Governing Board Annual Schedule of Work

Governing board annual schedule of work

There are many governing board structures in operation across the academy and maintained sector; this guidance highlights the most important aspects that all governing boards need to cover and consider across the academic year.

It is good practice to manage the annual business of the governing board around the three core functions of governance, as identified in the Governance Handbook , and plan each agenda throughout the academic year accordingly. It is the role of the clerk to governors to advise the governing board on this matter. This will help keep the governing board focussed on the strategic aspects of governance. The three core functions of governance are:

1. Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction. 2. Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff. 3. Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.

All agendas of either full governing board or committee meetings should also include the following procedural elements to underpin the three core functions of governance:

Attendance and apologies

Governors are being increasingly held to account for their commitment and capacity to attend meetings regularly, with schools now required to publish this information on their websites. It is therefore vital that apologies or unaccepted apologies are recorded accurately.

Elections

An opportune time for the governing board to discuss succession planning for the chair and vice chair of governors is the last meeting of the Summer term. This gives governors time over the Summer break to think about whether they want to consider either of these opportunities. It is the responsibility of the clerk to governors to make certain that elections are run in such a way as to ensure that all governors have an equal opportunity to nominate or propose a chair and vice chair. Whilst this is usually an annual activity, an election can take place at any time.

Policies

Effective policy management is essential in all schools. Each governing board organises the monitoring and ratification of policies in differing ways and at different times. TheSchoolBus’s Statutory Policy and Document Tracker for Maintained Schools and Statutory Policy and Document Tracker for Academies enable maintained school and academy governing boards to allocate and delegate policies to the appropriate

Last updated: 13 July 2017 committees or members of the senior leadership team in line with the DfE’s 2014 guidance ‘Statutory policies for schools’. The five policies the governing board must review and ratify, and cannot delegate, are:

 Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy  Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Policy  Teachers’ Pay Policy  Admissions Policy  Supporting Pupils with Medical Conditions Policy

The governing board should ensure that each of these policies is reviewed at the appropriate time of the year, in line with the appropriate school policy tracker schedule.

Register of business interests

Governors should complete a Register of Business Interests form on an annual basis, and this information must be published on the school website. It is also important that, at the start of each meeting, the clerk asks for any new declarations to be made or any interests that should be recorded specifically related to issues being discussed during that meeting.

Pupil voice

Pupil voice is an important aspect of governance and should be included within the governance annual schedule of work. The governing board should consider ways to include and listen to the views of pupils and allow these to influence their discussions and decision making. The governing board could consider attending a school council meeting, conducting pupil surveys or inviting pupil leaders to governing board meetings to monitor how embedded pupil voice is throughout the school.

Chair’s action

The chair of the governing board should report any urgent action taken between meetings in line with the requirements of Part 3, Regulation 8 of The School Governance (Roles, Procedures and Allowances) (England) Regulations 2013 (as amended). The chair should also report to governors all matters arising from correspondence received whilst maintaining due confidentiality where required.

Early Autumn term

Ensuring procedural compliance Ensuring accountability Ensuring financial compliance

Last updated: 13 July 2017  Elect a chair and vice chair  Review and agree the school development  [Academies only] Ensure all governors are plan and set objectives aware of and pay due regard to any updates  All governors to complete a Register of to the Academies Financial Handbook Interests form and provide updated contact  Agree the governing board annual details monitoring plan, with timescales  [Academies only] Ensure the land and building collection tool is submitted to the  Review and agree terms of reference for full  Review and analyse national test Education and Skills Funding Agency governing board meetings outcomes against internal predictions (ESFA) by 31 October

 Elect the chair and vice chair for each  Receive the headteacher’s report to  Review the asset management plan committee governors and ensure challenge  Receive a report from the bursar/school  Review and agree the Governing Board Code  Receive and consider the school business manager and ensure challenge is of Conduct interventions plan for the academic year recorded

 Review and agree the committee structure  Receive and consider data for specific and agree terms of reference for committees cohort groups

 Agree meeting dates for all full governing  Review the Accessibility Plan board meetings and committee meetings  Receive and consider the Termly SEND  [Maintained schools only] Review the Report to Governing Board governing board instrument of government and agree a plan for managing and filling any vacancies

 Agree a freedom of information Publication Scheme and ensure the publication of a General Privacy Notice

 If consultation has taken place on any

Last updated: 13 July 2017 proposed changes to the Admissions Policy, consider any feedback received and agree final admissions policy

 Agree a policy monitoring schedule, separating statutory and school-based policies, and allocate to appropriate committee

