Your role in school improvement planning
Learn about school improvement plans (SIPs) and your role in creating, approving and monitoring them. Use our flowchart to keep track of where you are in the process as you move through the academic year.
Contents
Thanks to Fred Birkett, Harry James, Mark Trusson, Keith Clover and Ian Preston, our associate governance experts, for their help writing this article.
Flowchart: governors' role in school improvement through the year

What's a SIP?
Your school improvement plan (SIP) is a document that sets out:
- What specific actions your school will take to meet its objectives
- When those actions will be carried out
- Who is responsible for carrying out each action
- How progress will be monitored
- How you'll measure success
It should focus on those significant strategic challenges facing your school - usually for the next academic year. It's also referred to as a strategic plan or a school development plan.
Your headteacher and the senior leadership team (SLT) will draft the actual document.
Read more about the purpose
Read next
Also in 'School improvement planning'
- Coronavirus: setting your school on the road to recovery
- COVID-19 retrospective: how to help your school learn lessons from the past year
- How to evaluate and approve the school improvement plan
- Key performance indicators (KPIs): requirements and guidance for academy trusts
- Know your school: a checklist
- School improvement plans: template and examples