Clerk's guide to amending and approving draft meeting minutes

Last reviewed on 22 March 2022
School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 4407

Learn how to send, amend, approve and file the minutes (including committee minutes) for maintained schools and academies.

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Contents

  1. The requirements
  2. 1. Send the minutes to the chair first
  3. 2. Send the draft minutes out 7 days before the meeting
  4. 3. Discuss and record amendments in the meeting
  5. 4. Get the minutes approved and signed
  6. 5. File the minutes
  7. 6. Make sure the minutes are available
  8. Don't change approved minutes

Our associate education experts, Hayley James, Fiona Stagg, Jane Edminson and Fred Birkett gave us the advice in this article.

The requirements

Maintained schools

The clerk to the governing board, or the person appointed to act as clerk for the purpose of the meeting, must make sure the minutes are:

  • Drawn up (i.e written)
  • Approved by the governing board or relevant committee
  • Signed by the chair at the next meeting (or the committee chair in the case of a committee meeting)

This is set out in regulations 15 and 26(7) of the School Governance (Roles, Procedures and Allowances) (England) Regulations 2013. 

Check with your local authority for any further requirements that you need to follow. 

Academies

The Department for Education (DfE) model articles of association don't specify a procedure for committee meeting minutes, so

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