NEW GOVERNOR INDUCTION David Marriott for BANES Governor

NEW GOVERNOR INDUCTION David Marriott for BANES Governor Support

WHAT WE’RE GOING TO COVER Brief overview: purpose, roles and features of effective governance 1. Strategic leadership: setting and championing vision, ethos and strategy 2. Accountability: driving up educational standards and financial performance 3. People: the right skills, experience, qualities and capacity 4. Structures: reinforcing clearly defined roles and responsibilities 5. Compliance with statutory and contractual requirements 6. Evaluation: monitoring and improving the quality and impact of governance

MAINTAINED SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES LA Maintained schools (16200) are those funded by the local authority community foundation voluntary aided voluntary controlled Academies (5800) are ‘independent’ state schools funded by and accountable to the Secretary of State charitable companies limited by guarantee have an Academy Trust which is responsible for the school’s land assets expected to support another school or schools

A QUICK HISTORY LESSON A group of independent trustees who scrutinise the teaching and progress of scholars , the quality of food provided and correct and reform anything needing correction or reform The Education Act provides for every school to have a body of local people to represent the public interest in its affairs Governors have responsibility at policy making level…the powers belong to the governing body as a whole…the individual governor has no power to make decisions or take action

PURPOSE AND FUNCTIONS OF GB Purpose: to ‘conduct the school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement at the school’ Core functions: ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent

6 KEY FEATURES OF EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE Six key features Strategic leadership that sets and champions vision, ethos and strategy Accountability that drives up educational standards and financial performance People with the right skills, experience, qualities and capacity Structures that reinforce clearly defined roles and responsibilities Compliance with statutory and contractual requirements Evaluation to monitor and improve the quality and impact of governance Aspect Core pillars of role and purpose Organisation Improving governance quality

VITAL DOCUMENTS For all schools: Governance Handbook and Competency Framework (Df. E, January 2017) https: //www. gov. uk/government/publications/gove rnance-handbook For an academy: Articles of Association

A GOVERNOR’S DILEMMA As a new parent governor, you take your daughter to school every day and collect her at home time. Other parents see you as ‘their’ governor. One group of parents is very unhappy that their children’s teacher has gone off on maternity leave and has been replaced by a temporary and newly qualified teacher (NQT). They feel that their children’s progress is being impeded because the new teacher isn't as good as the previous one. They want you to sort the situation out for them. What do you do?

PART 1: STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP Setting and championing vision, ethos and strategy Succession planning

ONLY CONNECT… Strategy Vision Mission or purpose Values and ethos

VISION ensure the school has a clear vision, usually recorded as a written vision statement should include ambitions for: current and future pupils the school’s relationship with other schools should set out the level of ambition they have for future growth (MATs)

EDUCATION TRENDS decline of the LA; expansion of academies, academy chains and free schools; Regional Schools Commissioners collaboration vs competition – new models of school leadership and organisation – school to school support recruitment and retention of teachers and heads; succession planning demographics – the numbers game; parental choice and influence reducing budgets and implications of a common funding formula changes to and impact of technology

IMPENDING LEGISLATION White Paper “Educational excellence everywhere” March 2016 Consultation paper “Schools that work for everyone” September 2016 (consultation ends this month) Proposed “Education for all” bill ditched 27 Oct White Paper early in 2017? Education Bill spring/summer 2017?

STRATEGY make sure there is a strategy in place for achieving the vision provide a robust framework for setting priorities, creating accountability and monitoring progress in realising the school’s vision focus on significant strategic challenges school improvement actions should be contained in a separate school improvement plan (SIP) avoid unnecessary detail and peripheral issues SIP should be a practical and powerful tool for facilitating the Board’s core business

THE SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT CYCLE Step 2: NOW Self Evaluation The school’s strengths & weaknesses; opportunities & threats Step 3: School Development Plan Action plans What are we going to do to get to the vision? = Our agreed improvement priorities Governors’ Agenda - GB meetings Step 1: - committees - visits Head’s Reports Head Teacher Performance objectives Budget Resources VISION and STRATEGY Where do we want to be? How are we going to get there?

