Stockport Governor Association

 Author: Martin Pounce Published: Adamson Publishing Ltd. Price: £8 (plus £1.50 p&p)

This is a new, up to date edition of a favourite from Adamson Publishing's popular governor guides. It is a comprehensive and practical manual which will prove invaluable in your ongoing task of monitoring where you school is now, and gives some firm guidance about assessing where you can improve.

The book makes clear that the quality of your self evaluation process has a direct impact on the outcome of your Ofsted inspection. It is focused on what you need to do to set up effective processes, identify priorities for development, use
the book to answer specific questions. Statutory requirements are clearly set into text boxes, and sections from the Ofsted framework are in italics, so you can easily check the book's advice against the requirements as well as against your own data. The guide also gives practical advice on gleaning information from statistics and graphs and helps you with the task of filling out the SEF form.

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the book is that it shows you how you, as a governor, can feed into what is often seen as a professional's task. As a governor you may feel that there is no way that you can really contribute to filling in your SEF. But it is clear that governing bodies should contribute to the process, not just approve the completed form. There is sound advice about how headteacher and governor responsibilities can fit together – and even suggestions about why your headteacher might seem reluctant to share the task with you!

There are checklists in each section for assessing whether you have sufficient
them to improve your school, and have evidence to show that your school has an impact on outcomes for its pupils. Chapters 2-5 divide the evaluation work into four areas: pupil outcomes, equalities and community cohesion, quality of provision and leadership and management. Chapter 6 combines those themes in practical advice on completing and updating your Self Evaluation Form (SEF). Finally the book highlights the implications of self-evaluation processes for your inspection.

Information is clearly separated into short sections, well-labelled, so you can dip into
evidence to back up your self evaluation claims. Each chapter also includes invaluable lists of questions for governors to ask, but I wish that the questions were distinguished more visibly in the text. My own experience is that often it is seeing a question that you could ask which shows you what information and evidence you might need.

Overall, though, I highly recommend this book. Whether you are facing an inspection and wanting to be sure that you have presented your school in its best light, are coping with an Ofsted action plan, or are just doing the day-to-day business of governing bodies, this book will give you a helping hand.

Other titles in this series are Accountability, Monitoring and Evaluation, Being Strategic, Headteachers and Governing Bodies, and Performance Management Revisited.