Chairs’ Briefings

The Governance Services Team understand the importance of the chair’s role in driving school improvement and therefore provide termly briefing sessions to assist them in their role.

The briefings are held early each term in order to prepare chairs for their forthcoming governing or trust board meetings and to equip them with the knowledge, information and advice needed to effectively undertake their role.

The Chairs’ Briefing sessions aim to:

• Deepen the understanding of the role of the chair
• Enhance confidence and skills in managing the role and relationships.
• Widen the strategies for developing the partnership between the governing or trust board, the senior leadership team and staff.
• Share leadership issues and make good use of the skills and knowledge of others.
• Provide information about meeting procedure and regulations.

Attendance at the briefing is free of charge for all chairs of governing and trust boards that purchase the Governing Board Clerking & Support service level agreement. A fee of £75 is chargeable to those schools and academies for chairs attending from boards that do not buy into the service.

The Chairs’ Briefings for the 2026/27 academic year are detailed below:

Autumn Term – Monday 28 September 2026

Spring Term – Monday 25 January 2027

Summer Term – Monday 10 May 2027

Bookings for each briefing will open once the previous term’s briefing has taken place.

Chairs of the board may book on the sessions by selecting ‘Further Information’. You need only attend one sessions per term.

We provide a blended approach by way of an afternoon in person session at our venue, The Inclusive Education and Learning Centre @ Smithills, Ground floor, Smithills Dean Road, Bolton, BL1 6JT, and a virtual pre-recorded video session released from 9am the following day, allowing delegates to view at their convenience. Bookings for either session is essential.