ETHOS set and safeguard a school ethos of high expectations of everyone in the school community include high expectations for: the behaviour, progress and attainment of all pupils the conduct and professionalism of both staff and governors ensure consistent reflection in policies and practice

IN YOUR SCHOOL… What’s in place? Vision statement Values/ethos statement Self-evaluation report Medium to long term strategic plan School development or improvement plan What’s your involvement?

MONITORING Allocate actions in the plan to named governors Traffic light system? Agree dates for monitoring Report back to relevant committee Chair takes overview, with Head Take action as required…

EVALUATION Formal process – governors’ day? Key questions: Did we achieve what we set out to achieve? If not, why not? Assess significance Excuses or explanations? What goes into the next plan? Assess progress towards medium-term plan

PART 2: ACCOUNTABILITY Driving up educational standards and financial performance

DEFINING ACCOUNTABILITY Be accountable for School performance GB’s actions Give an account Take account of Performance data Feedback from stakeholders Self-evaluation To parents and the community To Ofsted To the sponsor To the Trust To Companies House To the Secretary of State for Education

GBS AND HTS Headteacher Internal organisation, management and control Implement strategic framework established by GB Should welcome strong governance Governing Board Support and strengthen leadership Hold leaders to account Strategic, not operational Intervene if necessary

KEY QUESTIONS Which groups of pupils are the highest and lowest performing, and why? Do school leaders have credible plans for addressing underperformance or less than expected progress? How will we know that things are improving? How is the school going to raise standards for all children, including the most and least able, those with special educational needs, those receiving free school meals and those who are more broadly disadvantaged, boys and girls, those of a particular ethnicity, and any who are currently underachieving? Which year groups or subjects get the best and worst results and why? How does this relate to the quality of teaching across the school? What is the strategy for improving the areas of weakest performance? Is the school adequately engaged with the world of work and preparing their pupils for adult life, including knowing where pupils go when they leave?

KEY QUESTIONS How is the school ensuring that it keeps pupils safe from, and building their resilience to, the risks of extremism and radicalisation? What arrangements are in place to ensure that staff understand are implementing the Prevent duty? Are senior leaders including (where appropriate) the CEO and finance director getting appropriate CPD? Does the school have the right staff and the right development and reward arrangements? What is the school’s approach to implementation of pay reform and performancerelated pay? If appropriate, is it compliant with the most up to date version of the School teachers’ pay and conditions document? Is the school planning to ensure it continues to have the right staff?

KEY QUESTIONS Have decisions been made with reference to external evidence, for example, has the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) Toolkit been used to determine pupil premium spending decisions? How will the board know if current approaches are working and how will the impact of decisions and interventions be monitored using appropriate tools such as the EEF DIY evaluation guide? Are teachers and support staff being used as effectively and efficiently as possible and in line with evidence and guidance? To what extent is this a happy school with a positive learning culture? What is the school’s record on attendance, behaviour and bullying? Are safeguarding procedures securely in place? What is being done to address any current issues, and how will it know if it is working?

KEY QUESTIONS How good is the school’s wider offer to pupils? Is the school offering a good range of sports, arts and voluntary activities? Is school food healthy and popular? Is the school encouraging the development of healthy, active lifestyles by using the PE and sport premium for primary schools to fund additional and sustainable improvements to the provision of PE and sport? How effectively does the school listen to the views of pupils and parents?

USING DATA FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT Look in: what are the characteristics of our pupils as learners? Look back: what did we do well? What could we have done better? DATA Look forward: how can we use the information to improve our practice? Look out: what do other schools achieve with pupils similar to ours? National College for Teaching & Leadership

SOURCES OF INFORMATION Historical: Fischer Family Trust governor dashboard School comparative performance tables EEF families of schools database Value Added (VA) data – RAISEonline and Inspection dashboard Ofsted report Current: Self-evaluation Pupil tracking data (anonymised) Headteacher’s report Performance management reports Progress reports on our plans Feedback from stakeholders Our school visits

FFT GOVERNOR DASHBOARD http: //www. nga. org. uk/Search. aspx? searchtext=govern or+dashboard&searchmode=anyword Primary and secondary governor versions Briefing guides E-learning modules Video demo

