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Introduction to School
Governance

DDE’s Welcome
Welcome to this e-learning course.
The role of governance is crucial to the
wellbeing of our Church of England schools and
therefore their ability to transform lives across
greater Lincolnshire. Governors are a visible sign
of the Church’s service to their local community.
I am so grateful to you for your willingness to
enhance the life chances of children in your

Course Outline
•
Setting the context
•
Different types of school
•
Roles and responsibilities: effective
governance and accountability
•
Foundation Governors
•
Latest guidance
•
Further training, advice and support

Setting the Context
Historic relationship between Church of England and education:
The National Society for Promoting Religious Education was found in 1811 by Joshua
Watson, who saw the need for public access to free education. The National Society’s
ambitious vision was to ensure that every parish contained a church school for all the
children living within the bounds of the parish. This prompted the Government to
consider opening public schools; it was largely due to this initiative that Parliament
established a universal right to education for all children in 1813.
Today, approximately 1 million children and young people are educated in church
schools around England. A quarter of all primary schools in England and 200 secondary
schools are Church of England schools. The Church of England is also the biggest sponsor
of academies in England. There are over 22,500 Foundation Governors supporting church
schools around the country.
In the Diocese of Lincoln, there are 141 church schools, which currently includes11
schools within the Diocesan Multi-Academy Trust (the Lincoln Anglican Academy Trust,
or LAAT).

Setting the Context
•
Church of England
Vision“Deeply Christian, serving the
common good”
•
Educating for wisdom, knowledge
and skills
•
Educating for hope and aspiration
•
Educating for community and
living well together:
•
Educating for dignity and respect
•
Diocese of Lincoln
Vision“Church schools
serving their
communities through
excellence, exploration
and encouragement
within the love of
God.”

Different Types of Schools:
Voluntary Aided (VA)
There are many different types of schools in England. It is
important that you know which type of school you are governor
of because it has implications for your role as a governor.
Voluntary Aided (VA)
•
Governing Body responsible for admissions
•
Governing Body directly employs all staff
•
Governing Body responsible for setting the RE syllabus
•
Governing Body contributes 10% towards cost of capital building work
•
Foundation Governors in the majority
•
There are 23 voluntary aided church schools in the Diocese of Lincoln

Voluntary Controlled (VC)
Voluntary Controlled (VC)
•
Local Authority responsible for admissions
•
Local Authority directly employs all staff (governors can satisfy themselves that a
candidate for head teacher is “fit and able to develop and preserve the ethos of a
church school”
•
Local Authority provides locally agreed syllabus for RE
•
Local Authority funds and manages all capital building work
•
Foundation Governors are in the minority
•
There are 86 voluntary controlled church schools in the Diocese of Lincoln

Foundation
Foundation
•
Governing Body responsible for admissions
•
Governing Body directly employs all staff
•
Local Authority provides locally agreed syllabus for RE
•
The Local Authority funds capital building work

Federated
Federated
Two types of federated schools:
1. Soft Federation – schools will maintain independent Governing Bodies and a single
Executive Head across the schools
2. Hard Federation – schools will have a single Governing Body and a single Executive
Head across the schools

Academy
Academy
•
Publicly funded independent schools
•
Held accountable through a legally-binding funding agreement with the Education
Funding Authority (EFA)
•
Will have a Board of Directors and a local Governing Body (these may be the same
people). The local Governing Body will need to check what delegated authority they
have received from the Board of Directors
•
Board of Directors responsible for admissions
•
Board of Directors directly employs all staff
•
Board of Directors responsible for setting the RE syllabus
•
Board of Directors has freedom to control curriculum, school hours, term dates, staff
pay and conditions
•
Academies may be grouped together in Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs); the Diocese of
Lincoln maintains a Multi-Academy Trust called the Lincoln Anglican Academy Trust
(LAAT)
•
Different types of academies, e.g. traditional academies, convertor academies, free
schools
•
There are 32 academies in the Diocese of Lincoln, including 11 in LAAT

Core Functions of a Governing Board
1. Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
2. Holding the head teacher to account for the educational
performance of the school and its pupils, and the
performance management of staff
3. Overseeing the financial performance of the school and
making sure its money is well spent
PLUS
Ensure that Safeguarding is EFFECTIVE
See p. 9 of the Governors’ Handbook (2017)
Note: the Department for Education refers to ‘Governing Boards’ in order
to incorporate both Governing Bodies and Boards of Directors.

1. Vision and Ethos
The Governing Board must govern in line with its trust deed (or any relevant
governing documents), which is likely to have a strong impact on the
culture, values and ethos of the school.

The “Vision” should describe what the school will look like in 3 to 5 years’
time.

