Anyone who is invited by the governing body can attend school governors’ meetings. Unless you are a member of the governing body you must ask if you can attend, because meetings are not open to the public by default.
Attending In Maintained Schools
For maintained schools the law says that only the following people have the right to attend meetings of the full governing body:
governors
the headteacher
the clerk
associate members
any other person who is invited by the governors.
“The following persons are entitled to attend any meeting of the governing body—
(a) a governor
(b) the headteacher of the school, whether or not that person is a governor
(c) the clerk to the governing body
(d) an associate member; and
(e) such other persons as the governing body may determine.”
If it is a committee meeting then the same attendance rules apply, except that not all governors and associate members have a legal right to attend, only the ones who are members of that particular committee.
Either the committee or the governing body as a whole can invite anyone else they wish to, however, including governors who are not committee members.
The clerk also has the right to attend committee meetings and the headteacher can attend whether or not they are a member of that committee.
Although maintained school governors have the right to exclude people from their meetings the law also requires them to be as transparent as possible.
Regulations from 2013 state that governors should “be open about the decisions they make and the actions they take and in particular shall be prepared to explain their decisions and actions to interested parties”.
Any governor or associate member who has a conflict of interest will have to leave the room during any discussion relating to that interest. Associate members do not have as many right as governors and can be asked to leave any meeting if the discussion is about a specific school employee or pupil.
“The governing body may exclude an associate member from any part of its meeting which the associate member is otherwise entitled to attend when the business under consideration concerns an individual member of staff or pupil.”
Just as in maintained schools, governance meetings in academies are not automatically open to the public.
For trustee meetings the model articles of association (June 2021) do not state who has the right to attend. The board of trustees is the board that is equivalent to the board of governors in maintained schools.
The articles do say that “Subject to these articles, the trustees may regulate their proceedings as they think fit”, so it is reasonable to assume that attendance is by invitation only unless you are a trustee. Academy members may occasionally attend meetings of trustees.
For meetings of local governors in a multi-academy trust the local governors themselves or any person appointed to the local governing body can attend. Trustees may sometimes attend. Others attend by invitation.
For meetings of academy members, called general meetings or annual general meetings (AGMs), all members can attend of course and the model articles also specify that all trustees are allowed to attend and speak. Local governors may be invited and if they wish the academy trust could invite parents or local residents.
“A trustee shall, notwithstanding that they are not a member, be entitled to attend and speak at any general meeting or annual general meeting.”
Yes, possible volunteers can be invited to attend a meeting to observe and see what the role entails.
Statutory guidance for maintained schools recommends that boards make “every effort” to help candidates understand the role, including inviting them to attend a meeting before they have been elected or appointed.
“Governing bodies should make every effort to help all prospective governors understand clearly the role of a governor.
“For example, before they are nominated for appointment or election prospective governors may be invited to observe a governing body meeting and to meet the chair and other governors and the headteacher.”
If you do invite someone who is not on the board to attend you will need to consider beforehand whether any items will be confidential; these can be left to the end of the meeting, when the guest will be (politely!) asked to leave. The board can also use this time to vote on the appointment.
Can parents attend governor meetings?
Parents can attend if they are invited, but it is wise to read through the minutes of previous meetings first – all schools and academies must make minutes available – to get a feel for the subjects discussed.
You may be surprised to discover how rarely governors talk about individual children and how much of the meeting is about budgets, policies, facts and figures. If you are a parent concerned about your child’s progress, coming to a governors’ meeting is unlikely to help you.
You should also bear in mind that if you have a complaint about the school you must go through the complaints policy first. Many complaints will not be in the governors’ remit and will be dealt with by school staff.
Yes. More than one governor or trustee can share the role and act as joint chairs or joint vice-chairs, although academies will need to check whether this is permitted by their articles of association.
The DfE advise that schools and academies can have either a joint chair of governors/trustees or a joint vice-chair if this is in the best interests of the school.
