Education: Parents prepare for power as governors: 'I want to bridge the gap between parents and school'

JULIE PETERS is a dinner lady at Lynch Hill Combined School in Slough, Berkshire, where she has three children.

She decided to put her name forward to become a parent governor when her children came home with a letter from the school saying there were three vacancies.

Mrs Peters was mainly spurred by a desire to promote communication between parents and the school. 'Sometimes I feel there is a big rift between the two,' she says. 'Parents don't like to come in and find out what is going on for themselves. They see it as a 'them and us' situation. I hope I could help bridge that gap.

'I want to see a community spirit where everybody pulls together. There is already an Asian governor and I think it would be nice to have a black parent governor as well, although there aren't very many black pupils. It's important to have quite an ethnic mix.'

Mrs Peters believes she has a strong chance of gaining a place, since she is known at the school not only for handing out dinners, but for helping with reading in class. But she feels she could do with more information about what the job entails. 'I know we do it for four years, but that is about all. I would go ahead even if it turned out to be hard work. I will have time in the evenings to read and study quietly and I'm not worried about speaking up in meetings.'

(Photograph omitted)