{"id":6117,"date":"2022-04-28T15:31:27","date_gmt":"2022-04-28T14:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.devon.gov.uk\/supportforschools\/leadership-and-governance\/governance\/guidance-policy-and-tools\/"},"modified":"2024-12-09T12:44:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T12:44:07","slug":"gov-guidance-policy-and-tools","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/support-schools-settings\/school-effectiveness\/governance\/gov-guidance-policy-and-tools\/","title":{"rendered":"Governance guidance, policy and tools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>With constant changes in legislation, the list of policies, documents and information&nbsp;required by schools&nbsp;needs&nbsp;to be reviewed regularly. There are statutory policies as highlighted by the DfE, statutory policies required as employers, schemes to meet equality duties and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our &#8216;Statutory policies, documents and information&#8217; guide will help governing boards manage their policies, documents and schemes. The guide explains where in statutory legislation the requirement to have a particular policy exists along with links to models and guidance on what needs to be included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It also incorporates a delegation planner, identifies statutory review periods and indicates where a document must be available on the school website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two versions of the guide, one for maintained schools and one for academy schools; they are both available to download from <a href=\"https:\/\/devoneducationservices.co.uk\/microsites\/governance-consultancy\/\" rel=\"noopener\">the governance microsite<\/a>. If you have not yet subscribed but would like to, you can find out more on the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/devoneducationservices.co.uk\/our-services\/school-effectiveness\/governance-consultancy\/\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" rel=\"noopener\">Devon Education Services website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Statutory policies in maintained schools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Schools will have many policies, this list indicates statutory policies which the governing board is responsible for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statutory policies that must appear on the school website are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>admissions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>attendance<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>behaviour (including exclusion)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>charging and remissions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>child protection (or safeguarding)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>complaints<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>equality<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>provider access policy statement (secondary schools)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>school uniform<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>sex and relationships education and health education<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Statutory policies that it would be useful to publish on the school website include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>data protection<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>health and safety<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>outdoor education, visits and off-site activities<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>supporting pupils at school with medical conditions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>whistleblowing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Statutory policies where there is no requirement to publish on the school website include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>emergency management and business continuity plan<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>governor (trustee) allowances\/expenses<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>finance<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>lettings<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>premises policies (to meet requirements in VA and foundation schools only)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>staff behaviour (code of conduct)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>staff capability<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>staff discipline<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>staff redundancy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>staff grievance<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>staffing &#8211; additional policies to comply with employer responsibilities<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>teachers&#8217; appraisal<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>teachers&#8217; pay<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Non-statutory policies, which are considered to be best practice include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>collective worship<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>education of children in care<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Statutory policies in academy schools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Schools will have many policies, this list indicates statutory policies which the governing board is responsible for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statutory policies that must appear on the school website are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>admissions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>attendance<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>behaviour<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>charging and remissions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>child protection (or safeguarding)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>equality<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>exclusion of pupils (can be included within the behaviour policy)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>provider access policy statement (secondary)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>school uniform<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>sex and relationships education and health education<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Statutory policies that it would be useful to publish on the school website include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>complaints (the DfE recommends that academy schools should\u00a0publish this policy on the website)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>data protection<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>health and safety<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>outdoor education, visits and off-site activities<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>SEND<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>supporting pupils at school with medical conditions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>whistleblowing (the DfE recommends that academy schools should publish this policy on the website)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Statutory policies where there is no requirement to publish on the school website include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>accounting policies (a set of)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>competitive tendering<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>early years foundation stage (EYFS) &#8211; policy and procedures on a range of issues covering safeguarding and welfare<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>emergency management and business continuity plan<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>financial regulations\/policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>premises management policies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>staff conduct<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>staff discipline<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>staff grievance<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>staffing &#8211; additional policies to comply with employer responsibilities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Non-statutory policies, which are considered to be best practice include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>anti-fraud policy; gifts and hospitality policy, donations policy, staff expenses policy, trustee (local governor) expenses\/allowances (Could all be covered within one policy)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>collective worship<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>education of children in care<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>risk strategy and management<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Personnel policies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Schools will have a number of policies relating to staff, where the school is the employer additional policies will be required to meet employment law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please note, for assistance with any personnel policies please contact HR One on <a href=\"tel:01392385555\">01392 385555<\/a>, email <a href=\"mailto:hrdirect-mailbox@devon.gov.uk\">hrdirect-mailbox@devon.gov.uk<\/a> or consult your own HR provider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Governance Consultancy Team does not hold copies of personnel policies or provide models.<br>There are five personnel policies that a maintained school must have. They are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>appraisal policy for teachers and headteachers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>capability policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>disciplinary policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>model pay policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>redundancy policy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, schools will wish to consider adopting the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>acceptable behaviour policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>adjustments to staffing structure guidance<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>adoption policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>DBS disclosure policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>drugs and alcohol policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>employee code of conduct<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>employee code of ethical conduct<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>exit interviews<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>flexible working policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>grievance policy and procedure<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>managing information disclosed during employment<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>maternity policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>maternity and adoption support leave policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>managing sickness absence<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>probationary policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>recruitment and selection policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>secondment policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>shared parental leave policy and procedure<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>social media participation policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>staff leave and absence policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>support staff appraisal scheme for schools<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>volunteers in schools guidance<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>whistleblowing policy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Find out how to subscribe to the governance microsite at<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/devoneducationservices.co.uk\/our-services\/school-effectiveness\/governance-consultancy\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Devon Education Services &#8211; governance consultancy<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With constant changes in legislation, the list of policies, documents and information&nbsp;required by schools&nbsp;needs&nbsp;to be reviewed regularly. There are statutory policies as highlighted by the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2436,"featured_media":0,"parent":6083,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-6117","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-01 17:53:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/support-schools-settings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/support-schools-settings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/support-schools-settings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/support-schools-settings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2436"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/support-schools-settings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6117"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/support-schools-settings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28237,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/support-schools-settings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6117\/revisions\/28237"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/support-schools-settings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/support-schools-settings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}