The School Governance (Federations) (England) Regulations 2012

Regulation 12

SCHEDULE 1Temporary governing bodies of new schools intending to federate

Composition of temporary governing body

1.  The size of the membership of the temporary governing body, being no fewer than seven governors, is to be determined by the local authority.

2.—(1) A temporary governing body constituted for two or more proposed maintained schools must include—

(a)at least two temporary parent governors, provided always that for each proposed school at least one temporary parent governor must be appointed to represent the interests of parents of children who are, or are likely to become, registered pupils at that school;

(b)the head teacher or head teacher designate of each proposed school unless any such head teacher resigns the office of governor in accordance with regulation 19 of the Constitution Regulations 2012;

(c)one temporary staff governor; and

(d)one temporary local authority governor.

(2) The local authority may in addition appoint such number of temporary co-opted governors as the local authority consider necessary, provided that the requirements in paragraph 3 are met in respect of temporary governing bodies constituted for schools that include foundation and voluntary schools.

(3) The total number of temporary co-opted governors who are also eligible to be appointed as temporary staff governors must not exceed one third of the total membership of the temporary governing body.

Additional requirements for temporary governing bodies comprising proposed foundation and voluntary schools

3.—(1) A temporary governing body constituted for two or more proposed foundation or foundation special schools only, which, in either case, are not to have a foundation, must also include at least two (but no more than one quarter of the total) temporary partnership governors.

(2) A temporary governing body constituted for two or more proposed foundation or foundation special schools only, which are to have a foundation but which are not to be qualifying foundation schools, must also include at least two (but no more than 45 per cent of the total) temporary foundation governors.

(3) A temporary governing body constituted for two or more proposed qualifying foundation schools only must also include such number of temporary foundation governors as to outnumber all the other temporary governors by up to two.

(4) A temporary governing body constituted for two or more proposed voluntary controlled schools only must also include at least two (but no more than one quarter of the total) temporary foundation governors.

(5) A temporary governing body constituted for two or more proposed voluntary aided schools only must also include such number of temporary foundation governors as to outnumber all the other temporary governors by two.

(6) A temporary governing body constituted for two or more proposed voluntary controlled schools and proposed community, community special or maintained nursery schools must also include comprise at least one temporary foundation governor.

(7) A temporary governing body constituted for more than one category of proposed school including at least one proposed foundation, foundation special or voluntary aided school must also include at least two temporary foundation governors (or temporary partnership governors as appropriate in respect of any proposed school which is not to have a foundation).

Regulation 14

SCHEDULE 2Election and appointment of parent governors

1.  Subject to paragraph 2(2), in this Schedule “appropriate body” means—

(a)the local authority, where the federated school is a community school, community special school, a voluntary controlled school or a maintained nursery school; or

(b)the governing body of the federation, where the federated school is a foundation school, foundation special school or voluntary aided school.

2.—(1) Where a local authority are the appropriate body in relation to a school, that local authority may delegate to the head teacher of the school, or to the head teacher of the federation, any of their functions under this Schedule.

(2) The local authority are the appropriate body in relation to a school within paragraph 1(b) if the governing body of the federation and the local authority so agree.

3.  Subject to paragraphs 4 to 7, the appropriate body must make all necessary arrangements for the election of parent governors.

4.  The duty imposed by paragraph 3 does not confer power to impose any requirements as to the minimum number of votes required to be cast for a candidate to be elected.

5.  Any election which is contested must be held by ballot.

6.—(1) The arrangements made under paragraph 3 must provide for every person who is entitled to vote to have an opportunity to do so by post.

(2) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1), “post” includes delivery by hand.

(3) The arrangements made under paragraph 3 may provide for every person who is entitled to vote to have an opportunity to do so by electronic means.

7.  Where a vacancy for a parent governor arises, the local authority must take such steps as are reasonably practicable to secure that every person who is known to them to be a parent of a registered pupil at the school in respect of which the vacancy has arisen is—

(a)informed of the vacancy and that it is required to be filled by election;

(b)informed of their entitlement to stand as a candidate and vote in the election; and

(c)given the opportunity to do so.

