Welcome To Being A Governor Part 2 Governor Training and Development Shaun Smith Sept 16 TV/AJ

Aims To increase knowledge and understanding of Governor role To identify how different Governor roles contribute and support the work of the Full Governing Board To increase knowledge of statutory responsibilities of Governors To enable Governors to contribute to school improvement effectively To increase networking and sharing good practice

Where are you now? What is your role on the Governing Board? Full Governing Board meetings Committee(s) Link role(s) In what areas are you confident? Do you have any concerns? Pop any questions you have on a post it – make sure you get your answer before leaving!!

How far have you come? Quiz

Key Roles of the Governing Board All boards, no matter what type of schools or how many schools they govern, have three core functions: Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction; Holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff; and Overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent. Governance Handbook (DfE January 2017)

Key Roles of Governing Board School Improvement Strategic Direction Challenge and Support Ensure Financial Accountability

Audit How have your skills and talents been used by your Governing Board? How have you grown as a Governor?

Strategic Governors… Focus on making sure every child gets the best possible education. Establish the long term vision for a school Promote the character / ethos of school Building a supportive and productive relationship with Headteacher, whilst holding them to account for the school performance Challenge the school to bring about improvement and to hold leaders accountable for performance Agree the strategic improvement priorities, monitor progress and impact Making decisions in light of objective data Evaluate their own performance and improve as a Governing Board High expectations for all

Challenging and Supportive Governors Ask the right questions to different people Performance and progress of pupils – all pupils, groups of pupils (most/least able, LC A, PP, Free School Meals, English as an Additional Language), comparison with national and local data, trends Quality of teaching and learning –eg: Pay awards linked to Performance Management / overall performance – outcomes for pupils Wellbeing of pupils – positive culture, bullying, safeguarding, PREVENT, British Values, Health + Safety, listening to pupils and parents, etc. Leadership throughout the school – Senior / Middle leaders how are they driving improvement, holding others to account Impact of development – School development plan, finance etc. Support the Head/ School – “Critical friend” – support, advice, expertise and information, – promotes interest of school and its pupils, commitment to raising standards.

Appointment of Headteacher / Senior leaders MAJOR STRATEGIC DECISION Holding the Headteacher / Senior leaders to account Appointment of Headteacher / Senior leaders MAJOR STRATEGIC DECISION Support and strengthen leadership of school – bringing skills and expertise to support school GOVERNOR SKILLS AND EXPERTISE Hold HT/ Senior Leaders to account for the performance of pupils and staff REPORTING TO GOVERNORS Performance management of Headteacher / HT performance management of other staff and management of performance throughout the school.(e.g. Quality of Teaching + Learning) EVALUATING PERFROMANCE AGAINST OUTCOMES/ OBJECTVES / OVERALL PERFORMANCE Challenging Headteacher / other leaders to raise standards COURAGEOUS CONVERSATIONS Addressing the strategic priorities, Monitoring progress, impact and evaluating improvement over time. MONITORING AND EVALUATING IMPACT Monitor and evaluating effective use of school resources + finances DECISION MAKING /MONITORING AND EVALUATING IMPACT Sept 16 TV/AJ

Asking the right questions for financial accountability • Are resources allocated in line with the organisation’s strategic priorities? • Does the organisation have a clear budget forecast, ideally for the next three years, which identifies spending opportunities and risks and sets how these will be mitigated? • Does the organisation have sufficient reserves to cover major changes such as re-structuring, and any risks identified in the budget forecast? • Is the organisation making best use of its budget, including in relation to planning and delivery of the curriculum? • Does the organisation plan its budgets on a bottom up basis driven by curriculum planning (i.e. is the school spending its money in accordance with its priorities) or is the budget set by simply making minor adjustments to last year’s budget to ensure there is a surplus?

Asking the right questions for financial accountability #2 Are the organisation’s assets and financial resources being used efficiently? How can better value for money be achieved from the budget? Is the organisation complying with basic procurement rules and ensuring it gets the best deal available when buying goods and services in order to reinvest savings into teaching and learning priorities? Is the organisation taking advantages of opportunities to collaborate with other schools to generate efficiencies through pooling funding where permitted, purchasing services jointly and sharing staff, functions, facilities and technology across sites? P25 Governance Handbook

Six key features of effective governance The Governance Handbook Six key features of effective governance The features are: Strategic Leadership - That sets and champions vision, ethos and strategy. Accountability - Drives up educational standards and financial performance. People - With the right skills, experience, qualities and capacity. Structures - Reinforcing clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Compliance - Statutory and contractual requirements. Evaluation - To monitor and improve the quality and impact of Governance.

