All school governors and academy trustees must have safeguarding and child protection training, including online safety training.
The DfE Governance Guides also recommend that induction training is provided and at least one governor/trustee should complete cyber security training.
Safeguarding Training
The requirement to have safeguarding training comes from the statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE).
KCSIE says that the training should be “regularly updated”, which I imagine most schools will interpret as updated annually.
“Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that all governors and trustees receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection (including online) training at induction.
“This training should equip them with the knowledge to provide strategic challenge to test and assure themselves that the safeguarding policies and procedures in place in schools and colleges are effective and support the delivery of a robust whole school approach to safeguarding.
Your school may invite governors to attend the safeguarding training they give to staff members, although be aware that the governor role is different to staff roles so the training may not cover everything governors need to know.
The DfE recommend in their Governance Guides that “at least one” governor or trustee should take cyber security training.
“Governing bodies need to understand the considerable damage cyber security attacks can cause to their schools. At least one governor should complete cyber security training.”
“The board needs to understand the considerable damage cyber security attacks can cause to their trust. At least one trustee should complete the cyber security training.”
The DfE says that boards in both maintained schools and academies are responsible for providing induction training.
The quote below is from the Maintained Schools Governance Guide but the wording is very similar in the academy trust version.
“A governing body is responsible for…providing an induction for new governors, associate members and the governance professional and identifying specific training such as safeguarding, Prevent and how to keep pupils safe online.”
I would not want to serve as a governor without induction training that explains the powers of governors and how they should be used. Governors have a wide range of responsibilities and poor governance can have a serious impact on the school.
Meetings can be difficult to understand at first, with lots of acronyms, jargon, policies and documents. Data sheets and budgets can be very difficult to understand when seen for the first time.
Induction training should cover:
the statutory responsibilities of governors
the difference between being “strategic” (the role of governors) and being “operational” (the role of the headteacher and staff)
introduction to budgets
how to use and interpret school performance data
staffing issues
safeguarding children (if not covered in a separate course)
how to ask challenging questions and when to offer support
how to conduct school visits and get to know your individual school
how to make an impact as a governor.
Do governors need Prevent duty training?
A separate article looks at Prevent duty training for governors. My interpretation of Keeping Children Safe in Education is that all governors need Prevent training.
Does the clerk need safeguarding or Prevent training?
Keeping Children Safe In Education states that all staff should receive safeguarding training, so if the clerk is a member of staff they should receive at least basic training in this area.
“All staff should receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection training which is regularly updated.
“In addition, all staff should receive safeguarding and child protection updates (for example, via email, e-bulletins and staff meetings), as required, and at least annually, to provide them with relevant skills and knowledge to safeguard children effectively.”
There’s no legal requirement to keep a training record but it is recommended. The record lets you ensure new governors receive appropriate training and keep track of any gaps in the board’s expertise.
OFSTED may ask to see this record and it’s also useful if you are evaluating the effectiveness of the board.
Governor Training Record Template
A downloadable, editable Word form to keep a record of governor training is available on my templates and letters page.
Both maintained schools and academies must publish basic information about their governors on the school website, including names, terms of office and business interests. The full list of information related to governance that you must publish is below.
Both sets of guidance state that the information should be in a “readily accessible” form, which the DfE define as being on a web page without needing to download or open a separate document. As modern browsers can open pdf files within the browser I’m not sure you need to worry about this guideline.
What diversity information should be published online?
I’ve written a separate post on the DfE recommendation that governor diversity data is published online.
Must we publish contact details for the chair of governors?
There is no duty to publish contact details for the chair on your website, but their full name must be online. If you choose not to list an email address or phone number for the chair it should be clear they can be contacted via the school’s office or the clerk to governors.
What Maintained Schools Must Publish Online
All items in the list below must be published on the website of a maintained school. The quotes are from the statutory guidance to the 2012 constitution regulations.
“The structure and remit of the governing body and any committees, and the full names of the chair of each.”
The “structure” refers to how your governing body is organised and what powers have been delegated. For example, you might have one finance committee and one standards committee. Say which governors are members of which committees and publish any terms of reference for your committees.
(Note that the DfE guide to What Maintained Schools Must Publish Online refers to the “structure and responsibilities” of the board rather than the structure and remit, but the meaning is the same.)
