Nikki Blackham, a part-time delivery driver and Royal Mail worker, has stepped into the role of school governor at St Luke’s School, where five of her seven children are enrolled. To improve student outcomes, she took her first steps into governance. Her vision is to steward the institution and deepen ties with the community it exists to serve.
St Luke’s School passed its recent Ofsted inspection with flying colours, coming out with a “good” rating. Inspectors found that during this challenging time, the school’s governors (including Blackham) show a strong overall awareness of their role in this situation. The report highlighted their ability to effectively challenge the senior leadership team, ensuring that the school maintains high standards of education.
Blackham believed that by becoming a governor, she could gain deeper insights into the operations of the school and help address challenges faced by teachers. She made an emotional plea for government officials to experience, up close and personal, what teachers face every day. “I feel that if they understood what was happening in schools, they would be better equipped to support our educators,” she remarked.
As often happens, Blackham, as a governor, is important to the resolution. She further extends St Luke’s School’s reach to, and inclusion of, the broader community. Her participation inspires other parents and community members to seek out these types of opportunities. Jacqui Coogan is a long serving and hardworking local councillor, and cabinet member for children, young people and education. To this end her office has been aggressively recruiting citizens to fill school governor slots. She is dedicated to bringing more parents to the table, in order to make the educational experience better for all students.
Especially for the students of St Luke’s School, it’s a blessing that Blackham is close to establishing his presence. And when they find out she’s coming to visit, they show all the enthusiasm that her boost of positive energy in the school has created. As a parent of many of St. Luke’s graduate alumni, she has a rich experience unique to understanding the obstacles families face. With the right kind of governance, she believes we begin to heal these divides.
Nikki Blackham’s story as a school governor is more than just playing proactive defense. It represents her passion to improve the educational environment for her own children and their classmates. Her experience offers essential perspective on what parents are worried about and what the school needs to run. By serving in government directly, her goal is to become a link between education policies and the realities of their implementation in the classroom.
The recruitment drive for more school governors is very timely. Schools are looking for ways to engage local communities more closely than ever. Blackham’s work advocating for greater parental representation underscores the value of a variety of perspectives and experiences to the governance of our school systems. She’s counting on more people to come forward. Together, they can clearly define realities and imaginations for what education should look like in their communities.
