What is an 'extraordinary meeting'?
It's a meeting convened outside the normal schedule. You can hold one if you need to discuss urgent issues that can't wait until the next scheduled meeting.
In an extraordinary meeting, you follow the same procedures, such as recording attendance and taking the minutes, as you do in normal meetings.
This was explained to us by the school governance unit at the Department for Education (DfE).
If you're the chair, you also have the power to act on your board's behalf if you need to act urgently and the board can't meet (either in-person or virtually). Find out more about 'chair's action'.
There's nothing to dictate when you should call extraordinary meetings
Bolton Impact Trust held an extraordinary meeting on 17 March 2023 to: Ratify the appointment of the chief finance officer The Commonweal School Academy Trust held an extraordinary meeting on 28 February 2022