8.  The number of parent governors required must be made up of parent governors appointed by the governing body of a federation if one or more vacancies for parent governors arises and either—

(a)the number of parents standing for election is less than the number of vacancies;

(b)at least 50 per cent of the registered pupils at the school are boarders and it would, in the opinion of the local authority, be impractical for there to be an election of parent governors; or

(c)in the case of a school which is a community special school established in a hospital, it would, in the opinion of the local authority, be impractical for there to be an election of parent governors.

9.—(1) Except where paragraph 10 applies, in appointing a parent governor to represent a federated school, the governing body of a federation must appoint—

(a)a parent of a registered pupil at the school (or, in respect of any maintained nursery school in the federation, a parent of a child for whom educational or other provision is made on the premises of the school (including any such provision made by the governing body under section 27 of EA 2002));

(b)a parent of a registered pupil at another school within the federation;

(c)a parent of a former registered pupil at the school;

(d)a parent of a former registered pupil at a school within the federation; or

(e)a parent of a child.

(2) The governing body of a federation may only appoint a person referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(b), (c), (d) or (e) if it is not reasonably practicable to appoint a person referred to in the sub-paragraph which immediately precedes it.

10.—(1) Where the school is a community special school or a foundation special school, in appointing a parent governor the governing body of a federation must appoint—

(a)a parent of a registered pupil at the school;

(b)a parent of a former pupil at the school;

(c)a parent of a child with special educational needs for which the school is approved; or

(d)a parent of a child who has special educational needs and is over compulsory school age.

(2) The governing body of a federation may only appoint a person referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(b), (c) or (d) if it is not reasonably practicable to appoint a person referred to in the sub-paragraph which immediately precedes it.

Regulation 13

SCHEDULE 3Election of staff governors

1.  Subject to paragraphs 2 and 3, the governing body of the federation must make all necessary arrangements for the election of staff governors.

2.  The duty imposed by paragraph 1 does not confer power to impose any requirements as to the minimum number of votes required to be cast for a candidate to be elected.

3.  Any election which is contested must be held by ballot.

Regulation 18

SCHEDULE 4Partnership governors

1.  Where a partnership governor is required, the governing body of a federation—

(a)must seek nominations from parents of registered pupils at schools in the federation which have no foundation; and

(b)may seek nominations from parents of registered pupils at other schools in the federation and from such other persons in the community served by the federation as they consider appropriate.

2.  No person may be nominated for appointment, or be appointed, as a partnership governor unless that person would be eligible for appointment by the governing body of the federation as a co-opted governor.

3.  Subject to paragraph 4(2), no governor may nominate a person for appointment as a partnership governor.

4.—(1) The governing body of a federation must appoint such number of partnership governors as is required by the instrument of government from among eligible nominees.

(2) If the number of eligible nominees is less than the number of vacancies, the number of partnership governors required may be made up by persons selected by the governing body of the federation.

5.—(1) Where the governing body of a federation makes an appointment under paragraph 4(2), having rejected any person nominated under paragraph 1, they must give written reasons for their decision to the local authority and to the person rejected.

(2) Where the federation includes schools maintained by more than one local authority, the reference in sub-paragraph (1) to the local authority is to be taken as a reference to each local authority.

6.  The governing body of a federation must make all necessary arrangements for and determine all other matters relating to the nomination and appointment of partnership governors.

Regulation 23

SCHEDULE 5Modification of the Constitution Regulations 2012

1.  In regulation 18(2) for “head teacher of the school” substitute “head teacher of the federation or a federated school”.

2.  In regulation 24 for “paragraphs 9 to 11 of Schedule 1” substitute “paragraphs 8 to 10 of Schedule 2 to the School Governance (Federations) (England) Regulations 2012”.

