1. Strategic Thinking for Effective Meetings
Bath and Wells Diocese Governor Conference
8th June 2018
Strategic Thinking for Effective Meetings
Ann Adams
Service Manager SSE-Governance Services

2. The priorities of the school;
Where to start
The priorities of the school;
Statutory obligations; and most importantly
Outcomes for pupils/students
In order for the board to have effective meetings and work effectively the board must be clear on their own outcomes and their role i.e. what is important. Three core roles are important and they are the golden thread but we can categorise all that we need to do strategically into 3 areas of work –
The priorities for the school and how they will be monitored, how they will influence the work of the board
It is important for boards to not only monitor the strategy but also to link monitoring to the effectiveness of policies such as safeguarding, GDPR, H&S. Improvement priorities can often be linked to statutory policies
What are the outcomes for the pupils and what information data is required to confirm them

3. School Development plan
Vision
3-5 years
Strategy
1 year
School Development plan
Develop and recommend
Board and HT
Board, HT and SLT
HT and SLT
Agree
Board
HT and Board
Deliver
Everyone HT
HT, SLT and Staff
Report
HT to Board
SLT and Staff to HT and HT and school leads to board
Monitor
Board, parents and pupils
Review
Based on guidance provided by the NGA (National Governors Association) this table provides an example of how to determine and communicate the vision and strategy for the school. Governance board along with the Headteacher will develop the 3-5 year vision and form this there will be a one year strategy document (responsibility of the board, HT and SLT) alongside the annual school development plan developed by the HT and SLT. It may be that the strategy document is incorporated into the SDP.
Develop and recommend / Review – would be undertaken at the start of the year or possibly at the end of the year and possibly together or individually one at the beginning of the year and the other at the end. Should be noted that the vision for church schools should also reflect the Church of England Vision for Education.
Agree – it is for the board as part of their core function to agree to the strategy and vision and for the HT and Board to agree that the SDP meets all priorities for the school.
Deliver – Everyone will help to deliver the vision of the individual school but also that of the Church of England Vision it will be for the HT to operationally deliver the Strategy

4. What do we need Do not be limited to just academic performance
Not all improvement priorities will be quantitative
School Development Plan
Headteachers Report
Boards need to consider the whole education not just limited to academic performance
Information can be used from surveys (staff, pupils and parents) or even details contained within the headteachers termly report
SDP and HT report – discussed in later slides

5. School/Academy development or improvement plan
How are you using this to contribute to your effectiveness?
What do you need to monitor the improvement priorities
Do you have governors linked to each priority within the plan?
Are governors visits linked to the priorities?
Do you have access to independent information regarding progress on the plan i.e. conversations with pupils and teachers
Questions to ask –
Are measures being met if not what is the reason or are excuses being made
Has something unforeseen changed in the landscape to affect priority outcomes

6. Have you decided on the format, or has the headteacher?
Headteachers Report
What should it contain?
Have you decided on the format, or has the headteacher?
If data is looked at separately i.e. FFT governors dashboard, ASP (Analyse School Performance), school based assessment programmes such as PiXL (partners in excellence) - it should also be noted that governors should be able to access this information independently and not be reliant upon senior leaders; then information to be included should include – although this isn’t an exhaustive list - :-
Quality of teaching
Absence – pupil and staff
Behaviour of pupils
Curriculum offer
Racial incidents
Complaints
Staff movement and reasons

7. Statutory Obligations
What are they?
How does the board undertake them?
Often these may well be cyclical items such as –
Policies – monitoring and reviewing
safeguarding
Schools Financial Value Standard and financial reporting
Performance management
Staff and pupil wellbeing
Data directly related to progress and attainment
Surveys, monitoring via governor visits, analysis of information such as staff absence/turnover, questions from governors at board and committee meetings but ultimately having key agenda items and an annual planner linked to all areas

8. What are the key dates throughout the year?
Annual Planner
What are the key dates throughout the year?
How does this fit in with your board structure and meeting schedule?
How does your planner inform your agenda?
Key dates –
Data drops
Assessment walks by the Headteacher and senior leadership team on quality of teaching
Safeguarding audit
Submission of SFVS
Financial dates etc. etc, etc.
Are meetings of the full board and committees structured around these dates do they coincide with information?
Once the key tasks for the year have been ascertained and the meeting structure known the tasks are likely to inform your agenda setting

9. School performance and evaluation Statutory responsibilities
Agenda Setting
Standard items
School performance and evaluation
Statutory responsibilities
Any other business
Confidential items
Back to the original premise of slide 2 and the 3 key responsibilities of the board –
Priorities
Statutory obligations
Outcomes
Standard items – apologies and absence, declaration of interests, minutes of last meeting
School performance and evaluation – SDP, HT report, Data, Governor visits
Statutory responsibilities – election of chair/vice-chair, terms of reference, review and monitoring of policies

10. ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS Ann Adams sgs@Somerset.gov.ukor