How to monitor your school effectively

Even the most ambitious school improvement plans won't yield results without proper monitoring. Get a handle on what needs monitoring and how to organise and deploy your governors to get it done.

Last reviewed on 7 December 2022
School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 3799
Contents
  1. Ofsted will judge how effectively governors monitor the school
  2. Know what needs monitoring
  3. Organise and deploy your governors
  4. Keep a monitoring schedule
  5. Make sure governors know how to gather information
  6. Be a part of the life of the school

Ofsted will judge how effectively governors monitor the school

It's the chair's job to make sure that effective processes are in place and that the board is organised in such a way as to monitor improvement at all levels.

Though the inspection framework changes from time to time, Ofsted will always want to see evidence of how well the board exercises its monitoring function. This forms part of Ofsted's judgement on leadership and management.

Know what needs monitoring

The Governance Handbook lists 3 core functions for every governing board:

Together with compliance (more on this below), these are the board's overarching areas of responsibility. There's a lot to monitor, but if you break it