3.  In regulation 26 for “school” substitute “federated school”.

4.  In regulation 28—

(a)in paragraph (1) for “maintained school” substitute “federation”;

(b)in paragraph (1)(a), (c) and (f) for “school” substitute “federation”;

(c)for paragraph (1)(b) substitute the following paragraph—

“(b)the names and categories of the federated schools within the federation;”;

(d)in paragraph (1)(d) for “Part 3” substitute “Part 4 of the School Governance (Federations) (England) Regulations 2012”;

(e)for paragraph (1)(g) substitute the following sub-paragraph—

“(g)where a federated school is a foundation or voluntary school which has a religious character, a single description of the religious ethos of each such school”;

(f)in paragraph (2) for “these Regulations as they apply to a school of the category to which the schools belong” substitute “regulations 21 and 22 of the School Governance (Federations) (England) Regulations 2012”; and

(g)in paragraph (3) for “the school” substitute “a federated school”.

5.  For regulation 29, substitute—

“29.—(1) In this regulation, where reference is made to the local authority and the federation is to include schools maintained by different local authorities, the reference is to be taken as a reference to whichever of those local authorities the governing bodies of the schools agree should make the instrument of government for the federation.

(2) The governing bodies of the schools which are to form the federation must jointly prepare a draft instrument of government and submit it to the local authority.

(3) Where the federation will have foundation governors, the governing bodies of the proposed federation must not submit the draft to the local authority unless it has been approved in respect of each foundation or voluntary school by—

(a)that school’s foundation governors;

(b)the trustees of any trust relating to that school;

(c)in the case of a Church of England or Roman Catholic Church school, the appropriate diocesan authority; and

(d)in the case of any other school designated under section 69(3) of SSFA 1998 as having a religious character, the appropriate religious body.

(4) If—

(a)the local authority are content that the draft complies with all the applicable statutory provisions, or

(b)there is agreement between the local authority, the governing bodies and (where the federation will have foundation governors) the persons mentioned in paragraph (3) that the draft should be revised to any extent, and the revised draft complies with all the applicable statutory provisions,

the instrument of government must be made by the local authority in the form of the draft or (as the case may be) the revised draft.

(5) If neither sub-paragraph (a) nor (b) of paragraph (4) applies in the case of a federation which will not have foundation governors, the local authority must—

(a)inform the governing body of the federation of the reasons why they are not content with the draft instrument of government, and

(b)give the governing body of the federation a reasonable opportunity to reach agreement with them on revising the draft,

and must make the instrument of government either in the form of a revised draft agreed between them and the governing body of the federation or (in the absence of such agreement) in such form as they think fit having regard, in particular, to the category of school to which the school belongs.”.

6.  In regulation 30—

(a)in paragraphs (4) to (7)—

(i)for “school” substitute “federation”; and

(ii)for “regulation 29(2)” substitute “regulation 29(3)(1)”;

(b)in paragraph (6) omit from the words “having regard, in particular” to the end; and

(c)in paragraph (7) for “regulation 29(3)” substitute “regulation 29(4)(2)”.

7.  In regulation 31—

(a)in paragraphs (1) and (2)(a) for “school” substitute “federation”;

(b)in paragraph (2)(b) for “head teacher” substitute “head teacher of the federation or of a federated school”;

(c)in paragraph (2)(c) for “the school” substitute “a federated school”; and

(d)in paragraph (2)(d) and (e) for “school” substitute “federated school”.

8.  In paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 for “the school” substitute “one of the federated schools”.

Regulation 24

SCHEDULE 6Modification of the Procedures Regulations

1.  In regulation 3—

(a)in paragraph (1) for “regulation 11 of the Constitution Regulations” substitute “regulation 20 of the School Governance (Federations) (England) Regulations 2007 or regulation 20 of the School Governance (Federations) (England) Regulations 2012, as the case may be”; and

(b)after paragraph (2) insert the following paragraph—

“(3) In these Regulations, where there is a reference to a federation that includes schools maintained by more than one local authority, the reference to the local authority is to be taken as a reference to each local authority.”.

2.  In regulation 5 for paragraph (3) substitute the following paragraph—

“(3) A governor who is paid to work at the federation or at a federated school is not eligible to be chair or vice-chair of the governing body of the federation in question.”.

