List of statutory policies, including which schools require them

Thirty-eight policies and documents are listed in Annex 2 of A Guide to the Law for School Governors 2010. These are statutory for schools in England and Wales, although they do not all apply to all schools.

In the list that follows, we have not distinguished between policies and documents. An accessibility plan, for example, could be seen as a policy, despite being referred to as a plan.

• Accessibility plan (all schools)
• Admissions policy (aided schools and foundation schools; also community and controlled schools if the local authority [LA] formally transfers the responsibility to them)
• Allegations of abuse against staff (policy on)
• Attendance targets (all schools except maintained nursery schools)
• Central record of recruitment and vetting checks (all schools)
• Charging policy (all schools)
• Child protection policy (all schools)
• Collective worship (policy on) (all schools except maintained nursery schools)
• Community cohesion (all schools)
• Complaints procedure (all schools)
• Curriculum policy (all schools)
• Designated teachers (all schools)
• Disability equality policy (all schools)
• Early Years Foundation Stage (all schools)
• Exclusion of pupils (all schools)
• Freedom of information publication scheme (all schools) (Check your scheme complies with the January 2009 requirements; see the article from The Key in the 'see also' list to the right)
• Gender equality policy (all schools)
• Governors’ allowances (schemes for paying) (all schools where the school has agreed to pay expenses)
• Governors’ annual report to parents (maintained nursery schools)
• Health and safety policy (all schools)
• Home-school agreements (all schools except maintained nursery schools)
• Instrument of government (all schools)
• Minutes of, and papers considered at, meetings of the governing body and its committees (all schools)
• Performance management policy (all schools)
• Prospectus (all schools except maintained nursery schools)
• Race equality policy (all schools)
• Register of pupils (all schools)
• Register of business interests of headteacher and governors (all schools)
• Review of staffing structure document (all schools)
• Risk assessments (linked with health and safety policy)
• School companies (all schools where a company is established)
• School discipline and pupil behaviour policies (all schools)
• Sex education policy (all schools except maintained nursery schools)
• Special educational needs policy (all schools)
• Staff appraisal policy (linked to the performance management policy)
• Staff discipline conduct and grievance (procedures for addressing) (all schools)
• Target setting for schools (all schools except maintained nursery schools)
• Teachers’ pay policy (all schools)

A Guide to the Law for School Governors 2010, GovernorNet, see pages 237-240 (Adobe pdf file)
http://www.governornet.co.uk/linkAttachments/GTTL%2024.10.09.pdf

Additions to the list of statutory policies

School profile

All schools except for maintained nursery schools are required to publish a school profile. The requirements for this are set out on page 208 of A Guide to the Law for School Governors 2010.

Equality schemes

All schools are also required to have in place gender and disability equality schemes. See pages 166-168 of A Guide to the Law for School Governors 2010.

Freedom of Information

Under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2000, schools are also required to record and make available:

• A guide to information as defined by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) (see link below to another article from The Key for more details)
• Names and contact details of the governing body and the basis on which governors have been appointed
• Details of school session times and dates of school terms and holidays
• The address, telephone number and website for the school together with the names of key personnel
• Financial information for the current and previous two financial years
• Details of the individual school budget distributed by the local authority and the school’s annual income and expenditure returns
• Details of the capital funding allocated to the school together with information on related building projects and other capital projects
• Details of income generation schemes and other sources of funding. (Specialist secondary schools may have additional government funding and arrangements with private sector sponsors)
• Strategies and plans, performance indicators, audits, inspections and reviews
• Policies and procedures relating to Every Child Matters
• A staffing structure implementation plan
• Policies and procedures for handling information access requests
• A Freedom of Information disclosure log
• Data protection, records retention, destruction and archive policies
• An asset register
• Information about the services the school provides

Definition document for the model publication scheme for schools in England, Information Commissioner's Office
http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/freedom_of_information/publication_schemes/definition_document_schools_england.aspx

Recommended review process

Some local authorities provide their schools with a sample governor year planner. For example, the year planner from Bristol City Council lists the key tasks for governing bodies to carry out each term. The tasks include reviewing policies.

You might wish to contact your local authority to find out which policies it suggests your governing body should review on an annual basis.

Year planner, Bristol City Council (Word doc file)
http://www.bristol-cyps.org.uk/services/gds/word/year-planner-09-10.doc