained, Academy and Special School Governors, Trustees and Members in Essex. We have been doing so since 1994.

We are a fully independent association for governance, affiliated to the equally independent National Governance Association.

ESGA works closely with Essex LA and our colleagues representing the Association of Secondary Headteachers in Essex (ASHE), Essex Primary Heads Association (EPHA), and Essex Special Schools Educational Trust (ESSET).

Your views are our views, and we can make sure that your views are heard and responded to. Indeed, one of our main functions is to ensure that your views are fully recognised and considered at our monthly Executive meetings and at our termly meetings with the Cabinet Minister for Education and the Director of Education.

Our links with you are through this website, and our annual Conferences.

We are developing this website to help you to find out the latest news and updates, to exchange good practice from each other (why reinvent the wheel!),and to express your views on the educational issues of today and tomorrow.

There are links to many educational sites. Whether you are new to governance or an old hand seeking advice on a tricky problem, this website aims to put you in touch with colleagues and professionals who can help.

We would like to increase our on-line resources so if our site does not give you the answer you need, let us know and we will endeavour to build coverage in for the future.

As volunteers, you are a vital part of the governance of our schools whether they are community, foundation, VA, special or academy; being a governor can appear an onerous, even daunting task, but by sharing we can be much stronger than we are in isolation. Our hope is that this website will ease that burden through sharing more, and help us all achieve more for our schools and the children and young people in them.

Our Aims

To be an independent, democratic forum.
To assist all to further the interests and education of children and young people.
To promote the highest possible standards of School Governance.
To further good relationships with the local authority and other relevant agencies.
To provide a coherent voice for Governors when making representation, and a vehicle for expressing collective views of Governing Boards on matters of common concern at local, regional and national level.
To encourage co-operation and the sharing of good practice between schools and Governing Boards.

Our Vision & Values

To work to improve the quality and effectiveness of governance across Essex schools and academies.
To be a conduit for Governing Boards’ views and governance issues at local and national levels.
To ensure effective governor training and development for schools and academies.