Robbins Training and Consultancy Ltd

Robbins Training and Consultancy Ltd

Achieving outstanding governance

Inspiring Leadership Conference Southwark

November 2014

Effective

Governing

Body

A GOVERNOR’S PROFILE

Original source:OCC but edited regularly since.

This is designed to help to identify the contribution that each individual governor could make to our governing body. It may also highlight the need for training and information which may be met by the school and/or the local authority. We hope that it will assist when making decisions about committee membership and when identifying any gaps in expertise that could be filled when recruiting new members to the governing body.

All new governors are assigned a mentor to help them to get to grips with their role.

Effective governors:

have a strong commitment to securing the best education for every child
want to contribute to the local community;
are able to work as part of a team and can value the contributions of different people;
stand by collective decisions even if they held a different point of view;
ask questions in a constructive not a confrontational manner;
have appropriate levels of literacy in English (unless the GB is prepared to make special arrangements) and at least basic IT skills
have sufficient numeracy skills to understand basic data;
share their knowledge, experience and skills for the benefit of the school as a whole;
keep up to date with developments in education;
are willing to learn and develop new skills;
attend relevant training;
may be willing to chair committee meetings or lead the governing body;
promote the school in the wider community

They do not have to be experts in Education!

Name......

Address......

Daytime telephone number…......

Evening telephone number………………………………….Mobile………………………..

Email:……………………………………………………………………………………….

Please write a brief description about yourself (50-60 words), which we can circulate to other governors and include in information to staff and parents e.g. on our school website or the newsletter. You could include information about your job, your interests, your connection with the school and community. You may want to say something about why you decided to become a governor.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………......

Please tell us about anything you have done/are doing that you feel could strengthen the contribution that the governing body makes to school improvement. For example You may have worked in a school or schools. You may be really good at communicating to a range of age groups. You might be a good teamworker. You might have a very practical approach to solving problems. You may have training or work experience in Health, Personnel, Childcare, Business, Finance, Marketing etc etc etc.

Please don’t be shy, you’d be surprised at how much we cover as a governing body!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………......

Please indicate any evenings when you are not available for meetings

…………………………………………………………………………………………………......

Have you served on any other governing bodies? Yes No

If so, what training have you undertaken and what responsibilities did you have?

......

Are there any particular issues where you would find further training/briefing useful?

......

In this section we’d like you to highlight one or more areas in which you are interested and/or have some expertise.

Interest / Expertise
Analysing data
Auditing
Business links
Change management
Coaching/mentoring
Chairing meetings
Communication skills including listening and writing
Community relations
Financial management, income generation
Home/school links inc strengthening partnership with parents
Handling complaints, grievances or appeals
Human resources-recruitment and development
Leadership and management
Managing groups/teams
Working in an effective team
Marketing
Monitoring and evaluating the impact of plans and policies
Negotiation and mediation
Performance management of staff
Premises, health and safety, facilities management
Promoting equality
Child welfare inc looked after children, child protection and safeguarding
Problem solving
Promoting pupil voice –giving children a say in the decisions that affect them
Quality assurance
Risk assessment
Special educational needs inc gifted and talented
Strategic/business planning
Strengthening links with the community served by the school
Teaching and learning
Teambuilding
Work placements and career planning
Working with children/young people
Other?
Other?
Other?

We currently have 3 main committees:

Children, Families and Community (Pupil and parent voice, attendance, behaviour and much more)
Teaching and learning
Resources (Personnel, buildings, finance)

Please tell us if any one of those appeals to you more than the others? You don’t have to commit to any one committee yet but it will help to start the discussion.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Thank you very much for completing this profile.

Distributing leadership across the Governing Body

In creating this template reference Andrew Dodge and Ann Foster made significant contributions

