The governing body:
- Is responsible for the conduct of its school.
- Must promote high standards of achievement.
- Is the school's 'accountable body', as such it:
- Gives a strategic view of the school by:
- Putting a vision in place;
- Setting the purpose and aims of the school within an agreed policy framework.
- Appoints and performance manages the headteacher, agreeing on the school improvement strategy which includes:
- Setting statutory targets and the budgets to support them.
- The staff structures.
- Will monitor and evaluate the school's work by review of:
- How well the headteacher is doing.
- How well the policy framework works.
- The progress towards targets.
- How well the school improvement strategy is doing.
- Signs off the self-evaluation process, responds to school improvement service and Ofsted reports as needed. It also:
- Holds the headteacher to account for how well the school is doing.
- Makes sure parents are involved, consulted and informed. Also, that information to the community is given, as needed.
- Gives a strategic view of the school by:
In order to do this, governors need to gain knowledge of how their school operates through:
- Training.
- Attending meetings.
- Getting to know their school community. For example, visit during some school days.
How are governing bodies made up?
Maintained Schools:
- Parents.
- Staff (headteacher, teaching and support staff).
- Local authority.
- Partnership (for foundation schools only).
- Foundation (for church and foundation schools).
Pupil Referral Units:
- Parents.
- Staff (headteacher, teaching and support staff).
- Council.
- Sponsors.
- Community.
Academies
These vary and can be called different names, but the main ones are:
- Trustees.
- Members.
Co-opted Governor
These are based on the skills needed by the governing body. Schools appoint these, but we help to find the right candidate.
To do this, a part of our application form lets us add candidates to our database. This is so we can recommend them to schools if they fit their needs.