Our associate governance experts, Fred Birkett, Fiona Stagg and Ian Preston, helped us with this article.
What makes it different
The task of monitoring specific areas is usually assigned to committees. In the 'circle model', it's delegated to individuals or pairs instead.
Like all things, this model has its pros and cons.
If you're making this change
Be clear about why you're doing it
It should be about keeping your board effective. For example, if you have a small number of governors, it might be more effective to not have committees.
But, this model doesn’t work for everyone – some schools can be resistant to letting go of committees.
Without committees, it will fall to individual governors to have a detailed understanding of a specific area to then feedback to the board You need a clear agenda to keep you on track with what you should be doing