CHAIR / VICE CHAIR / CHAIRS OF COMMITTEES
Ensuring the work of the governing body focuses on school improvement
Working with SLT and the clerk to establish a schedule of dates and work for the GB and committees for the year that maintains a clear focus
on the SEF, progress on the SDP and implementation of statutory policies and documents.
Taking the lead on preparing agendas for FGB meetings and ensuring with the clerk that all necessary preparations have been made.
Chairing FGB meetings / Deputising if the chair is unavailable
Chairing a committee / Taking the lead on preparing agendas for committee meetings and ensuring with the clerk that all necessary preparations have been made
Chairing their designated committee’s meetings
Ensuring that all meetings are clerked professionally and
that communication with the clerk facilitates the circulation of documents 7 days before meetings
and circulation of draft minutes within 10 days, or agreed time limit, of meetings
Managing meetings effectively
Overseeing the work of the committees to ensure that schedules are adhered to / Facilitating the work of their committee to ensure that the schedule agreed is followed including liaising with staff re input on their areas of work.
Seeking advice from the chair if time pressures become apparent.
Working with the SLT link to agree which aspects of the committees’ work would merit a governors’ monitoring visit.
Ensuring that scheduled visits have taken place and reports have been dealt with as per the monitoring visits’ policy.
Representing GB at LA meetings and other external meetings / Deputising if the chair is unable to attend
Approving or amending draft minutes of FGB meetings before circulation / Doing this when s/he has stood in for the chair at a meeting
Approving or amending draft minutes of their committee meetings before circulation
Inducting new governors –overview of role, key documents, committee structure etc. See separate guidance. / Inducting new governors to their committee and working with them to identify a specific role(s)
CHAIR / VICE CHAIR / CHAIRS OF COMMITTEES
With the clerk, maintain and circulate a proforma identifying the lead responsibilities of each governor. Take note of any gaps in expertise and use that knowledge to influence decisions when seeking to fill vacancies
Actively seek information and guidance about local and national initiatives and circulate it to appropriate colleagues on the GB
Act as the co-ordinator for governor training. Negotiating with external consultants; identifying appropriate training for individual governors and encouraging them to attend and report back on implications for practice.
With the clerk monitoring attendance of governors at FGB meetings and highlighting for the chair those who are at risk of being dismissed for non attendance
Taking on lead responsibility for safeguarding, being the point of contact in the event of allegations being made against the head. . Working with the headteacher and LADO on allegations against individual members of staff.Coaching another governor to share responsibility for monitoring other aspects of safeguarding. / Taking on lead responsibility for an area of the SEF/SDP/statutory policies that is in keeping with her/his interest and expertise / Ensuring that they and each committee member take on an area of responsibility linked to their terms of reference or cross committee where relevant
Being the coach/mentor for chairs of committees, supporting them in leading the work of committees / Coaching and mentoring members of their committee
Being the ‘sounding board’ for the head teacher. N.B this might mean not being able to be on any panel relating to discipline/capability of staff or exclusion of students / Being in the pool of governors who can be called upon for staff disciplinary/capability cases, and pupil exclusions
Dealing with complaints that are not resolved by the head - mediating or establishing a complaints’ panel
Taking the lead on self evaluation of the GB using Ofsted’s criteria for judging governance
Sharing the responsibility for ensuring that staff, pupils and parents are kept updated about the work of the governing body for example drafting articles for parents’ newsletter, contributing to annual report to parents, liaising with and consulting the school council

The process for performance managing the headteacher should be determined by the whole governing body and minuted. All except staff governors can be involved.

The whole governing body should lead on the recruitment of the head and deputy head deciding on the process/approach to take.All governors could potentially be involved in meetings with Ofsted inspectors who are encouraged “to meet as many governors as possible.”

Key areas of Ofsted judgement distributed to committees. September 2014 Handbook for Inspection

Whole Governing Body Responsibilities:

To engage with staff, parents and pupils in deciding the values, vision and key aims for the school
To maintain a strategic perspective ensuring the school and GB are proactive
To ensure that there are clear terms of reference for delegation of elements of the self evaluation form, related aspects of the SDP, statutory responsibilities, policies and documents to committees and to individuals
To quality assure the work done in committees

All committees have the following responsibilities:

To distribute aspects of the committee’s brief to individuals and pairs of governors to ensure that all the work gets covered
To invite reports from relevant members of staff to assist the committee in its work of monitoring the implementation of plans and policies and evaluating impact. These reports will relate to the SEF, SDP and statutory policies
To schedule monitoring visits by individual governors which are focused on their allocated responsibilities and to ensure that a written report is circulated to all governors within 5 days of the visit
To validate or challenge the grades for the elements of the self evaluation form assigned to them in the following table
To respond to relevant issues in the auditor’s and Ofsted reports.

NB EACH TABLE SHOULD BE CROSS REFERENCED TO THE SOURCE DOCUMENT, THE OFSTED HANDBOOK FOR INSPECTION EFFECTIVE FROM September 2014. That will support committees and the FGB when deciding how and when to monitor and evaluate different aspects of the school’s performance.

Part 2 of the Handbook states explicitly the evidence that inspectors might gather.

N.B.

1.The ticks in the following tables are placed according to the perspective taken by the author. There is no one ‘right way’ to distribute responsibilities across the governing body. It’s important that each school decides for itself what distribution will work best, and then evaluates that system annually.

2. See also the sections on early years and sixth form provision where relevant.

Ofsted Handbook / Teaching and learning / Children, families and community / Resources: personnel, finance, premises
The quality of leadership and management. Inspection must examine:
L1 / The contribution made by the school to improve the performance of other schools. Where relevant / √
L2 / Implications of any strengths or weaknesses in early years or sixth form provision. See separate sections in Ofsted Handbook. / √ / √
L3 / In extended management arrangements the impact of the overarching board and its staff as well as the school’s local board, committee or governing body / FGB
L4 / To what extent judgements about a children’s centre, when managed by a GB, impact on judgements about overall leadership and management / FGB
L5 / The school’s response to the Equality Act / FGB
L6 / The contribution made by the head to bring about improvement / Performance mgt panel
L7 / How well leaders, managers and governors pursue excellence, modelling professional
standards in all of their work. / Objective, external evaluation
L8 / The effectiveness of monitoring and evaluation NB Primary PE and Sport / FGB
L9 / How effectively leaders use formative and summative assessment. See also T17 / √
L10 / The effectiveness of reporting on pupils’ progress and attainment to parents and carers / √
L11 / Leadership and management of the curriculum / √
L12 / Effectiveness of strategies for grouping children / √
L13 / Quality and impact of careers guidance for Ys8-13 / √
L14 / Capacity to bring about further improvement / Objective, external evaluation
L15 / Quality of middle leadership / √
L16 / Effectiveness of safeguarding / √
Ofsted Handbook / Teaching and learning / Children, families and community / Resources: personnel, finance, premises
L17 / Effectiveness of use of pupil premium / √ / √
L18 / The robustness of performance management / FGB
L19 / Coherence and effectiveness of CPD / √
L20 / Use of alternative provision / √
L21 / Effectiveness of governors / Objective, external evaluation