“The governing body must have a chair or co-chairs, supported by one or more vice-chairs, to lead and set the culture of the governing body.”
The National Governance Association (NGA) recommends in its advice on co-chairing (viewable by NGA members only) that no more than two governors share the role.
No. Any school employee is banned from being chair or vice-chair of governors, so no-one who is employed as a teacher, headteacher or any other role in the school can be the chair or vice-chair.
This ban is explained in the law for maintained schools and model articles of association for academies.
“A governor who is employed at the school as a teacher or as any other member of the school’s staff is not eligible to be chair or vice-chair of the governing body of that school. “
Yes. Neither the law nor model articles specifically ban teachers or any other school employee from chairing committees, including local governing bodies in academies. Academies should check their terms of reference, however, as it may be forbidden by your particular trust.
Bear in mind that it may not be best practice as staff members may feel unable to ask challenging questions and hold senior leaders to account as rigorously as they may need to.
It could also be difficult if financial issues were being discussed as staff governors may have a conflict of interest because they could benefit financially from decisions the committee might make.
The board must also avoid situations where a teacher might be “marking their own homework”. For example, a teacher chairing a curriculum committee might sound like a good idea, but it can result in a situation where someone is both delivering the curriculum as a teacher and then being asked to evaluate its impact and implementation as a governor.
Yes. Parents are eligible to be the chair or vice-chair of governors at both maintained schools and academies. The only exception is that they cannot also work for the school or academy, because school employees are not allowed to chair governing bodies.
This is explained in the law for maintained schools. It is also in model articles of association for academies (June 2021).
“A governor who is employed at the school as a teacher or as any other member of the school’s staff is not eligible to be chair or vice-chair of the governing body of that school.”
“The trustees shall each school year elect a chair and a vice-chair from among their number. A trustee who is employed by the academy trust shall not be eligible for election as chair or vice-chair.”
In a maintained school parents can join the governing body either in the specific “parent governor” category or as a co-opted governor, local authority governor or foundation governor.
Parents can also be partnership governors in a maintained school as long as they do not currently have a child who is a registered pupil at that specific school. Separate articles provide more detail on who can be a parent governor and general governor types and eligibility.
Note that if you wish to join the board under the specific “parent governor” category there are two restrictions for maintained schools – you cannot work for the school for more than 500 hours per year and you cannot be an elected member of the local authority. If you work for the school for 500 hours or less per year you can be a parent governor but not the chair or vice-chair.
Academies have parent trustee (and sometimes parent local governor) roles. They often have co-opted roles as well which are open to any member of the public.
Yes. In almost all circumstances the chair of governors is elected by the governing body and can be removed by the governing body at any time in both maintained schools and academies. Vice-chairs can also be removed.
The only chairs that cannot be removed by their fellow governors are those appointed by the Secretary of State for Education in maintained schools.
However, this only applies to schools that are in special measures or have been judged to need “significant improvements”. Governing bodies in these circumstances are known as interim executive boards (IEBs).
Procedure For Removing the Chair of Governors (Maintained Schools)
Removing a chair of governors is a significant decision to make and boards should think very carefully before doing so as they may have to defend their decision to worried parents, OFSTED or the local authority.
Specify the proposal to remove the chair of governors as an item on the agenda for a full governing body meeting.
Make sure this agenda is sent to governors at least seven clear days before the meeting.
At the meeting, the governor who is proposing the removal of the chair must say why they think this is necessary.
The chair must be given a chance to respond and then must leave the room.
The question is decided by the remaining governors via a simple majority vote. There are no restrictions on how this vote is held but you may wish to use a ballot to ensure that governors feel able to vote freely. The clerk can count the votes and announce the result. As with all votes you must be quorate for the decision to be valid.
“The governing body may by resolution remove the chair from office, unless the chair has been nominated by the Secretary of State pursuant to section 67 of the EIA 2006.
“The governor proposing the chair or the vice-chair’s removal must at that meeting state their reasons for doing so and the chair or vice-chair, as the case may be, must be given an opportunity to make a statement in response, before withdrawing from the meeting.”
