Stockport Governor Association

FOR ACTION

Knowing your school: RAISEonline for Governors of Secondary Schools

The NGA has now published the second in its series of briefing notes to help governors understand their schools.  This second briefing, Knowing your school: RAISEonline for governors of secondary schools, is aimed at helping secondary governors understanding of the latest version of RAISEonline.  The briefing note can be downloaded from the NGA website.  Go to Resources then Useful documents.

This month’s NGA poll  

On NGA’s home page, there is a new monthly poll:

‘Should there be a limit on how long someone can spend on one governing body?’

Please vote in our January poll!

Last month’s NGA poll

Last month we asked you: 

The NGA and RM have just issued guidance about RAISEonline – do you think your headteacher keeps your governing body sufficiently informed about this issue?

71%        Yes, the headteacher

 keeps us well informed (121)

18%        The headteacher keeps us partly informed (31)

9%          No, I am not informed   (16)

0%          Not sure (1)

The NGA is hoping to help governors interpret data by producing guidance about how to make use of RAISEonline. These can be found on our website. We have two briefings – one specific for primary schools, and one for secondary schools – see above.

NATIONAL COLLEGE – CHAIR OF GOVERNORS’ DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

National Leaders of Governance – closing date for applications midday 23 January 2012

The application process for National Leaders of Governance (NLGs) is now open.

NLGs will be highly effective chairs of governors who will work with other chairs to help them develop and to improve school performance.  The National College is working with NGA and partners to designate around 50 NLG in this first cohort.  NLGs will be deployed to areas of greatest need, and for this first small cohort, ten geographical areas have been selected. NGA has been requesting for some time that these ten areas be advertised alongside the application criteria, and we are now expecting that the areas will appear on the National College website next week.

It’s likely that the time commitment for an NLG would be 10 – 20 days per academic year. The application round for the first cohort of NLG is open until 23 January.  Applicants who meet the criteria and are successful at assessment will be invited to induction and training in the spring term.  For further information: www.nationalcollege.org.uk/chairsofgovernors

One-off grants for chairs of governor for facilitated workshops

The National College is making one-off grants of around £2,000 available for facilitated workshops, in order to provide opportunities for chairs of governors to share current best practice within their local area on school improvement.  The grant application form, and details of the terms of the grant is available on the National College’s website.  Applications for this limited funding must be submitted to the College by 25 February, and successful applicants must return signed grant letters by 31 March.

In the meantime, professional leadership development resources, currently being developed by the National College, the NGA, NCOGS, FASNA and partners, will be available from the National College from early summer 2012.   These will be delivered by licensed providers.

Register your membership of the National College

Membership of the National College is free and offers a wealth of resources, including the College’s online Leadership Library and online networks.  To register, simply go to www.nationalcollege.org.uk/membership. You’ll receive the latest news on professional development and events in your area.

FREE EVENT on USING DATA TO RAISE ATTAINMENT on Saturday 21 January

NGA, along with Association of Sandwell Governing Bodies, is holding a free event for governors from 10 am to 1 pm on Saturday 21January 2012.  The venue is Rowley Learning Campus in Sandwell.   The keynote speaker is Paul Charman, from RM education, who designed RAISEonline. The draft programme for the event can be found via the NGA website – put West Midlands Data Conference into the search box.   To book at free place, e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .    You do not have to be an NGA member to attend.

NGA DATES FOR YOUR DIARY and NGA NEWS

NGA at the Education Show, NEC Birmingham – Friday 16 March

10.30 – 12.30 Effective Governance in a changing world

2pm - 4pm Effective Governance: Knowing your school

Free events open to all: to register go to www.education-show.com

NGA Summer Conference – Saturday 16 June 2012 – London

NGA Conference and 2012 AGM – Saturday 24 November 2012 (venue tbc)

NGA Officer Elections

The following were elected to Officer posts at the Board Meeting on 10 December 2011:

Chair – Stephen Adamson; Vice Chairs – Judith Bennett, Siddique Hussain; Hon.Treasurer – Duncan Haworth; Hon Secretary – Fred Manning.

NGA Spring Regional Meetings:   Effecting school improvement

NGA regional meetings will focus on the theme of how governing bodies can best effect school improvement without over stepping the non-executive role.   We expect to have the results of the Department for Education’s governance review to discuss at the meeting:

North West– Monday, 19March (6.30 – 8.30pm): venue Swallow Hotel, Preston

New Edition of Welcome to Governance – Pre-order your copy now!

A new edition of Welcome to Governance - the NGA’s popular induction handbook for new governors will be out this month. It has been substantially updated and is fully applicable to Academy governors as well as maintained schools.  We are taking pre-orders; please contact the NGA office at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call us on 0121 237 3780.

CONSULTATIONS: NEWS and ACTION  

PLEASE NOTE: The wording in consultation items is taken from the consultation summaries on the DfE website and express the views and proposals of the DfE, not those of the NGA. They can all be found at www.education.gov.uk/consutlations

Academies Land Transfer

This consultation asks for the views of local authorities and others in England on draft regulations that will enable the Secretary of State to secure the information that he may need in order to make schemes for local authority owned land that is no longer used for maintained schools to be transferred to Academies and Free Schools. 

Alongside the draft regulations are model schemes for both freehold land and leasehold land, and a Q&A document with some further details on the measures, which DfE hopes will address any further questions anyone may have.

Revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) (Learning and Development Requirements) (Amendment) Order 2012

Based on the Tickell Review recommendations, the Government consulted on a revised EYFS framework between July and September 2011. This new consultation provides a further opportunity to comment on the Government’s proposed changes – to the framework, the Early Learning Goals and the education programmes – and to the statutory instrument that gives legal effect to these.

Revised School Premises Regulations

There are currently two sets of school premises regulations (for maintained schools and for independent schools including academies and free schools) and a substantiation amount of other legislation applying to all buildings including schools. These relate to the safety and wellbeing of pupils. The Government is aiming to remove any school-specific premises legislation where these duplicate other legislation, to simply those that are still needed, and to establish one clear set of requirements that apply to all types of schools. This consultation sets out the rationale for changes, new guidance and the new regulations. The Government is keen to know if anyone can see flaws or possible adverse effects in the proposals.

Revised statutory guidance and regulations for exclusions from schools and pupil referral units in England

This consultation seeks to gather views on the DfE’s revised exclusion guidance document and regulations relating to exclusions. The aim is to make the guidance concise and directly relevant to the exclusion process. DfE would welcome suggestions for brief inserts and/or revisions to the new guidance.

FOR INFORMATION

Key meetings attended by NGA in December

o   Lord Hill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (1.12.11): Regular termly meeting

o   DfE Review of School Governance Team (1.12.11):

o   Schools Network Reception (1.12.11): Address by the Secretary of State

o   Capita Admissions Conference (6.12.11) NGA chairing

o   Westminster Education Forum (8.12.11)– Academies:  NGA speaking