The “Ethos” describes the manner in which the school operates. This
includes behaviour, progress and attainment of pupils and conduct and
professionalism of staff and governors.
“Foundation Governors in maintained schools are appointed by the relevant
appointing body specifically as people that they believe have the ability to
preserve and develop the character of the organisation, including any religious
character.”
Governance Handbook (2017)

2. Holding the Headteacher to Account
The Governing Board must ensure robust accountability – asking questions
about:

Educational performance (pupils and staff)

The highest and lowest performing groups of pupils and the reasons for
their performance

Whether there is a credible plan for addressing underperformance

How the headteacher aims to raise standards

Whether pupils are adequately engaged with the world of work and
appropriately prepared for adult life

The extent to which the school is a happy school with a positive learning
culture

Headteacher Recruitment
It is the responsibility of Governing Boards (with the support of
the Local Authority and Diocese) to appoint the headteacher.
Please ensure you keep the Diocese informed of your
recruitment process.
The following should be considered during this process:

The extent to which the headteacher can support and
develop the Governing Board’s vision for the school

The extent to which the headteacher is able to support the
Christian ethos of the school in order to achieve this vision

The qualifications, experience and passion that the candidate

3. Overseeing Financial Performance
The Governing Board must oversee financial performance and ensure that
money is well-spent.
This means that:

Everyone on the board must ensure they have access to appropriate
training so that they have a basic understanding of the financial cycle and
the legal requirements of the school on accountability and spend

It is useful to have at least one governor with the specific, relevant skills
and experience of financial matters

Budgets must be set to safeguard the best possible education for the
pupils

Budgets must be set to make sure the school is viable and efficient

Safeguarding:
Your Responsibilities
ALL STAFF AND GOVERNORS SHOULD HAVE READ AND UNDERSTOOD:
‘Keeping children safe in education’
All Governing Boards are responsible for the following:

Regularly checking the Single Central Record

Signing and dating the Single Central Record next to all entries when
added

Ensuring that all recruited staff have two references

Ensuring that at least one person on a recruitment panel has received the
Safer Recruitment training

2.
Accountabilit
y
Six Key
Features of
Effective
Governance
1.
Strategic
Leadership
3.
People
4.
Structures
5.
Compliance
6.
Evaluation

1.
Strategic Leadership

Setting direction

Maintaining culture, values and
ethos

Making decisions

Working collaboratively with
stakeholders and partners

Managing risk

2.
Accountability

Ensuring educational improvement

Rigorous analysis of data

Implementing and maintaining
appropriate financial frameworks and
accountability

Implementing and maintaining
financial management and monitoring

Responsibility for staffing and
performance management

Preparing for external accountability

3.
People
Building an effective
team with appropriate
skills and experience

4.
Structures
Being aware of and
fulfilling appropriate
roles and
responsibilities

5.
Compliance
Ensuring that the school
meets all statutory and
contractual requirements

6.
Evaluation

Manging self-review and
the development of
personal skills

Managing and
developing the board’s
effectiveness

Principles and Personal Attributes
Governors are expected to fulfil their duties in line with the Seven Principles
of Public Life (the Nolan Principles). They are expected to be:

Committed

Confident

Curious

Challenging

Collaborative

Critical

Creative

Effective Governance
Governors have a strategic not an operational role in school.
Common Pitfalls
•
not ambitious about expectations
•
lack of a critical friend approach
•
over-reliance on information from the headteacher
•
lack of systematic visits to school
•
lack of engagement with school development planning
•
limited role in monitoring, and none of it ‘independent’
•
limited understanding of data and the school’s effectiveness

Governance: Accountability
Governing Boards are accountable to external agencies
•
SIAMS (Section 48) inspection:
– takes place every five years
– considers the impact of the school’s leadership and management
– considers how clearly the leadership and management articulate and
promote the distinctively Christian character of the school
•
Ofsted (Section 5 or Section 8) inspection:
– Takes place over one day (Section 8) every three years for schools
rated ‘Good’
– Takes place over two days (Section 5) within 18 months to three years

The Trust Deed of a Church of England school will require that Foundation
Governors are appointed as part of the Governing Board. The number of
Foundation Governors on the Governing Board will be determined by the
Instrument of Goverment or Articles of Association (for academies).
Foundation Governors can include:

An ex-officio governor (usually the priest in charge)

A governor appointed by the Diocesan Board of Education (DBE)

A governor appointed by the Parochial Church Council (PCC)

A governor nominated by the PCC and appointed by the DBE

A governor appointed by a Trust associated with the school

Role and Responsibilities of
The role of the Foundation Governor is to ensure that the school preserves and
develops its religious character in accordance with the principles of the Church
of England and in partnership with the Church at parish and diocesan level.
Foundation Governors are also expected to fulfil the general responsibilities of
governors.
Key Responsibilities

being involved in all aspects of school life, offering a Christian viewpoint

asking the question, 'Would a visitor see that this is a Christian school?'

having responsibility for monitoring the impact of collective worship and
Religious Education, as well as standards in Religious Education

playing an active part in supporting the headteacher in preparation for the
SIAMS (Section 48) inspection

Latest Guidance
•
Governance Handbook (2017)
•
A Competency Framework for Governance (2017)
•
Church of England Vision for Education (2016)
•
Diocese of Lincoln Vision for Education (2016)
•
Keeping Children Safe in Education (2016)
•
Glossary of Terms (National Governors’ Association)

Further Support, Advice and
Training
For further support, advice and training, please visit the
Lincoln Diocesan Board of Education website:
http://lincolndiocesaneducation.com/

Quiz
In order to complete the course and receive
your certificate of completion, you will need to
correctly answer 80% of the quiz questions.
Please select the quiz from the menu to
proceed.

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