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Governing board roles

Local Governance Essentials

This flexible programme, designed around the unique governance arrangements of your MAT, equips new local governors, and those seeking a refresher, with the essential knowledge and understanding to contribute confidently, supporting strong trust governance and delivering the impact trusts require 

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Group training
21/11/2025
Bespoke
Zoom
training people looking in same direction at table
Time
Bespoke
Location
Zoom

What’s covered

The programme includes a range of units which trusts can choose to create a suitable programme for their local governors, covering those areas for which their local governors have a responsibility.

Local governance principles and structures, units 1 and 2 

The first two one-hour units are likely to be relevant for all local boards and their governors and cover:

  • How governance is organised in their trust
  • Their own roles and responsibilities within their trust
  • How their local board is constituted and organised
  • The behaviours and conduct expected of local governors
  • How to support the trust board to meet its core purposes, duties and accountabilities
  • How to contribute strategically to the improvement of their school and their trust and the achieving of the trust dividend
  • The local tier’s role in setting and communicating trust and school strategy
  • What effective local governance monitoring and assurance looks like in practice
  • How to question and challenge effectively
  • How to undertake successful governance visits
  • How to work with the governance professionals and other central team members
  • Making a committed contribution to the success of their local board through meetings, link governor roles and other delegated responsibilities

Specific areas of local governance units 3 to 9

The following is a non-exhaustive list of units covering areas of governance responsibility commonly delegated to the local tier in MATs.    

Each MAT can choose to include in its programme one or more of these units, depending on what responsibilities are delegated and priorities.  

  1. Using data to monitor pupil progress and attainment and drive improvement 
  2. Championing inclusion: the role of local governors in supporting SEND 
  3. Strengthening stakeholder engagement in your school and trust 
  4. Strategic safeguarding – the role of local governors in keeping pupils safe 
  5. Delivering financial oversight at school level 
  6. Strengthening pupil welfare in your school 
  7. Helping to ensure a safe and well-maintained school premises 

There is more information as to the aims and content of each unit below.

This programme will be delivered by a consultant from our NGA Consultant team, details of whom will be provided in advance for approval.  

Please contact our Head of Training, Paul Aber to discuss what the programme can offer your local governors and what combination of units would work best for them. 

About the programme

  • Local governors in MATs
  • Senior leaders and governance professionals seeking a better understanding of how local governance works in their trust

As the programme will be tailored to the particular governance arrangements of the MAT and what is delegated locally, participants’ time will be invested only in what is relevant for them and how things work in their trust.

  • Expert led focus on good practice
  • Sharp insights into challenges and pitfalls and how to avoid them
  • Small group interactivity for richer understanding

The sessions will be interactive with a mixture of participant activities and facilitator-led explanation and discussion.

The sessions can be delivered in person or remotely via Zoom although it is likely that the latter will be preferred by most trusts in order to make the sessions as accessible as possible across its schools.

Using typical scenarios and examples of current good practice and a variety of activities participants will explore how to meet expectations of them under their trust’s scheme of delegation, their board’s terms of reference and school strategies and policies.

Each session will be supported with materials including a resource toolkit and templates to help with next steps and implementation in governance settings.

Costs

This is a flexible programme, and accordingly, fees depend on the number of sessions commissioned, whether units are delivered in person or remotely, and whether they are delivered together or individually. The more units commissioned at one time, the lower the fee per unit. If units are delivered together, if, for example, they are paired, or several are spread over a training day, then this will be more efficient; the aim is a programme that meets the needs of local governors in the best way. The various options will be explored during scoping and commissioning to achieve the best programme at the best price, but here are some examples of how it works.

Example 1:  A two-unit programme
 

In person

Remote

Pattern

NGA member

Non member

NGA member

Non member

2 x 1hr

£800

£900

£680

£750

1 x 2hr

£745

£815

£625

£710

Example 2: A four-unit programme
 

In person

Remote

Pattern

NGA member

Non member

NGA member

Non member

4 x 1hr

£1520

£1710

£1295

£1435

2 x 2hr

£1415

£1550

£1190

£1350

1 x 4hr

£1025

£1130

*N/A

*N/A

Example 3: A six-unit programme
 

In person

Remote

Schedule

NGA member

Non member

NGA member

Non member

6 x 1hr

£2280

£2565

£1940

£2135

3 x 2hr

£2125

£2445

£1785

£2025

1 x 6hr  (full day)

1190

1325

*N/A

*N/A

*Experience shows that learning and engagement is likely to reduce if remote delivery sessions are too long and so we do not offer this schedule

Outcomes for each unit

All units are 1 hour.

  1. Develop a clear understanding of your legal responsibilities and delegated powers within the MAT governance structure. 
  2. Gain confidence in knowing how and where your local governing board can make a meaningful impact to drive success in your school and the trust. 
  3. Build awareness of key relationships and how to collaborate effectively with trustees, CEO, SLT, and other stakeholders. 
  4. Embrace ethical governance and the behaviours and conduct expected to uphold trust and integrity in your role and work collaboratively with your fellow local governors 
  1. Master the Strategic Role – Understand the purpose of local governance and how to focus on strategic priorities without getting bogged down in day-to-day operations. 
  2. Question with Confidence – Develop the skills to challenge and support school leaders constructively through effective questions and discussions. 
  3. Monitor and Assure Progress – Gain the ability to assess school performance, track improvement plans, and provide assurance based on evidence, visits, and reports. 
  4. Enhance Team Effectiveness – Strengthen teamwork, clarify roles, and implement practical steps to make governance more impactful and efficient. 
  1. Confidently interpret and question school data to to interpret trends in attainment, progress, attendance and behaviour to spot strengths and concerns. 
  2. Develop the confidence to question data, benchmark performance, and know when to challenge or escalate issues. 
  3. Use evidence-based analysis to hold school leaders to account, drive improvement and help ensure equity in education in your school 
  4. Contribute to the making informed, strategic decisions and actions that positively impact pupil outcomes and school success.  
  1. Develop confident understanding of statutory responsibilities for SEND and how to promote inclusive practice in schools. 
  2. Use and interpret SEND data effectively to monitor progress, identify areas for improvement, and hold school leaders to account through suitable question and challenge 
  3. Champion a culture of inclusion by supporting and constructively challenging school leaders to maintain high expectations for all learners. 
  1. Identify and understand the key stakeholders in your school and trust, and their role in effective governance
  2. Confidently support and monitor stakeholder engagement using pragmatic strategies and trust policies.
  3. Act as an informed bridge between school, trust leadership, and the wider community to strengthen relationships and accountability.
  1. Confidently fulfil your statutory safeguarding duties and understand your responsibilities within the trust’s governance framework.
  2. Effectively monitor and challenge the effectiveness of safeguarding practices using evidence, visits, and data.
  3. Champion a strong safeguarding culture that ensures every pupil’s safety and wellbeing.
  1. Confidently oversee school finances by understanding the governor’s role, boundaries, and responsibilities within a MAT framework.
  2. Interpret and challenge financial information effectively to ensure transparency, value for money, and compliance.
  3. Link resources to impact by evaluating how financial decisions support educational priorities and improve pupil outcomes.
  1. Understand what pupil welfare means and how it connects to safeguarding, wellbeing, and inclusion duties. 
  2. Confidently use data and strategic questioning to hold leaders accountable for pupil welfare and to drive improvement. 
  3. Actively champion a culture of wellbeing, equality, and pupil voice across your school and trust. 
  1. Clear understanding of local governors’ strategic responsibilities in overseeing school premises safety and maintenance, avoiding straying into operational health and safety matters
  2. Confidence in using reports, visits, and evidence to monitor compliance with legal requirements and to challenge and support leaders effectively, knowing how and when to escalate concerns.
  3. Ability to champion a culture of safety, compliance, and improvement in the school environment.

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