3.  In regulations 5(5)(b), 6(2)(a), 6(2)(c), 8(3)(c), 11(5)(d), 12A, 13(3)(a), 14(1)(b), 14(2), 14(4), 14(5), 15(1)(a), 15(1)(d) and 24(9)(a) and paragraphs 1(2)(a) and 3(1) and (2) of the Schedule for “school” substitute “federation or a federated school”.

4.  In regulations 6(2)(b), 11(5)(c), 12(4), 13(3)(b), 17(3) and 24(9)(b) for “the school” substitute “a federated school”.

5.  In regulations 8(4), 11(4)(b), 14(1)(a), 16(1)(c), 18(1)(b), 21(2) and 24(2) and paragraph 3(2) of the Schedule for “head teacher” substitute “head teacher of the federation or of a federated school”.

6.  In regulation 8(6) for “If at any time the school does not have a delegated budget” substitute “If at any time no federated school has a delegated budget”.

7.  In regulations 10(1)(b), 21(1) and 23(1)(b) for “head teacher of the school” substitute “head teacher of the federation or of a federated school”.

8.  In regulation 15(1) for sub-paragraph (c) substitute the following sub-paragraph—

“(c)that the governor has acted in a way that is inconsistent with the ethos or with the religious character of a federated school and has brought or is likely to bring the federation, a federated school, the governing body or the office of governor into disrepute; or”.

9.  In regulation 19 for “school staff” substitute “staff of the federation or federated school”.

Regulation 25

SCHEDULE 7Modification of the Staffing Regulations

1.  In regulation 3, after paragraph (5) insert—

“(6) In these Regulations—

(a)any reference to the head teacher or deputy head teacher of a school is to be construed as a reference to the head teacher or deputy head teacher of a federation or of a federated school; and

(b)where reference is made to the authority and a federation includes schools maintained by more than one authority, the reference is to be taken as a reference to each authority.”.

2.  In regulations 4(4)(a), 7(1)(a) and (b), 8, 18(1)(a)(iii) and (b) and (2) to (5), 20(1) to (3), 21(4), 30(1), (1)(a)(iii), (1)(b) and (2) to (5) and 31(1) and paragraphs 5 and 6 of Schedule 2, for “the school” substitute “the federation or the federated school”.

3.  In regulation 6(1)(b), after “send a copy of the report to the” insert “relevant”.

4.  In regulation 11, after “This Part applies to” insert “federated schools which are”.

5.  In regulations 12(4), 18(1), 21(1), 24(4) and 30(1), for “a school” substitute “a federation or a federated school”.

6.  In regulations 13(a) and 25, after “working at a” insert “federated”.

7.  In regulation 19, for paragraph (1) substitute—

“(1) Subject to regulation 21—

(a)the governing body or the head teacher of the federation may suspend any person employed or engaged otherwise than under a contract of employment to work at the federation; and

(b)the governing body or the head teacher of a federated school may suspend any person employed or engaged otherwise than under a contract of employment to work at that federated school,

where, in the opinion of the governing body or (as the case may be) the head teacher, such suspension is required.”.

8.  In regulation 19(4), after “inform the authority and the” insert “relevant”.

9.  In regulation 23, after “This Part applies to” insert “federated schools which are”.

10.  In regulation 27, after paragraph (3) insert—

“(3A) The foundation governors appointed in respect of a particular federated voluntary aided school must agree any recommendation at paragraph (3)(c) in respect of the appointment of the head teacher of that school.”.

11.  In regulation 34(1), after “voluntary aided school” insert “which is a federated school”.

12.  In regulation 35(2), for “school or schools” substitute “school, federated school or federation”.

13.  In regulations 36(1), 37(1) and 38(2), for sub-paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) substitute—

(a)the head teacher of one or more of the collaborating schools, federated schools or federations;

(b)one or more of the governors from any of the collaborating governing bodies; or

(c)one or more head teachers acting together with one or more governors from any of the collaborating schools, federated schools or federations..

