Governor Support and Development

Are you a new school governor wondering where to begin? Or are you a headteacher, governance lead or chair of governors looking for a practical induction resource to share with someone joining your board? Either way, this free Honeyguide checklist is exactly what you need.

Becoming a school governor is genuinely important work but the role can feel bewildering at first. Understanding the difference between strategic and operational governance, getting to grips with school data, fulfilling safeguarding responsibilities and preparing for link governor visits all take time and guidance. This checklist breaks it all down into clear, manageable tasks, from the reading you should do before your very first meeting through to the contributions you should be making by the end of your first full term.

Whether you're a parent governor, a community governor, a staff governor or a co-opted governor, this resource will help you settle into the role with confidence. 

👉 For heads and SLT looking for ideas of what tasks they could undertake to support a new governor, see our free Start Point: Supporting a New Governor Checklist too!

Effective governors are one of a school's strongest assets but a new governor who feels unsupported, uncertain about their role or unclear about the school's context is unlikely to contribute with confidence from the start. This free Honeyguide checklist is designed to help headteachers and senior leaders get governor induction right.

Welcoming a new governor well takes more than sending over a few documents before the first meeting. It means taking the time to explain the strategic versus operational distinction, introducing them to the right people, building their confidence around school data and Ofsted expectations, and helping them find a link governor role where they can genuinely contribute. Done well, a strong induction process means governors who are engaged, effective and a real support to school leadership.

This checklist walks you through everything you need to do, from the initial welcome through to a formal check-in at the end of their first term. It's ideal for headteachers, deputies, governance leads and chairs of governors welcoming a new governor to the board.

👉 Looking for more support for new governors? The free Start Point: New to Governance Checklist gives the new governor themselves ideas of tasks to do in their first term as a member of the governing body.

🔒 Fully aligned to the 2025 Ofsted School Inspection Toolkit

This three-part pack gives headteachers a complete toolkit for preparing governors ahead of an Ofsted inspection. It covers the inspection process itself, the questions inspectors could ask across all nine evaluation areas, and a ready-to-use PowerPoint for running a governor preparation session. 

You'll get:

☑️ Ofsted Inspection Preparation Questions for Governors and Trustees – a comprehensive 38-page rehearsal tool organised around the nine evaluation areas of the 2025 School Inspection Toolkit, with inspector-style questions, guidance on what each question is exploring, tips for answering and a notes column for governors to record their own examples and evidence in advance

☑️ Ofsted Inspections – Guidance for Governors – a clear, accessible PDF overview of how the current inspection framework works, what governors' roles are during inspection and how to prepare; designed to be shared with governors in advance of the inspection

☑️ Ofsted Inspection Governors and Trustees Update Briefing PowerPoint – a structured 34-slide presentation for the headteacher to use in a governor preparation meeting, covering the key changes to the framework, what happens in the governance meeting during an inspection and discussion prompts across the main evaluation areas

Ideal for headteachers, deputy headteachers and chairs of governors preparing their governing board ahead of a Section 5 inspection. All documents (except the PDF) are fully editable so you can adapt them for your school's specific context.

👉 Looking for further support on preparing for inspection? We have a full range of confidence-building inspection preparation materials too.

Designed for headteachers, deputy heads and attendance leads, this ready-made template gives you a clear, structured starting point for reporting attendance data and strategy to your governing board, without having to build a report from scratch.

You'll get:

☑️ Attendance Report to Governors Template – a comprehensive, 9-page editable Word document covering:

• whole-school attendance data
• attendance by pupil group and year group
• year-on-year comparisons
• session-by-session analysis
• CME and alternative provision tracking
• attendance improvement strategies
• multi-agency partnership work
• known barriers to attendance
• a strengths and areas for development evaluation, including a dedicated section for 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 headteachers, deputy heads, attendance leads and attendance champions preparing termly or annual reports to governors.

👉 Looking for more governor report templates? This template and others are part of our Reports to Governors Template Bundle

Designed for headteachers, deputy heads and behaviour leads, this ready-made template gives you a clear, structured starting point for reporting behaviour data and strategy to your governing board without having to build a report from scratch.

