Diocese of Portsmouth

Department for Schools
Park Place Pastoral Centre
Winchester Road
Wickham
PO17 5HA
Tel: 01329 835363 /

10th July2014

To all governors and clerks

School Governance Bulletin No:8.14

This Bulletinis sent electronically to all governors, directors and clerks for whom an email address is held in the Department for Schools’ office. No hard copies will be issued. Bulletins will be circulated as and when appropriate and will be numbered for ease of reference. The bulletin will also be available on the diocesan web-site.

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In this bulletin:

  1. Thank you
  2. Guidance from DfE
  3. Reporting on SEN provision and Equality Duties
  4. Information from CES
  5. Changes to National College for Teaching and Leadership website
  6. Changes to school inspections: information from Ofsted
  7. Catholic Education

1.Thank you
Thank you to St Patrick’s Primary School, Woolston and St Mary’s Primary, Maidenhead for hosting the governors briefings and to all those who gave up their time to attend the sessions. Topics covered included:-

  • Recruitment and induction of governors
  • Admissions
  • Reconstitution
  • CES contracts and policies

2. Guidance from DfE & Health and Safety Executive
A large number of documents have been published recently:

i) Admissions
Two documents have been issued and can be accessed at


ii) Performance Management and Pay Progression
Governing Bodies wishing to prepare for the end of the first cycle of new arrangements may find these recently published documents useful:

iii) Progress measures
In June, the DfE updated its guidance on Progress 8, aimed at making schools and colleges more accountable and giving them more control over their budget. The Progress 8 school performance measure is due to be introduced in 2016. The guidance is for governing bodies of maintained schools and academies. Information about Progress 8 and technical guidance can be accessed via the following link:
iv) Other guidance
The DfE recently issued advice on data protection and privacy notices as well on school food:

New, revised standards for school food will come into force from 1 January 2015. They have been published in advance to give schools, caterers and others time to familiarise themselves with the changes and to make any necessary preparations. The advice can be accessed at:

The DfE issued new advice for school staff on mental health and behaviour. The new advice gives information and practical advice to help schools to consider whether continuing disruptive behaviour arises from unmet mental health needs. The advice aims to help schools identify and support pupils with an unmet mental health condition. The advice can be accessed at:

v) Health and Safety

In 2013/14 HSE undertook inspections in schools outside local authority control. This report summarises the findings and identifies key messages to help all schools manage the risks from asbestos-containing materials (ACMs).
Schools should focus particular attention on the following issues:

  • Schools should make sure that their records are up-to-date
  • Schools must have an asbestos management plan
  • Schools must ensure that in-house operatives undertaking building and maintenance work have received adequate asbestos training
  • Schools must have a system to inform anyone who may disturb ACMs of the presence of asbestos

The report can be accessed at:

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3. Reporting on SEN provision and Equality Duties

i)The revised SEN Code of Practice (DfE, April 2014) states:

'The governing bodies of maintained schools and maintained nursery schools and the proprietors of academy schools must publish information on their websites about the implementation of the governing body’s or the proprietor’s policy for pupils with SEN.' (p93) This is an account of what has happened, not a repeat of the policy.

The revised Code (April 2014) sets out on page 93 (para 6.74)the information that the report must include. Schools can decide on the format they use but must include the information set out in the Code. The Code emphasises the use of plain language.
Useful advice can be found at

ii)Equality Duties
Under the race, disability and gender equality duties, schools are legally required to report annually. Under the DDA Part 4 Planning Duties, you are also legally required to report annually on your progress to improve access for disabled pupils, including access to the curriculum, physical access and access to written materials.

The DfE recently published advice for schools on the Equality Act. This can be accessed at: Pages 32-36 include information on collecting and publishing information.

