Governor Support and Development

🔒 Fully aligned with the Ofsted 2025 School Inspection Toolkit

This ready-to-use SEF template takes the complexity out of school self-evaluation, providing clear frameworks and prompts that reflect how inspectors actually assess schools against the 2025 Ofsted Inspection Framework. Designed specifically for headteachers, deputy heads, and senior leadership teams who need efficient, evidence-based evaluation tools.

What you get in the pack

Two comprehensive documents that work together:

☑️ Self-Evaluation Form Template Complete editable evaluation framework with detailed prompts for all evaluation areas, evidence source suggestions for each section, and structured format ensuring comprehensive coverage. Fully editable to save hours of formatting time covering the following areas:

• Safeguarding - comprehensive prompts covering culture, policies, training, and multi-agency working
• Inclusion - SEND provision, disadvantaged pupils, pupil premium strategy, and accessibility
• Curriculum and Teaching - curriculum design, sequencing, assessment, and professional development
• Achievement - progress tracking, foundational knowledge, and outcomes analysis
• Attendance and Behaviour - culture, expectations, intervention strategies, and data analysis
• Personal Development and Well-being - PSHE, careers education, character development, and life preparation
• Leadership and Governance - strategic planning, performance management, and stakeholder engagement
• Early Years - EYFS curriculum, assessment, and transition planning (where applicable)
• Post-16 Provision - study programmes, careers guidance, and progression outcomes (where applicable)

☑️ Ofsted Grade Descriptor Grids Current grade descriptors aligned to the latest inspection toolkit, helping you accurately assess performance against the standards inspectors actually use.

• Quality of Education
• Behaviour and Attitudes
• Personal Development
• Leadership and Management
• Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) (if applicable to your setting)
• Sixth-Form Provision (if applicable to your setting)

Perfect for headteachers planning and reviewing their SIP, senior leaders conducting annual reviews, or governing bodies seeking structured evaluation processes. It's particularly valuable for new headteachers or leadership teams wanting to ensure comprehensive coverage of all inspection areas or those wishing to refine their SEF writing process.

👉 For those seeking deeper guidance on how to write a SEF, our School Evaluation and Improvement Pack is also available - it contains this editable SEF template too, plus templates for writing a school improvement plan, full PDF guidance and further supportive resources. If you're thinking about your SEF as part of Ofsted preparation, it's available in the full Ofsted Inspection Preparation Pack too.

🔒 Fully aligned to the 2025 Ofsted Inspection Toolkit and Framework and all 2025-2026 statutory guidance

This bundle is perfect for headteachers, trust leaders, governance professionals and SLT members who wish to be consistent in the way they report information to their governing board. The fourteen editable reporting templates will help your governing board to gain a clearer picture in each of the areas, which include reports for:

• attendance
• behaviour
• curriculum
• data protection
• EYFS
• finance
• headteacher's report to governors
• health and safety
• looked-after children
• pupil premium
• annual safeguarding report
• school well-being and personal development
• SEND and inclusion
• subject (can be used multiple times for different subjects)

Each template contains space for data and commentary, allowing governors to build a picture of the school's current position and the reasons behind this.

Regular reports to the relevant governor committees, the full governing board or your local board members allows all of your governors to make more effective strategic decisions because they'll hold a deeper understanding of the school. It can also support governors to share how they hold school leadership to account to ensure compliance, which is a crucial part of the Ofsted leadership and governance judgement and a key feature of an effective governing board.

👉 For support with a specific link governor role, the relevant report to governor template is also available in our individual link governor support packs. These packs also include full audits that can be used in a collaborative manner between schools leaders and governors, plus a role and responsibilities document to support link governors with their specific roles.

🔒 Fully aligned with Ofsted 2025 School Inspection Toolkit

This Headteacher's Report to Governors template is ideal for school leaders who are seeking a little extra support when considering what to include in their termly report to the governing body and how to best present information about the school's successes and challenges. 

The HT report to governors template is carefully structured so you can report back to your governing board and give them an overview across a wide range of areas, including:

• A summary of the term
• Pupil information, including numbers on roll, leavers, admissions and details of those in receipt of pupil premium (free school meals)
• Attendance
• SEND and Inclusion
• Safeguarding, behaviour and welfare, including suspensions, exclusions and bullying
• Curriculum and teaching, including outcomes from monitoring and staff CPD
• School improvement visits
• Staffing and personnel updates
• Health and safety 

The 15-page template is fully editable, so you can add or remove details depending on your school's context.

Ensuring that your governors know the school well is a vital part of the leadership and management of any setting. As such, this template can also be found as part of our Reports to Governors Template Bundle and our Ofsted Preparation Pack, which support school leaders with understanding and preparing for the inspection process. A separate Annual Safeguarding Report to Governors template is also available to help you to work effectively with your governing board.

🔒 Fully aligned with the Ofsted 2025 School Inspection Toolkit

Streamline your school improvement journey with practical tools designed specifically for headteachers, senior leaders and school improvement teams. This detailed pack provides everything you need to create robust self-evaluation forms, strategic improvement plans and post-Ofsted action plans that drive meaningful change.

