Using this guidance
What you need to know about legal requirements and resources from third parties.
In this guidance:
- must is a legal or regulatory requirement or duty which must be complied with
- should is the minimum good practice which should be applied (unless it can be demonstrated that an alternative approach is more appropriate)
Where neither a must or should is used, the content refers to the generally held view of high quality governance.
Additional governance expectations or arrangements may be in place for specific groups of schools, for example by diocesan authorities. This guide refers to these where relevant but does not aim to cover them comprehensively.
Many third party organisations provide support for governing bodies, and we recognise the value that these resources bring to help support effective governance.
Some resources are only available through membership subscription, but links have been provided for free guidance where available. This is intended as further reading, and not a formal endorsement of the content.