The national registers say what a church school is. Nothing national says which foundation seats are empty, which SIAMS inspection is due, which schools are shrinking, or what the estate costs to heat. That is the diocesan board of education’s job — and until now, its spreadsheet.
A diocesan board of education is a separate statutory body with its own duties — and, in most dioceses, its own separate spreadsheets.
Parish and benefice, governance category, phase, roll against capacity, catchment deprivation, headteacher, inspection history and the reports themselves — on the same record as the church it sits beside.
The seats the instrument of government establishes, who holds them, when each term ends, which lapsed and were never refilled — and which schools have no foundation governor at all. That last list is the one nobody can produce today.
Roll against capacity, places unfilled, deprivation of catchment and distance to the next church school — the four numbers behind every reorganisation conversation, on one screen instead of four requests to four people.
The national data arrives on its own; the diocese’s own knowledge is what the platform is for.
Schools, phases, categories, rolls, capacities and Ofsted outcomes synced from the Department for Education’s published register — so the list is never a year out of date.
Seats established, seats filled, seats lapsed and seats never refilled — with the appointing body recorded against each, so the board knows what it is being asked to appoint to.
Three questions asked side by side: serving governors we hold, serving governors the national register holds, and the ones that appear in only one of them. Disagreement is shown, not smoothed over.
The last inspection, its grade and the report in the library — and the next one estimated from the cycle, so “overdue” and “due this year” are lists rather than surprises.
Foundation governors are role-holders like any other: their training requirements and DBS status follow the seat they hold. How that works →
Education courses, sessions and bookings run from the same record — who attended, who is booked, who was invited and never came.
Every school carries the deprivation of the parish it serves, so “where should the board’s effort go” is a sort, not an argument. Reporting →
Energy certificates, meters and emissions for school buildings sit in the same net zero picture as churches and houses — because the 2030 target counts all three. Net Zero →
Inspection reports held against the school, with the gaps visible: “no report in the library” is itself a list to work through.
Every school plotted with its parish and deanery, so a reorganisation proposal can be looked at rather than described. Pastoral planning →
Category changes recorded as changes — a school that converts does not quietly lose the history that explains its foundation seats.
A head who is also a reader, a governor who is also a churchwarden — the same contact, not three. That is the whole point of running education inside the diocesan system rather than beside it.
A composite scenario rather than one named diocese — but every DBE officer will recognise the week before the meeting.
A governing body without its foundation governors is not a church school having a quiet term. It is a duty going unmet, and nobody can currently see it.— Why the education area exists