Here is an example of a short statement you could use on the responsibilities of the governing body:
“The governing body of [school] is responsible for setting the ethos and vision of the school, identifying areas where the school needs to improve and planning how to make those improvements. It makes sure that the educational performance of pupils is strong and that the budget is used properly and effectively.”
“For each governor who has served at any point over the past 12 months: their full names, date of appointment, term of office, date they stepped down (where applicable), who appointed them (in accordance with the governing body’s instrument of government).”
The date of appointment is the day they were voted onto the board or the final day that votes could be cast in a staff or parent governor election.
The answer to who appointed them is usually the board itself or fellow parents/staff in elections for parent or staff governors, but some schools such as foundation schools will have other appointing bodies listed in their instrument of government.
“For each governor who has served at any point over the past 12 months: relevant business and pecuniary interests (as recorded in the register of interests) including governance roles in other educational institutions [and] any material interests arising from relationships between governors or relationships between governors and school staff (including spouses, partners and close relatives).”
This register should include any instances where someone could benefit from their role, eg: owning a playground equipment company that might sell to the school or working for a teaching agency. A separate article covers business interests in more detail.
It is quite common for governors to have relatives who work for the school. Parent governors in particular may have partners or family members who work part-time hours. All personal links must be declared to avoid any conflicts of interest.
Note that you must also disclose if you are a governor at another school or college.
“For each governor who has served at any point over the past 12 months: their attendance record at governing body and committee meetings over the last academic year.” These records may be embarrassing for some governors as they show clearly who has been turning up and who has not!
“Governing bodies should also publish this information for associate members, making clear whether they have voting rights on any of the committees to which they have been appointed.“ Associate members in maintained schools cannot vote at full governing body meetings but can be given voting rights on committees. For associate members schools must publish all of the items listed in the bullet points above, plus details of their voting rights.
Note that the DfE guide to What Maintained Schools Must Publish Online confusingly omits the rule that details must be published for all governors and associate members who have served at any point in the last 12 months. However, maintained schools must still publish this information because it is required by statutory guidance.
What Academies Must Publish Online
Rules for academies are very similar but come from the Academy Trust Handbook, quoted below.
“The trust must provide details of its governance arrangements in the governance statement published with its annual accounts, including what the board has delegated to committees and, in trusts with multiple academies, to local governing bodies.
“The trust must also publish on its website up-to-date details of its governance arrangements in a readily accessible format, including:
– the structure and remit of the trust’s members, board of trustees, committees and local governing bodies (the trust’s scheme of delegation for governance functions), and the full names of the chair of each
– for each of the trust’s members serving at any point over the past 12 months, their full names, date of appointment, date they stepped down (where applicable), and relevant business and pecuniary interests including governance roles in other educational institutions
– for each trustee and local governor serving at any point over the past 12 months, their full names, date of appointment, term of office, date they stepped down (where applicable), who appointed them, and relevant business and pecuniary interests including governance roles in other educational institutions. If the accounting officer is not a trustee their business and pecuniary interests must still be published
– for each trustee, their attendance records at board and committee meetings over the last academic year
– for each local governor, their attendance records at local governing body meetings over the last academic year.”
In academies there is a minor difference between what must be shown online and what must be included in your register of interests. The Academy Trust Handbook states that the register must include the interests of “members, trustees, local governors and senior employees“. However, the accounting officer is the only employee who must have their interests published online.
“Trusts must publish on their websites relevant business and pecuniary interests of members, trustees, local governors and accounting officers. Trusts have discretion over the publication of interests of other individuals named on the register.”
Yes, the governing body of any school or academy has the power to sack the headteacher.
For maintained schools the legal right to fire the headteacher comes from the School Staffing Regulations 2009.
“The governing body or the headteacher may suspend any person employed or engaged otherwise than under a contract of employment to work at the school where, in the opinion of the governing body or (as the case may be) the headteacher, such suspension is required.
“Where the governing body determines that any person employed or engaged by the authority to work at the school should cease to work there, it must notify the authority in writing of its determination and the reasons for it.”
Regulations say that the governing body can delegate the power to sack the headteacher to a panel of one or more governors (although not including, of course, the headteacher themselves).