Procedure For Removing the Chair of Governors (Academies)
The procedure outlined in model articles of association (June 2021) is very similar to the one described above, but note that academy trustees must vote twice to remove their chair or vice-chair at two meetings held not less than 14 days apart.
“The trustees may remove the chair or vice-chair from office. A resolution to remove the chair or vice-chair from office which is passed at a meeting of the trustees shall not have effect unless:
a. it is confirmed by a resolution passed at a second meeting of the trustees held not less than fourteen days after the first meeting; and
b. the matter of the chair’s or vice-chair’s removal from office is specified as an item of business on the agenda for each of those meetings.
“Before the trustees resolve at the relevant meeting on whether to confirm the resolution to remove the chair or vice-chair from office, the trustee or trustees proposing their removal shall at that meeting state their reasons for doing so and the chair or vice-chair shall be given an opportunity to make a statement in response.”
There is no such thing as an “associate governor” in an English maintained school.
Associate members cannot vote at meetings of the full governing body in a maintained school but they can vote on committees if they have been given the power to do so by the governing body.
Academies have the freedom to call members of their committees anything they wish, so they may have associate members or associate governors.
Associate Members in Maintained Schools
The definition of associate member is given in regulations from 2012.
“‘Associate member’ means a person who is appointed by the governing body as a member of any committee established by them but who is not a governor.”
The voting rights of associate members are explained in regulations from 2013 which say that the governing body decides whether they can vote on committees or not.
“An associate member has such voting rights in a committee to which that person is appointed as are determined by the governing body.”
Written guidance from the DfE on the Roles, Procedures and Allowances regulations confirms that associate members can only vote on committees and only then with the permission of the board.
“Associate members cannot vote on board decisions, but may be permitted by the board to vote in decisions of any committees to which they are appointed.”
In practice associate members are often given full voting rights on committees, but the board could decide that an associate member can vote on every issue except, for example, budget and finances. The board could also decide that associate members cannot vote on any subject at all, even on committees.
If there is a belief in your school that associate members are automatically banned from voting on some issues it probably stems from the 2003 procedures regulations which no longer apply.
“An associate member may not vote on any resolution concerning:
(a) admissions
(b) pupil discipline
(c) election or appointment of governors
(d) the budget and financial commitments of the governing body.”
Although these voting restrictions no longer apply, associate members can be asked to leave a meeting during discussions around a specific school employee or pupil. If they have been asked to leave the meeting they cannot, of course, cast a vote if one is called.
“The governing body may exclude an associate member from any part of its meeting which the associate member is otherwise entitled to attend when the business under consideration concerns an individual member of staff or pupil.”
No. They cannot be the vice-chair either, because this role must be filled by a governor in a maintained school or a trustee in an academy. Associate members are not governors/trustees and are not listed in the instrument of government which sets out how many governors are in a maintained school’s governing body.
This is a good reason to avoid using the term “associate governor” in a maintained school. It may seem pedantic – I’m sure many schools do use it, I’ve heard it myself – but if there is confusion about who is actually a governor it can cause needless problems when electing a chair or checking the quorum.
Can associate members chair committees?
Yes, although there are three issues to be aware of if an associate member is the committee chair. These three issues apply to maintained schools only as academy trusts can make their own rules on how committees are run.
The first issue is that an associate member will not have a casting vote if a vote is tied, because the law for maintained schools says that the person acting as chair has a second vote provided that such person is a governor. The easy way to avoid a problem here is to always have an odd number of members on your committees so the vote can never be tied as long as all committee members attend the meeting.
Secondly, the law says that associate members only have the voting rights that have been given to them by the full board and they can be asked to leave a meeting if the discussion involves an individual staff member or pupil. If the full board has limited the rights of an associate member, as they are perfectly entitled to do, it may be difficult for them to chair a committee effectively.
