Staying Ofsted-ready as a governor

Use our checklists to be confident that, when Ofsted arrives, you've got everything under control. Download our list of questions that inspectors might ask governors, and follow our links to brush up on any areas you're not sure of.

Last reviewed on 12 September 2025
School types: AllSchool phases: AllRef: 43074
Contents
  1. What to do throughout the year
  2. Questions inspectors might ask governors
  3. Safeguarding
  4. What to do after you get the call

What to do throughout the year

Download the checklist below to see what key things you should check and do regularly.

The tasks in this list relate to your core functions, so you're probably already doing a lot of these things.

Questions to consider as a board Consider these questions regularly, to make sure you understand these key areas of school life and what your board and leaders are doing to drive improvement: School vision: What's our vision for the school over the next 2 years? How will we achieve this? Behaviour: What's pupil behaviour like in our school? What are we doing to encourage positive behaviour and address poor behaviour? Attendance: What are our attendance figures? Are there groups of pupils that have lower attendance than others? (e.g. boys versus girls, pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or specific year groups) How do our attendance figures compare with other schools locally and nationally? What