“Any delegation of—
(a) the determination that the headteacher should cease to work at the school; or
(b) the power to appoint or dismiss the headteacher
may be to one or more governors, other than a governor who is the headteacher.”
The DfE provides a model teacher appraisal and capability policy which covers all teachers, including the headteacher, setting out the steps which could lead to a headteacher being fired.
“If a teacher demonstrates serious underperformance, and has not responded to support provided within the appraisal process, the teacher will be notified in writing that the appraisal system will no longer apply and that their performance will be managed under the capability procedure, and will be invited to a formal capability meeting. “
The model policy states that the formal capability meeting is conducted by the chair of governors and allows the headteacher to respond to the concerns raised. It may be the end of the process if concerns are adequately addressed but if not a timetable can be set for improvement or a formal warning issued.
The next step is a formal review meeting which could lead to a final written warning. The final step is a decision meeting where the headteacher can be dismissed or a recommendation given to the governing body that s(he) is dismissed. Employees have the right to appeal this decision and the appeal should be heard by governors who have not been previously involved in the process.
The government explain the legal reasons why employees can be dismissed in their guide to your rights in dismissals. Reasons governors could cite are listed below.
Misconduct – not carrying out the job properly, for example failing to develop good working relationships with staff and governors or issues such as poor timekeeping.
Gross misconduct would be serious issues such as stealing from the school, violence or discriminating against a certain group of people. In cases of misconduct you must be given a warning and a chance to improve. In cases of gross misconduct you could be summarily dismissed without warning.
Illness – in cases of long-term or recurring illness you must be offered support and given a reasonable period of time in which to recover before any action is taken against you.
Redundancy – this would not apply to headteachers.
Breaking a statutory restriction – this is only used when to continue to employ someone would cause a breach of the law. For example, if your right to work in the UK is expiring.
It is impossible to continue your employment – for example, the school is closing down and all staff are being let go.
Some other substantial reason – this is an umbrella category for issues such as refusing to accept a reasonable change to your terms and conditions, a major conflict of interest or a personality clash that is causing serious harm to the school.
Can a headteacher sack the chair of governors?
No. Neither the headteacher nor any other individual governor has the power to remove the chair of governors. However, the governing body as a whole can vote to remove their chair if they wish.
Can OFSTED sack the headteacher?
No. OFSTED has no power to fire a headteacher and they do not instruct governing bodies to do so either. However, a very poor OFSTED report may make a head feel they have no option but to resign. It can also mean that governors lose confidence in the headteacher and decide to take action.
If you are applying to be a parent governor or trustee you will be asked to write a short statement saying why you are interested in volunteering and what skills you would bring to the role. If an election is needed this statement will help other parents choose between the candidates.
In many schools volunteers are thin on the ground so the statement may not be vital, as you will be elected unopposed if you are the only volunteer. However, it is still a good idea to show you understand the role of governor/trustee in your statement.
This page provides guidance on what to include in your statement and some parent governor statement examples of 50, 100 and 250 words you can adapt for your circumstances.
Your Connection To the School
Say how old your children are and their current year. If your children have just joined the school you have a reason to want it to succeed for years to come and the same applies if you have more than one child attending.
Mention any other ties you have to the school such as previous volunteer work, helping out in classrooms or on trips, or supporting the PTA; anything that shows your commitment to the school and your reliability as a volunteer.
You could mention how long you have lived in the area and what the school means to you. If it is a church school talk a little about your faith and show you understand the aims of the school in this respect.
Your Understanding of School Governance
All school governors have three main roles.
To ensure the school has a clear vision, ethos and strategic direction.
To hold the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school.
To oversee the budget and finances and make sure money is well spent.
Write about any aspects of governance you could contribute to. Governor responsibilities are wide but include scrutinising budgets, approving policies on all aspects of school life, planning how the school will improve, discussing why some groups of children are not achieving as well as others, making sure children are safe and dealing with staffing issues.
Governors are often described as being a “critical friend” to the school. They are there to support the school and help it improve, but they must also be willing to challenge the headteacher and senior leaders when necessary, ask why the school is struggling in a particular area and what can be done to improve it.
Search for the school’s latest OFSTED report and look for any remarks about governance. Are there any weaknesses of governance you could help to improve? Do you understand the challenges a school might face in terms of catchment area, budget restrictions or high levels of children with special needs?
