External reviews of governance

An external review of governance will examine your board’s culture, structure and practice, based on the elements of effective governance outlined in the DfE’s Governance Handbook.

NGA has extensive experience of carrying out external reviews of governance for maintained school governing bodies, academy trust boards and other organisations’ boards.

Consultancy

03/05/2023

Why commission a review?

An effective external review of governance by NGA will monitor and improve the quality, performance and impact of your board.

Reviewing board effectiveness is good practice and guidance can be found in both the DfE’s Governance Handbook and the Academy Trust Handbook.

NGA recommends that boards and senior leaders self-evaluate annually and undertake an external review every three years or:

before any significant change
when there is no previous history of board evaluation, so a starting point is required
following the appointment of a new chair, new trustees or governors, or new leadership of the trust or school
when there are specific issues with standards, financial management or complaints

What will the review involve?

A review by an experienced NGA governance consultant provides an independent and objective view of your board’s strengths, along with clear recommendations for improvement.

Between external reviews, NGA’s online self-evaluation for boards features key questions for governing boards to ask themselves and provides feedback, with instantly generated reports.