The first structured methodology for school governance
A board that knows the school — and can prove it Ofsted grades leadership and governance as one Give your board the system to evidence its impact
Ofsted’s inspection toolkit grades leadership and governance together. One weak area pulls down the other. The School Governance Assurance Framework gives boards the system to know the school, evidence their impact, and protect the grade. Start with a free board audit.
See Where Your Board Stands - Today
Two free tools that give your governing board an honest, structured picture of where you are. No sign-up forms. No sales calls. Just clarity.
Board Assurance Audit
Self-assess against 54 governance elements across compliance, assurance, and continuity. Know your strengths. See your gaps. Takes 20 minutes.
Website Check
Instant scan of your school website against statutory governance requirements. Flags what’s missing, what’s outdated, and what Ofsted would notice.
The audit tells you where you are. But knowing your gaps and closing your gaps are two different things.
The membership toolkit gives your board eight practical tools to close those gaps - with inspection-ready evidence building as a by-product, not an overhead.
Built for schools with a mission beyond the curriculum.
Catholic and Church of England schools carry additional governance responsibilities. The framework includes faith-specific modules that sit alongside the core 54 elements.
Foundation governors, RE & worship, Catholic ethos, diocesan liaison
Christian vision, collective worship, dignity & respect, SIAMS readiness
Eight Tools. Four Outcomes. One Membership.
Everything your board needs to move from awareness to assurance - with evidence building automatically, every term.
See the full picture before every meeting
The headteacher provides five minutes of termly data. The system turns it into a 12-section governance briefing drawn from seven live data sources - so every board meeting starts with the full picture.
Board Intelligence Report
Termly governance briefing combining GIAS records, Ofsted history, Companies House filings, financial benchmarking, DfE performance data, Board Audit progress, and AI-generated recommendations. Three reports per year tracking how governance health changes over time.
Headteacher Report
Five-minute termly data entry - attendance, exclusions, staffing, budget, SIP progress. Feeds directly into the Board Intelligence Report. The head provides the data once; the system uses it everywhere.
Monitor with purpose - not paperwork
Assign governors to what matters - SIP priorities and statutory responsibilities - across three terms. Visit reports generate automatically with governor names pre-populated. Evidence builds from doing the work, not writing about it.
School Progress Assurance
Upload your School Improvement Plan and the framework extracts priorities automatically. Governors are assigned across three stages - Early Implementation in autumn, Emerging Impact in spring, Consolidation and Outcomes in summer. Each stage generates downloadable visit reports with governor names pre-populated.
Statutory Assurance
The same visit builder - but for all 11 statutory monitoring roles. Every statutory governor responsibility gets a structured visit plan across three terms. Downloadable reports with governor names, ready to file as evidence.
Stay compliant without thinking about it
Your school website is the governance shop window - inspectors check it first. Your board meetings are where governance happens. Both should build evidence automatically.
Website Assurance
AI-powered audit that crawls every page, checks every policy, and cross-references against current DfE statutory requirements. Eight compliance categories across 60+ checks. Run termly scans and track your compliance score improving over the year.
Meeting Agendas
Nine structured agenda templates mapped to GAF framework elements. Every item is specific, timebound, and includes a challenge question for governors. States the recommended committee and the term it should naturally occur. Copy items directly into your existing meeting documents.
Govern the faith with structure
Foundation governors carry a specific mandate to protect and promote the religious character of the school. These tools give them the questions, the visit structure, and the evidence trail to do the job they were called to do.
Faith Inspection Readiness
Free self-assessment for SIAMS or CES. Walk through each element, rate your board's evidence, and download a prioritised action plan. No login required. Takes 10 minutes.
CES Assurance
Four Catholic governance monitoring roles with termly visit records. Foundation governors, RE & collective worship, Catholic ethos & admissions, and diocesan liaison. Section 48 evidence and CES Code of Conduct compliance built in.
SIAMS Assurance
Four Church of England governance monitoring roles with termly visit records. Foundation governors, RE & collective worship, Christian vision & ethos, and diocesan liaison. SIAMS inspection readiness and diocesan reporting built in.
Every Tool Feeds into One Framework
The School Governance Assurance Framework organises 54 governance elements across three stages of maturity. The tools do not create extra work - they feed evidence into the framework automatically. The result: a living, inspection-ready picture of your board’s governance.
Compliance
The board is legally constituted, properly structured, and meeting its statutory obligations.
Assurance
The board can evidence that school improvement is happening and governance is having impact.
Continuity
Governance survives change. The system outlasts the people. Succession is built in.
One Membership. Everything Included.
No tiers. No add-ons. Every tool, every report, every update for one annual price per school.
Board Audit
Self-assess across 54 elements and 11 governance functions. No limit.
Website Checker
99 checks across 11 categories including WCAG 2.2 and sustainability. Instant results.
- School Progress Assurance with visit reports
- Statutory Assurance with 11 monitoring roles
- Board Intelligence Report (termly)
- Website Assurance with AI compliance audit
- Meeting Agenda Builder with DOCX download
- CES Catholic Assurance and visit reports
- SIAMS Church of England inspection readiness
- Trust Dashboard with multi-school oversight
- Governor names pre-populated in all documents
- DOCX downloads for every report
- School Portal access for your full board
- No per-governor costs
Get started
How onboarding works
Enquire
Tell us about your school. We respond within one working day.
We set you up
Your school portal is configured with your URN, GIAS data, and governance structure.
First report in 48 hours
Upload your SIP. Receive your Governor Assurance Plan within two working days.
Invoice accepted
PO and BACS payment available
No per-pupil pricing
Same price, 60 pupils or 600
Annual subscription
Renews yearly. Cancel any time.
Multi-academy trust or local authority?
Volume pricing is available for four schools or more. One invoice, one renewal date, one consistent framework across every school. Contact us to discuss your trust's requirements.
Contact for trust pricingThe toolkit that should have existed years ago
Start with the free Board Audit. See where your board stands. Then decide if you want the full picture.
Built by a Practitioner, Not a Software Company
Joshua Mangas
Founder, School Governance Assurance Framework
I have spent 20 years in education, as a senior leader, as a governor and now leading governance training and development across 500 schools in Lancashire. This is not a product built from the outside looking in - this is built from experience, relationships and a relentless desire for progress.
Working across hundreds of schools, one pattern kept coming back: every function in a school has a structured improvement system - except governance.
| Function | Has a system? |
|---|---|
| Curriculum | Schemes of work, assessment frameworks, subject reviews |
| Safeguarding | KCSIE, SCR, annual audits, designated lead training |
| Finance | SFVS, internal audit, benchmarking, scheme of delegation |
| Governance | Good intentions and committed volunteers |
That is not a criticism of governors. Governors are some of the most committed volunteers in public life. They have never been given the infrastructure they deserve. When a strong chair leaves, the system does not survive - because there was no system.
So I built one. The School Governance Assurance Framework organises governance into a structured system for the first time - supported by the most advanced AI-powered practical tools that build evidence as a by-product of good governance, not as an overhead on top of it.
The long-term goal is for the framework to become an accredited standard for school governance - governance’s equivalent of an ISO. First, we improve governance with practical tools. Then, the award stages provide formal recognition. The accreditation comes when the foundations are in place across the sector.
Why this matters now
Got a Question? Just Ask.
Whether you are a chair exploring options, a clerk looking for structure, or a headteacher who wants their board to have the best tools available - send us a message.
Book a Discovery Call →30 minutes, Mon-Thu evenings. No preparation needed.