Mock board dates for Pathway to Governance

Mock board sessions

Please sign up for one mock board session to help complete the Pathway to Governance programme.  

The mock board session provides an opportunity for you to put the online learning into practice.

This means having read the documents, which you can view below, ahead of time and coming along prepared to ask questions. Therefore, please plan to be in a space where you can have your camera and mic on so you can participate fully.  

Dates for the academic year

Spring 2025

Wednesday 15th January – 18:00pm – 19:30pm

Register

Tuesday 11th February – 12:00pm – 13:30pm

Register

Tuesday 11th March – 12:00pm – 13:30pm

Register

Tuesday 1st April – 18:00pm – 19:30pm

  Register

 

Summer 2025

Monday 12th May – 12:00pm – 13:30pm

  Register

Tuesday 20th May – 18:00pm – 19:30pm

  Register

Wednesday 11th June – 12:00pm – 13:30pm

  Register

Tuesday 24th June – 18:00pm – 19:30pm

  Register

If you’ve signed up for a session and can no longer attend/need to register for an alternative slot, please email [email protected].

Mock board papers 

You can download mock board papers here, as well as an optional format you can use to record your questions.  

Click the links to download the Agenda, Headteacher report, Progress and attainment data report, as well as the Mock board meeting preparation document where you can collect your notes in advance.

Agenda 

The agenda is designed to reflect a typical governing board meeting agenda, although they may not be set out exactly like this one, as the format might vary a bit from board to board. 

The agenda does include reference to papers that haven’t been shared with you, such as previous meeting minutes and policies. This is deliberate. We will talk fairly briefly about how they might feature in a governance meeting during the mock board, but since the mock board is a maximum of 1.5 hours, we want to make sure there is plenty of time to discuss the two other documents that have been shared. 

 Headteacher report and  progress and attainment report

The Headteacher report is something that school governors will experience regularly during meetings as it gives an overview of what is happening in school. Don’t forget to look carefully at the school priorities on the first page, as knowing what the school is focused on improving will help you think about what questions are important to ask. 

The progress and attainment data report has a variety of information about pupil outcomes, and again will be a key feature of discussion for school governors. 

Hopefully having progressed through the online learning, you’ll have the context you need to understand the information that’s being shared. 

Top tips: 

  1. Remember you can always ask any questions you need to – we would never expect school governors to know everything, especially new school governors. If you don’t understand what something means, it’s much better to ask and then be able to engage more in the meeting than stay quiet because you aren’t sure. 
  2. Write down any questions or comments you have about the information shared in these documents so you know what you want to raise in the meeting. You can use the document attached if it’s helpful, but as long as you know what you want to ask it doesn’t matter where or how you’ve collated your notes. 
  3. Remember to think about your role as a strategic one – how does this information help you know how well the school is delivering on its priorities? What else might you need to know? 
  4. Don’t be afraid to point out something that you think doesn’t make sense or where you need more information. 
  5. Quality of questions is more important than quantity of questions. Just asking a lot of questions doesn’t help make a board effective, but asking the right ones can. 

There are some prompt questions in the documents, as this will help you consider what you want to discuss in the meeting, although they aren’t exhaustive. In the mock board meeting, we won’t be putting anyone on the spot, although we’ll expect and encourage everyone to contribute.  

You can also find a video that talks about what to expect from the mock board here, if you’d like more information.Â