SCHOOL PERFORMANCE TABLES www. gov. uk/school-performance-tables a reliable and accessible source of comparative information on pupil progress and attainment present this information alongside wider contextual data including Ofsted judgements, absence, workforce and finance data, presenting users with a wider understanding of the setting in which schools are operating Primary performance tables – Mid-December 2016 Secondary performance tables – January 2017 16 -18 performance tables – January and March 2017

EDUCATION ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION EEF Families of Schools database a tool to help facilitate collaboration between schools facing similar challenges to help them learn from one another. https: //educationendowmentfoundation. org. uk/reso urces/families-of-schools-database/

RAISEONLINE 2017 https: //www. raiseonline. org/login. aspx? Return. Url=%2 f Entirely new format KS 2 scores are measured on a ‘scaled score’ – 100 is national average Progress is now king All measures look at both all pupils, and at disadvantaged (and a range of other groups of pupils such as EAL, SEN etc. ) Note importance of prior ability groups – LAPS, MAPS and HAPS (lower, middle and higher) ‘Significance’ shown by coloured shading or outlining

INSPECTION DASHBOARD shows at a glance how well previous cohorts demonstrated good or better performance brief overview of published data for the last three years front page summarises strengths and weaknesses progress, including from the main starting points includes key groups: disadvantaged pupils, SEND, girls and boys compared with national performance cohort sizes shown

OFSTED INSPECTION Effectiveness of leadership and management Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outcomes for children and learners Where relevant, inspectors will also make judgements about: the effectiveness of the early years provision the effectiveness of 16 to 19 study programmes will state clearly whether safeguarding is effective https: //reports. ofsted. gov. uk/

PUPIL TRACKING DATA A continuously updated system for collating the progress and achievement of pupils Many products available On or off target? Analysis of trends Information for teachers, pupils and parents

HEADS’ REPORTS Governing bodies, not headteachers, should determine the scope and format of headteacher’s termly reports In particular, governing bodies will need to see information relating to the priorities they have identified for improvement. This might include data on: pupil learning and progress; pupil applications, admissions, attendance and exclusions; staff absence, recruitment, retention, morale and performance; and the quality of teaching.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT In maintained schools, governors conduct the performance management of the headteacher, with an external adviser In academies and MATs, this is for the Trust Board to decide Governors should receive information about the school’s performance management arrangements, including the most recent performance management outcomes and their relationship to salary progression, in an anonymised format

FEEDBACK FROM STAKEHOLDERS Who are your stakeholders? How do you know what they think of the school? What do you do about what they tell you? How has the school improved as a result of what they told you?

COMPLETING THE LOOP Decide on the survey group Draft, redraft and refine your questions Maximise the response rate Collate and analyse responses Tell them what they told you Decide on improvements Tell them what you’re going to do Do it Tell them what you’ve done Evaluate impact Ask them again

SCHOOL AND CLASSROOM VISITS Seeing children learn Hearing teachers talk Hearing children talk Seeing pupils work and play What’s displayed on the walls Condition of the building Looking for examples of good practice, NOT evaluating quality of teaching…

ACCOUNTABILITY FOR FINANCE Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent Maintained schools are funded on the traditional financial year basis (April to March) Academies are funded from September to August to reflect the academic year

WHAT IS VALUE FOR MONEY? The 3 Es: Economy: minimising the costs of running the school, including buying goods and services of the right quality at the lowest possible price Efficiency: getting the most out of every pound spent in the school; using all resources – staff, buildings and equipment – to best effect and avoiding waste Effectiveness: ensuring that all activities are focused on achieving the schools’ goals – outcomes for children and the local community

QUESTIONS Are resources allocated in line with the school’s strategic priorities? Does the school 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 school have sufficient reserves to cover major changes such as re-structuring, and any risks identified in the budget forecast? Is the school making best use of its budget, including in relation to planning and delivery of the curriculum?

QUESTIONS Does the school 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? Are the school’s assets and financial resources being used efficiently? How can better value for money be achieved from the budget?

QUESTIONS Is the school 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 school taking advantage 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?

