Maintained schools can choose to join together in a federation, where one governing body oversees two or more schools. This page explains how governance works in federations and whether you need governors from each individual school.
Federations must follow the Federations (England) Regulations 2012. (Single maintained schools follow the Constitution (England) Regulations 2012.)
How are federations formed?
Two or more single maintained schools can choose to form a new federation. They can also join an existing federation, or two existing federations can join together into one big one. The right to do this comes from the Education Act 2002.
“In prescribed cases, the governing bodies—
(a) of two or more maintained schools in England,
(b) of an existing federation and of one or more maintained schools in England, or
(c) of two or more existing federations,
may…provide for their respective schools to be federated.
“Where any schools are federated by virtue of this section, they shall have a single governing body constituted under a single instrument of government.”
Education Act 2002 (Section 24)
What is the process to form or join a federation?
The process is set out in part 2 of the Federations (England) Regulations 2012. This law has been amended since 2012 and only the original version is provided by the DfE, but you can find an up-to-date version on my page of revised regulations.
Constitution of Federated School Boards
Your instrument of government will show the constitution of the board – in other words, how many governors you have of each type. A federation has one instrument of government to cover the entire group of schools.
The requirements for federated school governing bodies are very similar to those for single schools, including the legal minimum of seven governors in the constitution and no maximum number. However, the rules for headteacher and parent governors are slightly different.
Here are the rules for every federation governing body.
“The total membership of the governing body of a federation must be no fewer than seven governors.
“The governing body of a federation must include the following—
(a) two parent governors
(b) the head teacher of each federated school unless any such head teacher resigns the office of governor in accordance with regulation 19 of the Constitution Regulations 2012;
(c) one staff governor; and
(d) one local authority governor.
“The governing body may in addition appoint such number of co-opted governors as they consider necessary provided that the requirements in regulation 22 are met in respect of governing bodies of federations comprising foundation and voluntary schools.”
Federations (England) Regulations 2012
You will notice that the headteacher of every federated school has the right to be a governor, although they can choose not to be one if they prefer.
Federated boards only have two parent governors. (Single maintained schools must have “at least” two). Parent governors can come from any school in the federation.
The other requirements are the same as for single schools. There must be one staff governor, one local authority governor and as many co-opted governors as you like, provided that not too many work for the federation; the exact number allowed is explained below.
Federations that contain voluntary or foundation schools must have additional foundation or partnership governors. The rules for these governors are complicated and depend on the category of school. For example, a federation with only voluntary-aided schools must include enough foundation governors to outnumber all the other governors by two.
Rules for your particular type of voluntary or foundation school can be found in section 22 of the Federations (England) Regulations 2012.
Must federated boards have a parent governor from each school?
No. The law says federations must have “two parent governors”, which means only two parent governors. These parents can come from any school in the federation, so there could be two parents from one school or parents from two different schools. All parents across all federated schools must be told they are eligible to stand for election.
“The governing body of a federation must include the following—
(a) two parent governors.”
Federations (England) Regulations 2012
However, the law used to say that the board of a federation must have one parent governor “in respect of each school in the federation”, so one parent from each school. That law was amended in 2016 to just refer to “two parent governors”.
Unfortunately the government do not provide updated versions of these laws, so if you check the official version of the Federations (England) Regulations 2012 it still shows the old rules.
I have produced a revised version of the Federations Regulations 2012 as part of my page of revised versions of school governance regulations so you can see the changes clearly.
A memo to the law makes it clear that parents are elected across all schools in the federation. It also explains that parent governors are in place to advance the interests of pupils from every school, not just the school their own child attends.
“These Regulations will replace the current arrangements with a requirement that the governing body has two, and only two, parent governors elected by parents across all the schools in the federation.
“This will also help reinforce the message that governors govern in the interests of all the pupils in all the schools in the federation.”
Explanatory Memo to the Constitution and Federations (England) Amendment Regulations 2016
When the government made this amendment they explained the thinking behind it, which was that some schools were previously forced to have very large governing bodies, with more governors than “they need or want”.
For example, if a federation contained five schools you would previously have needed five parent governors, one from each school. On top of that some schools, such as voluntary-aided schools, must have enough foundation governors to outnumber all other governors by two.
When can federated boards appoint parent governors?
If all parents are told they can stand for election but not enough volunteers come forward to fill the vacancies the federated governing body can vote to appoint parent governors instead.
They must appoint parents in the following order of preference.
- The parent of a pupil at a federated school.
- The parent of a former pupil at a federated school.
- The parent of a child with SEN for which a federation school is approved.
- The parent of a child, including a child with SEN who is over compulsory school age.
“In appointing a parent governor, the governing body of a federation must appoint in the following order of preference—
(a) a parent of a registered pupil at a federated school (or, in respect of any maintained nursery school in the federation, a parent of a child for whom educational or other provision is made on the premises of the school (including any such provision made by the governing body under section 27 of EA 2002));
(b) a parent of a former registered pupil at a federated school;
(c) a parent of a child with special educational needs for which a federated school is approved; or
(d) a parent of a child, including a child who has special educational needs and is over compulsory school age.”
Federations (England) Regulations 2012
Can parent governors work for a federated school?
You cannot be a parent governor if you work for a maintained school for more than 500 hours per year. In a federation that means you are not eligible to be a parent governor if you work for any of the federated schools for more than 500 hours a year.
“A person is disqualified from election or appointment as a parent governor if the person is—
(a) an elected member of the local authority; or
(b) paid to work at the federation or a federated school for more than 500 hours in any consecutive twelve month period.”
Federations (England) Regulations 2012
Can the staff governor come from any federated school?
Yes. On the date of their election the staff governor just needs to be employed by either the federation governing body or by the local authority under a contract of employment to work at at that federation.
“In these Regulations “staff governor” means a person who—
(a) is elected in accordance with Schedule 3 as a governor by persons who are employed by either the governing body of the federation, or the local authority under a contract of employment providing for those persons to work at the federation or federated school, and
(b) is so employed at the time of the election referred to in sub-paragraph (a).”
Federations (England) Regulations 2012
Can co-opted governors be employed by a federated school?
Yes, but there is a limit. The total number of co-opted governors who are federation employees, when counted with the staff governor and all the headteachers, must not be more than one third of the governing body.
Say for example you have 12 governors in your constitution, with one staff governor and two headteacher governors. You could only appoint one co-opted governor who worked for the federation, because the staff governor plus the two heads plus one co-opted employee equals four out of 12 (one third exactly).
“The total number of co-opted governors who are also eligible to be elected as staff governors under Schedule 3, when counted together with the staff governor and the head teachers, must not exceed one third of the total membership of the governing body.”
Federations (England) Regulations 2012