School Governance

School Leadership and Governance is part of the work of the Standards and Excellence Team. We hope that you will find the information here useful in your role as a school leader; it will be added to throughout the year. If you have any questions, or suggestions about what might be a helpful addition to the page, please email us using the contact details below or use the Key Contacts section.

Veronica Mwondela, Senior Governance Advisor
[email protected] or telephone 01473 265987

Lyndsay Cook, Governor Development Advisor
[email protected] or telephone 01473 260163

Latest News: School Governance Guides

The Department for Education (DfE) have withdrawn the Governance Handbook and replaced it with new separate guides for maintained schools and academy trusts. You can find both guides at the links below:

Maintained Schools Governance Guide
Academy Trust Governance Guide

Governor Development Resources

Governor Recruitment Toolkit – a guide to aid governing boards in the recruitment and appointment of new governors. The Toolkit includes guidance on succession planning, what to consider when thinking about recruiting new governors, advertising your vacancies, introducing prospective candidates to the governing board and how new governors should be appointed and inducted.

Chair of Governors – Welcome to the Role – a document designed to provide new Chairs of Governors with an overview of the role and it’s responsibilities.

Chair of Governors and Headteacher Agreement – this template can be used when one party is new to role, or as part of regularly reviewing the working relationship. The professional relationship between the Chair of Governors and the Headteacher is crucial to the successful leadership of a school and this template can be used to agree ground rules, clarity of roles and expectations.

Governor Headlines

Governor Headlines is a regular e-newsletter produced by Suffolk County Council’s Governor Services team to support you in your role as governors and keep you informed of the latest updates. If yourself or a fellow governor does not receive the newsletter directly please email [email protected]. The most recent editions can be found below.

Governor Headlines #59 – February 24
Governor Headlines #60 – April 24
Governor Headlines #61 – June 24
Governor Headlines #62 – July 24