There is a range of policies and plans that governing bodies are legally required to adopt. Most policies and plans adopted by them will be high level documents: they will state the aims and intended outcomes. They will not go into a lot of operational detail as their implementation will be carried out in the school. However, where the governing body has specific operational responsibilities (for example in personnel procedures or complaints), the policy will state details of the procedure to be followed. Some policies are produced as model documents following widespread negotiation and governing bodies should adopt them without altering them.
Governing bodies are expected to generally work at a strategic level, so should not be involved in agreeing internal school procedures (for example how individual subjects are taught). Where there are sensitive issues, it may be felt appropriate for the governing body to endorse a policy that deals with an operational, day to day matter.
There are some areas of personnel practice where, although it is not legally required that the governing body adopts a policy, it is advisable that a policy or procedure is adopted.
Personnel model policies and further information are available from our Human Resources team to those governing bodies that have subscribed to HR services.
A list of the legally required policies and other documents is available from the Department for Education Opens in a new window.
Governing bodies should keep policies and publications under review.
9168A model expenses policy for use by Torbay school governing bodies.