Author: Sophie Lee (Clerk to Governors)

Happy new year!

This year I’d like to expand the range of guidance and training offered by Ask A Clerk, so I thought I’d ask you which topics or problems you find tricky and what you would like me to cover.

I have also received inquiries about offering live, one-to-one training to help newer clerks develop their confidence and knowledge, so I’m considering offering live (online) sessions for clerks in maintained schools. Is this something you might be interested in?

If you could spare two minutes to let me know what you would find useful by completing the form below I would be very grateful.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Governors should regularly go into school to conduct monitoring visits. These visits let governors check that what they are told in meetings is really happening in practice.

A common criticism in OFSTED reports is that governors have relied too much on information they hear in meetings without actually verifying it is true by seeing it for themselves.

“Governors should not just rely on information provided by the headteacher. Rather, they should…use visits to verify what they are told.”

DfE Departmental Advice on Roles, Procedures and Allowances Regulations

What should governors monitor during visits?

Below you can see what the DfE Maintained Schools Governance Guide says about the purpose of school visits. The same principles apply to academies, although academy governors/trustees need to check their scheme of delegation to see what issues they are responsible for monitoring.

“Occasional visits to schools enable governors to fulfil their statutory responsibility for the conduct of the school, see whether the school is implementing their policies and improvement plans [and] see how their policies and improvement plans are working in practice.

“Focused governor monitoring visits should be in line with SIP priorities, for an identified purpose, linked to the governing body’s responsibilities, such as safeguarding [and] pre-arranged with the headteacher or executive headteacher.

“It is not the governing body’s role to assess teaching and learning or to interfere in the day-to-day running of the school.”

Maintained Schools Governance Guide

In practice, governors visiting school should:

• focus on the key priorities of the board
• check that action points from the school improvement plan (SIP) or school development plan (SDP) are being tackled
• check that statutory duties are being fulfilled, for example that safeguarding records are kept and concerns acted on promptly
• investigate how policies are being implemented – for example, whether a new behaviour policy has been put into practice and what impact it has had
• see how money has been spent and whether resources are being used effectively
• talk to staff and pupils to get feedback and build relationships.

Visits will usually focus on the volunteer’s link governor role and/or the school improvement plan (SIP) (also known as the school development plan). This plan describes the current weaknesses of the school and the actions that employees and governors will take to address them.

For example, the link governor for maths might speak to the maths subject leader about their action plan to improve maths results and ask questions on the impact of that strategy.

Or the link governor for SEND could speak to the special needs co-ordinator and ask how they are addressing the SIP key priority of improving results for SEND children. They could ask for evidence that progress is being made towards that goal and investigate what barriers might make things difficult.

What do visits never cover?

Governors do not judge the quality of lessons or conduct lesson observations.

Governors can sometimes go into classrooms but they are not OFSTED inspectors. Even when governors happen to be teachers by profession their governor role does not involve judging the quality of teaching.

Governors should not try to decide whether individual children are making progress. The board needs to focus on groups of children and the bigger picture.

They should also avoid getting involved in operational matters, for example questioning why one child has been given a particular reading book or whether a lesson plan is suitable for that class.

The headteacher is the education expert. Governors hold the head to account but they cannot overrule the head on the day-to-day management of the school.

Do we need a governor visits policy?

It is not a statutory requirement to have a governor visits policy in either maintained schools or academies, because a visits policy is not listed in the DfE Governance Guides.

However, it is a good idea to at least agree some ground rules so that both staff and governors understand the purpose of visits.

Some schools call this a visits “protocol” rather than visits policy, while other schools might cover visits under their code of conduct. (The free NGA code of conduct briefly covers school visits.)

I’ve provided an example governor visits protocol on my templates and letters page. It covers issues such as how to arrange the visit beforehand, what to do if a teacher says it is not a convenient time and how often governors are expected to visit.

Can governors visit school whenever they wish?

No. Visits should be pre-arranged with the headteacher or the staff members the governor needs to speak to.

Governors should not just turn up with no notice. Staff have other commitments and pupils’ work may be disrupted. It is rather rude to pop into school unexpectedly and expect staff to drop whatever they are doing to accommodate you!

“Individual governors do not have an automatic right to enter the school whenever they wish.”

Maintained Schools Governance Guide

Should questions be sent in advance?

They can be, although I think most governors ask questions on the day. You could send some questions in advance if the employee prefers that, but try not to create unnecessary work for staff.

If you send in 20 questions or ask for very detailed answers the staff member may spend hours providing a written reply, which could be time better spent elsewhere.

How often should governors visit school?

This will vary according to factors such as the size of your governing body. In general it might be reasonable for governors to visit school perhaps once or twice per term.

Just for completeness I’ll mention that the clerk does not attend any governor visits or carry out visits themselves.

Can all governors visit on the same day?

