School governing bodies review: reference group 3: 13 May 2026

• Rocio Cifuentes, Children’s Commissioner for Wales
• Lisa Taylor, Church in Wales
• Dr Lowri Jones, Estyn
• Jeff Fish, Swansea LA/Chair of Governor Support Officers’ Group
• Trystan Edwards, Headteacher, Ysgol Garth Olwg/Ministerial Headteachers Advisory Group
• Sue Walker, Director of Education, Merthyr Tydfil LA/Association of Directors of Education in Wales
• Angela Keller, Catholic Education Service
• Emyr Harries, Education Infrastructure, Governance and Finance, Welsh Government (Chair)
• Claire Horton, School Governance, Organisation and Admissions, Welsh Government
• Paul Jones, School Governance, Organisation and Admissions, Welsh Government
• Sian Jones, Safeguarding in Education, Welsh Government
• Michelle Morris, Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (morning only)

Apologies were received from Cerys Furlong, Chair of Governors, Fitzalan High.

The Group received an update on the continued engagement with stakeholders that has been undertaken since the last meeting. A further 50 engagements have taken place or are in the diary for the next few weeks, with emphasis on governors, parents, learners and staff, with a mix of facilitated workshops, discussions with individuals and sessions on established group agendas. The Welsh medium sector has also been a recent focus, and a learner survey undertaken through Young Wales is due to report at the end of May.

The Group received an update on the related safeguarding review, highlighting the importance of maintaining alignment between both reviews and keeping safeguarding central to discussions. The new Government has set out its expectations around safeguarding which officials are working through. Further plans for the safeguarding in education review are subject to new Ministers’ approval.

The group had a focussed session on school complaints with presentations from the Children’s Commissioner, Jeff Fish and the Public Services Ombudsman, and a reminder of the current legislation and guidance from the review team.

Each shared their perspective on their involvement in school complaints and where improvements were needed. The group heard that that there has been a significant increase in complaints, with a rise in the number of very lengthy and complex complaints generated by AI. This was mirrored across all of the public sector.

In some cases, complainants do not feel they are getting a good enough service from governing bodies and feel that there is not enough independence in the system to get a satisfactory outcome. It is also unclear what role the Children’s Commissioner and some other organisations like Estyn and EWC can play.

The Ombudsman is in the midst of some exploratory work looking into whether their remit should be extended to include school complaints. This work is reporting back to the Senedd in autumn so is timely for the governing body review.

It is clear that, at the least, some further review of the current Welsh Government guidance, and the inclusion of guidance for complainants, is needed.

The group was presented with information about the Cyfleoedd+ model which is a collaboration between Welsh medium schools. It was clear that there are real benefits to this sustainable model, including sharing best practice, raising standards and increasing capacity within the school system.

The group was invited to consider how this model could be used more widely.

The review team provided an update on thescoping work that has been undertaken in understanding parity for governors with other members of public body board, including remuneration in the current governing bodies system.

The Welsh Government Library Service has identified governing body literature published over the last 10 years. In all there were 57 results found; 23 of which focussed on Wales and 34 were international. The results have been shared with the group who were invited to comment on what lessons can be learned from the reports.

The initial engagement phase of the review will be largely concluded by the end of June. The review team will be providing an interim report to Ministers in the coming weeks, and this will also be shared with the group. The next meeting of the reference group will be booked once initial discussions with Ministers have taken place and will focus on the next phase of testing recommendations for change.