14.  In regulation 40, after “school” insert “which is to be a federated school”..

Regulation 29

SCHEDULE 8Modification of Chapter 4 of Part 2 of SSFA 1998

1.  Section 49 (maintained schools to have delegated budgets) is modified as follows—

(a)in subsection (1), for “Every maintained school” substitute “Subject to subsection (2B), every federated school”;

(b)in subsection (2), for “A new school” substitute “Subject to subsection (2B), a new school that is a federated school”;

(c)after subsection (2A), insert—

“(2B) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to a federated school if the local authority by which the school is maintained treat the federation which includes the school as a single school in accordance with regulations.

In such a case, the federation shall have a delegated budget.”;

(d)in subsection (4)(a), after “school” insert “or federation”;

(e)in subsections (4) and (5), for “maintained school” substitute “federation”;

(f)in subsection (5)(a), after “head teacher” insert “of the federation or any school within the federation”; and

(g)for subsection (7), substitute—

“(7) In this Part—

(a)references to a federation or federated school having a delegated budget are references to the governing body of the federation being entitled to manage the federation’s budget share or the federated school’s budget share, as the case may be; and

(b)where a federation or federated school has a delegated budget the governing body of the federation are accordingly said to have a right to a delegated budget in respect of the federation or the federated school, as the case may be.”.

2.  Section 50 (effect of financial delegation) is modified as follows—

(a)in subsection (1), for “maintained school“ substitute “federated school”;

(b)after subsection (1), insert—

“(1A) Where a federation has a delegated budget in respect of the whole or part of a funding period, the local authority shall secure that in respect of that period there is available to be spent by the governing body—

(a)where the federation has a delegated budget in respect of the whole of that period, a sum equal to the federation’s budget share for the period, or

(b)where the federation has a delegated budget in respect of only part of that period, a sum equal to that portion of the federation’s budget share for the period which has not been spent.”;

(c)in subsection (2), after “made available” insert “under subsection (1) or (1A)” and for “any such sum” substitute “any sum mentioned in either of those subsections”;

(d)in subsection (3), for “the governing body may spend any such amounts” substitute “the governing body of a federation may spend any amounts made available under subsection (1) or (1A), and any amounts previously made available to the governing bodies of the federated schools before federation,”;

(e)in subsection (3), for paragraph (a) substitute—

“(a)for any purposes of any of the federated schools;

(aa)for any purposes of the federation; or”;

(f)in subsection (6), after “governing body” insert “of a federation” and after “head teacher” insert “of the federation or to the head teacher of each school within the federation”; and

(g)in subsection (7), for “school” substitute “federation”.

3.  In section 51 (suspension of financial delegation for mismanagement etc), after “delegated budget” insert “in respect of the federation or each school within the federation”.

4.—(1) Schedule 15 (suspension of financial delegation) is modified as follows.

(2) In paragraph 1—

(a)in sub-paragraph (1), after “where” insert “a federated school or a federation has a delegated budget and” and for “a school which has a delegated budget” substitute “the federation”;

(b)in sub-paragraph (2), after “delegated budget” insert “in respect of any of the federated schools or the federation, as the case may be,”;

(c)in sub-paragraph (5), for “school” substitute “federation or of each federated school”; and

(d)in sub-paragraph (7), for “school’s budget share” substitute “budget share of any of the federated schools or the federation”.

(3) In paragraph 2—

(a)in sub-paragraph (2), for “school” substitute “federation or of each federated school”; and

(b)in sub-paragraph (4), after “head teacher” insert “of the federation or of each federated school”.

(4) In paragraph 4—

(a)in sub-paragraph (1), after “delegated budget” insert “in respect of a federated school”;

(b)after sub-paragraph (1), insert—

“(1A) During any period when a governing body’s right to a delegated budget in respect of a federation is suspended under paragraph 1—

(a)the local authority’s duty under section 50(1A) shall not apply in relation to the federation; but

(b)the local authority may permit the governing body to take such decisions as to the spending of sums to be met from the federation’s budget share as the authority consider appropriate.”;

(c)in sub-paragraph (2), after “(1)(b)” insert “or (1A)(b)”; and

(d)in sub-paragraph (3), after “head teacher” insert “of the federation or any of the federated schools” .