Governing bodies

Guidance and support for school governing body members including how to become a local authority (LA) governor.

Membership requirements

The governing bodies of all schools must have at least 7 members but there is no upper limit to how many members they can include.

They must also include the following roles:

  • headteacher - unless the headteacher resigns as a governor
  • local authority (LA) governor - there must be only 1 of these roles
  • parent governors - there must be at least 2 of these roles
  • staff governor - there must be only 1 of these in addition to the headteacher

Co-opted boards

Co-opted school bodies can also include as many additional governors as they like as long as staff governors (including the headteacher) do not make up more than 33% of the total membership.

Foundation and voluntary boards

Foundation and voluntary school bodies must also include partnership or foundation governors.

Where schools have a religious character, they must be nominated by the appropriate religious body.

Their number (and percentage of total membership) must meet the following requirements:

  • foundation and foundation special schools with no foundation - at least 2 (but no more than 25% of total membership) partnership governors
  • foundation or foundation special schools with a foundation - at least 2 (but no more than 45% of total membership) foundation governors
  • qualifying foundation schools - a majority of up to 2 foundation governors over all other categories of governor giving them overall control
  • voluntary-aided schools - a majority of up to 2 foundation governors over all the other categories of governor giving them overall control
  • voluntary-controlled schools - at least 2 (but no more than 25% of total membership) foundation governors

Associate member requirements

Governing bodies can include associate members on committees where they can help with their expertise and experience.

They are not governors and are not recorded on the body's Instrument of Government (IoG).

They can attend full governing body meetings but cannot vote on body decisions. However, they can be given a vote on decisions made by the committees they attend.