Category: Governor Types

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.

1. To ensure the school has a clear vision, ethos and strategic direction.
2. To hold the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school.
3. 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.

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.

The requirements for federated schools are from the Federations (England) 2012 law, as amended by the Constitution and Federations (England) 2016 law.

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.”

Constitution of Governing Bodies of Maintained Schools: Statutory Guidance

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.”

National Governance Association Code of Conduct

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.

Yes. There is no reason why you cannot volunteer for both the school’s governing body and the parent teacher association (PTA).

The National Governance Association (NGA) have remarked on this in the PTA+ magazine and confirmed that being a governor and a PTA member is perfectly fine.

“Having someone on the board who is also part of the PTA can be a good opportunity for the governors to engage with parents and bring in that parent’s perspective, but they aren’t there as a representative of the PTA.”

PTA+ Magazine, Spring 2023

The only problem that might arise would be a conflict of interest. This is where the interests of a particular person may conflict with the interests of the governing body as a whole. This happens when someone could stand to benefit from their position as a governor, for example by receiving money.

A separate article looks at conflicts of interest in detail, but being a member of the PTA is unlikely to lead to a conflict because both the PTA and the governing body are working to benefit the school and decisions on how to spend PTA money are not made by governors. The PTA is a charity in its own right and is run by its own trustees.

Governors do make decisions about how the school budget is spent but any money raised by the PTA is not included in that budget. Parentkind gives advice on running PTAs and they confirm that it is PTA members, not the headteacher or governors, who decide how PTA money is spent.

“As PTA funds belong to the PTA (and not to the school) it’s the PTA elected committee members’ decision on how they are spent.”

Parentkind

There is also a rule that says governors must not take part in discussions if a “fair hearing” is required and they may not be impartial.

Again, this is unlikely to occur just because of your PTA membership, unless perhaps a serious complaint had been made about the PTA or one of its members. (Minor complaints would not be heard by governors.) If a serious complaint occurred you should not be involved in the investigation or decision-making.

If there is any dispute at a meeting as to whether a conflict of interest exists or not governors can vote on the issue and decide this among themselves.

What the law says about conflicts of interest

The following quote explains the conflict of interest laws which apply to all maintained schools. This law does not apply to academies but they will have similar wording in their articles of association that restrict how they can govern.

“Where in relation to any matter—

(i) there may be a conflict between the interests of a relevant person and the interests of the governing body,

(ii) a fair hearing is required and there is any reasonable doubt about a relevant person’s ability to act impartially, or

(iii) a relevant person has a pecuniary interest,

that person, if present at a meeting of the school at which the matter is the subject of consideration, must disclose his or her interest, withdraw from the meeting and not vote on the matter in question.”

Roles, Procedures and Allowances (England) Regulations 2013

Statutory guidance for all schools states that schools should have link governors for a) safeguarding, including the Prevent duty and b) special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Statutory guidance for secondary schools says secondaries should have a governor with responsibility for careers education and guidance.

This page explains how link governors work in practice and includes role descriptions for some common link areas.

What do link governors do?

The term “link governor” is not used in law, but schools use it to mean a governor who takes a particular interest in an area of school life and may take on related responsibilities. They are sometimes referred to as governor “portfolios” or lead governors.

For example, a link governor for safeguarding could meet the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) to discuss policies and an SEND governor could keep an eye on the progress of SEND children compared to their peers.

As well as assigning link governors to areas likes safeguarding, the pupil premium or health and safety you can also consider assigning governors to subject areas such as maths or English. These governors can liaise with subject leaders, monitor progress and report any concerns back to the governing body.

How are link governors appointed?

There is no formal process you need to follow when appointing link governors. The usual practice would be for appointments to be agreed at a meeting of the full governing body.

Can a staff governor be a link governor?

Yes. There are no formal restrictions on which governors can fulfil which link role. Staff governors can be link governors, as can parent governors and any other type of governor. Roles should be assigned according to the skills of each person.

However, when appointing school employees as link governors the board needs to consider whether the role will clash with their day job. For example, if the employee is the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) they cannot reasonably be the safeguarding link governor because they would be monitoring their own work.

Link Governor Report Template

A template that link governors can fill in to report back to the board is available on my templates and letters page.

Governors will often visit the school to meet with a specific member of staff or focus on one aspect of the school, eg: health and safety. They would then write up their findings, highlighting any questions or concerns arising from the visit and any actions that staff or governors need to take as a result.

Safeguarding Link Governors

Schools should have a governor who is responsible for safeguarding/child protection. This recommendation is set out in the statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education which applies to both maintained schools and academies.

“Governing bodies and proprietors should have a senior board level (or equivalent) lead to take leadership responsibility for their school’s or college’s safeguarding arrangements.”

Keeping Children Safe in Education

The DfE explain at the start of Keeping Children Safe in Education that “We use the term ‘must’ when the person in question is legally required to do something and ‘should’ when the advice set out should be followed unless there is good reason not to.”

This means that although there is no legal requirement to have a safeguarding link governor, schools may be challenged if they do not have one in place.

