The governing body of a school or academy is responsible for approving most statutory policies, but can choose to delegate many of them to a committee, headteacher or sometimes an individual governor.
The DfE provides a list of statutory polices in their Governance Guides which were first published in March 2024. Schools must have policies that cover every topic on the statutory list.
The lists in the Governance Guides replace the old DfE list of statutory policies which has been withdrawn.
Do we need a separate policy for every issue?
No. Several issues can be combined into one policy if it makes sense to combine the topics.
How are policies approved?
If a policy is discussed at a full governing body meeting or a committee it is approved by a simple vote at a quorate meeting, in the same way that all other decisions are made. Remember that not all policies need to come to a full governors’ meeting.
If the approval is delegated to an individual that person should report their decision back to the governing body so it can be minuted and the clerk can keep track of when the policy needs reviewing again.
There may be some policies that governors cannot change, even if they wish to. For example, a teachers’ pay policy in a maintained school has usually been agreed by both the local authority and teaching unions. In that case governors can vote to adopt the policy as it stands.
Download A Policy Schedule Template
I have provided an example policy schedule on my templates and letters page. It can be adapted to suit your own school or academy.
This template lets you keep track of which policies have been delegated, when they are due for review and whether they are on the school website.
How often must statutory policies be approved?
The DfE Governance Guides recommend that all statutory policies are reviewed annually, with the exception of the equality objectives policy which can be reviewed every four years.
How often must non-statutory policies be approved?
This is down to each governing body to decide. Most schools will have policies that are not legally required but are useful, for example on off-site activities or marking.
As these are not statutory documents it is entirely up to the governing body as to how often they are reviewed and to whom they are delegated.
Which policies must be on our website?
The policies that must be on the school website are listed in two DfE documents, one for maintained schools and one for academies.
Many schools choose to publish a wide range of their policies online, not just the ones mandated by the DfE.
Who writes school policies?
Most policies will be drafted by senior school staff, perhaps using model policies from the DfE or local schools as a template.
Others may be written in consultation with unions (pay policies, for example). Documents such as the admissions policy will be drafted by your local authority if they are the admission authority.
Governors do not write school policies. Governors should:
- ask what impact the policy has had
- ask how the policy fits in with the school’s priorities
- ensure policies reflect changes in legislation
- approve the policy at the appropriate level of delegation
- monitor the school to check the policy is being implemented successfully.
Governors may suggest improvements and ask questions about how well the policy is working, but they do not draft the policy itself.
Do policies need to be signed?
There is no requirement for the chair to sign policies, although they can do so if it helps you keep track of which document is the final one.
It is important to date the policy document itself and include the approval date and delegation level. For example: “Approved by full governing body on 21 January 2025.”
Do governors proofread policies?
No! This drives me a little bit round the bend because I’ve been in so many meetings where governors insist on talking about the spelling mistakes, grammar or presentation of the policy but not whether it’s made any difference to the children.
Governors are not proofreaders. Even if they were you wouldn’t call a meeting of a dozen people so you can correct two spelling mistakes and change a font.
What if governors are overwhelmed with policies?
Most governors will have attended a meeting where there were at least half a dozen policies to approve and the sheer number of required policies may seem unmanageable.
If governors are struggling with the policy review cycle here are some ideas.
- Delegate. Make sure the full governing isn’t approving every last policy, it really doesn’t need to. Use your committees or consider delegating to a single governor or the headteacher.
- Increase the time between reviews. The DfE recommends that policies are all approved annually, but some policies probably don’t need looking at every single year.
Think about which policies are vital and which are less important. Do you really need to approve the charging and remissions policy once a year? What about the governor expenses policy?
For non-statutory policies there is no requirement that they are approved by governors at all. Do governors really need to approve the marking policy, for example, or is that operational? - Reduce discussion of unchanged policies and “fixed” model policies from the LA. If a policy was discussed in detail last year and has not been amended, does it need to be discussed at length this year?
Are governors spending valuable meeting time discussing staffing policies like the pay policy, grievance policy or disciplinary policy which have been agreed with the LA and unions and effectively cannot be changed? - Track changes for updated policies. Use track changes in Word so governors can see the amendments clearly and focus on the new sections or wording.
- Delete policies. If it’s not statutory the school can decide to get rid of it completely.
- Send policies out in advance. All papers should be sent well in advance of meetings and that applies equally to policies. Governors cannot be expected to read pages and pages of documents at the meeting itself.