Strong governance
for good schools
Heads and chairs working
together
n executive agency of the
A
Department for Education
Housekeeping
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Fire exits
Toilets
Refreshments
Smoking
Mobiles
Action plan
Facilitator:
Sarah Ray – Senior Manager, Chairs of Governors’ Team
Welcome
Purpose:
To ensure the head and chair have the opportunity to:
• explore together what constitutes effective governance and how
Ofsted will judge it
• share the expectations of each other and the rest of the governing
body
• hear about and learn from other governing bodies
• reflect and plan together how to improve governance at your school
Profile of governance has
never been higher
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Ministers and DfE
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Ofsted
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National College
National College
“I see a very strong relationship between governorship and leadership
and expect the College to take a role in supporting chairs of governing
bodies to make sure that they have the skills, knowledge and confidence
to undertake their role. Chairs of governing bodies must be able to
provide strategic direction; as a ‘critical friend’ to the headteacher and
ensure accountability.”
Michael Gove, Secretary of State
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Chairs of governors’ leadership development programme
National Leaders of Governance
Reviews of governance
Chair of governors’ leadership
development programme
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Developed in consultation with national and local stakeholders
Piloted across 8 local authorities across England
3 units designed to develop chairs’ knowledge, skills and understanding of:
- The role of the chair
- Effective governance
- Improving the school
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National delivery available through 11 licensed organisations
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£350 RRP for all 3 units
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Scholarships available for chairs in (12/13 FY):
- Small schools (100% subsidy)
- Schools that are ‘satisfactory’ or ‘require improvement’ (50% subsidy)
National leaders of
governance
• A designation for system leaders in governance
• Highly effective chairs of governors who use their skills and
experience to support chairs in other schools and academies
• Purpose is to increase leadership capacity to help raise standards
so that improvements can be sustained
Agenda
3.45pm Message from Sir Michael Wilshaw
Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI)
4.00pm Understanding roles & responsibilities, and staying strategic
Emma Knights, Chief Executive, NGA
5.15pm Buffet and refreshments
Agenda
6.00pm Strong relationships based on trust
• Working together: National Leader of Governance
• Knowing your school
• Effective challenge and scrutiny
• Reflection and planning in pairs
7.45pm Concluding remarks
8.00pm Close
Sir Michael Wilshaw
Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector
Ofsted
Strong governance in good schools
Emma Knights
Chief Executive
National Governors’ Association
Core responsibility of the
governing body
The core responsibilities (as defined in law) of GBs are:
• The GB is responsible for the conduct of the school
• The GB must work to promote high standards
The governing body is a LA maintained school’s accountable body. In
academies, there is a different legal framework, including a trust as the
accountable body. Directors and Trustees have defined legal
responsibilities, but the business of governing is very similar. Interim
Executive Boards have additional roles.
Table exercise
In your table groups consider:
• What is the role of the governing body?
• What are the key components?
• 10 minutes
Report back: Up to six key components of the role of the governing
body
Elements of effective
governance
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The right people round the table
Understanding role and responsibilities
Good chairing
Professional clerking
Good relationships based on trust
Knowing the school – the data, the staff, the parents, the children,
the community
Committed to asking challenging questions
Confident to have courageous conversations in the interests of the
children and young people
Inspectors’ expectations
From guidance given to Ofsted inspectors on the Sept 2012 framework –
they will consider whether governors:
• carry out their statutory duties
• understand the strengths and weaknesses of the school, including the
quality of teaching
• ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
• understand and take sufficient account of pupil data, or whether they
are misled by ‘headlines’
• are aware of the impact of teaching on learning and progress in
different subjects and year groups
• are challenging and supporting leadership in equal measure
Inspectors’ expectations
• provide support for an effective headteacher, or whether they are
hindering school improvement by not successfully tackling key
concerns
• understand how the school makes decisions about teachers’ salary
progression
• performance manage the headteacher rigorously
• are failing to perform well and contributing to weaknesses in
leadership and management
• ensure that the school’s finances are properly managed
• have a role in deciding how the school is using the Pupil Premium
GBs must understand roles
and responsibilities
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Induction for new governors (including staff governors): Welcome to
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Code of practice for GBs
Training and development budget for GB
Ensure GB has access to independent advice
A focus on the strategic, leaving the operational to the school
leaders
Ensure time is spent on the key school development priorities, not
just compliance and policies
Differentiate ‘principle’ from ‘procedure’
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Governance
Strategic v Operational
Strategic (i.e. governance)
Operational
Monitoring reports on quality of teaching
against pupils’ outcomes
Making judgements about quality of
teaching
Receiving financial audit report
Governors coming into school to
supervise book-keeper
Ensuring necessary audits have been
carried out by qualified professionals
Governors undertaking audits eg.
