The Governing Body and its role

School governors are drawn from different parts of the community and can be parents and staff or from the LA, the community and other groups. This helps ensure the governing body has sufficient diversity of skills, views and experience but does not mean governors of a particular category represent that group on the governing body. For example, parent governors do not represent the parents at the school and do not report back to them.

Governors are the strategic leaders of our schools and have a vital role to play in making sure every child gets the best possible education. 

In all types of schools, governing bodies should have a strong focus on three core strategic functions:

Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;

Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils;

Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

When a school is inspected by Ofsted, its governing body will be required to show evidence that governors conform with their three core functions

In the work that they do, a governors’ essential focus is on:

Setting vision, ethos and strategic direction

Holding the headteacher and school management to account

Asking the right questions

Being aware of the importance of objective data and their sources

Overseeing financial performance

Setting policies, targets and priorities for achieving those objectives

Monitoring performance and progress towards those objectives

Reviewing achievements against the set aims and objectives

Enabling better governance through training, review and planning

Another aspect of the governors role has traditionally been referred to as being a ‘critical friend’ of the school whereby in addition to the duties laid out above governors can and should also:

Offer support

Provide constructive advice

Act as a sounding board - for the headteacher’s ideas

Give a second opinion on proposals - which includes asking questions  and challenging assumptions

Help in arriving at the best solution - to further the best interests of the school

The list below (which of course is not exhaustive) is a further exampler of the role of the governor and which shows that the role focuses not on the operational aspects of how the school is run day-to-day – that is the head teacher’s responsibility – but on the strategic direction of the school.

Governing bodies do:	Governing bodies don’t:
Set the overall budget for the school	Inspect the school
Decide on the level of pay for the school’s teachers	After visiting the school, report back on the quality of teaching
Decide on the number of staff	Authorise all expenditure
Help to decide the priorities for improving the school when the school improvement plan is being drawn up	Decide on how pupils are taught different subjects
Ensure the National Curriculum is taught to all pupils	Have the right to exclude a pupil
Set targets for pupil achievement	Write the school’s policies on their own
Compare the performance of their school to similar schools	‘Rubber stamp’ recommendations from the head teacher
Receive information about the quality of teaching in the school	Automatically approve all apologies sent by governors
Have a published strategy for dealing with parental complaints and concerns	Write the OfSTED Action Plan
Ensure health and safety issues are addressed
Set the times of school sessions