Competency Framework for Governors The Competency Framework is made up of 16 competencies. The competencies are grouped under the headings of the ‘six features of effective Governance. It is recommended that Governing Boards over the coming months discuss and reflect on the framework section by section.

Activity: Governance Handbook Read the section on the features of effective governance. Pick 4 to 6 keywords and/or phrases. Choose aspect that you consider to be most important. Identify an areas that you don’t understand or would like more information about.

Which of these have you have been involved in so far? Formal Ofsted, Core group reviews, SLT meetings, Governor reviews, FGB, Special Meetings eg: Complaints, Appeals etc. Less Formal Link visits, working parties, Committee meetings, Interviews with staff, pupils, parents. Other Events, Assemblies, Community, informal- staff room, social eg: PTA

Documents – Which have you seen? Statutory Policies, procedure, Ofsted reports, Governor minutes, Financial regulations. School School Development Plan, Self Evaluation, Subject policies, guidelines, reviews, website, Code of conduct. Other Newsletters, Letters, Website etc.

“Absolute clarity about the different roles and responsibilities of the Headteacher and governors underpins the most effective governance.” Learning from the best - Ofsted 2011. Governors Headteacher Leading and directing the school strategy Setting the values, ethos and vision of the school Contributing to and approving the long term vision Approving the priorities of the school – School Development Plan Oversight and accountability of performance Monitoring and evaluating progress of strategic plan (SDP) Agreeing budget to support SDP and school needs including major spending decision Agreeing the principles and strategic direction of policies Day to day management of school, staff, resources etc. Spending within agreed budget Setting the SDP with reference to the governors vision to address school priorities Implementing the actions and procedures identified on the SDP Recruitment and deployment of staff Discipline – staff and pupils Teaching and learning Performance management and appraisal of staff Developing and implementing policies and procedure to deliver the school vision.

Governors must know their school well. D Data O Observation Discussion Documents Consistency TRIANGULATION…

Example: How good is teaching at our school? What we are told: HT report, LA report, NQT data, Performance management outcomes Consistency What we see/ hear Visits to school, talking with pupils staff, parents, surveys, etc. What the data is telling us. Pupil outcomes, attainment + progress, different groups Develop triangulation – not relying on any one source Consistency between all 3 needed – same message Reminder : Governors do not judge the quality of teaching and learning

Sources of Data External Raise online, Inspection Dashboard, DFE performance tables, Ofsted Reports, FFT dashboard, Parent view, Exam Results – GCSE etc., Comparative data – school/local/national. Internal Attendance, Behaviour, SEN, Assessment outcomes – achievement and progress, school monitoring eg: Quality of Teaching, Learning and Assessment, progress tracking data, Pupil Voice, Parental surveys, etc. Other Finance, Behaviour Incidents , H+S Which of the above have you seen?

Observations – finding out Quality of Teaching and Learning Learning walks, lesson observations Behaviour, Safety and Wellbeing School visits, assemblies, events, Health and Safety walks Working with Stakeholders Link visits, working parties, staff meetings, training, events, consultation meetings etc.

On visits If we talk all the time we repeat what we know. If we ask and listen, we may learn something new!

Governing Board Key Activities Governance Handbook Typical Inputs Understand our school Pupil attainment and progress Pupil behaviour, attendance and safety Teaching quality and staff development Performance Data Ofsted reports Self-evaluation School visits Set our school’s strategic direction Champion our vision, values and ethos Set priorities for school improvement Consider academy data Local aspirations National floor standards Parent and pupil voice Commission action Agree improvement targets and strategies Agree allocation of resources Agree how to monitor and review progress  Improvement plans Budget data Performance Manage our school leaders Appoint Headteacher and support their leadership Hold school leaders to account for progress Ensure financial probity and efficiency Financial data Check we are fit for purpose Clarify our role and purpose Review constitution and ways of working Make sure members have the necessary skills   Policy context Ofsted Criteria Self evaluation

Discussion Activity Feedback What activities have you been involved in? How have they helped you to know your school well? Feedback

Ofsted Expectations of Governors Inspectors will consider whether governors: work effectively with leaders to communicate the vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school and develop a culture of ambition provide a balance of challenge and support to leaders, understanding the strengths and areas needing improvement at the school provide support for an effective Headteacher or are hindering school improvement because of a lack of understanding of the issues facing the school understand how the school makes decisions about teachers’ salary progression and performance performance manage the Headteacher rigorously understand the impact of teaching, learning and assessment on the progress of pupils currently in the school ensure that assessment information from leaders provides governors with sufficient and accurate information to ask probing questions about outcomes for pupils ensure that the school’s finances are properly managed and can evaluate how the school is using the pupil premium and the primary PE and sport premium are transparent and accountable, including in recruitment of staff, governance structures, attendance at meetings and contact with parents.