What you'll get:

• Complete 24-page Self-Evaluation Form template aligned to the 2025 Ofsted framework with guided support commentary, plus editable Ofsted Grade Descriptor Grids
• Ready-to-use School Improvement Plan template plus comprehensive checklist to ensure the key SIP areas are covered
  
• CPD Plan and Cycle templates with Staff Confidence Survey to support improvement and staff development
• Headteacher's Report to Governors template for report to the governing board
• Pupil, Parent, Staff and Governor Question Bank for gathering stakeholder voice
• Step-by-step 34-page guidance covering all aspects of school improvement planning with practical examples and reflection prompts

Perfect for: Headteachers, deputy heads, assistant heads, and senior leadership teams leading whole-school improvement initiatives. Especially valuable for leaders who are new to writing a SEF or a SIP, and schools preparing for inspection, implementing new improvement strategies, or responding to Ofsted framework changes.

🔎 Want a closer look? Click here to preview the update pack🔗 

🔄 Updated for 2026

Safeguarding governors need to do more than review data at termly meetings – they also have a role in checking, in the moment, that safeguarding culture, policy and practice are working as they should day to day. These spot check questions give safeguarding link governors a practical tool for doing exactly that.

Whether dipping into a specific area of practice, having a quick conversation with a member of staff or checking that procedures are being followed on the ground, this template provides ready-to-use questions for governors to use during informal visits and spot checks in school.

You'll get:

☑️ Safeguarding Spot Check Questions – a focused set of questions for safeguarding link governors to use during school visits, covering the key areas of safeguarding culture, policy and day-to-day practice

Fully editable so you can adapt it to reflect your school's context and priorities.

👉 This set of questions is also available in the larger Safeguarding Link Governor Support Pack, which has a set of deeper, more strategic set of safeguarding questions, a safeguarding report to governors template and a roles and responsibilities document.

This handy 18-page editable document is designed to help school finance governors to support and challenge their setting's headteacher, principal or academy head when planning and setting the school budget. It contains reflective questions to be used in a constructive dialogue in the following areas:

• Budget planning
• Budget risk factors, contingency and compliance
• Income
• School improvement
• Contracts and benchmarking
• Staffing
• Pupil numbers and class sizes
• Pupil premium and SEND
• Deficit and recovery planning (use if applicable to your setting)
• Budget variation

For each question, there's space to note any discussion outcomes as well as the evidence you've gathered to support budget planning decisions. It can be used by both maintained schools and academies where governors or local board members support the academy's headteacher to plan the budget.

Whether you're a finance link governor, the chair of a governor finance committee or a school leader looking to support your governors, this checklist allows you to work collaboratively and ensure that governors are fulfilling one of the governing body's core functions of ensuring the sound, proper and effective use of the school’s financial resources.

👉 Looking for more budget support? This template is also available in the full School Budget Management Pack, which can also help you to plan your budget, upskill yourself on financial management and identify where cost savings can be made.

👉 For broader support for finance link governors that covers a fuller picture of the school's finances and governor skill development over time, our Finance Link Governor Support Pack may also be of interest.

🔄 Updated for 2026

Supporting your SEND link governor effectively takes structure, clarity and the right tools. This pack gives you this with four fully editable resources designed to strengthen SEND and inclusion governance in your school, whether your link governor is new to role or needs more support to be highly effective.

You'll get:

☑️ SEND Questions for Governors and Trustees – 12 pages of structured questions to support meaningful collaboration between the SEND link governor and key school staff such as the SENDCo, headteacher and others with responsibility for SEND and inclusion, plus a triangulating evidence section and an action plan template to document next steps

☑️ Equality and Accessibility Questions for Governors and Trustees – focused questions to help the SEND link governor and those responsible for accessibility and equality evaluate the school's inclusivity for all pupils and staff

☑️ SEND Report to Governors Template – a clear, structured template covering SEND data and commentary, giving the full governing board the insight they need

☑️ SEND Link Governor Roles and Responsibilities – an editable outline of the SEND and inclusion governor's key responsibilities, ideal for onboarding a new governor or bringing clarity to an existing role

All resources are fully editable so you can adapt them to reflect your school's context and needs.

For DSLs and headteachers who need a structured, comprehensive way to report on safeguarding across the school to their governing board.

You'll get:

☑️ Annual Safeguarding Report to Governors – a fully editable 13-page Word document covering:

• safeguarding overview and culture
• safeguarding governor visit overview
• DSL and deputy DSL details and training
• safer recruitment information
• staff safeguarding training including Prevent duty
• induction procedures for new starters, volunteers and visitors
• alternative provision safeguarding arrangements
• Single Central Record (SCR) summary and compliance
• curriculum provision and safeguarding teaching
• space for narrative on pupil voice on safety and help-seeking, child-on-child abuse and whole-school culture, online safety filtering and monitoring including AI tools and cyber security
• referrals and cases including numbers of children in need plans, child protection plans, CME, LADO and Prevent/Channel referrals
•  allegations against staff and low-level concerns
• specific safeguarding risks covering a comprehensive range of risk areas
• multi-agency and external partnerships
• vulnerable groups oversight
• safeguarding-related policies and procedures
• KCSIE implementation
• a structured evaluation and improvement section including governor questions and challenges.

All sections are fully editable so you can adapt the template to your school's context and reporting cycle.

Ideal for designated safeguarding leads, headteachers and deputy headteachers preparing an annual safeguarding reports to governors. The template could be used termly as well.

👉 Ensuring that your governors know your school well - especially when it comes to safeguarding pupils - is a vital part of the leadership and governance of any setting. As such, this template can also be found as part of our Reports to Governors Template Bundle. A separate Headteacher's Report to Governors Template is also available to help you to work effectively with your governing board.