Governor Blog - Sara Hudson-Walsh

In October this year (2021) it will be four years since I became a co-opted governor at Astley Park School. I have a 16 year old autistic son who has a learning disability, who came to APS in year 6 from a mainstream school. As well meaning as the mainstream school were, they were not meeting his SEN and the older he got, the more apparent it became and the more isolated he was. So, after endless sleepless nights wondering if I was doing the right thing for him being an avid believer in fully inclusive education, I bit the bullet, went against my lifelong beliefs and ‘segregated’ him in a special needs school.

Within six weeks Nathan was a different person, even neighbours were asking what had happened to him as he was so much more confident and relaxed and would even answer them when they spoke to him. He was much more relaxed, had stopped hitting his chin so much to self-regulate, would make eye contact, albeit fleetingly, but it was there and continue to improve a quite a significant rate! These improvements continued in leaps and bounds and I now have a confident, settled and increasingly independent young man who is getting ready to embark upon the next stage of his journey by going to college in September.

The huge positive impact on Nathan got me to thinking what I could give back to the school, which is why I expressed my interest in becoming a governor. I had the time to dedicate to the school as I was not working due to my own physical disability and huge amount of surgery I had had. I currently Chair the Finance & Staffing Committee, am the nominated LINK (training & development) governor and the lead governor strand for pupil behaviour. I have been involved with so many different exciting and challenging things that there are too many to mention, but off the top of my head: staffing restructures, recruitment processes, finance and budgeting, policy setting, HR, health and safety, governor skills audits and developing individual training plans for governors; the list continues to grow!

During the pandemic, for the first time ever, the recruitment process for the posts of Deputy Head Teacher were undertaken completely remotely. This was quite a daunting prospect for many of the governors but ended up being a more rigorous and thorough process than usual! Lots of new technology skills were learnt, and ways to work together when apart. The governing body continued to meet virtually throughout the pandemic to ensure we provided the governance for the school as now more than ever; the school needed the full support of us.

Am I going to continue being a governor after my son has moved onto college? Astley Park School has helped equip him with a solid foundation of functional life skills and I absolutely will continue being a governor to help ensure this opportunity is offered to as many children and their families as possible. I hope this has given you a little insight into what being a governor is like, and if you are interested in joining us, please phone the school and ask to speak to Mr Welsh.