Governor skills & effectiveness
- 20 key questions for governing boards Download our 20 key questions and sources of evidence to help you evaluate how effective your governing board is.
- Annual governance statements An annual governance statement is required for an academy, and is good practice for a maintained school. Get guidance on what your statement needs to contain, and take a look at examples from other schools.
- Chair: role and responsibilities Whether you're the chair of a maintained school, an academy trust board or an LGB, understand your role by downloading our role descriptions. You'll also find skills audits to help you identify your strengths and the skills and knowledge you still need to acquire in your role.
- Competency framework for governance We summarise the key features of the competency framework for governance in just one page. Download a copy of this QuickRead as a ready-made resource to share with your board.
- Competency framework for governance: summary Understand what the competency framework for governance is and how you can use it to support training and recruitment priorities.
- Contributing to meetings: tips for new governors Follow these top tips to get off to a good start in governance. Find out how you can make a positive contribution, bring issues to the governing board and overcome feeling intimidated.
- External reviews of governance Find out how an external review of governance (ERG) can help you improve your board's effectiveness, and how to commission a review. Know what to expect from the review process and how to make the most of it and benefit from the reviewer's insights.
- Governing board action plans: template and guidance An action plan can demonstrate effective governance, but they're not an Ofsted requirement. Use our template and guidance to help you develop and monitor yours, and see examples from other governing boards.
- Governing board self-evaluation: resources Follow these steps and use our resources to carry out your self-evaluation - there's a skills audit, templates to evaluate your board’s performance, and a dashboard for multi-academy trusts to get an overall picture across local governing bodies. Use our 360° feedback form to review your chair's performance.
- Governor and trustee appraisal: templates and guidance Conduct appraisals to find out what your governors or trustees need to thrive in their role. Uncover training needs, plan future development and offer support in difficult areas. Use our suite of template documents to guide the process.
- Governors' skills audits Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses using our downloadable skills audit, based on the competency framework - or find out how to create your own audit using free online tools.
- How to show your board's impact on school improvement Get to grips with how your governing board can show its impact on school improvement. Do this by being clear on your school's objectives and using evidence such as feedback from stakeholders and governing board meeting minutes.
- Ways to improve your governance Experienced governors give you a taste of what they've done to step up their governance and move their boards from good to great – see if they work for yours too.