Thirdly, there is also the restriction that “no vote on any matter may be taken at any meeting of a committee unless the majority of members of the committee present are governors”. In other words, it is no use forming a committee of three associate members and one governor as the committee would never be allowed to vote and could make no decisions.
Key Differences Between Governors and Associate Members
This is a summary of the main differences between governors and associate members in maintained schools.
Governors
Associate Members
Can be chair or vice-chair of full governing body
Yes (as long as not school employee)
No
Count towards the quorum
Yes
No
Can vote at full governing body
Yes
No
Can be chair or vice-chair of a committee
Yes
Yes
Can vote on committees
Yes, if they are a member of that committee
Only if: a) they are given voting rights by full governing body, and b) majority of committee members present are governors, not associate members, and c) they are aged over 18
Can use a casting vote if they are the committee chair
Yes
No
Can be excluded from a meeting by the governing body if an individual staff member or pupil is discussed
Academies can appoint “persons who are not trustees” to serve on committees according to the June 2021 model articles. They may refer to them as associate members if they wish, although this term is not used in the articles.
The articles do not explicitly say that these “persons” can vote. Articles do say that no committee votes can be held unless a majority of committee members present are trustees, which implies that non-trustees can indeed vote on committee matters. (This restriction does not apply to local governing bodies in multi-academy trusts, however, where non-trustee committee members can outnumber trustees and votes can still go ahead. )
“The membership of any committee of the trustees may include persons who are not trustees, provided that [(with the exception of the local governing bodies)] a majority of members of any such committee shall be trustees.
“[Except in the case of a local governing body,] no vote on any matter shall be taken at a meeting of a committee of the trustees unless the majority of members of the committee present are trustees.”
In maintained schools governors cannot vote by proxy. They must be present at a meeting to vote, but they can be “present” virtually via phone or video link.
In academy trusts the trustees cannot vote by proxy according to the model articles of association. Trustees must be present at a meeting to vote, although they can be present virtually or by phone.
However, academy members can vote by proxy. The rules for local governors in a multi-academy trust will be set by your own trust.
Proxy Voting Banned In Maintained Schools
The DfE has explained the ban on proxy voting for maintained schools. They say it’s important for governors to hear the debate and engage in the discussion before casting a vote.
“Members of the board and its committees must be present in a meeting to vote, but they may be present ‘virtually’, for example by telephone or video conference.
“The requirement to be present at the meeting means that proxy voting or voting in advance of a meeting is not permitted. It is important that governors are present to hear and engage in the debate before casting their vote.”
In academies the model articles of association (June 2021) refer to trustees who are “present and voting on the question”. This means they must participate in the meeting in real time to vote.
If a trustee cannot attend in person they can be “present” and vote via a phone or video link, but they cannot vote by proxy.
“Every question to be decided at a meeting of the trustees shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the trustees present and voting on the question.
“Any trustee shall be able to participate in meetings of the trustees by telephone or by any suitable electronic means agreed by the trustees.”
Yes. Schools do have a right to keep some items confidential, but even confidential minutes can be requested under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. Some FOI requests may be denied if minutes contain personal information.
The law for maintained schools states that governor minutes must be given to any “interested person”. As state schools are publicly-funded this will apply to any member of the public, not just parents.
“The governing body must, as soon as reasonably practicable, make available for inspection by any interested person, a copy of—
(a) the agenda for every meeting;
(b) the signed minutes of every such meeting; and
(c) any report or other paper considered at any such meeting.”
Model articles (June 2021) for academies simply say that minutes shall be given to “persons wishing to inspect them”.
“The trustees shall ensure that a copy of:
a. the agenda for every meeting of the trustees;
b. the draft minutes of every such meeting, if they have been approved by the person acting as chair of that meeting;
c. the signed minutes of every such meeting; and
d. any report, document or other paper considered at any such meeting, are, as soon as is reasonably practicable, made available at [every]/[the] academy to persons wishing to inspect them.”
