All ODST schools have a Local Governing Body (LGB), which is a committee of the ODST Trust Board that provides local oversight and support for one or more schools.

LGBs operate at a local level to ensure a school maintains high standards, has clear strategic goals, and remains accountable for its performance. Key roles include acting as a support and challenge partner to the headteacher, monitoring school performance indicators, safeguarding children, overseeing local finances, and representing the views of the local community and school stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Direction: Establishing a vision for the school and setting its purpose and aims.
• Performance Monitoring: Monitoring the school's performance, key performance indicators, and the effectiveness of the policy framework. 
• Accountability: Holding the school leadership, particularly the headteacher, to account for the school's educational and financial performance.
• Community Engagement: Representing the views of the local community, parents, and other stakeholders.
• Support and Challenge: Support and challenge the headteacher and senior leadership team, to drive school improvement.
• Policy Implementation: Ensuring trust policies are implemented and relevant school-level policies are in place and reviewed.

How They Operate

• Constitution: LGBs consist of 12-14 members from the local, parent and staff communities, and faith community in the case of Church schools.
• Meetings: LGBs typically meet six times a year, the school may have sub-committees which have additional meetings
• Visits: Governors often visit the school to gain a deeper understanding of its strengths and areas for development. 
• Collaboration: LGBs are a crucial link between the school, ODST’s board of trustees, and the local community, providing a unique local perspective.
• Delegated Powers: Their powers and responsibilities are delegated from the trust's board of trustees, as outlined in a Scheme of Delegation.

Mutual Accountability
ODST operates on a principle of mutual accountability – we all work together towards our Common Vision for the Common Good.
We appreciate the many and varied roles played by each individual, each with their own set of accountabilities and key tasks. We are stronger together than we are as individuals, however, and we recognise that roles and responsibilities overlap and what we are achieving as an organisation is fundamentally a collective rather than an individual endeavour.