Questions to support governor challenge:
What do we know?
How do we know?
How do we monitor this?
What effect has this had?
What plans do we have in place to improve this?
When will we review these?
Who is responsible for this?
Wellbeing
How well does the school promote pupils’ wellbeing?
What are the overall absence levels for the school?
Has anything happened during the term to affect the attendance figures, e.g. bad weather conditions, high incidence of illnesses?
What were the attendance figures for the last two years?
Have we improved, stayed the same or worsened? Is there a pattern/trend to the figures?
How does our attendance compare with similar schools for the same period?
Have we analysed the attendance of different groups of pupils? How do these compare?
Who are our persistent absentees? What improvements have we made with these pupils?
What strategies do we use to improve or ensure good attendance?
How well do our pupils behave? How do our exclusion rates compare with other schools? What is the trend for fixed term exclusions over the last three years?
How effective are our pupil voice strategies? What input do they have in what they learn?
Care, support and guidance
How well do we support all our pupils’ health and wellbeing, including healthy eating and living? What structures do we have in place? How do we monitor their progress?
What provision is there for less able and more talented pupils? How do we monitor this? How effective is this provision?
What staff training is there on identifying and supporting pupils’ additional learning needs (ALN)?
What staff training is there on Child Protection (CP) matters? How are CP issues recorded? Are our procedures robust? How do we know? Are all adults in the school included in this training?
How secure is our site and buildings? How do we know?
Learning environment
How effectively do we promote an inclusive ethos, racial tolerance, equal opportunities and diversity? Have all staff received appropriate equality training? How do we record and monitor issues or complaints that arise?
What are the current priorities for the accommodation and resources? Do our pupils agree? What plans do we have in place to meet these?