 [Academies only] Review the scheme of delegation

Late Autumn Term

 Agree any other required panels, e.g.  [Academies only] Receive and approve the  Discuss the curriculum offer, ensuring it is admissions, exclusions and appeals budget broad and balanced  Receive a report from the bursar/school  Agree link governor roles business manager and ensure challenge is recorded  Identify a governor to review the school  Receive and consider the Designated website Safeguarding Lead Report to Governors  Review the school Risk Register

 Agree the Governor Development Plan in line  [Academies only] Ensure that audited with the governance development budget  Receive and consider a pupil premium accounts for the period ending 31 August report and impact statement are submitted to the ESFA by 31 December

 Agree members of the headteacher  Receive information from the Autumn term performance management panel and set a census data date for the performance management  Receive an update on the performance meeting to take place management schedule for all staff  Pay panel to review teaching and non- teaching staff salaries, proposed increments members and appraisal process

Last updated: 13 July 2017  [Maintained schools only] Appoint an external advisor to support the governing  Review the school ethos and values  Undertake a school financial health check to board with the headteacher’s performance statement evaluate how funding is distributed management  Complete the Governor Monitoring Checklist for Financial Efficiency  Ensure, as a minimum, all governors have  Agree and publish a British Values level one safeguarding training and an annual Statement refresher, and have read and signed Keeping Children Safe in Education part one and are aware of any changes  Receive and consider the annual SEND Information Report and ensure this is  [Academies only] Review the scheme of published on the school website delegation

 Consider how the governing board will comply  Review progress towards achieving the with any required LA audits outcomes of the school development plan

 Consider any changes to the Academies Financial Handbook  Receive the headteacher’s report to governors and ensure challenge is  If consultation has taken place on any recorded proposed changes to the Admissions Policy, consider any feedback received and agree final admissions policy by 28 February  Review attendance data for all cohorts and groups of pupils

 Review validated school performance data

Last updated: 13 July 2017 Spring term

Ensuring procedural compliance Ensuring accountability Ensuring financial compliance and efficiency

 Submit a copy of agreed admission  Conduct a staff wellbeing audit, review  [Maintained schools only] Ensure the arrangements to the LA by 15 May results and plan any required actions submission of the school financial value standard (SFVS) by the end of March  Consider the public-sector equality duty and  Receive the headteacher’s report to the agree the school’s equality objectives by 31 governing board and ensure challenge is March, and ensure these are published on the recorded  [Maintained schools only] Receive and school website agree the draft budget  Receive and review link governor  Decide if the school will produce an annual monitoring reports  Receive a report from the bursar/school prospectus and if so, approve content business manager and ensure challenge is  Consider data for specific cohort groups recorded  Publish admission arrangements for the following Autumn intake  Receive and consider the Termly SEND Report to Governing Board  [Academies only] Ensure the audited  Arrange the headteacher’s mid-term accounts are published on the trust’s performance management review  Review progress towards achieving the website by end of January and filed with outcomes of the school development plan Companies House  Review complaints log, identifying any trends  [Academies only] Ensure the budget  Receive a report on the planned transition forecast return: outturn is submitted to the support for the Summer term ESFA by the 18 May  Receive and consider the Designated Safeguarding Lead Report to Governors  Receive information from the Spring term census data  Review the school’s self-evaluation document  [Academies only] Ensure annual accounts are returned to the ESFA by 19 January

 Receive a report on and review service level agreements and traded services as

Last updated: 13 July 2017 appropriate.

Summer term

 Review number on roll for September  Receive annual report on pupil voice and  [Maintained schools only] Approve budget collaboration and submit to the LA by 31 May  Undertake an annual review of the work and impact of the governing board  Receive the headteacher’s report to governors and ensure challenge is  [Academies only] Ensure that the budget  Receive a report on and monitor accidents recorded forecast return is submitted to the ESFA by and incidents data for pupils, staff and visitors 28 July  Review attendance data for all cohorts and  Review any home school agreement in time groups of pupils for the Autumn term  Receive a report on predicted pupil  [Academies only] Ensure that budget projections are submitted to the ESFA by 31  Complete governing board skills audit and performance outcomes and discuss any July analyse results ready for the Autumn term mitigation

 Propose and consider meeting dates for the  Consider pupil mobility data next academic year including all committees  Draft the financial scheme of delegation in  Undertake parent and community surveys time for Autumn term  Undertake chair of governors 360˚ appraisal and consider outcomes

 Review the impact of link governor roles  Receive information from the Summer term and governor monitoring activity over the census data year

 Consider in-year outcomes data for specific cohort groups

 Receive the PE and Sports Premium Impact Report

Last updated: 13 July 2017  Review the impact of careers advice and enrichment activities

 Receive the Designated Safeguarding Lead Report to Governors

 Receive and consider the Termly SEND Report to Governing Board

 Review progress towards achieving the outcomes of the school development plan

Last updated: 13 July 2017