School governor resources

Governors' Forum: Summer 2026

Our latest Governors’ Forum took place on Tuesday 06 May 2026.

This was a free session, provided by the School Governance and Liaison Service, open to all school and academy governors/trustees.

Iain Peel, our Director of Education talked governors through the headlines of the ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ Schools White Paper and highlighted the local authority’s next steps.

In addition, given the public attention around banning smartphones in schools, Dan Price, Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner joined us alongside Charlotte Ashton, co-founder of Generation Focus, to talk about their work on this issue and share some of the evidence in support of smartphone free schools.

Please see the Governors' Forum  Agenda (PDF, 268KB) .

Governors' Forum: Spring 2026

More information can be found on the previous school governor conferences page.

2025 Annual Governors’ Conference

More information can be found on the School governor conferences page.

Director of Children's Services Report

The Summer Term 2026 Directors Report (PDF, 2.6MB) is now available.

Previous Director of Children's Services Reports

School governing board duties

• The Department for Education has published guides on the strategic leadership and governance of local-authority-maintained schools and academy trusts. These guides replace the Governance Handbook 2020.
• the governor's role in exclusions
• governor responsibilities for cared for children and previously cared for children
• complaints about schools
• admissions appeals

 Contacts

• chairs of governors’ email addresses

Cheshire East School Governor training programme

The latest governor training programme is now available on Governor Hub or by contacting the School Governance team.

Governor training

• Modern governor e-learning
• Governing Board self-evaluation questions (NGA)
• Governor/Trustee Skills Audit (NGA)
• Annual conferences
• Training liaison governors 

External school governor resources

• Department for Education Website
• National Governors' Association Website
• Governors for Schools

How to become a school governor

• parent governors
• local authority governors