BENCHMARKING The School Performance Tables enable boards, parents and the wider public to compare how organisations spend their money with the outcomes they achieve. The data is grouped into categories of income and expenditure alongside measures of attainment. Further guidance is available on how boards can interpret and analyse the data. The Schools Financial Benchmarking website enables maintained schools to compare their spending in detail with other maintained schools, consider their comparative performance and think about how to improve their efficiency. Academies can view comparable statistical data for income and expenditure in academies in England. https: //www. education. gov. uk/sfb/login. aspx https: //www. gov. uk/government/statistics/income-andexpenditure-in-academies-in-england-2014 -to-2015

BENCHMARKING QUESTIONS Are other schools buying things cheaper or getting better results with less spending per pupil? If the cost of energy seems high compared to similar schools, are there opportunities for investment in energy-saving devices to reduce the cost? If spend on learning resources seems high compared to similar schools, are there opportunities for collaborating with other local schools to bring costs down? If your spending on staffing is higher than other similar schools, are these schools achieving more in terms of attainment? If so what might be learnt from them about how they deploy their workforce? If the spend on teaching assistants is higher than other schools, are Governors sure that they are being used effectively and efficiently to support pupil outcomes?

FINANCIAL TOOLKIT Df. E and EFA guidance on schools financial health and efficiency provides information, tools and training to help schools improve their financial management and efficiency https: //www. gov. uk/government/collections/school s-financial-health-and-efficiency

ACADEMY FINANCE The Academy Trust (AT) is accountable and responsible for the financial management of the academy Trust ultimately responsible for the proper stewardship of funds and for ensuring value for money Must: have in place sound internal control and risk management processes be able to show that public funds have been used as intended by Parliament academy governors are subject to the duties and responsibilities of charitable trustees and company directors NB the Academies Financial Handbook

PART 3 People: Team Skills Conduct Categories and roles Training and induction Succession planning

GB AS A TEAM The effectiveness of a board depends on the quality of its people and how they work together and with executive leaders All boards should be tightly focused and no larger than they need to be to have all the necessary skills to carry out their functions effectively, with everyone actively contributing relevant skills and experience The membership of the board should focus on skills, and the primary consideration in appointment decisions should be acquiring the skills and experience the board needs to be effective

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK FOR GOVERNANCE The knowledge, skills and behaviours needed for effective governance in maintained schools, academies and multi-academy trusts Df. E January 2017 https: //www. gov. uk/government/publications/gove rnance-handbook

CODE OF CONDUCT 1994: Committee on Standards in Public Life The Seven Principles of Public Life, also known as the "Nolan principles

CODE OF CONDUCT Selflessness – Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other benefits for themselves, their family or their friends. Integrity – Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might seek to influence them in the performance of their official duties. Objectivity – In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should make choices on merit. Accountability – Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.

CODE OF CONDUCT Openness – Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands. Honesty – Holders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest. Leadership – Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership and example.

CATEGORIES AND ROLES Categories Parent Staff Foundation Co-opted LA Others? Roles chair vice-chair clerk chairs of committee link governors associate members

TRAINING As part of induction and continuous development, effective boards encourage everyone involved in governance, especially those new to their role, to make the most of the resources, guidance and training available to develop their knowledge and skills. The board’s code of conduct should set an ethos of professionalism and high expectations of everyone involved in governance, including an expectation that they undertake whatever training or development activity is needed to fill any gaps in the skills they have to contribute to effective governance If, in the view of the board, an individual fails persistently to undertake the training of development they need to contribute effectively to the board, then they are likely to be in breach of the board’s code of conduct

GETTING STARTED Induction Mentor Information and data Skills audit Joining a committee

SUCCESSION PLANNING In school – headteacher, deputy, assistant head…. In the governing body – chair, vice chair, committee chairs… http: //www. thegovernor. org. uk/downloads. shtml#sp

PART 4: STRUCTURES Corporate governance and personal liability Governance in multi-academy trusts (MATs) and academies Maintained school GBs Schemes of Delegation