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4. Information from CES

i)The Special Educational Needs Disability Regulations 2014 – SENCOs
The CES has produced AGuidance Note for the employment of Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) employed in a Catholic School or Academy. The Guidance Note sets out the prescribed qualifications and experience of SENCOs, the function of SENCOs and the duty owed to the SENCO by the Governing Body/Proprietor i.e. the employer. The guidance note will be available on the CES website and has also been sent by the Department for Schools to all clerks.

ii)Complaining about an academy
The EFA published new guidance which sets out how a person can complain to the EFA about an academy. The guidance can be accessed here:

iii)Academies Budget Forecast Return – new online form
The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has published a new online form and an accompanying guide for academies to use to submit their budget forecast returns, which are due by 31st July. The new form and guidance can be accessed here:

iv)Academies Financial Returns and Framework: Online Training
Financial framework seminars, in the form of a webinar session, are being run by the EFA on 15th July 2014. Registration is open now. The 11am webinar is open to academies and the 2pm webinar to auditors. More information can be accessed here:

v)Academies Insurance – Information from C Fischer
The CES met with representatives of the DfE last week and, whilst we are pushing matters forward, unfortunately the DfE has a lot of work to do before the RPA will be suitable for use by our academies.
In the meantime, I can confirm the position in terms of the reimbursement of insurance premiums for academies as follows:

Academies converting on or before 31 August 2014 – can enter into a 12-month contract for insurance, and the DfE will reimburse premium in accordance with current arrangements

Academies with insurance due for renewal on or before 31 August 2014 – can enter into a 12-month contract for insurance, and the DfE will reimburse the premium in accordance with current arrangements

Academies in a Long Term Agreement (LTA) with insurers – should continue with their LTA until its expiry (even if the LTA does not expire until 1 September 2014), and the DfE will reimburse the premium in accordance with current arrangements

For academies which need to take out insurance on or after 1 September 2014, please note that there is no commitment by the DfE to reimburse premiums for insurance contracts starting on or after 1 September 2014. An update on the position for those academies will be provided as soon as possible.
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5. Changes to National College for Teaching and Leadership website
Thesite will be closing down. It currently holds all the leadership publications and resources at There is no need to log in to view these. The most recent popular resources will soon be moving to GOV.UK (so some resources may not be so easily available – it is worth looking now to see what you find useful).
Accessing modules and programme materials

Nothing changes until September. You can log in as you do currently to access any modules or materials you are using for a qualification or programme. However, your licensee or provider will be encouraging you to complete modules you are part way through well in advance of this date.

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6. Changes to School Inspections

Sir Michael Wilshaw has written to schools toset out changes to inspections from 1 September 2014. He has provided information on

  • Separategraded judgements for the early years and the sixth form, where these apply, from 1

September 2014. These grades may influence the judgement on a school’s overalleffectiveness.

  • Inspection following the removal of National Curriculum levels. Further information can be found at
  • Behaviour and safety of pupils: inspectors will pay greater attention to how well school leaders tackle low-level disruption and make sure that pupils’ conduct and attitudes to learning are good.
  • Achieving a broad and balanced curriculum: inspectors will pay even greater attention to the curriculum and comment in more detail on its effectiveness in the leadership and management section of the inspection report.
  • Notice period for school inspections: The Secretary of State has asked Ofsted to examine the feasibility of moving to routinely inspecting schools without notice. This is being considered In the meantime, Sir Michael intends to broaden, in the coming year, the criteria Ofsted uses to judge whether unannounced inspection is required for particular schools.
  • Future of school inspection: Ofsted proposes to alter the way that good schools are inspected and to revise the section 5 school inspection framework.

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  1. Catholic education

“The beginning, middle and end of everything we do in school is rooted in the love of Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, who died that we might live and, in the words of John 10.10, ‘Live life to the full’. What we teach our children of course is that living life to the full is a life of love and service to one another and can be hard work; but that it is only through actively demonstrating our love do we find lasting peace and happiness.” Ann Bosher Headteacher

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Diocese of Portsmouth – Department for Schools

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