Monitoring and supporting staff workload and wellbeing

Be clear on your role

Unlike how the chair supports headteacher wellbeing, the way you support staff wellbeing is more hands-off.

As a board, you need to make sure that:

• Relevant policies and processes are in place which:
• Facilitate a healthy work-life balance among your staff
• Don't put undue pressure on workload
• The school adheres to the working time limits set out in the Working Time Regulations 1998
• You don't make unreasonable demands on the time of school staff, including the headteacher
• You support your headteacher and teachers to achieve a satisfactory work-life balance. This is a requirement for maintained schools, but good practice for all school types (see pages 24 and 98 of the Governance Handbook)
• You provide appropriate challenge and support to the headteacher, including:
• Asking probing questions
• Setting targets for improvement where feedback shows there are staff wellbeing issues 

Take a look at our questions below. Don't ask your headteacher all of them (there are