Governor Mark
The National Quality Mark
for School Governance
Jacqui Ridley
Senior Governor Support Officer
Governor Mark
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recognises the quality of the contribution to
school leadership and management GB’s make
 is a non prescriptive model which measures the
working practices of the GB and their impact
 recognises the many approaches to achieving
sustainable excellence
 is a mechanism to achieve accreditation against an
agreed quality standard if desired
Why Apply?

Team building & development
 Self evaluation
 Identification of good practice
 Identification of areas for development
 OfSTED preparation
It’s all about
Impact, Impact, Impact!!!!!
Assessment Process

Complete and return application (including evidence grid,
impact statements, RAISEonline, SEF, OfSTED report)
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Pre assessment undertaken
Route way determined
Application assigned to assessor/desktop
assessment
Site visit within 3 months
Judgement made within 4 weeks
GM awarded or working towards
Route Ways to Success
Route way 1 - £645

Good governance impacts on school
performance.

To qualify for Routeway 1 you will
need to provide evidence of your
IMPACT.
Route way 2 - £985

Initial assessment resulting in report to
support the GB to address areas of
improvement.
 Time for the GB to impact on pupil
performance and for this to be documented.
 Follow up assessment.
Structure of the Standard
Not graded
in first
instance
Ethos and working practice
The statutory framework
1. Organisation
and Teamwork
5. Strategic
Leadership
2. Recruitment
and Retention
6. Statutory
Responsibilities
3. Self-review
and Change
7. Strengths
And Weaknesses
4. Principles of
Good Governance
8. Support
and Challenge
50%
of
Judgement
Impact
School Improvement
Every Child Matters
The Life of the School
The Community
50%
of
Judgement
Assessment Criteria

Best Practice
 Full Compliance
 Partial Compliance
 Major Non – Compliance

50% full compliance of each sub-criterion
Evidence

Only detailed evidence for Criteria 5 to 8.
 Only 2 pieces of evidence for each sub
criterion judgement.
 Evidence can be duplicated.
Key Areas

GB actively engaged and not a passive
beneficiary of good leadership.
 Led by the GB not the head
 Engagement with SEF and SDP
 Impact
 Audit trail
Examples of Evidence

What types of evidence might you present?
Example of Statements on Impact
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High Mountain & St Cross Infants
 Evaluate the examples
Further Support

www.glmpartnership.org
 Gateshead Governor Support
Lessons Learned
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Needs a strong focus on governor impact on
school improvement.
Governors to steer application
Takes time to collate evidence
Trying to appear fully compliant in all areas
Excessive focus on processes
Overstating the success of the school
Lengthy impact statements
Thinking assessors are looking for a perfect GB
When applying
Think from an assessors view point…
 What questions would you ask?
 What style of impact statement would be the most
clear?
 How will you collate the evidence? Use a cross
reference grid perhaps, bookmark and hyperlink
 Where is the evidence?
 Most importantly - what is the impact?!!
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Questions