Before the Inspectors Call: A Governor's Ten-Point Test for Genuine Pupil Voice

Inspection windows concentrate the mind. Governing boards ask for policies, data and evidence of impact, and pupil voice often appears as a cheerful paragraph in the headteacher's report. But governors should not wait for inspectors to test whether pupil voice is real. The following ten-point audit is designed for governing boards, trustees and headteachers who want to know whether their school's pupil voice is substantive or performative. It is not a compliance tick-list. It is a set of questions to ask, evidence to request and actions to minute.

1. Is there a dedicated budget?

Ask how much money is controlled by pupils and what it can be spent on. A red flag is a pupil voice fund of £50, held by staff, spent on posters. Strong practice is a primary school in Bristol that allocates a £2,000 participatory budget each year; pupils propose projects, cost them and decide within safeguarding and procurement rules. Governors receive a short spend report and ask what pupils learned from the trade-offs.

2. Are minutes and action logs public?

Ask to see the last three sets of pupil council minutes and the action log. A red flag is minutes that record only attendance and requests, with no owner or deadline. Strong practice is a secondary in Sheffield that publishes minutes on its website and reports a termly action log to governors, including a 'you said, we did' summary that explains what changed and what did not.

3. Does the room reflect the school?

Ask who sits on the council and how they were selected. A red flag is a self-selecting group of confident, high-attaining pupils with no representation from pupils with SEND, pupil premium pupils or care-experienced pupils. Strong practice is stratified random selection or linked year groups, with accessible meetings and deliberate outreach through form tutors and pastoral staff.

4. Is there a feedback loop with reasons?

Ask how pupils hear back and whether they are told why a request was declined. A red flag is silence after a meeting, or a vague promise to 'look into it'. Strong practice is a written response within 20 school days, shared in assembly and on the website, that gives reasons and next steps. Pupils should learn that democratic participation involves trade-offs, not wishes granted.

5. Do governors hear pupils directly?

Ask when the board last heard from pupils without the headteacher summarising. A red flag is pupil voice appearing only in the head's report. Strong practice is a named link governor who attends pupil voice meetings twice a year and reports to the full board, plus an annual pupil presentation to governors on a theme chosen by pupils.

6. Is pupil voice linked to curriculum and assessment?

Ask what pupil voice has changed in teaching, homework, assessment or options. A red flag is a council that discusses charity days and toilets but never the timetable. Strong practice is a curriculum jury or subject working group that reviews homework schedules, testing frequency and key stage 4 options, with governors monitoring the response.

7. Are meetings accessible and inclusive?

Ask how meetings are scheduled, interpreted and adjusted. A red flag is lunchtime-only meetings, no transport, no sensory adjustments and English-only discussion. Strong practice is varied times, interpreters where needed, quiet rooms, accessible minutes and support for pupils who use communication aids or have EHCPs.

8. Is there succession and training?

Ask how long pupils serve and how they are prepared. A red flag is the same pupils serving for five years with no handover. Strong practice is one-year terms with renewal, training in meeting skills and safeguarding, shadowing for new members and a handover session each summer.

9. Does the school track impact?

Ask for an annual pupil voice impact log. A red flag is anecdote only, with no baseline and no follow-up. Strong practice is a short annual audit that records changes to policy, practice and environment, alongside pupil surveys and attendance or belonging data. Governors should monitor the log termly and ask what has not worked.

10. Is challenge safe?

Ask how pupils raise concerns without fear and how staff are trained to respond. A red flag is a council that only praises the school, or staff who select the topics in advance. Strong practice is a protected agenda item, an anonymous pre-survey, a clear safeguarding protocol and staff training in facilitating dissent. Pupils should be able to say that a lesson is not working without being treated as a behaviour problem.

Before the inspection window

Governors should request an evidence pack: terms of reference, budget, minutes, action log, inclusion data, feedback examples, link governor reports and the impact log. Ask the headteacher to present it at a full governing board meeting, minute the discussion and agree one or two actions for the year. The point is not to impress inspectors. It is to know whether the school's commitment to pupil voice survives contact with the timetable, the budget and the pressure of results. If it does not, governors have the authority — and the responsibility — to ask why.