The governing board is the school’s legally accountable body and must operate in the best interests of the school. The task of the governing board is to lead the school strategically, focusing on the three core functions:
As set out in the Governance Handbook, all boards have three core functions:
- Ensuring clarity of the vision, ethos and strategic direction.
- Holding the executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the school(s) and its pupils and the effective and efficient performance management of staff.
- Overseeing the financial performance of the school(s) and making sure that its money is well spent.
The board is the school’s key strategic decision maker. The board may delegate functions to individual governors, the Headteacher (in certain circumstances) and committees of the board, but it remains accountable and is responsible for all decisions made.
It is responsible for the general control and management of the administration of the school with headteachers operating within the autonomy, powers and functions delegated to them by the board.
The board must act with integrity, objectivity and honesty and in the best interests of the school and should avoid conflicts of interest.
The board should make sure it does not get involved in the day-to-day running of the school (operational), which is the responsibility of the Headteacher.
It must operate and make decisions in the best interests of the school and in line with its strategic priorities, including in relation to school finances.
As the strategic lead for the school, it is vital that the board understands, and engages with the communities it serves.
The board, with advice from its Clerk, is also responsible for ensuring legal and regulatory compliance across a range of areas, including:
- education and equalities laws;
- safeguarding;
- responsibilities as operators of an educational institution, such as health and safety, information management and employment law;
- conditions and obligations imposed by funding or regulatory bodies.
Governing boards should also have regard to the need for the Headteacher and teachers in their school(s) to be able to achieve a satisfactory work life balance, and, through their strategic role, should provide support and challenge to help reduce unnecessary burdens.
All governors are volunteers who are either appointed or elected to the board.
In a maintained school the board must be made up of a minimum of seven governors including:
- at least two must be parent governors, elected where possible
- the Headteacher
- one must be a staff governor, elected
- one must be a local authority governor, nominated by the local authority and appointed by the board
Voluntary aided (VA) school
Foundation governors are required to outnumber all the other governors by two. In addition, the governing board is the admissions authority and also the employer of the staff.
For VA schools with a religious character, this will normally mean in practice that it is the diocese, diocesan board or relevant religious body that will have majority control over the governing board.