Associate Governor

Governors support, challenge, and help the College achieve its strategic objectives. Board experience is not required-your skills, experience, and enthusiasm for our goals and values are what matter most. Skills Needed: We are particularly interested in hearing from applicants with experience in areas such as audit, finance (qualified accountants), people, safeguarding, learner voice, law, sustainability, cyber security, and chairing boards, committees or meetings. We also value applicants who bring a strong understanding of our communities and the education and training provision we deliver. However, we welcome applications from individuals with a broad range of skills, professional expertise, backgrounds and lived experiences. We recognise that diversity of thought, experience, perspective and local insight strengthens our Board and committees. Time Commitment: Meetings are generally held on Tuesday mornings and around 2-3 hours. For 2026/27, the commitment includes:

• 6 Full Board meetings
• 3 to 5 Committee meetings annually (depending on committee membership)
• 1 annual Board Away Day
Board members are expected to maintain a minimum attendance level of 80%. Associate Governor: If you can't commit to a full governor role, bring your specialist knowledge to one of our committees (People, Finance, Quality, Audit, Estates, Governance or our Commercial Subsidiary ECETA) with about 4 meetings a year. Associate Governor roles are also a great full to develop as a Governor. Annual Commitment: Beyond meetings, Governors also:
• Take part in Learning Walks, celebrations, and engagement with staff and students.
• Contribute to strategic planning.
• Support self-assessment and governance reviews.
• Attend training and keep up to date with briefing papers.
• Provide feedback and help drive continuous improvement.
• Champion the College within the community.
We are looking for Governors who share our values, are committed to making a difference, and want to play an active role as part of 'Team ECC'. Our Values: Aspirational - Being supportive, exploring potential and challenging ourselves daily. Respectful - Acting with compassion, being inclusive, and welcoming others in our learning community and to our environment. Professional - Putting team first, acting with integrity, developing our expertise and having a focused work ethic. Successful - Determining our ambition, achieving excellence and continually raising standards.

East Coast College, with campuses in Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth, offers a diverse range of subjects and professional training for school leavers and adults up to degree level., Reach is the leading skills-based volunteering charity in the UK. We are the single biggest source of trustees for the voluntary sector in the UK. Connecting people, skills and good causes is our mission and our passion. What we do We help charities and other non-profits find the skills they need to thrive. Every year hundreds of charities recruit volunteers through our service. These volunteers share their skills as trustees, advisors or mentors, carrying out short term projects or ongoing operational roles. Our goal is to create a step change in the quality, range and scale of skills-based volunteering and trusteeship in the UK. We are proud of our growing impact. Why we do it Charities can boost their capacity, increase their effectiveness and innovate / find new ways of doing things when volunteers donate their professional skills. Trustees play a crucial role in leading charities and overseeing their work. When the trustee board of a charity has a good mix of skills and professional experience, it can govern more effectively. By supporting charities to recruit volunteers and trustees with valuable skills, we help charities increase their capacity and strengthen their governance. How we do it Our online community inspires people to use their skills for social good. We help organisations to make the most of those skills, to think through their needs and to attract the right person. We believe that communication is important in recruiting trustees and volunteers, so our service encourages dialogue between organisations and individuals. Our service is free to volunteers and to most charities.