Read and answer the questions.
1 What are the general policies for
Chiswick School?
2 Who controls the school?
3 Who can be a governor of the school?
4 What is the difference between the way
Chiswick School is managed and your
school?
Like most schools in Britain, Chiswick School
is under the control of elected local govern-
ment - not the central government in West-
minster. The council of the London Borough
of Hounslow pays for the school, and
makes general policies for it – for example,
the council decided that it should be co-
educational and not single-sex. Hounslow
is the employer of the teachers and other
staff, such as cleaners. The council is a
democratic body, with elections every five
years. So if the people of Hounslow do not
like the way the Labour Party runs their
schools, they can vote Conservative or
Liberal Democrat.
More directly in control of the school are the
governors – a committee including council-
lors, the head teacher, a parent, a teacher
and a representative from the Church. They
meet about once a month. On a day-to-day
basis the head teacher runs the school.