A structured framework that transforms school boards from ad-hoc monitoring into systematic, evidence-based assurance — for every UK state school.
Hard work without structure produces activity, not assurance. Evidence gets buried. Visits happen without connecting to priorities. Challenge becomes curiosity rather than accountability.
Minutes filed by date disappear. GAF reorganises evidence by what it assures — not when it was produced.
Governor visits happen without a direct link to the School Improvement Plan. The assurance chain breaks.
Boards rarely assess effectiveness against a clear standard. Without a baseline, improvement has no starting point.
"The board does not approve activity — it assures progress against intent."Governance Assurance Framework — core principle
GAF is a progressive framework. Boards move from compliance foundations through to embedding continuous assurance and building governance that withstands change.
Is the board properly constituted, legally compliant, and operating its basic functions reliably? The foundations without which no assurance is possible.
How does the board know the school is improving in the right areas, at the right pace, for the right pupils? This stage connects monitoring to systematic evidence of impact.
Will governance remain effective under pressure, change of personnel, or leadership transition? Continuity is the highest level of governance maturity.
The eleven framework sections
Assurance is a by-product of disciplined execution. If evidence cannot be located predictably, it does not exist.
SIP identifies what the board monitors this term
Governor monitors activity linked to that priority
Filed by what it assures, not when produced
Board considers what accumulated evidence shows
Evidenced questions to school leadership
Decision recorded on the official record
GAF is a supported programme of governance development — not a product to hand over and forget.
Send us your School Improvement Plan. We produce a complete, structured governance year — a standardised visit schedule, individual governor briefing packs, and ready-to-use monitoring reports. The plan becomes your board's roadmap: every governor knows what to look for, what to ask, and what evidence to expect.
Visit plans are the backbone of effective governance. They replace guesswork with clarity, and activity with assurance.
Request your plan →Assess your board against all 47 framework elements. Free navigation, auto-save, and a full downloadable report on completion.
Begin →Session-based training covering each framework section. Scenario-based, practical, Ofsted-aligned.
Enquire →Working with a small cohort to validate the accreditation model. Pilot schools receive intensive support and early-adopter status.
Find out →A 15-minute post-meeting filing protocol that builds the assurance archive as a by-product of normal clerking work.
Request briefing →Structured visit records linked to SIP priorities. Three visits per term, each connected to a specific assurance mechanism.
Request templates →GAF is built to scale. Local authorities and multi-academy trusts can license the framework for deployment across an entire school estate.
Discuss licensing →The External Review of Governance is a valuable process — but it is periodic, commissioned, and point-in-time. The Governance Assurance Framework provides structured, continuous assurance that works alongside or instead of it.
GAF is designed to work alongside the External Review of Governance, not against it. NGA recommends an annual self-review between ERGs — GAF is the structured framework to do exactly that. Boards using GAF arrive at an external review with a year of documented, evidence-based assurance already in place.
Free to access for any UK state school. Registration takes under two minutes.
Enter your school email. A secure sign-in link arrives in seconds — no password needed.
Add school name, town, postcode, headteacher, and chair. First visit only — takes 60 seconds.
All 11 sections, 47 elements. Mark each Not Started, Developing, or Secure. Progress saves automatically.
Submit your completed assessment to receive a structured report to share with your board.
Ready to understand where your governance stands?
Begin your self-assessment →Understand exactly where your governance stands. Build the evidence base that turns hard work into demonstrable assurance. A shared language and a clear standard to work towards.
The clerk is the backbone of GAF. A structured post-meeting filing protocol builds the evidence archive as a by-product of normal clerking work — no extra burden.
Platform-agnostic and built to scale. Deploy the framework across an entire school estate — consistent standards, comparable data across all schools.
GAF is in active pilot. Pilot schools work directly with Joshua Mangas to complete the full framework, build their assurance evidence, and shape what national accreditation looks like.
"What began as an attempt to bring structure to governance monitoring has become something every school needs: a systematic way to know that governance is actually working."Joshua Mangas — Creator, The Governance Assurance Framework
Joshua Mangas is an experienced Chair of Governors and former secondary senior leader. He developed GAF from direct observation of governance failure patterns across hundreds of boards.
GAF reorganises what boards already do into a coherent, evidence-based structure. The framework does not add work. It makes existing work count.
[email protected]Whether you want to join the pilot, enquire about training, or discuss licensing — get in touch directly.