Monitoring tools include:

Curriculum map
Teaching and learning reviews by senior leaders
RAISEonline, Data Dashboard etc
Subject leaders’ reports
Pupil premium report
Report on use of and impact of Primary PE and sport money
Annual report on performance management
Staying on rates for 6th form and % FSM students at that stage
Safeguarding audit
Engaging with parents audit
GB self evaluation
Surveys of pupils, parents and staff

Ofsted Handbook / Teaching and learning / Children, families and community / Resources: personnel
finance
premises
Behaviour and safety. Inspectors will evaluate behaviour and safety over an extended time
B1 / The extent to which pupils’ attitudes to learning help or hinder their progress in lessons / √
B2 / Pupils’ attitudes to school, conduct and behaviour, during and outside of lessons, their attitudes to other pupils, teachers and other staff, including the prevalence of low level disruption / √
B3 / The school’s analysis of, and response to, pupils’ behaviour in lessons over time, for example incident logs and records of rewards and sanctions / √
B4 / Rates, patterns of and reasons for permanent and fixed term exclusions and that they fall within statutory guidance and regulations on exclusions / √
B5 / Pupils’ contribution and response to the culture of the school / √
B6 / Pupils’ respect for the school’s learning environments (including by not dropping litter) facilities and equipment, and adherence to school uniform policies / √
B7 / Types, rates and patterns of bullying and the effectiveness of the school’s actions to prevent and tackle all forms of bullying and harassment. / √
B8 / The school’s success in keeping pupils safe, whether within school or during external activities through, for instance, effective risk assessments, e-safety arrangements, and actions taken following any serious safeguarding incident. See also L16 / √
B9 / The school’s policy and procedures for checking visitors / √
B10 / The effectiveness of the school’s actions to prevent and tackle discriminatory and derogatory language. / √
B11 / The extent to which pupils are able to understand, respond to and calculate risk. / √
B12 / The school’s response to any extremist or discriminatory behaviour shown by pupils. / √
B13 / Overall and persistent absence and attendance rates for different groups / √
B14 / Punctuality over time in arriving at school and at lessons / √
B15 / The impact of the school’s strategies to improve behaviour and attendance / √
B16 / The views of parents, staff, governors and others / √

The Children, Families and Community Committee could:

receive analyses of data collected by staff and study trends over time –exclusions, use of rewards and sanctions
survey pupils and parents –different groups of children and their parents simultaneously
observe behaviour in lessons and around the school and at offsite provision.
request feedback from providers of offsite provision and work experience
use the questions in the briefing for Ofsted inspectors on additional provision to manage behaviour as a focus for governors’ monitoring visits and reports to the committee
analyse a small sample of anonymised case studies in order to evaluate the experience of particular individuals and groups, such as pupils with disabilities, those who have special educational needs, looked after children and children with mental health needs.
interact with the school council and promote its role in decision making
monitor procedures for taking children off roll (safeguarding audit)

Ofsted Handbook / Teaching and learning / Children, families and community / Resources: personnel
finance
premises
Quality of teaching. Inspectors will evaluate:
T1 / How well pupils acquire knowledge, learn well and engage in lessons / √
T2 / Impact of teaching on pupils’ learning and progress over time / √
T3 / The extent to which the ‘Teachers’ Standards’ are being met / √
T4 / The use made of teaching assistants / √
T5 / Whether teaching engages and includes all pupils with work that is challenging enough and that meets their individual needs including the most able / √
T6 / Whether teachers command the respect of their pupils / √
T7 / Whether pupils’ responses demonstrate sufficient gains in their knowledge, skills and understanding, including in literacy and mathematics. / √
T8 / Whether teachers monitor pupil’s progress in lessons and use the information well to adapt their teaching / √
T9 / Whether teachers seek to assess the effectiveness of their teaching and adapt accordingly / √
T10 / Whether teachers routinely give the necessary attention to the more able and the disadvantaged / √
T11 / Teachers’ use of homework / √
T12 / Frequency and accuracy of assessment and its use in setting relevant work from EYFS onwards / √
T13 / Use made of information at transition points / √
T14 / Whether pupils understand well how to improve their work. / √
T15 / Whether teaching helps to develop a culture and ethos of scholastic excellence. (high expectations) / √
T16 / Whether teaching across the school prepares pupils effectively for the next stage in their education. / √
T17 / The effectiveness of assessment. See also L9 / √

The Teaching and learning Committee could: