You can also download the steps in this article as a quick-reference checklist:
If you're looking for possible agenda items for upcoming meetings, use our autumn term, spring term, and summer term agendas to tell you what governing boards will be talking about and help you prepare questions.
1. Address action points from the previous meeting
In the last meeting, you should have made a note of any action points that were assigned to you, and acted on them afterwards. If you haven't already, read the previous meeting's minutes and follow up on any points relevant to you as soon as possible.
You can expect to see actions such as:
- Carry out, and report back from, a school visit
- Report back from a committee meeting
- Read and prepare questions on a policy
- Attend a training session
If you have an action to contribute information and documents ahead of the meeting, get these to your governance professional at least 2 weeks in advance. This will allow them to send out agenda papers at least 7 days ahead of the meeting, as they're required to do.
Reporting back from a monitoring visit or learning walk
If you've visited your school since your last meeting, you'll need to feed back to the rest of your governing board.
Use our templates to help you do this. Take them with you when you visit, so you can capture what you're learning and any related evidence in the moment:
Our how-to guide to school visits will help you make the most of your visits, from preparing well to asking the right questions.
2. Ask for agenda items to be added, if appropriate
Developing the agenda is usually delegated to the chair, headteacher and governance professional, but is a responsibility of the whole governing board. You have a right to ask for an item to be added. For example, keep an eye out for changes in the education sector and ask to add something to the agenda if you think it's worth discussing as a board.
Contact your governance professional to find out how far in advance the agenda is drafted, and what the correct process is for asking for an item to be added. Usually, you'll need to ask them to add the agenda item for you, and ideally around 3 weeks in advance.
3. Read the agenda and papers
You'll get the agenda and papers at least 7 days in advance of the meeting. Put aside a couple of hours, as it's best to devote some proper time to getting through these papers.
Tips for reading your meeting pack at pace with a critical eye
- If you're pushed for time and need to prioritise, start with the headteacher's report
- This will contain an overview of the school's activity related to the agenda points, and will help you to identify any priorities for improvement
- Bear your purpose in mind as you read, to help you focus on offering support and challenge in the meeting
- Your job is to scrutinise how your school is improving outcomes for all pupils, and to clarify whether it has the resources to make this happen
- Keep a note of any questions you have and make sure you bring them up in the meeting
- It's your job to probe, so never be afraid to ask!
- If you don't understand a data point or aren't convinced by the explanation you've been given, always ask. It's important that you understand what you're being told and that it's explained clearly
Our QuickReads can help you quickly get to grips with concepts that you're unfamiliar with, such as:
Refresh your knowledge of school performance data too.
4. Prepare to ask the right questions
Think of specific questions to ask the headteacher to provide support and challenge.
Your questions should:
- Seek to clarify points, address any errors and ask for further information
- 'How many pupils are ....?'
- Relate to the school's priorities and values
- 'How does ... relate to our school improvement objectives?'
- Explore how a situation has occurred
- 'What led ... to happen?
- What did you do to encourage/prevent it?'
- Draw out the consequences and significance of a situation occurring
- 'What will be the impact of ... on the school?'
- Encourage the board and senior leaders to consider next steps
- 'What are we going to do to improve...?
- How will this be put into action?'
- Not encourage discussions about the day-to-day running of the school
Preparing questions in advance will make contributing to the meeting easier. Consider submitting some questions in advance if senior leaders will need to prepare their answer.
Understanding how to find the balance between challenge and support will help you formulate probing questions that really drive school improvement.
Questions on common agenda items
5. Review policies
If any policies are up for approval by the full governing board, you'll have been sent these in your meeting pack.
When reading a policy, consider:
- Why is it being reviewed/written?
- How has it changed?
- What is the intended impact of the policy?
- What will the impact be on workload?
- How does it reflect the values/vision/ethos of the school?
- How does it feed into the school development plan?
- Has it been written in plain English? Is it easy to understand?
For more support with this, read our guidance on evaluating policies and approving them. You can also find advice on how to do this for specific policies in our handy 'how to review' articles, including:
These also include model policies so you can see what a good policy looks like.