The term of office is four years.

Yes. This is because in addition to the main roles and responsibilities that all Governors hold, Foundation Governors hold additional responsibilities in relation to promoting and developing the Catholic Life and religious character of the school. They are the Bishop’s representatives and as such, must ensure that his policies are implemented in the school. Foundation Governors must always look through Catholic eyes as they maintain and develop not only the interests of the school in which they serve, but the interests of Catholic education throughout the Diocese.

The Diocese provides an Induction session for new Foundation Governors. However, all categories of Governors are very welcome to attend.

In addition, we run termly Briefing sessions for Governors.

Currently, these sessions are virtual.

Annually, we also hold a Governors’ Conference on a Saturday, where we have a national keynote speaker, as well as workshops, run by the Education Team and Headteachers.

Further details and booking for all of these is through:

Book a CPDF Course

The CES also has a programme of training for Governors – please click to access.  This training consists of 5 online modules:

• An Introduction to Catholic Education;
• The Environment of a Catholic School
• Strategic Leadership
• Accountability
• Financial Performance

Each Local Authority will also have its own training programme for Governors, so please contact your LA’s Governor Services for details

General grounds

Registered pupils cannot be governors.

A governor must be aged 18 or over at the time of election or appointment.

A person who is employed at the school is not able to be appointed as a Foundation Governor.

A person cannot hold more than one governor post at the same school at the same time.

Grounds that apply to particular categories of governor

Family members will not be appointed as Foundation Governors on the same governing body.

A person is disqualified from being a parent governor if they are an elected member of the LA or paid to work at the school for more than 500 hours (i.e. for more than one-third of the hours of a full-time    equivalent) in any consecutive twelve month period (at the time of election or appointment).

A person is disqualified from being a local authority governor if they are eligible to be a staff governor at the school.

Grounds that arise because of particular failings or actions on the part of the governor

A person is disqualified from being a governor of a particular school if they have failed to attend the meetings of the governing body of that school for a continuous period of six months, beginning with the date of the first meeting they failed to attend, without the consent of the governing body.

A foundation, local authority, co-opted or partnership governor at the school who is disqualified for failing to attend meetings is only disqualified from being a governor of any category at the school during the twelve month period starting on the date on which they were disqualified.

A person is disqualified from holding or continuing to hold office if that person:

• is the subject of a bankruptcy restrictions order or an interim order, debt relief restrictions order, an interim debt relief restrictions order or their estate has been sequestrated and the sequestration has not been discharged, annulled or reduced is subject to a disqualification order or disqualification undertaking under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, a disqualification order under Part 2 of the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, a disqualification undertaking accepted under the Company Directors Disqualification (Northern Ireland) Order 2002, or an order made under section 429(2)(b) of the Insolvency Act 1986 (failure to pay under county court administration order);
• has been removed from the office of charity trustee or trustee for a charity by the Charity Commission or Commissioners or High Court on grounds of any misconduct or mismanagement, or under section 34 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 from being concerned in the management or control of any body;
• is included in the list of teachers or workers considered by the Secretary of State as unsuitable to work with children or young people;
• is barred from any regulated activity relating to children;
• is subject to a direction of the Secretary of State under section 128 of the Education and Skills Act 2008;
• is disqualified from working with children or from registering for child-minding or providing day care;
• is disqualified from being an independent school proprietor, teacher or employee by the Secretary of State;
• has been sentenced to three months or more in prison (without the option of a fine) in the five years before becoming a governor or since becoming a governor;
• has received a prison sentence of two years or more in the 20 years before becoming a governor has at any time received a prison sentence of five years or more;
• has been fined for causing a nuisance or disturbance on school premises during the five years prior to or since appointment or election as a governor;
• refuses a request by the clerk to make an application to the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) for a criminal records certificate.

A school’s Instrument of Government is a legal document that records the constitution of the governing body and length of the term of office for each category of governor as well as the name of the school. In Voluntary Aided Catholic schools, for the reasons listed in question 2 above, the Instrument of Government must record that the majority of Governors in a catholic school must be Foundation Governors, ie 7 in a Governing Body of 12 members, 8 in a Governing Body of 14 Governors. The school’s Instrument of Governance is held by the school, and by the Trustees of the Diocese.

The buildings of our Catholic schools are the property of the Diocesan Trustees, and the Diocesan Building Fund was set up to enable the Diocese to gain access to Government funding to support capital projects, even if a school cannot afford to pay the 10% contribution that Voluntary Aided schools must make, and also to have access to the services of a Diocesan surveyor who can offer high quality building advice to schools. The Building fund pays the 10% for a school on any capital projects funded through LCVAP (Local Education Authority Co-ordinated Voluntary Aided Programme). All our schools are asked to make an annual contribution of £15 per student to ensure that there is a central fund to pay the 10% of all LCVAP projects. Academies pay £5 per student to ensure the services of the Diocesan surveyor on all capital projects. Schools are encouraged to ask parents for voluntary contributions towards the school contribution and it is expected that the shortfall is made up from the school budget.

This is an annual subscription to the wide range of services provided by the Diocesan Education team eg support for recruitment of Senior Leaders; ongoing support for Headteachers and Senior Leaders; training and formation opportunities (through our CPDF programme); support for schools’ statutory responsibilities eg Admissions, Ofsted, Denominational Inspections etc

The Governing Body is responsible for Admissions to Catholic schools, and it should ensure that the Diocesan Model Admissions Policy is followed. This Policy is based on the CES (Catholic Education Service) Model’s Policy, and is fully compliant with the current statutory Admissions Code of Practice. 

In Catholic schools, the Governing Body (not the Diocese nor the LA), is the employer of staff. Governing Bodies are urged to seek independent HR and Legal advice in relation to staffing, through the purchase of a Service Level Agreement (SLA) or similar.