Select a question below:

What is the role of the Chair of Governors?

How often should policies be updated?

What role should governors play in an Ofsted?

Should governors be involved in writing the SEF?

How accountable am I as a governor?

What do governors do?

What powers do Chairs of Governors have?

 

1. What is the role of the Chair of Governors?

Chairs of Governors need to;

• ensure that meetings are run effectively
• help the Governing Body work as a team (by recognising and using people's strengths, delegating effectively, clarifying objectives, etc.)
• With the Governing Body, define a clear understanding of the roles of Governors and professionals within the school
• work effectively with the Headteacher
• carry out any duties delegated by the Governing Body, for example, attend school functions and work with the LA
• use time effectively: plan the year's cycle of meetings and a timetable for action and reports
• make it clear that all governors must accept collective responsibility for decisions taken at Governors' meetings

For new Chairs a specific training course is run by Governor Services

 

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2. How often should policies be updated?

Governors should have a clear process in place to review and evaluate existing policies to ensure that they are still relevant. The review process may highlight a need for amendments or even significant re-writing of policies. Once policies have been reviewed they must then be ratified at a meeting of the full Governing Body.

There are three policies which must be reviewed annually: Pay; Curriculum and Performance Management.

Otherwise it is the decision of Governing Bodies when to review although it is recommended that no policy should go beyond three years without review, and two years is better.

Although there is no set period for review of most policies, those that the Governing Body might want additionally to consider for annual review are:

• Register of Business Interests (the actual policy may not need annual review, but the register itself needs to be updated each year and newly signed by all governors), ideally this should be done at each of the meetings of the full Governing Body.
• Any policy concerning income and expenditure, such as the Charging Policy, Lettings policy and the Governors' Allowances policy
• SEN and disabled access policies to ensure adherence with any changes to the law
• Child Protection, (to ensure the needs of the law are satisfied)
• Health and Safety

The Governing Body is legally required to have policies on:

• Accessibility plan
• Admissions (foundation and VA schools)
• Attendance targets
• Charging for school activities
• Child protection
• Collective worship
• Complaints Procedure
• Curriculum
• Disability equality
• Freedom of information publication scheme
• Gender equality
• Health and safety
• Home-school agreement
• Minutes of Governing Body meetings
• Nutritional standards (all secondary schools and primary schools providing meals)
• Parenting contracts
• Payment of governors' allowances
• Penalty notices
• Performance management (staff)
• Prospectus
• Pupil discipline (including anti-bullying and exclusions procedures)
• Race equality
• Register of business interests of head and governors
• Registration of pupils
• Sex and relationships education (mandatory for secondary schools; primary schools decide whether or not to include this policy)
• Special Educational Needs
• Staff appraisal
• Staff discipline and grievance
• Staff redundancy and early retirement
• Target setting
• Teachers’ Pay
  

Click here for our link to the policies section; If you are a member you will be able to download our model policies and templates. If you are not a member and would like to join, click here to get more information on how to join us.

 

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3. What role should governors play in an Ofsted?

The Ofsted inspection process will change in September 2009 but governors will still have an active role to play. In an Ofsted inspection governors will need to be able to answer the following questions:

• How well do governors meet their statutory requirements?
• How do governors take part in decision making?
• How do governors hold the school to account?
• How well do governors understand the impact of the school’s work on standards and achievement?

The inspectors may want to talk to governors or at least Chair, committee Chairs, etc, about their part in decisions, how they organise their work, what information they are given and so on. In other words there is more recognition of the part governors can play - if allowed to do so - in policy formation and in holding the school to account for its performance.

 

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4. Should governors be involved in writing the SEF?

This is made clear in the Guide to the Law for School Governors (2006), where it is written ‘the senior management team should take the lead in carrying out self-evaluation’, ensuring they ‘involve the Governing Body throughout the process’. It makes sense, therefore, to involve governors at a departmental level and if your school has subject link governors then this direct link can be valuable when both writing the SEF and ensuring that the Governing Body has involvement in all areas of the school and is better informed.

 

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5. How accountable am I as a governor?

School governors have a legal responsibility to ensure that the school promotes high standards of educational achievement. Governing bodies have three key roles: setting strategic direction, ensuring accountability and monitoring and evaluation.

Governing bodies delegate many of their responsibilities to the headteacher, but exercise those which relate to the policies and ethos of the school in such matters as: finance, staffing, the curriculum, pupil behaviour and discipline, the admission and exclusion of pupils, the premises, and relations with the LEA, parents and the community.

School Governing Bodies have legal responsibilities to LEAs, Inspection authorities and to parents

 

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6. What do governors do?

Governing bodies:

• set the overall budget for the school
• decide on the number of staff
• decide on the level of pay for its school teachers
• help to decide the priorities for improving the school when the school development plan is being drawn up
• ensure the national curriculum is taught to all pupils
• set targets for pupil achievement
• publish national test and exam results
• compare the performance of their school to similar schools
• receive information about the quality of teaching in the school
• have a published strategy for dealing with parental complaints and concerns
• ensure the balanced treatment of political issues
• ensure health and safety issues are addressed
• set the times of school sessions.

Above all, the contribution you make with other governors, working in partnership with teachers, will be very important for the success of your local school and to the education of the children in your community.

 

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7. What powers do Chairs of Governors have?

Chairs of Governors have no special power to take decisions on behalf of governors unless there has been a resolution of the whole Governing Body to delegate a specific authority.

 

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