School Governance
Assurance Framework
Assurance Framework
Structured governance assurance for UK school governing boards.
Structured governance assurance for UK school governing boards.
The published DfE record tells the board where the school sat last year. Your Headteacher Report tells them where it sits this term. School Summary brings both into one place, the historic record and the current term, so oversight is one continuous picture rather than a once-a-year glance. National and local-authority comparisons throughout, with a clear red, amber or green status against each figure.
The published DfE picture tells the board where the school sat last year. It is the verified, comparable record: attendance, results, finance and workforce against the national and local-authority average. But it is a year behind by the time it lands.
The board also needs to know where the school sits this term. Pupil numbers since September. Attendance so far this year. How the SEND register and pupil premium cohort are moving right now. That live picture lives in the Headteacher Report, in a separate document, on a different cadence.
So the two halves of the same story end up in different places. The board reads the published record in one paper and the live figures in another, and has to hold the join in its head. School Summary closes that. It puts the published baseline and your live headteacher figures side by side, in one view, so governors read the whole story at once.
School Summary takes the published DfE record as the baseline, then layers your own live Headteacher Report figures over it. One continuous picture, from last year’s verified data through to this term.
The verified, comparable picture drawn from the DfE, GIAS and the Performance Tables. The same record any member of the public can see, set against the national and local-authority average.
Your own figures from the Headteacher Report, layered straight on top of the baseline. Submitted by your head each term, so the board reads this year alongside last year, not weeks after the fact.
The historic record and the current term, in one place. The published baseline gives the board comparable context. The live Headteacher Report overlay gives it this term. Together they make one continuous oversight picture that moves with the school across the year.
Each section sets the published baseline next to your live figures, so the board reads context, current position and direction of travel together rather than chasing them across separate papers.
GIAS-verified identity. Type, phase, headteacher, local authority, academy trust membership, religious character and denomination.
The intake the school serves. Disadvantage, SEND and English-as-an-additional-language profile against the national and local-authority picture.
Published baseline plus this-term overlay from the Headteacher Report. Overall, persistent absence and cohort breakdowns, rated against the national average.
Suspensions, exclusions and internal removals. Term counts from the live report set against the published baseline. No individuals named.
Key-stage results for your phase from the Performance Tables. Attainment and progress measures compared with published cohorts and the national picture.
Teacher headcount, pupil-teacher ratio and workforce profile from the census, with the head’s live overlay on vacancies and current cover.
A set of board-ready questions drawn from where the figures sit. The prompts that turn the numbers into the right conversation in the meeting.
A number on its own does not tell the board much. School Summary sets every figure against the national and local-authority picture, then gives it a red, amber or green status so governors can see at a glance where attention is needed.
In line with or ahead of the national and local-authority picture. The board can note the position and move on with confidence.
Behind the comparison, or moving the wrong way against the baseline. A figure for the board to question and keep under review this term.
Well below the national and local-authority picture. A candidate risk for the board to weigh and, where it agrees, record in the Risk Register.
The same comparison runs across every section. Attendance, results, behaviour, staffing and context are each measured against the national and local-authority average, so the board reads the whole school on one consistent scale.
The free School Data Check shows any school’s published DfE picture, no membership needed. School Summary is the member oversight view that adds your own live headteacher figures on top, giving the board both the historic record and the current term in one place.
The published DfE picture for any school, with national and local-authority comparisons. A clear starting point that anyone can run, the historic record on its own.
Run the School Data Check →The member view that layers your live Headteacher Report over the published baseline. Historic record plus current term, RAG-rated throughout, exported to PDF and Word for the board.
See membership →School Summary brings the published record and your live figures into one place, so oversight is continuous rather than a once-a-year glance.
DfE published history and your live headteacher figures sit together, so the board reads the trend across terms and years, not a single snapshot.
When attendance, pupil numbers, outcomes or staffing move the wrong way against the national picture, the board has a candidate risk to weigh and, where it agrees, record in the Risk Register.
Across a multi-academy trust, each school’s summary feeds the exception grid in the Trust Command Centre, so the central board sees which schools need attention.