You'll get:

☑️ Behaviour Report to Governors Template – a comprehensive, 10-page editable Word document covering:

• exclusions, suspensions and behaviour sanctions
• bullying and discriminatory incidents
• behaviour by pupil group
• behaviour incidents by category and year group
• attitudes to learning
• behaviour policy review dates
• behaviour strategies and interventions
• multi-agency partnership work
• behaviour survey feedback
• a strengths and areas for development evaluation, including a dedicated section for 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 headteachers, deputy heads and behaviour leads preparing termly or annual reports to governors.

👉 Looking for more governor report templates? This template and others are part of our Reports to Governors Template Bundle

Designed for headteachers, data protection officers and school business managers, this ready-made template gives you a clear, structured starting point for reporting on data protection compliance to your governing board without having to build a report from scratch.

You'll get:

☑️ Data Protection Report to Governors Template – a comprehensive, editable Word document covering:

• UK GDPR compliance status
• policy and privacy notice review dates
• staff training completion
• individual rights requests including subject access requests
• third-party data processor agreements
• Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs)
• data breaches and ICO reporting
• a strengths and areas for development evaluation, including sections for upcoming challenges and 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 headteachers, data protection officers, school business managers and senior leaders preparing termly or annual data protection reports to governors.

👉 Looking for more governor report templates? This template and others are part of our Reports to Governors Template Bundle

Designed for headteachers, deputy heads and EYFS leads, this ready-made template gives you a clear, structured starting point for reporting on Early Years provision to your governing board without having to build a report from scratch.

You'll get:

☑️ EYFS Report to Governors Template – a comprehensive, 11-page editable Word document covering:

• EYFS improvement priorities, achievements and staffing updates
• curriculum intent including phonics, communication and language, and mathematics
• quality of teaching and monitoring
• assessment data including baseline, in-year and end-of-year GLD outcomes
• attendance, behaviour and PSED
• SEND provision and the graduated approach
• disadvantaged children and the Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)
• transitions
• statutory welfare requirements
• parent engagement
• staff CPD
• link governor visits
• a strengths and areas for development evaluation 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 headteachers, deputy heads and EYFS leads preparing termly or annual EYFS reports to governors.

👉 Looking for more governor report templates? This template and others are part of our Reports to Governors Template Bundle

Designed for headteachers, school business managers and senior leaders, this ready-made template gives you a clear, structured starting point for reporting on school finances to your governing board without having to build a report from scratch.

You'll get:

☑️ Finance Report to Governors Template – a comprehensive, editable 10-page Word document covering:

• pupil numbers and funding impact
• a summary of the current budget including income, expenditure and reserves
• in-year budget monitoring with variance analysis
• a three-year financial forecast
• detailed income and expenditure breakdowns
• pupil premium allocation, strategy and impact
• spending aligned to school priorities and value for money
• benchmarking against similar schools using the DfE Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool
• a procurement and contract register
• a financial risk register
• SFVS and compliance checks
• a summary and evaluation section including recommendations for the governing board and 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 headteachers, school business managers and senior leaders preparing termly or annual finance reports to governors.

👉 Looking for more governor report templates? This template and others are part of our Reports to Governors Template Bundle

Designed for headteachers, deputy heads and curriculum leads, this ready-made template gives you a clear, structured starting point for reporting on whole-school curriculum quality to your governing board without having to build a report from scratch.

You'll get:

☑️ Curriculum Report to Governors Template – a comprehensive, 14-page editable Word document covering:

• curriculum leadership and governance
• whole-school curriculum intent including vision, design for all pupils and evidence base
• curriculum breadth across all national curriculum subjects
• curriculum implementation including sequencing, consistency and pedagogical approach
• whole-school progress and attainment data by pupil group
• assessment across the curriculum including phonics and key stage outcomes
• reading and targeted reading support
• whole-school curriculum monitoring activities
• achievements and staffing updates
• subject leadership overview with RAG ratings
• enrichment and cultural capital
• staff and pupil feedback
• curriculum CPD and subject leader development
• curriculum policy review dates
• a strengths and areas for development evaluation 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 headteachers, deputy heads and curriculum leads preparing termly or annual curriculum reports to governors.

👉 Looking for more governor report templates? This template and others are part of our Reports to Governors Template Bundle