A CORPORATE BODY Individual governors have no power or right to act on behalf of the GB, except where the whole governing body has delegated a specific function to that individual Governors should act at all times with honesty and integrity and be ready to explain their actions and decisions to staff, pupils, parents and anyone with a legitimate interest in the school Decisions demand collective responsibility: the majority view must be supported publicly. If an individual governor cannot do so for reasons of conscience he/she should resign

PERSONAL LIABILITY Governors are not personally liable for anything done ‘in good faith’ as they exercise their power to spend a school’s budget share, or in delegating that power to the headteacher An example of an act not done in good faith is fraud or expenditure that is authorised to be spent in a way that does not comply with the scheme of delegation

STRUCTURE AND ORGANISATION Discuss your governing body’s organisational structures Include: The Any Any governing body committees task groups individual or other roles/functions

MAINTAINED SCHOOL GB Committee 1 Committee 2

SINGLE ACADEMY Trust Board of Governors Committee 1 Committee 2

MULTI-ACADEMY TRUST Trust Board of Governors Academy 1 Academy 2 Academy 3 Local Governing Body

ACADEMY GOVERNANCE: 3 ROLES IN ONE Governor (of the academy) Trustee or Director (of the AT as a company & charity) (Founding) Member (equivalent to shareholder)

CLARITY OF ORGANISATION Scheme of Delegation Terms of Reference Annual schedule/calendar

EFFECTIVE MEETINGS frequency duration notice documentation location agenda setting chairing clerking minutes confidentiality

PART 5: COMPLIANCE

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Procedures Charity and company law duties Admissions School premises Equality Education Staffing and performance management Finance Safeguarding and pupil welfare Pupil wellbeing Control and community use of school premises Conversion to academy status School organisational changes Information sharing Complaints Whistleblowing

POLICIES Statutory List available: https: //www. gov. uk/government/uploads/system/u ploads/attachment_data/file/357068/statutory_sc hools_policies_Sept_14_FINAL. pdf

PART 6: EVALUATION Fitness for purpose and becoming more effective External reviews Inspection Coasting schools Ofsted, LA and EFA intervention powers

FITNESS FOR PURPOSE Purpose Fitness to ‘conduct the school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement at the school’ The right skills The right shape and size Efficient Effective Chairing Clerking Self review Accountability

SELF-EVALUATION In preparation for inspection, governing bodies should evaluate regularly their own effectiveness. The chair of governors has a particular responsibility for ensuring the effective functioning of the governing body. Good chairs also ask for regular feedback from their governing bodies to improve their own effectiveness and have an annual conversation with each governor to discuss the impact of their contribution to the work of the governing body.

READY MADE TOOLS Self-evaluation tools on the web Ofsted’s questions for governors Ofsted GB external review document APPG 20 questions Governor Mark – including supporting and validating partner GB’s self-evaluation External reviews

OFSTED INSPECTION School Inspection Handbook https: //www. gov. uk/government/collections/ofstedinspections-of-maintained-schools Improving School Governance: Ofsted survey report on school governance arrangements in complex and challenging circumstances https: //www. gov. uk/government/publications/improvinggovernance School governance: learning from the best (Ofsted survey report looking at the principles and practices that contribute to outstanding governance) https: //www. gov. uk/government/publications/schoolgovernance-learning-from-the-best

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 manage the headteacher rigorously

INSPECTORS WILL CONSIDER WHETHER GOVERNORS 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, Year 7 literacy and numeracy catch-up premium, primary PE and sport premium, and special educational needs funding are transparent and accountable, including in recruitment of staff, governance structures, attendance at meetings and contact with parents

COASTING SCHOOLS The definition of a coasting primary school or secondary school is based on published performance data over three years and focuses on the progress pupils make at the school Once a school has fallen within the coasting definition RSCs, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State, will engage the school to consider its wider context, and decide whether additional support is needed

INTERVENTION POWERS Ofsted can recommend an external review of governance LAs and the EFA can: Suspend delegated authority Appoint Additional governors Issue Warning notices Impose an Interim Executive Board or Interim Academy Board

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

PURPOSE AND FUNCTIONS OF GB Purpose: to ‘conduct the school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement at the school’ Core functions: ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent

THREE CORE FUNCTIONS Vision Hold to account Value for money