If you are volunteering at an academy within a multi-academy trust show that you understand whether you will be governing as a trustee on the main governing board or a local governor on a local governing body.
What skills can you bring to the role?
Any of the following skills will be useful on the governing body:
accounting, budgets and finance experience
management of buildings
health and safety
data analysis
human resources experience
interpersonal skills, working in a team
knowledge of education, the curriculum, special educational needs and safeguarding or child protection
managing staff and hiring employees
work where you had to keep things confidential.
You could also write about your commitment to undertake training and show that you understand governors need to attend regular meetings and visit the school.
What Not To Include!
If you mention any of the following items you will show that you do not understand the role of the governing body. Parent governors do not:
fundraise – this is usually done by a parent teacher association (PTA)
represent parents – this is a common misunderstanding but parent governors are not the voice of the parents. They have the same role as any other governor on the board
vote in favour of whatever the majority of parents want – if there is a controversial issue that parents are angry about it is any governor’s job to vote for whatever they believe is best for the school as a whole
discuss individual children (in most cases) – governors take an overview of the school and make strategic decisions about budgets, policies and development plans (although one exception would be if a child is at risk of exclusion)
interfere with the day-to-day running of the school – the headteacher runs the school, governors hold the headteacher to account
rubber-stamp everything that comes their way – you will need to be confident enough to ask some difficult questions if results are disappointing or mistakes are made
get paid!
Parent Governor Statement Examples
Here are some example statements you can use as a starting point. I have written these with the assumption that you are a new parent governor, but if you are already on the board you should also include details of your governance work, eg: feedback from OFSTED or external advisers about how the board is run or what contributions you have made in a link role.
Don’t worry if you don’t have a job that particularly fits in with governance (or you’re not working at all) as people from all walks of life can do the role – just show your enthusiasm and demonstrate your understanding of school governance.
Parent Governor Statement – 50 words
My son Tim has just joined the school in Y1. I work as an accountant and would like to use my financial skills and experience analysing budgets to give back in a volunteer role. I am keen to attend training and get to know the school.
Parent Governor Statement – 100 words
I am keen to
join the governing body as many of my family members have attended this school.
My two older children attended and my daughter Sarah is in Y9.
I have volunteered
for many school trips and I would now like to become a governor to help steer
the school in the right direction and retain its excellent reputation for
academic success and happy, friendly children.
I have been in retail for 10 years where I have worked well with people from all backgrounds and gained knowledge of health and safety. I understand the need for governors to be demanding but fair.
Parent Governor Statement – 250 words
Malory Towers Primary is a terrific school with an outstanding OFSTED rating and I would like to help the school continue to improve and develop.
My name is James Mallow and my twins are in Y4. My day job
is in data analysis and I believe these skills will transfer well to the work
of school governance, helping the school to analyse the attainment gaps between
groups of pupils and pinpoint where the school needs to be doing more for our
children.
I am lucky enough to have the time to commit to a demanding
volunteer role as my firm provide time off for school governors. This means
that I am able to attend meetings, governor training and visit the school
during the day.
I am particularly keen to ensure that all children are
safeguarded well and can fulfil their full potential whatever their background,
special educational needs or disabilities.
I am not afraid to ask difficult questions if necessary on
behalf of all the children this school serves. I am also keen to support the
school and all of its dedicated staff who work so hard to keep this place
running smoothly.
Although I have no experience of school governance specifically
I have served on the board of a small charity which had responsibility for a
modest budget and made tough decisions about which projects to fund and how
money could be best spent.
I hope that you will consider voting for me and thank you for reading.
The Department for Education’s Guide to the Law for School Governors was replaced by the Governance Handbook, which was itself replaced by two separate Governance Guides in 2024.
There is one Governance Guide for maintained schools and one Governance Guide for academies.
The very last version of the Guide to the Law was published in May 2012 and can be read on the National Archives website.
It is worth a read as a great deal of information was cut to shorten the Governance Handbook and Governance Guides and some useful bits of guidance were removed, but bear in mind that some of the legislation has changed in the years since it was published.
School governors and trustees must hold at least three meetings of the full governing body each school year.
This is the minimum number of meetings allowed by law for maintained schools. It is also the minimum number allowed for academy trustees in the Academy Trust Handbook and the current model articles of association (June 2021).
