Minutes of Governor's meetings

[thesecretmusicteacher]

has anyone asked to see copies of these when researching a school? I have stumbled on some online and they make very interesting reading.
The website of the secondary where the DSs will probably go says the minutes "are available to view in school". They used to have some online and I picked up some really interesting titbits.
Dare I ask to see them and risk being labelled a trouble-maker? And can anyone fill me in on the status of such minutes?

The minutes of governors meetings should be available at the school office, and all you need to do is ask for them. You shouldnt be branded a trouble maker. It is an ofsted requirement for them to be available.

Shouldn't all schools put them on their websites now? Our school started to do this recently as seems to be requirement. They are also available in the foyer.

Our school won't even let you have a copy of any policies unless the HT has authorised it first! Nothing is displayed for public information
I very much doubt they would let anyone see their minutes from meetings.

Shouldn't all schools put them on their websites now? Our school started to do this recently as seems to be requirement

No - it's not a requirement.

I wonder what some schools have to hide.....

Yes, our school seems to think that they are above the law but will no doubt get their comeuppance one day .......

The minutes for public consumption are edited anyway - there is a public version and a complete version.

Which makes it even more strange that schools are cagey.
Just full GB meeting minutes on ours and pretty full.... ie not majorly edited that I can see.

All the detail should be in sub-committee meeting minutes.

Well just summary of committee meetings in main GB minutes which seem to be in public minutes. Will have to compare public minutes and minutes some time when can be bothered!

Part 1 Governing Body Minutes should be available when they have been approved, usually at the next meeting. Part 2 or Confidential Minutes are also available but may need to be redacted in case the identity of a pupil or a member of staff is recognisable, eg, if a member of staff is under-performing and the actions which are being taken to address it or a child who might be undergoing a managed move to another school.

Formerly, the GttL and now the Governor's Handbook is very clear about this and all of these, should they not be immediately forthcoming, can be requested under FoI. Unfortunately some GBs do not understand this and need to be reminded.

There is no statutory requirement to publish minutes on websites but the information must be available through the school along with any policies to which the school adheres.

I'm quite surprised at this - Governors surely have cause to discuss some quite confidential information at times, which I believe they should be trusted to make the right decisions about, without all the information they have been given, being made available to the public.

Oh - x-posted with LatteLady
Glad to hear that confidentiality is respected in some cases.

Latte surely it wouldn't be appropriate for a governing body to know the id of any pupil for any purpose - that's not in their remit.

The name of pupil should not be known, however it may be obvious from comments noted who the pupil is, this is especially so in schools with a smaller roll and the same would be true for a member of staff, hence the redaction of information.

In a similar way, someone I know died as a result of alleged domestic violence, there was a serious case review, despite an amount of anonymising of information, it was very obvious to those of us who knew the family who the report was about. So much so that the national newspapers also identified her.

There is a very fine line between transparency and exposure.