External reviews of governance: guide for schools and academy trusts
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How to arrange an effective external review of governance for your school or academy trust and improve the performance of your board.
Adapted edition
- Document type
- Reference Guide
- Format
- DOCX
- Pages
- 9
- Language
- English
- Version
- 1.0
- Updated
- 2026-09-17
- Category
- Governance & assurance
- Licence
- Open Government Licence v3.0
Description
How to arrange an effective external review of governance for your school or academy trust and improve the performance of your board. Consult the original guidance for current legal and operational details.
Contents
- Overview
- Who this publication is for
- The purpose of an external review of governance (ERG)
- What the review will do
- When to do an external review of governance
- ERGs of multi-academy trusts (MATs)
- Prepare for a review
- How to commission a review
- Find a reviewer
- What to consider when commissioning a reviewer
- Previous experience
- Knowledge and skills
- Getting the most from a review
- What to expect from your external review
- A clear scoping exercise prior to the review
- Evidence of board interactions
Source and licence
Department for Education
AttributionDepartment for Education, ‘External reviews of governance: guide for schools and academy trusts’ (updated 22 May 2025), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
ChangesNeutral text-only adaptation from the official GOV.UK Content API body: headings, paragraphs, ordered and unordered list items and clickable source-link destinations in an appendix preserved. Images, logos, page design, accessible-format request widgets and linked attachments excluded; normalised whitespace, invisible format marks and typography.
Version history
- v1.017/09/2026