Most governing bodies will meet more often than this, for example twice per term, as three meetings in a year will not give them enough time to carry out their statutory duties.
Other schools will have one meeting of the full governing body per term, plus a range of committee meetings which are attended by a smaller number of governors. On average a governor might be expected to attend two full governing body meetings plus two committee meetings per term.
This is what the law says for maintained schools.
“The governing body must hold at least three meetings in every school year.”
“Board meetings must take place at least three times a year, although trusts should consider meeting more frequently to discharge their responsibilities.”
There are no rules in maintained schools about how often committees should meet or how many committees governors should have. Governing bodies in maintained schools can choose not to have any committees at all if they prefer; this is known as the circle model of governance.
Academies must have an audit and risk committee (meeting at least three times per year) which must be a dedicated committee if the trust has an annual income of over £50 million. Academies should also have a finance committee according to the Academy Trust Handbook.
How long are governor meetings?
It varies, but the average full governing body meeting lasts about two hours and the average committee meeting around one hour.
I have clerked meetings that have been less than an hour long or up to three hours long, but in general most schools will hold meetings of around one to two hours.
There are a range of governor types or categories and each school has a mixture of them. The exact make-up of the governing body will depend on what type of school or academy is involved.
This page explains how school governing bodies are formed.
Constitution of Maintained School Governing Bodies
A single maintained school (in other words, a school that is not legally joined to other schools in a federation) must have a minimum of seven governors, with no maximum number. These requirements come from the Constitution (England) Regulations 2012.
A single maintained school governing body must include:
the headteacher governor (if the head chooses to be a governor)
at least two parent governors
only one staff governor
only one local authority (LA) governor
any number of co-opted governors.
Some schools also have either foundation or partnership governors, depending on the type of school – foundation governors are often found in faith schools, for example. There are some very specific rules on how many foundation and partnership governors a school can have in section 14 of the 2012 constitution regulations.
A federated maintained school must also have a minimum of seven governors and no maximum, but the types of governor on the board are slightly different.
Note that the requirement to have only two parent governors comes from the 2016 amendment, as the 2012 law said there should be one parent governor from each school in the federation.
A federated school governing body must include:
the headteacher of each school in the federation (if the heads choose to be governors)
only two parent governors
only one staff governor
only one LA governor
any number of co-opted governors (bearing in mind that some federations that include foundation and voluntary schools must have a majority of foundation governors)
foundation or partnership governors if they are a particular type of school (eg: church school).
The different types of governor are all explained below. To check what the composition of a maintained school board is you will need to see the school’s instrument of government which lists the number of governors from each category.
Constitution of Academy Governing Bodies
Current model articles of association (2021) for academies place few restrictions on the make-up of academy trust boards, but say that boards must include:
the principal (headteacher) if they choose to be a trustee and the members have decided to appoint them as one
at least two elected parent trustees (multi-academy trusts can have two elected parents on each local governing body). Parent trustees can be appointed if not enough volunteers stand for election
any number of co-opted trustees, as long as no more than one-third of the board is employed by the trust.
You will need to check the articles of association for a specific academy to see exactly how many trustees of each type are on the board. Each academy trust can choose to modify the model articles and the government have published several versions over the years.
Depending on their type, trustees can be elected (parent trustees), appointed by a foundation, sponsor or religious body (foundation or sponsor trustees) or appointed by the trustees themselves (co-opted trustees).
If a multi-academy trust has local governing bodies these local governors will either be elected by parents or staff, appointed by trustees or appointed by the local governors themselves. Check terms of reference for the specific local governing body to find the rules for each academy.
Academy members are known as the guardians of the trust and can appoint some of the trustees. They have a limited role in checking that governance is strong.
All Types of Governor Have the Same Role
It is important to remember that governors are not on the governing body to serve as a delegate for a particular group of stakeholders.
It is therefore not the job of the parent governor to argue in favour of whatever the parents want, or the staff governor to argue for whatever the staff want. These governors are not on the board to speak and vote on behalf of the parents or staff.
It is the job of every governor to argue for whatever is best for the children at the school. This is made clear in statutory guidance to the law for maintained schools.
“The governing body must operate, collectively, in the best interest of pupils, not as a collection of individuals lobbying for the interests of the constituency from which they were elected or appointed.”
It is also confirmed in the governors’ code of conduct from the National Governance Association, the national support organisation for school governors, which asks new members of any governing body to sign up to the following statement.
“We will act in the best interests of the school as a whole and not as a representative of any group, even if elected to the governing board.”
I’ve sometimes seen this “explained” to potential governors with the phrase: “Parent governors are not parents’ representatives – they are representative parents” which is as clear as mud in my opinion.
It’s supposed to convey that parents are stakeholders in the school and therefore should be part of its governing body without being the parents’ mouthpiece, but I’m sure it just causes confusion.
A better way to think about it is that the type of governor you are reflects the way you gained your place on the governing body – parent governors are (most often) elected by other parents, staff governors are elected by staff and so on.
However, once you are on the governing body your aims are the same as every other governor around the table.
The only exception to this rule is that foundation (and some partnership) governors have an additional responsibility to safeguard the particular character of a school, which is usually a religious character in a faith school, so they do have a slightly different role to other governors (although they also have all the usual responsibilities of a governor as well).
What are the voting rights of each governor?
Every governor has one vote. This applies whether they are a parent, staff governor, co-opted, headteacher or any other kind of governor and whether they are in a maintained school or academy.
It’s that simple because every governor has equal status (with limited special powers for the chair of governors in maintained schools). The only exception is that when a vote is tied the chair of the meeting has a casting vote. (Another article covers voting procedures.)
Associate members cannot vote at full governing body meetings in maintained schools, but can vote on committees if governors have given them the power to do so. The rules for voting at academy committees, including local governing bodies, are set by each academy trust.
All governors and associate members must leave the room and not vote if they have a conflict of interest which means they cannot be objective. For example, if the governor runs a building firm and the school is considering taking out a contract with that firm, the governor must withdraw from the meeting.
Types of Maintained School Governor
All of the appointed (as opposed to elected) governor types below can only be appointed if they have “the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school”.
It is a legal requirement that appointed parents, LA governors, partnership governors, foundation governors and co-opted governors are all appointed based on skills. This rule is from the Constitution 2012 Regulations (as amended in 2014).
Parent governor – anyone whose child is attending the school can stand for election as a parent governor. They are elected by other parents (or elected unopposed if there is only one volunteer). You cannot be a parent governor if you work for the school for more than 500 hours “in any 12 consecutive months” or you are an elected member of the local authority.
There must be at least two parent governors in a single maintained school but federated schools can have only two. A separate article gives more details on who is eligible to be a parent governor in terms of step-parents, grandparents and other carers.
If there are no volunteers from parents of registered pupils then parent governors can be appointed by the governing body rather than elected, because at this stage any parent of a former registered pupil or a parent of any child of compulsory school age or below becomes eligible for the role. (Community and foundation special schools must appoint parents with experience of SEN children.)
Headteacher governor – the headteacher automatically qualifies for a place on the governing body. Because their role comes with the job they are known as “ex officio” governors, which means someone who is on the board “by virtue of their office”. They can choose not to be a governor if they wish and lose their governor role when they leave their job.
Staff governor – anyone who is employed by the school can be a staff governor. They do not have to be a teacher (but often are) and are elected by other members of staff. A separate article gives more details on who is eligible to be the staff governor.
There is only ever one staff governor in a maintained school, although school employees can also serve as co-opted, parent and foundation governors, with some restrictions.
If a co-opted governor is a school employee, when counted with the headteacher and staff governor the total number of school employees on the board must not equal more than a third of the governors in post. Parent governors cannot work for the school for more than 500 hours per year.
Local authority governor – a person who is nominated by the local authority (LA) but appointed by the governing body in a vote.
The governing body has a right to set additional eligibility criteria for this role if they wish, with the only restriction in law being that the LA governor cannot be a school employee. They can only be removed by the local authority, not governors themselves. There is only one LA governor.
LA governors are not political appointments and are not on the board to take the side of the local authority.
Co-opted governors – this is a general category for any volunteer. They used to be called community governors, ie: anyone from the local community. They are appointed by existing governors in a vote.
A school can have an unlimited number of co-opted governors unless they are a foundation or voluntary school, when they may be required to have a majority of foundation governors on the board.
Although there is no limit on the number of co-opted governors, be aware that if a co-opted governor is employed by the school you must ensure that when counted with the headteacher and the staff governor, the total number of school employees on the board does not equal more than a third of the governors in post.
For example, if you had nine governors in total you could only appoint one co-opted governor who worked for the school, because the headteacher plus the staff governor plus one co-opted governor equals one third of the governing body (three out of nine).
Partnership governor – appointed in faith schools to ensure that the religious character of the school is preserved and developed, but can also be found in some non-religious schools.
Foundation governor – appointed by any body other than the local authority, for example the founding body of the school or a church. There are also “ex officio” foundation governors because the governor role is attached to their job (often the parish priest).
Associate members – someone who is not a governor and cannot vote at meetings of the full governing body, but can attend any meeting of the governing body and serve and vote on committees.
Associate members can be pupils in secondary schools but they can only vote if they are over 18. There is no lower age limit so technically primary school pupils could be associate members as well, but this would be impractical.
School employees are also eligible to be associate members and there is no limit to the total number of associates permitted.
Associate members can be excluded from meetings when governors are talking about a named staff member or pupil. The extent of their voting rights on any committee are decided by the governing body.
Observers – this term is not used in law but some schools use it to mean a person who has a standing invitation to attend full meetings and take part in discussions but not vote.
For example, if you do not wish the deputy headteacher to be an associate member but you do want her to attend meetings you could classify her as an observer.
It does seem to be technically possible for a governor to be the DPO, but it may not be best practice. Schools must have a DPO as they are public bodies, but they need to ensure the DPO has the appropriate expertise, can avoid conflicts of interest and can report to senior managers.
The DfE state in their Data Protection Toolkit for Schools that it might be possible to “seek volunteers from experts that may exist in the wider school community” so the job does not have to be done by an employee.
However, they go on to say that as a volunteer “their statutory responsibilities remain at the same expectation as a paid DPO. It would be a reasonably big commitment for that volunteer, and they would need to be able to clearly convey risks and views to senior managers.”
The private company GDPR in Schools has produced a guide to who can be the DPO. They advise that governors can be the DPO but only if there is no conflict of interest, they have sufficient time, they can understand the school’s use of data and have input from school staff to help them.
Expert Knowledge of Data Protection Law
It may be unreasonable to expect a volunteer governor to be an expert on the data protection law in addition to all their other duties.
“You should appoint a DPO on the basis of their professional qualities, and in particular, experience and expert knowledge of data protection law.”
“When designating a data protection officer, the controller must have regard to the professional qualities of the proposed officer, in particular the proposed officer’s expert knowledge of data protection law and practice.”
Governors are, of course, high level management themselves – who would they report to if they are not reporting to the school’s governing body?
“DPOs assist you to monitor internal compliance, inform and advise on your data protection obligations, provide advice regarding Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) and act as a contact point for data subjects and the supervisory authority.
“The DPO must be independent, an expert in data protection, adequately resourced, and report to the highest management level.
“A DPO can be an existing employee or externally appointed. You must ensure that the DPO reports to the highest relevant management level of your organisation – ie: board level.”
A governor may find it difficult to avoid conflicts of interest. For example, they may hold confidential data themselves and have access to information in minutes that others do not.
“As long as the professional duties of the employee are compatible with the duties of the DPO and do not lead to a conflict of interests, you can appoint an existing employee as your DPO, rather than you having to create a new post.”
“Think through what is best for your school. As yet, there does not appear to be a common approach, but it appears a ‘many schools to one DPO’ model is emerging as the most common, whether that is provided by the local authority, or multi-academy trust.”
In a maintained school the governing body decides how long a chair or vice-chair of governors serves as there are no restrictions in law.
The governing body must set the term of office before the election, but that term can be of any length.
“Prior to the election of the chair and vice-chair, the governing body must determine the date on which the term of office of the chair and vice-chair will end.”
The most common term of office for chairs and vice-chairs is one year. A term of office that lasts many years may be daunting to potential candidates and discourage them from volunteering. A term that is too short will not give the chair long enough to make any impact and learn their role.
Before the current Roles, Procedures and Allowances Regulations were introduced in 2013 the law said that the chair’s term of office must be between one and four years, so it would be reasonable to use four years as the absolute maximum length of time that a chair should serve before a new election is held.
In an academy the current model articles of association (June 2021) say that trustees shall elect a chair and vice-chair “each school year”, so the term of office is limited to one year.
Do check your own articles though to see what the rules are at your academy trust.
“The trustees shall each school year elect a chair and a vice-chair from among their number.”
Yes. There is no restriction on the number of times a chair can be re-elected in either maintained school law or academy model articles (June 2021), so in theory a chair of governors/trustees could be in post at the same school for decades.
However, the DfE warns against remaining in the post for too long in its advice that accompanies the law for maintained schools.
“Although the regulations do not place any restrictions on this, boards should consider carefully how many times they re-elect their chair to a new term of office.
“In some circumstances, a change of chair may be necessary for the board to remain invigorated and forward looking.”
The DfE suggest that two terms of office as a governor might be a reasonable length of time to serve as chair. Governor terms of office are usually four years so the chair would be in post for eight years in total.
“To share expertise, an experienced chair may wish to consider stepping down or moving on to another school or academy trust after a reasonable time, for example after two terms of office (eight years) as a governor.”
The NGA explain that this policy forces schools to develop new leaders, provides a “painless” way for chairs who are struggling or ineffective to stand down and leads to healthier governing bodies with a flow of new energy and new ideas.
It will be up to governors at your own school to decide whether they agree with these views.
Must we elect the chair again if their term of office as a governor expires?
Both the law for maintained schools and model articles for academies say the chair or vice-chair loses his role if he “ceases to be” a governor or trustee. This is common sense because the chair must be a member of their own board!
However, if their term of office as a governor is coming to an end and they are reappointed or re-elected as a governor there is no need to run the chair’s election again as long as you plan ahead and ensure they are reappointed/re-elected before their term of office ends.
For example, if the chair is a co-opted governor whose term as a governor expires in June, the vote to reappoint them can be held in May and their term of office will be continuous. If they are an elected governor you will need to ensure the election can be held before their term expires.
How long is a committee chair term of office?
In maintained schools the law limits the term of office for committee chairs to one year only. Committee chairs in maintained schools must be appointed “annually” by either the full governing body or by that committee.
“A chair must be appointed annually to each committee by the governing body or elected by the committee, as determined by the governing body.”
In academies the rules for committees (including local governing bodies) are set by each academy trust, so you would need to check your committee terms of reference.
Yes, if you are a governor in a maintained school.
Maintained school governors are legally entitled to time off work unless their job is on a short list of excluded professions. There is no legal requirement to pay you while you are absent.
Academy trustees do not have an equivalent legal right to time off.
Under the Employment Rights Act 1996 you have the right to time off work under section 50, Right to Time Off for Public Duties.
This includes serving as a member of a “relevant education body” and this is defined as “a managing or governing body of an educational establishment maintained by a local authority”.
This definition covers a maintained school but not an academy, because academies are independent from the local authority.
It explains that you can’t ask for time off work to be a governor (or to carry out any other public duty except jury service) if you work:
for an agency
in the police or armed forces
on a fishing boat, or a gas or oil rig at sea
as a merchant seamen
as a civil servant if the public duty you wish to undertake is connected to political activities restricted under the terms of your employment (being a school governor would not apply in this instance).
How much time off can I take?
The law refers to “an amount of time” that is “reasonable in all the circumstances” which is rather vague. It does say that you should consider:
how much time off is required for the public duty involved, and how much time off is required for the performance of that particular duty
how much time off the employee has been granted so far
the circumstances of the employer’s business and how the business will be affected by the missing staff member.
Many schools hold their governor meetings either in the late afternoon or evening so you may be able to arrive straight after work or only miss one or two hours at the end of the working day.
Bear in mind that governors will also be asked to visit their school during the day and may also need to attend training sessions and other responsibilities (such as meeting OFSTED inspectors) during the school day.
What if my employer refuses to give me time off?
You could try persuading your employer by listing the skills that governors must develop which you can use in your job: analysing data, taking responsibility for high-level planning and results, strategic thinking, interpersonal skills, respecting confidentiality and holding leaders to account.
If your boss still refuses you could raise a grievance at work by following your employer’s written grievance procedure.
If they still disagree you can contact the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) which will work with both sides to try to find a solution. Ultimately you could take your complaint to an employment tribunal.
