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New User
As part of the Government's strategy for e-government, school governors were identified by the Department as a key customer group that warrant their own website. GovernorNet was launched on 31st March 2003 and much positive feedback has been received to date. However, we are constantly striving to improve the site and any feedback you may have can be submitted via the "Contact Us" button at the head of this page.
If you are a New Governor or interested in Becoming a Governor, you may wish to look at the following articles:
The information below provides a Tour of GovernorNet:
Home Page - www.governornet.co.uk
There are five grey buttons along the top tool bar, which open up 'pop-up' boxes, intended to aid the user:.
Register Here
This gives the user the opportunity to:
- register for access to contribute to the discussion board;
- receive email alerts when somebody replies to a Topic they have posted;
- specify whether or not their email address is visible on the Discussion Board;
- personalise their Year Planner,;
- receive mailings from the site, and;
- amend their details.
Contact Us
Information on various contacts dependent upon the query and a Feedback form for comments on the site, which goes to the GovernorNet Team Mailbox ([email protected]).
Personalise
You can use this tool to narrow down your search returns by selecting the audience, importance and level of articles that you are looking for eg. Clerks, new governors. NB. You must remember to deselect choices if you wish a wider-ranging search to take place.
Jargon Buster
A list of jargon and abbreviations found in governance, and an opportunity to suggest jargon. There are also links to the jargon buster embedded in the articles - these appear as dull red 'links'.
Help
Answers to most frequently asked questions about GovernorNet.
Below the grey buttons is the login facility. Before you can login, you need to register via the Register Here button (top left hand grey button). Once registered, you can enter your email address and password into the relevant boxes. A successful login results in the screen changing to: Welcome Back �
You DO NOT have to register to view GovernorNet, but if you wish to contribute to the discussion board or personalise your Year Planner, you will need to login.
If you forget your password, click on the Forgotten Your Password link. Once you complete the presented form, you will receive a reminder password via your registered email address.
Below the login facility is the Search tool. As you move through the site, you are also given the option to search all of GovernorNet or just the section you are in eg. Staffing & Personnel, Publications etc. The search is text based so will pick up examples of any word or sentence within the site. The search engine has recently been improved, so multiple words will often bring a more relevant search return.
The Text below the search shows summaries of the latest, most important articles on the site - as space is limited, not all the latest articles are published here, but instead appear under 'Recent Additions' (button on left hand side).
The buttons down the left hand side are:
Home - for the main page.
New User - for a basic guide to the site for those unfamiliar with the Internet.
Recent Additions - This area contains recent items of interest to governors and press releases from the DfES and other government agencies, that have been added to GovernorNet. These articles can usually also be found under relevant topic areas ie. a new guidance document or statutory instrument will also appear under Publications
Discussion Board - You can view the discussion board without registering, but you need to register if you wish to contribute. The board allows you to share information and experiences with other governors. You can use search 'This section' to find subjects of interest. The topics will include some subjects that are no longer live but have been archived for reference. Click on the discussion title to read the original message and its replies. To contribute to a live discussion, you will need to register with GovernorNet. To do this, click on the top left grey Register Here button.
If you wish your email address to appear/not appear alongside your posted discussions and replies, and/or to receive an email alert if someone replies to your topics, you need to select the appropriate options on the Register Here form. Further information can be found at: www.governornet.co.uk/dbarticle.
Publications - Articles contain brief details, links and/or .pdf attachments and details of how to order Legislation, Guidance and publications. These can be sorted by date or title.
Consultations - Brief summaries link you to the latest active consultations relevant to Governors. Via the link, you can download the entire consultation document and the questionnaire or view the consultation and complete the questionnaire online. Further and closed/archived consultations can also be found on the DfES eConsultations site - http://www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations.
Links - An alphabetical listing of links to useful websites for school governors.
Year Planner - To get the best out of this tool, you need to register and login. (Registration (free) is through the Register Here tab located at the top of each page. Login is by entering your email address and password (once registered) in the boxes provided at the top of each page). Logging in allows you to create your own personalised calendar, using the listed Tasks.
The Year Planner is split into two sections: Calendar informs you of any upcoming events by showing in bold, days that have tasks/events scheduled. If you are not logged in, you will only see 'national' dates ie. conferences, statutory implementation dates, publication dates of Governors newsletter etc. that the GovernorNet administration team have entered. If you are logged in, you will see bold dates that have tasks allocated, by yourself. You can change the date tasks are allocated by accessing them from the calendar view and using the edit or delete functions available, once the task is selected. There is also a facility to add your own task - see www.governornet.co.uk/yparticle for further information.
Tasks contains tasks, categorised by the Term they relate to. Click on the Term buttons beneath the tab bar to view the tasks associated with each term. Click on individual tasks to see additional information, including an explanation, links to further/background reading and links to other useful websites. If you are logged in, you can schedule the listed tasks into your calendar by clicking the Add button and filling in the form box that appears - the Notes box can be used to enter free text if required. If amendments to the information are required, this can be done from the Calendar view - select the task via the appropriate bold date and edit as required. Once you have assigned tasks, they are viewable via the Calendar, but only whilst logged in.
You then come to the Topic areas, which are: Roles and Responsibilities; Training and Recruitment; Pupils, Parents & Curriculum; Staffing and Personnel; School Finance & Property; Guide to the Law.
All of the articles on GovernorNet are under one or more of the above topics. Each topic area, when selected, produces an alphabetical list of titles and summaries of articles. These lists can be sorted by title or date and a search can be made of the chosen section.
Once you locate an article that you wish to read, you need to click on 'more'. The new screen shows the article in full. Immediately above the article, you will find information about the audience, importance and level, and the options to click on print friendly or to return to the topic. Below the article, if available, you will find relevant attachments, web addresses, further and background reading and information about the article's effective and posted dates.
There is a Print Friendly option on most pages, which allows you to print the information on screen in a format that is presented clearly and is easy to read.
(Back on the Home page) Below the Topic buttons, there are links to UKOnline (GovernorNet forms part of the UK Online aim to get all government departments fully on line by 2005), DfES, The Parent Centre and TeacherNet.
The links down the right hand side of the home page include GovernorLine, the One Stop Shop for School Governors, a direct link to the most recent/popular topic on the Discussion Board, download and registration advice.
Many of the web addresses (URLs) for articles on the site are very long and not user-friendly. We have created 'Short URLs' for the most important / frequently viewed articles - these can be found at www.governornet.co.uk/shorturls , scroll down the page to 'Attachments' and download the spreadsheet or word document. You can save these shortcuts into your favourites eg. www.governornet.co.uk/gttlcontent.
If you have any problems with, or suggestions for GovernorNet, or would like to join the Virtual User Group, please complete the Feedback form (under the "Contact Us" button at the top of the web page).
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