The role of the governing body in supporting school improvement relies largely on receiving accurate information about the performance of the school. Head teachers play an extremely important role in providing this information by reporting on and giving an account of the performance of the school. There is no prescriptive guidance on what the Head’s report should look like or contain so the contents can be agreed between the Head and the governing body depending on the particular circumstances of your school.

Reports are the main mechanism for the Head teacher to account to the governing body for the:

  • Quality of education provided
  • Development of pupils
  • Standards attained and trends of performance
  • Progress made in implementing the school’s improvement plan (SIP) and OFSTED action plans

Reports will therefore contain monitoring information on both performance and policy implementation. They should also be a forward look at the upcoming priorities or plans for the school so that governors have a chance to discuss them beforehand.

Reports should also assist decision making by providing governing bodies with the information they will need to make decisions or to formulate policy, for example, linking finance to resourcing the curriculum.

Areas that may be included in a report are:

 

  • The curriculum: the quality of teaching and learning and issues from the SIP
  • The staff: in particular how staff are managed and organised and staff development, including teaching and non-teaching
  • The resources: major expenditures needed and the effectiveness of expenditure
  • The pupils: test results, monitoring and evaluating performance and target setting, attendance, exclusions, admissions, roll, special needs, inclusion, performance indicators and extra activities
  • The finances: monitoring the budget, donations, how the school has applied best value
  • The premises: health and safety issues, maintenance and improvements
  • Leadership and management: leadership issues, including Performance Management
  • School Improvement Plan: progress in key areas