They can if it’s agreed with relevant staff. Some schools hold a “governors’ day in school” (or a governors’ morning/afternoon) where all governors are invited to attend at once.

The advantage of a governors’ day is that people can discuss issues and swap ideas, so it can be particularly helpful for new governors. It can also allow governors to see several different aspects of school on the same day and gain a more rounded view of school life.

The disadvantage is it can take up a lot of staff time and be tricky for the headteacher to arrange. A governors’ day cannot replace all individual governor visits because you cannot cover all possible areas on just one day.

Can staff governors conduct monitoring visits?

They can, but should not be assigned visits that overlap with their job. This is often explained as governors not being allowed to “mark their own homework”.

For example, a staff governor who is in charge of maths must not conduct visits focused on maths, because they will be monitoring work that they have done in the first place!

However, if for example the staff governor is your IT Technician they should be able to conduct monitoring visits on maths with no problems. In a similar vein a staff governor who is a geography teacher could conduct health and safety visits.

Common Pitfalls of School Visits

It can be tricky to get governor visits right. Here are some common mistakes that governors make during school visits.

• Getting involved in operational, day-to-day matters, such as parking problems or the state of carpets in a classroom. I remember one governor visit where the main topic of discussion was a cupboard shelf!
• Trying to judge how good lessons are or decide how much progress children have made in their work books. Even if governors are trained educators they should not be making these judgements.
• Listening to all complaints staff may have, even if they are not matters for governors. Some feedback from staff needs to be gently redirected to their line manager.
• Making promises on behalf of the governing body such as “I will fix that for you”. Governor decisions are made by majority vote and other governors may not agree with you – or the governing body may have no power to make the desired change at all.
• Forgetting how scary a governor visit can be for staff! This is especially true for inexperienced staff who may see governors as all-powerful or as inspectors. Visits should offer challenge to staff if necessary, but they should not intimidate employees.
• Being too eager to challenge and forgetting that governors are also there to offer support. Supportive questions can be as valuable as challenging ones. What could you do differently if you had more funding? What do you feel is holding the team back from improving further and how can we help? Is there any training we could provide for you?
• Not following up actions or areas of concern from previous visits. It can be useful to add actions to the action list in your minutes so they are not forgotten.

Governor Visit Form

On my templates and letters page you can download a governor visit proforma so that governors can write a report of their visits. The report needs to include:

• name of the governor
• date of visit
• the focus of the visit, eg: “To discuss safeguarding procedures with the designated safeguarding lead”
• a summary of the discussions or activities that took place
• any questions or observations that need to be discussed at a governors’ meeting
• next steps or actions points, eg: “Safeguarding link governor to check the training log again in three months.”

Remember that all governor minutes and papers are public unless the board marks them as confidential and even confidential papers can be requested under subject access or freedom of information requests.

Therefore you should not include names of any children in your visit reports. Staff can be named but keep reports professional and be sensitive if you are criticising staff in any way.

Reporting Visits Back to the Board

Each visit should be reported back to the governing body or the relevant committee. The clerk can distribute written visit reports with the meeting papers and the governor can summarise their findings at the meeting and ask for questions. Follow-up actions should be recorded in the minutes.

Yes. The Schools Financial Value Standard (SFVS) must be completed each year by maintained school governing bodies. (Academies do not have to complete it.)

The SFVS is a checklist that helps boards check they are following good financial practices and managing resources effectively.

It must be approved by the full governing body.

Doesn’t the SFVS document say it can be approved by a committee?

No, not in the sense of a normal governor committee with delegated power.

The first page of the SFVS document asks schools to record the date it was approved by either the full governing body or the “management committee”.

“Date SFVS agreed by full governing body/management committee.”

Schools Financial Value Standard

A “management committee” is not a standard governor committee with delegated power, for example a finance committee or an educational standards committee.

A management committee is the equivalent of the full governing body in a pupil referral unit (PRU). If you look at documents like Keeping Children Safe in Education they refer to governing bodies and “management committees” when they talk about the full board of maintained schools.

Therefore, in all maintained schools the SFVS needs approving by the full board. It cannot be delegated.

Who should complete the SFVS?

It is up to each board to decide who actually fills out the SFVS form before the full board approve it.

In the schools I have worked for either the chair or finance link governor might come into school to complete the form with the help of the school business manager.

Alternatively, governors who sit on the finance or resources committee have completed the form together before scrutinising it carefully at their committee meeting and recommending approval to the full board.

Questions on the SFVS remain similar from year to year so it’s helpful to check the answers to last year’s SFVS before completing the new one.

What is the deadline for submitting the SFVS?

It is usually 31 March each year, but check the DfE website to be sure. Your LA may set a slightly earlier deadline which your school business manager (or equivalent finance officer) should know.

Does the SFVS need to be signed?

Yes. The first page of the SFVS asks for a signature from the chair of the governing body (or the chair of the management committee in a PRU) to confirm the full board have approved the document.