1. Wendy: Hello Joy.

2. Joy: Hi.

3. Wendy: I know you have two daughters in the local primary school, can you tell me how you applied for them to go the local school?

4. Joy: Well first of all it seemed to be very much linked to the health facility. So when we registered with a doctor in the area, we then received a letter some time later asking if we were happy for the details to be sent to the Local Education Authority.

5. Wendy: Right.

6. Joy: [1] a) displays b) follows c) following d) governors from there, we received forms to complete to apply for a set of schools that we were interested in. In terms of how long we had, the forms I believe had to be in in the November of one year for the child starting school in the September of the [2] a) following b) governors c) volunteer year, and we had the forms for two or three months I think. And we then phoned up schools that we were interested in to find out the dates that head teacher would be showing groups of parents around the schools.

7. Wendy: Okay so you had. you wanted to go and visit the schools?

8. Joy: Yes we went to visit I think four primary schools in the area. We could select five. We went ... we didn't visit a fifth, but we did put five down on the form anyway and as I say, usually I believe now you can't just go to the school and go with a one to one visit with the head teacher, you will join a party of parents going round with the head and look round the whole school.

9. Wendy: And what are you looking for when you go to visit a primary school?

10. Joy: Well I was looking very much from the out ... you know, from the minute I walked into the school, what was the atmosphere like, what was the greeting like from the secretary, from the head teacher. What was the ... what were the children like as we passed them in the corridor, were they polite, were they well behaved. I was looking at the [3] a) displays b) following c) meetings d) volunteer on the wall, for how good the [4] a) displays b) follows c) following d) governors were, the quality of the work, but also the range of subjects displayed on the walls, whether they had science [5] a) criteria b) shows c) displays d) governors as well as more literacy based [6] a) appeal b) displays c) governing d) volunteer and history [7] a) displays b) shows c) following d) governing and so on.

11. And then in the classrooms, really looking at were the children engaged in what they were doing in the [8] a) appeal b) classroom c) displays d) routes , what kinds of activities were they doing, were they able to talk and work in groups and discuss ideas with each other and then also what ... how the teacher reacted when we came into the [9] a) classroom b) volunteer . Did they say hello and did we have a little conversation, that kind of thing.

12. Wendy: So you wanted a friendly atmosphere, not too formal?

13. Joy: Yes that's what I was looking for yes. I mean obviously some people might prefer a formal environment, but I was wanting that for primary school especially; an informal environment where I felt the children, my children would be happy to go to school every day.

14. Wendy: So you put down five choices of primary schools and what happens if you don't get your first or second choice, can you [10] a) appeal b) displays c) governors d) governing against that decision?

15. Joy: You can [11] a) appeal b) classroom c) meetings , but it's quite strict [12] a) criteria b) meetings c) routes d) volunteer as to whether your [13] a) appeal b) displays c) governors will be even really looked at properly in terms of when you first get the forms to complete, it explains on the form the [14] a) appeal b) classroom c) meetings [15] a) classroom b) criteria c) governors , so you know right from the start how ... on what grounds you can [16] a) appeal b) classroom c) governors d) meetings and they are related to whether you have a sibling ... whether the child has siblings in the schools, brothers and sisters in the school, whether your child has special needs that would be catered for in that school.

16. Wendy: Right the school for disabilities and..

17. Joy: ...yes. So for example, the school that my two children go to has all the ramps and everything for wheelchair access, so it often a school that is subscribe ... is applied for by parents of disabled children who are in wheelchairs. And then the third [17] a) criteria b) meeting c) governors d) meetings is distance from the school. So if you find that the school that you wanted to apply for hasn't met its say thirty children.

18. Wendy: In each class.

19. Joy: ...in each class, then you will get into that school, you should get in, you'd have grounds for [18] a) appeal b) classroom c) displays d) governing if you didn't. Whereas if they were over the thirty children per class, then it would be on the distance you were from the school in kind of bands if you like of going out from the school, and really you haven't really got any other grounds to [19] a) appeal b) displays c) interview and so that's what you need to consider when looking at schools.

20. Wendy: Right. As a [20] a) appeal b) parents c) governors d) parent , how can you become more involved in your child's school?

21. Joy: Well there's a few [21] a) meetings b) route c) routes really and one of the [22] a) appeal b) criteria c) route d) routes is to join the [23] a) appeal b) governors c) interview d) parent teacher association if the school has one, not all schools do, and that's usually a fund raising group of people who put together Easter fairs, summer fairs, Christmas fairs, other events. At my daughter's school, there was a curry evening where everybody enjoyed home made curries, that's one route.

22. Another route is actually to ... if ... you can be a [24] a) appeal b) classroom c) governing d) volunteer [25] a) appeal b) classroom c) parent in the [26] a) classroom b) parent c) routes d) volunteer and go and work alongside children, not necessarily your child's class or it could be, and go and help out in the school.

23. And a third route is to become a governor which I did for my daughter's school and get involved in that way.

24. Wendy: Why did you choose to be a school governor?

25. Joy: I really wanted to know more about how the school operated and you do get letters coming home from the school, but obviously that's quite limited information and I really wanted to know about how they planned the curriculum, about the health and safety, about the school policies, all sorts of things. So that ... I really wanted to get involved because of that.

26. And also the [27] a) appeal b) classroom c) criteria d) governing body, this wasn't really my main concern, but it does I suppose have quite a lot of power in terms of the decision-making of the school, and the role, I suppose, is to be ... it's called the critical friend of the senior management of the head teacher of the school, and that's the role that the [28] a) following b) governors c) interview d) meetings play when we meet every month to discuss various issues.

27. Wendy: What do you do as a governor?

28. Joy: Well there are some things that ... well in terms of the number of [29] a) criteria b) governors c) meetings d) routes , obviously there can be a ... it's how long is a piece of string. You can just go along to the [30] a) displays b) governors c) route d) meetings that in my case were usually monthly. Then you can [31] a) talk b) displays c) volunteering d) volunteer to be involved in lots of other things as well. So, for example, if an appointment is being made for a new deputy head or a new head teacher, you could decide to give up two or three plus days of your time, and they need [32] a) appeal b) displays c) governors d) interview to do that, to be involved in the recruitment process.

29. Wendy: To [33] a) appeal b) governors c) interview d) routes people?

30. Joy: To [34] a) criteria b) following c) governors d) interview deputies and heads. It's not usually teachers, it's usually the senior management team that the [35] a) appeal b) following c) governors get involved in. Also if there are any major issues that might come up so if there's any harassment allegations related to members of staff, or any other issues that come up where they need agreement about the process forward, it involves people from the local authority, but it also involves [36] a) governors b) interview c) meetings d) volunteer as well in obviously very confidential [37] a) classroom b) following c) governing d) meetings .

31. And then there's also various other things in terms of agreeing policies, sex education policy has to be agreed every year, and in terms of the health and safety, the risk assessments for any major trips going out of school have to be approved by the [38] a) appeal b) criteria c) following d) governing body. So there's quite a wide range of issues that are discussed and ways you can get involved as governor, and the authority also has a very large service in terms of the training that's available for [39] a) appeal b) displays c) following d) governors . There's some basic training, two or three courses that every governor is recommended to attend, but then there's training on everything else you can imagine to do with the role of the governor.

32. Wendy: Okay thank you.