Dear Friends,

Thursley's village school closed in 1959 (only twenty years after the governors had debated - and rejected - the idea of replacing the earth closets!).  How times change.  Since then Thursley have had formal links first with Witley school, then with the Chandler Junior School (also at Witley).  Now times are changing again; by mutual agreement, since there are no longer any Thursley children going to Witley or Milford, they are to sever this link.  This means that Thursley PCC will no longer be making a (modest) annual contribution to the Chandler School, and that they will no longer be appointing one governor to the governing body.  St. James' church appoints seven governors to St. James' (and I make the eighth - we have to outnumber all the others by two !) and we currently provide them with £1,000 per annum towards their (our) responsibilities.

It is not often appreciated that one of the Church of England's major contributions to national life is in the form of its `stake` in our schools.  'Controlled' schools (that is, state controlled) and 'Aided' schools (that is, state aided - but Church controlled!) are all owned by the Church, and 'Aided' schools are expected to receive funding from their local parishes towards the upkeep of their buildings.  The government grant-aids 90% of costs for maintenance and new building, but even 10% (and it used to be 15%) can be a lot of money (St. James' school has just spent £100,000 on a new roof, and is currently looking to do some much-needed new building at a cost of £620,000).

When I first came here, fourteen years ago, I automatically became a school governor - not only at St. James', but also at Waverley Abbey School - again, a formal link, going back to a schools' re-organisation in 1976.  Thinking about it, I am lucky that I wasn't an 'ex-officio' governor at the Chandler School too…  The link with Waverley Abbey School was eventually broken, as St. James' school now has children of the same age-range, and now I am governor to only one school.  In my previous parish I was Chairman at two schools (as was Julian McDowell here), but the workload of governors has risen so much over the twenty four years that I have been a governor that there is no way anyone would want to do that now.

That is the other major contribution that parishes make to our schools - the time and effort that their incumbents (and all the others whom parishes appoint as governors) spend being involved in the running of their local schools.  I am indebted - as, indeed, we all should be - to all those individuals from both parishes who have given so freely of their time and energy over the years, and I am continually on the look-out for replacements…

The governors appoint all the staff, and have the ultimate say in all matters of policy, but of course it is to the professional staff - and, most importantly, the Headteacher - that we look for the day-to-day running of the school.  They, in their turn, will look to the governors for support and (friendly) criticism.  When it comes to buildings and money, the Head and governors together must make their case to the County and the Diocese (as St. James' school has done for its new buildings), and then set about finding 'their bit'.  These days, God willing, we do rather better than earth closets - but then, we have to work a lot harder too !