Size and membership of your board

Be clear on the type and number of governors or trustees you must have.

Last reviewed on 26 February 2024
School types: AllSchool phases: AllRef: 42120
Contents
  1. Requirements in maintained schools
  2. Extra requirements for hard federations
  3. No limit on the size of your governing board
  4. Associate members

Requirements in maintained schools

You must have at least 7 governors.

This must include:

The rules are slightly different for hard federations

If you're in a hard federation, it's:

  • Exactly 2 parent governors (either from the same school or different schools in the federation)
  • The headteacher of each school (unless any of them decide not to be a governor)
  • Only 1 staff governor
  • Only 1 LA governor

You can appoint as many additional co-opted governors as you consider necessary

However, the number of co-opted governors who are eligible to be elected or appointed as staff governors must not exceed one-third of the total membership of your board, when counted with the 1 staff governor and the headteacher (or headteachers, in a hard federation), and including any vacancies. 

The rules depend on your