Yes, although the board has the right to keep some reports and other supporting papers confidential. As with the minutes though any confidential papers may be requested under freedom of information.
The fact that papers are public documents is shown in the quotes above. Law for maintained schools says that “any report or other paper” considered at the meeting must be made available to the public.
Model articles for academies say that “any report, document or other paper” considered at a meeting must be made available.
Are committee minutes public?
Yes, although the right to make some items confidential still applies.
The law for maintained schools quoted below shows that committee agendas, minutes and papers are public documents.
“The committee must, as soon as reasonably practicable, make available for inspection by any interested person a copy of—
(a) the agenda for every committee meeting;
(b) the signed minutes of every such meeting; and
(c) any report or other paper considered at any such meeting.”
In academies the committee minutes are also public documents, including minutes of local governing bodies in a multi-academy trust.
The Academy Trust Handbook makes it clear that minutes from local governing bodies and committees must be provided to anyone who asks for them.
“The trust must make available for public inspection:
– the agenda for every meeting of the trustees, local governing bodies and committees – the approved minutes of each meeting – any report, document or other paper considered at each meeting.”
The Academy Trust Handbook and model articles do not refer to minutes from meetings of academy members, for example the annual general meeting (AGM), so academies are not obliged to make these minutes available.
However, an academy may be happy to supply a copy. I suspect that if member minutes were requested under freedom of information law they would have to be released (possibly with minor redactions). Information on making an FOI request is given later in this article.
Who should I request minutes from?
The clerk to governors or governance professional will have copies of all minutes and their email address may be listed on the school website in the governors’ section.
If you cannot find contact details for the clerk email the school office and ask for your message to be passed to either the clerk or the chair of governors.
Do governors have to publish minutes online?
There is no legal requirement for schools to publish governing body minutes on their website, but many do as this is the easiest way to make them available. All schools will have a file or book of minutes.
All school minutes must be given out “as soon as is reasonably practicable”. Maintained schools should supply signed copies of minutes once they have been approved by the governing body or committee, but academies can supply both signed copies approved by the governing body/committee and draft copies approved by whoever chaired the relevant meeting.
In practice this will mean minutes will become available to the public within a few weeks to a few months of the date of the meeting, depending on how often the board or committee meets.
Academy model articles from June 2021 allow academies to both approve and sign off minutes of a meeting at either the next meeting or at the same meeting, but I’d like to meet the clerk who can produce a decent set of minutes mere seconds after the meeting has ended!
All schools and academies must also supply a copy of the meeting’s agenda and a copy of any report or paper that was considered at the meeting.
What items can be confidential?
Schools and academies have a right to keep items confidential if they cover one of the following three issues:
a named staff member or pupil
a prospective staff member or pupil
any other matter that “by reason of its nature” the governing body is satisfied should remain confidential.
The last point is a very open definition that could cover any issue that governors feel should not be in the public domain.
In practice, issues that might need to be confidential could include sensitive discussions around safeguarding, discussion of staff salaries or concerns about a particular staff member, time-sensitive information which will be released to the public at a later date or information which could identify a specific pupil if you were a parent with local knowledge.
The exact wording of the law for maintained schools is shown below.
“The governing body may exclude from any item required to be made available any material relating to—
(a) a named person who works, or who it is proposed should work, at the school;
(b) a named pupil at, or candidate for admission to, the school; or
(c) any other matter that, by reason of its nature, the governing body is satisfied should remain confidential.”
This is the exact wording for academies from the June 2021 model articles.
“There may be excluded from any item required to be made available in pursuance of article 124 [the article that says minutes must be given to persons wishing to inspect them] any material relating to:
a. a named teacher or other person employed, or proposed to be employed, at [any]/[the] academy;
b. a named pupil or named student at, or candidate for admission or referral to, [any]/[the] academy; and
c. any matter which, by reason of its nature, the trustees are satisfied should remain confidential.”
Note that the governor meeting itself is not open to the public or parents. Governors can invite anyone they wish to but there is no automatic right to attend for members of the public. A separate article gives more detail on who can attend governing body meetings.
