Privacy notice – Governors' Services

What we do

Lewisham Governors’ Services Team provides a comprehensive support service to school governing bodies in all types of educational settings.  We are able to support governing bodies, governors, associate members and clerks to fulfil their duties effectively by offering:

• a professional clerking service
• a comprehensive central governor training programme
• a termly clerks’ briefing and training session
• comprehensive information and guidance
• bespoke support and development upon request.

The lawful basis on which we collect and share governors’ personal data is a legal obligation. Section 22 of The Education Act 2002 places a duty on the local authority (LA) to provide access to training for school governors and ensure they are provided with advice and guidance on how to discharge their role and responsibilities. A database is therefore maintained which facilitates communication between the LA and individual governors.

The LA also has various other statutory duties which, from time to time, will involve accessing the database. A full list of statutory duties and further information can be accessed on the Lewisham Services for Schools privacy notice page.

What information we collect

The information we collect from you may include:

• name
• school/organisation name
• school/organisation address
• date of birth
• email address
• telephone/mobile number (optional)
• postal address (if different from school/organisation address – optional)
• governor category
• responsibilities
• terms of office start and end date
• ethnicity (optional)
• gender (optional)
• information on any disability for which you have special requirements or need adjustments to assist you (optional).

Agencies we might share the information with

• Schools
• Internal Local Authority, Children and Young People teams
• Independent and Lewisham clerks
• Regional schools commissioner or Department for Education (DfE) upon request

Why we process your information

We process information to:

• ensure we have current contact details of all governors to fulfil our statutory duties
• enable school governors to book training courses
• provide a record of attendance of training purchased on Lewisham Services for School
• monitor governance vacancies and support with filling these roles
• provide members of school governing bodies with updates on key legislative changes and best practice pertaining to their roles and responsibilities
• enable Lewisham Services for Schools to provide clerking services to school governing bodies which buy into Lewisham’s Professional Clerking Service
• collect special characteristics to monitor the make-up of governing bodies across Lewisham to reflect the communities they serve.