Governor toolkit
The Ealing governor toolkit has been developed by the governance development team, other Ealing officers and governor associates, to provide support to Ealing school governing boards (GBs) and Ealing local authority (LA) officers/associates working with them.
As a council our vision for all schools is that they are well supported by good or outstanding GBs which, efficiently and effectively, carry out their three core functions as described in the Governance Handbook (January 2019) (GOV.UK).
The templates, information and guidance below have been designed to offer support and ideas which GBs can use and develop as appropriate to suit their own needs.
These documents should be adapted and used as appropriate as a result of gaining information, self-assessment, needs identification or to help with priorities.
Feedback on their content and use will be much appreciated. Other documents you think would provide additional support for GBs would be welcomed. Comments and documents can be sent to governors@ealing.gov.uk.
* Documents updated January 2020
Recruitment, induction, succession
- Job description – school governor *
- Job description – chair *
- Job description - vice chair March 2017
- Code of practice/conduct July 2019
- What governing boards and school leaders should expect from each other November 2019 (pdf)
- New governor induction checklist *
- Delegation of key governor roles (Michele Robbins)
- Governing board succession planning — summary September 2018
- National Co-coordinators of Governor Services (NCOGS) succession breeds success February 2017 (pdf)
GB structure and membership
- NGA skills audit for governors of single schools in line with DfE competency framework for governance.
- Governors of MATs should access the audit from the NGA website.
- Full governing board terms of reference *
- Westminster Council standing orders template November 13
GB meetings
- Annual governing board work planner (three committees) *
- Governing board agendas
- Effective governing board minutes – how good are your minutes? March 2017
- Governing board minutes audit *
- Governing board meetings health check
GB committees
- Committee structures *
- Committee terms of reference
- Terms of reference for curriculum committee March 2017
- Terms of reference for finance committee *
- Terms of reference for personnel committee March 2017
Monitoring progress
- HT report – generic template for use with Ealing primary GBs May 2019
- Governor visits to school March 2017
- Questions — ie examples of governor questions March 2017
Finance
- School Financial Value Standard (SFVS) - an overview
- DfE SFVS assessment form 2016
- Valuable lessons (pdf)
- Apprenticeship levy claim form
Self review
- Governing board NGA 20 questions (NGA website) March 2017
[Based on the All-Party Parliamentary Group’s “20 questions for school governing boards to ask themselves”] - replaces the GB self review based on 20 questions as questions have been now been updated by NGA. - Individual governor review *
- Chair of governors review *
- DfE statutory policies and other documents governing boards are required to have by law November 2019
Ofsted
