School Improvement and Governance Network

Popular practical tools and information

What are some of the most popular tools used by school councils and school communities? On our list, which includes what school council and school community members have told us, are:

• The Great Schools Checklist - a useful tool to assess what your school is doing well now, how it is improving, and what else it may need to do. Published by the Teacher Learning Network
• Top ten practical tips and ten useful tools for improving a school council
• Example standing orders for school councils
• School council workplan
• Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) school councils info
• DEECD 'Improving school governance' online school council training package. Includes Induction, Finance, Policy Development and Review, and Strategic Planning
• Parents and families as partners with schools - a useful checklist - seven key areas to work on
• Principals Guide to School Council Elections 2013
• Tools to help you plan and manage effective meetings and promote positive participation and behaviour
• Agenda and minutes template to structure meetings and minutes
• Ground rules for meetings
• School policy-writing template
• Principal selection guidelines and information
• Guidelines, tools and resources for preventing and dealing with conflict
• School communications toolkit - useful tools and templates to improve school communications
• Personalised learning report including practical recommendations
• Diversity in governance - a toolkit
• Student participation - a great practices guide
• Measuring your family-school-community partnerships - a toolkit
• The Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria provides a free mediation service for schools
• Pathways to school improvement - practical ideas
• A guide to effective advocacy and lobbying
• Finance Manual for Victorian Government Schools
• Local government publication It Takes a Village to Raise a Child - useful ideas for communities
• Education Partnerships Resource - useful information from DEECD
• School Policy and Advisory Guide provides schools with quick access to policies and advice
• Talking to learn: Dialogue in the classroom - great resources.