Should all governors be sent confidential minutes?
They should if they attended that section of the meeting, but there may be some circumstances where it is wise to withhold minutes from governors who had to leave the room due to a conflict of interest or did not attend the meeting at all.
For example, if the board was considering whether to hire a company run by a governor it may not be appropriate for that governor to see the minutes of that portion of the meeting.
Discussions of staff pay would also be in confidential minutes which would not usually be sent to any governors who were school employees (although salary data should still be anonymised).
Another example would be if governors were discussing a pupil who is at risk of exclusion. An exclusion panel may be needed later which will require “untainted”, impartial governors who have not been previously involved in decisions regarding this pupil and can consider the case objectively. In this case you may wish to only send confidential minutes to the governors present at the meeting.
Having said that, there is an argument to be made that all governors should receive all confidential minutes, even when they did not attend that meeting or had to withdraw due to a conflict of interest. They are all collectively responsible for the board’s decisions and the vital point is that they do not vote when they have a conflict, not that they remain ignorant of the result of that vote.
Here’s the view of Kensington and Chelsea LA on sending out confidential minutes.
“All members of the governing body have a right of access to confidential minutes, even if they are not members of the committee responsible for agreeing the confidentiality.
“Any governor who withdrew from the meeting or was not present still has the right to see the minutes of that part of the meeting.”
It is ultimately up to the board to decide who receives confidential minutes. Any disagreement about this should be resolved by the board as a whole, not by individual governors or the clerk.
Can all staff members and parents see confidential minutes?
No. If they are not a governor or trustee themselves then a school employee or parent of a registered pupil has no right to see confidential minutes. However, everyone has the right to submit a freedom of information request which may or may not be successful – see the next question for details.
Can minutes be obtained under freedom of information?
Yes. The public section of school minutes (sometimes called “part one” minutes) must be given out to anyone who asks for them, so a freedom of information request is not needed – just ask the school directly.
For minutes that the school has classified as confidential (sometimes called “part two” minutes) a request can be made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which does apply to schools because they are public bodies.
The process for making a request under the freedom of information law is explained here. Schools must respond to the request within 20 school days; this limit does not include school holidays or days when pupils are not present such as INSET days.
Can schools refuse a freedom of information request?
A freedom of information request can only be turned down if:
it would be too expensive or take up too much staff time
it is “vexatious”, ie: it is “likely to cause a disproportionate or unjustifiable level of distress, disruption or irritation”
it is a repeat request from the same person
it is covered by a specific exemption in the Act.
The first three of these bullet points will not apply to an initial request for confidential governing body minutes.
The most likely exemption that would apply to school minutes would be one relating to the release of personal data, particularly if a pupil or staff member has been named. In this case the school could refuse the request to avoid breaking the Data Protection Act 2018 or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
You can also read FOI requests and responses at What Do They Know. If you search for “school governors” a number of FOI requests can be seen for governing body minutes and papers, many of which were successful.
Can papers and reports be requested under freedom of information?
Yes, papers such as the headteacher’s report, budget report or school policies can be obtained under FOI but the same exemptions apply so the school can refuse the request in some circumstances, for example if personal data would be revealed.
Can a subject access request be used to obtain confidential minutes?
Yes, but only if the minute contains personal data or information, which means the person requesting the information must be either named or identifiable in the minutes. As with freedom of information requests there are some circumstances where the request can be denied (known as “exemptions”).
A subject access request (SAR) can be made verbally or in writing. The school must respond within one month unless the request is complex, when they must still acknowledge your request within a month but can take up to two months extra to supply the information.
Yes. The Education Act 2005, which applies to all maintained schools plus academies as well, says that the chief OFSTED inspector has the right to see and take copies of any records or documents that they consider relevant to their inspection.
