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Monitoring & outcomes

Trust board reports

Use our reporting templates for multi academy trust boards to ensure the right information is included.

Tools & templates
04/09/2025
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Reports provided to the trust board are a primary source of information and serve as a starting point for scrutiny and challenge. Trustees need enough information to govern effectively, whilst balancing the workload burden on the CEO and other trust leaders providing reports.

This challenge is particularly acute for a multi academy trust board - trustees are accountable for the running of a large organisation and need to receive the right information to govern these large, complex and dynamic institutions effectively without being overwhelmed.

Our templates and guidance give boards the information they need to identify concerns and ask the right questions of trust leaders. In these templates, we set out seven reports which trust boards should receive every term, including:

  • a trust dashboard (high-level performance overview)
  • strategic priorities
  • curriculum and standards
  • finance
  • workforce and operations
  • safeguarding
  • governance 

Trusts should adapt the reports and reporting timetable to their context, taking into account their size, scheme of delegation and the particular remits of their executive leaders.

Trust reporting templates

MS Word download

  • "Having spotted these templates last month, I floated the idea of using them to create a single board report for trustees. The trust board were very keen ... I am now working on adapting the templates for our trust's needs."

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    Susanna Atassi Wagner

    Governance Manager

    The White Hills Park Trust

    Webinar

    Getting board reporting right

    Join Sam Henson, NGA's Director of Policy and Information, as he explores the topic of executive board reporting and the information boards need to fulfil their role. The webinar covers:

    • the delicate balance of effective board reporting
    • the limitations of reports from executive leaders
    • internal and external data sources
    • practical ideas for triangulating key areas
    Watch the webinar
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