Health & Safety
Interviewing for senior leaders
Interviewing for teachers
Agreeing to invest in school buses
Organising the bus routes
Agreeing to a building project
Obtaining quotes for a cost
Ensuring the school is marketed well
Writing the school prospectus
Table exercise
In table groups discuss:
• What tactics have we developed for ensuring the GB stays strategic
and focused on school improvement?
• As head and chair, how do we make sure that we work well
together to realise the above?
Report back: One good idea and one challenge in keeping GB activity
strategic
Working together
With ASCL and NAHT:
“What governing bodies should expect from school leaders and what
school leaders should expect from governing bodies.”
• What questions does this raise for you?
• To what extent does this reflect what you expect from each other?
Refreshments break
Please return at 6pm
Strong relationships based
on trust
• Trust, honesty, respect and integrity are a necessity
Within the GB: use the Stronger Governance Systems material
• Chair and head relationship is central:
- must see your roles as complementary and having a positive
impact on the organisation
- must not exclude the rest of the GB
- must be professional, rather than ‘cosy’
- do the arrangements for keeping in touch suit both of you?
- do not take each other by surprise and address disagreements
- maintain a united front on fundamentals and priorities
- two-way feedback, 360 reviews, mentors
Working together
Mrs Pam Garrington, Chair of Governors
Mr Andrew Steggall, Headteacher
Moor Hall Primary School
Knowing the school
• Is the school self-evaluation fit for purpose?
Do all governors know the key issues facing the school?
• Is the head’s report to the GB focussed on the key priorities?
• How does the GB use RAISEonline data and/or similar performance
data?
• Does the GB receive regular internal pupil progress data for all year
groups, and know which groups of children are not progressing well?
• What does the GB know about staff performance and pay?
Knowing the school
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How does the GB know about the quality of teaching?
How does the GB seek views from parents?
How does the GB seek views from pupils?
How does the GB seek views from staff?
Is the purpose of school visits clear?
- Do you have a protocol for school visits?
- Are governors monitoring development priorities?
Are link governors used effectively?
Did governors receive a report from Ofsted inspectors?
Table exercise
In table groups, choose some of the bullet points on the previous two
slides and discuss:
• What information does the GB receive? How frequently?
• Does it help you govern? Is there any challenge as a result?
• How could the information/governors’ knowledge be improved?
• What impact has it had?
• How do you feed back impact to stakeholders?
• 10 minutes within your group
• 10 minutes reflecting in your pairs
Report back: One tip of something which worked well and one request
for something which would further improve the GB’s knowledge
Effective challenge and
scrutiny
• Research – and Ofsted reports - show GBs are more effective at
support and compliance duties than challenge
• As well as the knowledge, skills and time, there must be a confidence,
courage and culture of the importance of challenge - encourage other
senior and middle leaders to volunteer as governors at other schools
• Are identified issues followed up? e.g.
- why didn’t the interventions have the desired impact?
- how is teaching ‘good’ but progress low?
- why isn’t pupil premium spending closing the gap?
• Is the GB equipped to carry out the head’s performance development
and appraisal well?
Governance making an impact
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Is it strategic and focussed on improvement?
Is self evaluation robust?
Is it encouraging and monitoring CPD for all?
Are school leaders equipped to do their jobs (including HR aspects,
procurement, etc) without operational support needed from
governors?
Is there access to support and expert advice, both for the GB and for
senior leaders?
Is collaboration encouraged and federation explored?
Carry out an impact assessment of the GB itself:
For example, ‘20 questions’, GovernorMark, Target Tracker’s GSET
and performance reviews for governors
Bottom line: targets are being met and children’s outcomes are
positive
Reflection and planning in
your pairs
• Do we both feel comfortable about the element of challenge in our
relationship and by other governors?
• Are there any conversations we haven’t had which we should have
had?
• Are we as a pair – and as a GB – making an impact? What are we
doing well?
• What could we do differently?
• How could we go about changing this?
• How would we know if it made a difference?
• What should we take away and address?
Thank you
For more information please contact:
Chair.ofgovernors@nationalcollege.gsi.gov.uk
Or visit:
http://www.education.gov.uk/nationalcollege/governors-role.htm
Become a member:
www.nationalcollege.org.uk