Academies are state-funded independent schools and they have greater flexibility than maintained schools. However their key consideration in deciding how to operate, and on what to focus besides their legal requirements, is achieving and maintaining school improvement. The Ministerial Working Group on Governance reporting in April 2010, emphasised the importance of governing bodies working strategically, not straying into day to day issues. It noted that the 21st century schools White Paper had proposed that governing bodies should: (a) first, promote the education, development and wider wellbeing of the children on their school's roll; (b) second promote the education, development and wider wellbeing of all children in their area; and (c) third support the needs of the local community. This paper presents an overview of how governing bodies should be constituted and how decisions should be made.