“When inspecting a school under section 5 [a full inspection] or 8 [a short inspection], the Chief Inspector has at all reasonable times a right to inspect, and take copies of, any records kept by the school, and any other documents containing information relating to the school, which he considers relevant to the discharge of his functions.”
Yes, they should be. Governing bodies could decide to make budget documents confidential but they are spending public money and should be transparent about that spending. If they did label a budget as confidential it could be requested under freedom of information rules.
The only time when it might be reasonable to make budget information confidential is if governors are discussing a sensitive issue such as possible redundancies, where personal data such as salaries could be revealed if not treated as confidential.
Yes and no. School governors do not conduct formal lesson observations where teachers are given a judgement on the quality of their teaching.
However, governors should visit classrooms to increase their knowledge of the school and see whether the policies they have approved and spending decisions they have made have had an impact.
This distinction can be confusing for new governors because teachers use the phrase “lesson observation” to mean a member of the senior leadership team watching a lesson, giving it a rating and offering the teacher formal feedback on their performance. If a teacher is being observed they are being assessed.
A new governor may use the word “observe” to mean they intend to stand quietly at the back of the class and not interfere with the lesson, but to a teacher anyone who is “observing” is also assessing.
Governors do not conduct lesson observations because these observations are part of the day-to-day running of the school; they are operational, not strategic and therefore they are the headteacher’s responsibility.
Most governors are also not qualified to assess teaching and have not been trained to do so.
“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.”
That being said, governors should definitely visit classrooms. It can be helpful to use the term governor visits rather than observations so no-one misunderstands why governors are in school.
Governors should be getting to know the school and seeing how the policies they have approved are being implemented; they should not be passing judgements on the quality of teaching.
“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.”
OFSTED also remind governors in a blog post that they should not stray into operational tasks and that there is a difference between an informal classroom visit and a formal lesson observation.
“But I accept that in small schools, governors tend to be more hands-on. Inspectors will be sensitive to this when they consider the work of governors, but we wouldn’t expect governors to be going into lessons to formally observe teaching or scrutinise pupils’ books.”
This page lists all the free downloadable templates and letters for school governing bodies you can find on Ask A Clerk. Unless otherwise credited the files were created by me.
If you have any additional letters or documents you would be willing to share with governance colleagues to save them some valuable time please do let me know.
These are sample local authority agendas and letters for governor panels, also known as governor appeal panels, where an impartial group of governors decides whether an original decision was correct. The exclusion panel is often called the governor disciplinary committee (GDC).
Exclusion panel agenda and letters (Gloucestershire LA) (.doc) This file includes a sample governor exclusion panel agenda, plus letters to parents saying the exclusion has either been upheld or the pupil reinstated.
The DfE used to publish example exclusion letters to send to parents but withdrew them in 2012. Your LA or academy trust may be able to provide up-to-date letters, but if not I have provided the DfE letters below so you can see the style and format they used to recommend.
You must update these letters to take account of the current law and exclusions guidance. There are six letters to parents included in the file.
Fixed exclusion (five days or fewer).
Fixed exclusion (six to 15 days).
Fixed exclusion over 15 days.
Permanent exclusion.
Governor panel uphold a permanent exclusion.
Independent appeal panel decision (this panel is now called the independent review panel or IRP).
These documents let you track governor training and ensure new governors receive the documents and guidance they need. Also included is a welcome letter to send to governors who have been newly appointed.
This pack from Southampton LA contains a vacancy letter, nomination form, ballot paper, “thank you for applying” letter and an election results letter.
These are example letters and a ballot paper for staff governor elections, as provided by Hampshire LA. They include a letter to advertise the vacancy, a letter to thank volunteers for applying and a letter to inform staff of the result.
The first example letter from Bracknell Forest LA allows maintained school boards to both formally warn a governor of a possible disqualification for non-attendance and (if needed) inform them of the actual disqualification. (Academies should cite their articles rather than the law.)
The second example letter was kindly sent in by a clerk and cites articles of association. (Maintained school clerks should refer to the Constitution Regulations 2012 instead.)
