Governors are volunteers who are responsible for strategic leadership and accountability within a school.
Governing boards or committees have three core functions:
- To ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction for a school.
- To hold the executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the school, its pupils, and the performance management of staff.
- Oversee the financial performance of the school and make sure its money is well spent.
In practice, this means Governing boards or committees are responsible for:
- Setting policies and ensuring they are adhered to.
- Setting and monitoring the budget.
- Monitoring the progress that the school is making.
- Setting targets for school improvement.
Governing boards or committees are accountable to several “Stakeholders” for the way the school is managed, these include, parents, pupils, the local community and OFSTED. Governors are not involved in the operational running of the school.