Impact of Governance Establishing clear vision – ambition – culture of excellence and communicating this to parents/ staff/ pupils Safeguarding – statutory requirements, policy, practice and intervention, and safe appointment procedures. High expectations – pupil behaviour, performance, attitudes, values, High expectations of staff – quality performance – pupil outcomes Challenge - is it good enough? External evidence – what are others saying? Monitoring and information – first hand and what you need from leaders Taking action – making changes, getting results Evaluative practice – knowing school and how it compares to others. Are Governors fulfilling core functions and making a difference for the pupils in their school?

Discussion time – are you ready for Ofsted? Do you know your strengths? How do you know? Do you know your weakness? How do you know? What are you doing about it? What is the impact of this? Are Govs aware of Sept 14 changes? Ofsted inspector guidance Recent experiences of Ofsted

Organisation and your role within the Governing Board FGB COMMITTEE Standards and Curriculum COMMITTEE Finance and resources STATUTORY APPEAL PANELS Curriculum Assessment outcomes Teaching + Learning SEND Pupil Premium Safeguarding RE + Collective worship Leadership and Management Performance Management Finance Staffing Resources H+S Premises Pay panel Appeals Discipline Exclusions Complaints Your structure may be different

Non committee structure FGB Lead Gov Associate Members Statutory Panels

Organisation - Committees No prescribed model – What is right for your FGB? Growing number of schools adopting no committee structure – more frequent FGB meetings and lead governors Terms of reference and delegation of powers set by Governing Board Governing Board responsible for decisions made by Committee Chair / Clerk/ minutes – Agenda / minutes – IMPORTANT! Quorum – at least 3 Governors Reporting back to and accountable to Full Governing Board Purpose Terms of reference Remit – delegation of powers Feedback to FGB

Designated Governor Roles Responsible for Working closely with SEND Liaising with SENCo / School leaders to ensure all Special Needs and disabilities are identified, provided for in accordance with legislation. Head SENCo Child Protection/ Safeguarding Ensuring legal requirements are in place eg: Central Record, Policy, Child Protection procedures, training, Appointment checks. PREVENT + curriculum development Designated teacher Looked After Children Ensuring LAC children are known and provision made for additional needs SENCo /LAC teacher/ Link A specific subject/ aspect/ class – teaching and learning, standards, subject leadership etc. Subject /Class leader IMPORTANT to have clear remit of responsibilities and powers on behalf of FGB

Link Governors - examples Year / Class/Phase Subject Pupil premium/Sports premium Health and Safety Policy review Website Assessment / data Extra curriculum Early Years (Governor Managed Provision) Training + development Finance Community IMPORTANT to have clear remit of responsibilities and powers on behalf of FGB

School Visits / Monitoring Policy Informing, not inspecting Finding out for the Full Governing Board Reporting back to Head and Full Governing Board Purpose of visit Protocol for visit Reports and records Policy Record/ report

Policies Policy - Guiding document – the principles Usually drafted by school leaders Supported by in school procedures that guide practice Statutory policies Review dates varied Availability of policies – Governors, Staff, Parents Governor role to monitor policy is in place, up to date and in use. Policies can be delegated to Head / other leaders

Effectiveness How well is your Governing Board doing? How well are you doing as a member?

20 Key Questions (revised Feb 2015) Right skills on the GB? Effectiveness? Leadership of Chair? Vision and strategic priorities? Engagement with school community and beyond? Accountability of school leaders? Governor impact on outcomes for pupils?

21 Questions for MAT boards. (NGA March 2015) Vision, ethos and strategy Governance structures Board effectiveness and conduct Trustee performance Engagement Effective accountability of the executive leadership Impact on outcome for pupils

What is your contribution to your Governing Board?

Will it make the boat go faster? The theory of marginal gains… Will the decisions you make and activities you are involved in make outcomes for pupils better?

Action Planning To be an even better Governor over the next year, I need to… Action How I can achieve it What support / training do I need. My long term goal is to: