Governing bodies must publish a report at least 14 days before the annual meeting for parents at which it is to be discussed. It should explain how the governing body has put into practice its plans for the school since the last report. It often includes information on decisions taken about teaching and behaviour in the school, how parents can raise queries or make complaints, and any major issues discussed by the governing body. It must include:
* the date, time and place of the annual parents’ meeting, its agenda and a brief description of the purpose of the meeting;
* the names and status (parent, teacher, foundation governor, co-opted or otherwise) of the members of the governing body and their terms of office, and the name and address of the clerk and chairman (for The TES Annual Report Award, this is normally taken to mean the chair’s home address rather than the school);
* by whom any appointed governor was appointed and information about the next election of parent governors;
* action following any resolutions passed at the last meeting;
* a summary of the school’s budget with details about how the governing body spent any money (including gifts and profits from fund-raising) made available to it over the year;
* the total amount spent on governors’ travel and meals;
* information on the governors’ special educational needs (SEN) policy, including the success of the policy, significant changes, any consultation with the local authority, the Funding Agency for Schools and other schools, and how resources have been allocated to and amongst children with SEN over the year;
* the school’s national curriculum statutory assessment results;
* in secondary schools, the GCSE examination results and the further education, training or job which pupils leaving the school have gone on to;
* information about the governing body’s work to strengthen links with the community, including the police;
* pupil absence information (as contained in the prospectus);
* the dates of the beginning and end of each term, and half-term, of the next school year;
* a summary of any changes to the school prospectus since it was last published;
* details of the governing body’s discussion of whether to ballot parents on grant-maintained status (if the governors decided not to hold a ballot, their reasons must be explained).
A high proportion of reports do not seem to include the full postal address of the school. This does not appear to be a legal requirement but would be a useful addition.
