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This policy outlines the purpose, scope, and protocol for governor visits at [School Name], focusing on monitoring improvement strategies and fostering effective partnerships with staff.
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Our governing board has a statutory responsibility to promote high standards at the school and must monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the school’s strategies for improvement. Additionally, through visiting the school, governors will get to know it better and will understand better its strengths, and the challenges it faces. An effective partnership between governors and staff, based on a common understanding of the school’s key priorities and what is being done to address them, benefits the whole school community.
The governing board is a corporate body and our governors visit the school as a representative member of that body, not as individuals. The board commissions the governors to visit the school, and governors will report back to the board on their visits as part of their monitoring of the school’s improvement in key priority areas, as identified in the school development plan.
The following protocol provides an agreed framework for governors to use when planning and carrying out their school visits at [School Name].
Governor visits will be related to the current key priority focus areas of the school’s improvement, as defined in the school development plan. The board will decide annually which aspects of the school’s improvement will be the focus for the year’s governor visits and governors will organise their visits to observe elements of the school’s improvement strategies in action.
Governors with a delegated responsibility, eg for safeguarding, SEND and Health & Safety, also undertake visits specifically to monitor the school’s compliance with the statutory requirements, and to assure that school practice is systematic and robust, with the school’s policies being fully embedded in its working practices and ethos.
In determining how often visits will take place, the board will take into account:
The views of the headteacher and senior leadership team, taken in consultation with the school’s staff, to ensure the school’s work is not disrupted by governor visits.
Governors’ work and other commitments. It is acknowledged that undertaking governor visits during the school day is a significant demand on governors with limited availability during working hours, due to their work and other commitments. At [name of school] the governors have committed to each undertaking [number] visits per year, as set out in the governing board’s code of conduct. Governor visits will be scheduled well in advance.
Governor visits will be strongly time-focussed, typically lasting no more than [insert time – eg one hour with any member of staff / one lesson in any one class].
Consider whether there are any other factors specific to the board/school’s current situation or ground rules – eg whether parent governors will visit their children’s classes or not; whether governors will avoid particularly stressful/busy periods in the school calendar etc - and add them here.
The below is an example of planning protocol – and should be tailored to fit your school:
Governor visits will be initially discussed at the first governing board meeting of the academic year, and specific visits will then be commissioned by the board for the individual governors to set up and undertake.
Governors may visit in singles, pairs or small groups (with consideration being given to the impact that a small group may have if undertaking a class visit). At [name of school], new governors are paired up with an experienced governor to undertake their initial school visit, so they can observe the process of a visit before being responsible for undertaking one alone.THEN EITHER
[Name of school] governors are already linked to [classes / year groups / subjects] and the initial approach about an up-coming school visit will be from the governor to the [class teacher / subject leader etc] via email, cc’d to the Headteacher. OR
The initial approach to the member of staff, regarding an up-coming school visit, will be from the Headteacher, who will make the introductions so that the member of staff and governor can then further liaise to plan the visit.or it might be different to both of these – to be discussed with the Headteacher & board
The governor will contact the member of staff well in advance of the visit, to talk through the focus of the visit. The governor and staff member will then agree together how best to set up the visit, to make effective use of everyone’s time.Governors are mindful that when visiting a class their presence can alter the class dynamic and are keen to mitigate this. Governors will advise the teacher if the visit is likely to involve joining a classroom mid-lesson, or leaving before the end of the lesson, and will ask the teacher how they should participate in the lesson to minimise possible disruption.If the board has asked the governor to look at books and/or ask pupils questions as part of the visit, the governor will discuss this with the teacher, so that the teacher can make the arrangements for this to happen at a suitable point during or after the lesson.
The class teacher will inform any other in-class staff of the governor visit and what its focus is, to ensure that the purpose of visit (ie generally “governors seeing for themselves how the school is addressing its key priorities”) is transparent and staff understand how they can contribute.
Governors will ensure that all participants understand that governor visits are NOT inspections, neither are they performance-related lesson observations as carried out by the school’s leadership team and external education professionals.
Governors will further prepare for their visit by reading any documentation supplied in advance.
When governors visit the school, they will sign in and [specify the signing in process– wear a visitor’s badge, plus (maybe) their governor lanyard etc].
All [name of school] governors are DBS checked, have undertaken safeguarding awareness training and have read and understood Keeping Children Safe in Education Part I. Governors will follow the school’s safeguarding procedures and the staff & volunteer code of conduct whilst in-school.
On the visit day, governors will if possible meet with the teacher before the lesson to check there are no last-minute changes further to their visit planning discussion.
At the end of the visit, the governor will, if possible, thank all the staff who were involved and will give an indication of timeline for when the draft visit report will be completed.
Where this is not possible – eg if the visit is due to finish mid-way through a lesson – the governor will communicate their thanks and timescale via an alternative mechanism (eg email).
If clarification is required regarding anything seen during the lesson, the governor will seek to obtain this as soon as possible (ideally on the visit day itself), to enable the report to be written in a timely manner.