What questions should a safeguarding governor ask?

A separate article lists questions a safeguarding link governor could ask and explains how the link governor can fulfil their role effectively.

For example, the safeguarding governor should monitor whether safer recruitment processes are effective, whether pupils feel safe at school and whether online safety is considered.

Should the safeguarding governor check the single central record?

There is no need for governors to personally check the SCR. This was confirmed by OFSTED’s Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman in 2019 who suggested that governors should take more of an overview of safeguarding rather than drilling down into the fine detail.

“As governors and trustees, you are responsible for making sure that safeguarding procedures are properly followed in schools. But that doesn’t mean you have to go through your school’s central record yourself.

“You need to make sure the overarching culture is right. What is your school doing to identify children that may be at risk of harm? How is your school helping those children and fulfilling its duties? This, too, is when it’s more helpful to look up at the big picture, rather than down into the detail.”

Amanda Spielman speech to the National Governance Association, 8 June 2019

This was also confirmed by OFSTED’s Deputy Director for schools in the following video.

So governors should be asking questions to make sure the SCR is in place, up-to-date and that it is being checked and monitored, but they do not need to do the checks themselves.

SEND Link Governor

The DfE Code of Practice on SEND states that there should be an SEND governor or committee. The Code is statutory guidance that applies equally to both maintained schools and academies.

“There should be a member of the governing body or a sub-committee with specific oversight of the school’s arrangements for SEN and disability.

“School leaders should regularly review how expertise and resources used to address SEN can be used to build the quality of whole-school provision as part of their approach to school improvement.”

Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 Years

Careers Link Governor

Statutory guidance on careers says that secondary school boards should have a link governor who is responsible for “careers education and guidance” and who “encourages employer engagement”. The guidance applies to both maintained schools and academies.

“Every school and college should have a member of their governing body who takes a strategic interest in careers education and guidance and encourages employer engagement.”

Careers Guidance and Access For Education and Training Providers

Is a link governor solely responsible for their area?

No. The link governor takes a special interest in an area but the governing body retains overall responsibility. If for example the school is failing to safeguard children properly that may be partly the fault of the safeguarding link governor, but it is the governing body itself that is ultimately to blame as they have collective responsibility.

The board should agree the link governor’s remit in advance. They should also ask each link governor to regularly report back to the board on their work so that it can be monitored.

Do link roles need to be published online?

No. Requirements for what schools must publish online do not say that link roles of individual governors must be published on the school website, but a school may wish to publish them anyway.

Do special schools need an SEND link governor?

The requirement to have an SEND link governor comes from chapter 6 of the SEND Code of Practice, a chapter “aimed mostly at mainstream schools”, so I believe this requirement does not apply to special schools.

This question came up in an online clerking forum I belong to and the majority of special school clerks said they do not have an SEND link governor because all their governors are focused on SEND.

This seems logical and mirrors the fact that only mainstream schools need special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs), because of course all staff in a special school are focused on children with special needs.

“Governing bodies of maintained mainstream schools and the proprietors of mainstream academy schools (including free schools) must ensure that there is a qualified teacher designated as SENCO for the school.”

SEND Code of Practice

Link Governor Role Descriptions

Safeguarding Link Governor Role Description (.pdf)

From Birmingham LA. Duties of the safeguarding governor include:

• ensuring that all staff are briefed on and follow the school’s safeguarding and child protection policy
• ensuring that temporary staff and volunteers are made aware of the school’s arrangements for safeguarding and child protection and their responsibilities
• ensuring there is a whole school approach to online safety that is set out in the school’s policy
• ensuring that the section 175 Safeguarding Self-Assessment Tool is completed annually.

SEND Link Governor Role Description (.pdf)

From Luton LA. Duties of the SEND link governor include:

• making every effort to see that the necessary special arrangements are made for pupils with SEN
• asking questions and liaising with the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) about the current policy and practice in SEN
• monitoring the progress and effectiveness of the governing body’s policy on SEN
• monitoring the deployment of resources allocated to SEN
• monitoring the effectiveness of communication with parents.

Wellbeing and Mental Health Link Governor Role Description (.pdf)

From Governors For Schools. Duties of the wellbeing link governor include:

• ensuring the school has given thorough thought to how mental health and wellbeing can be embedded in the curriculum and other school activities
• working with the school to complete an audit of their current provision to understand other areas it could be incorporated
• acting as the point of contact on the governing board for the staff member(s) tasked with overseeing mental health and wellbeing provisions within the school
• ensuring mental health and wellbeing is discussed in committee meetings and as an agenda item in full governing board meetings.

Training Link Governor Role Description (.pdf)

From Luton LA. Duties of the training link governor include:

• assessing the training needs of individual governors, new governors, governors taking on new roles and governors needing ‘refresher’ update courses
• encouraging governors to attend courses
• reviewing the balance between personal development and benefit for the whole governing body, eg: how is information from courses shared?
• monitoring courses attended
• checking that there is a good spread of courses and all governors are receiving appropriate training.