Stockport Governor Association

Welcome to 2012!  GOVAS hopes you have a successful year in your school.  It doesn`t promise to be an easy one, but that is all the more reason for governors to carry out their role effectively.   All governors need to be very clear about what their role is.  If you haven`t looked at it recently, why not begin 2012 by re-visiting Stockport`s Governors` Remits and Responsibilities publication.  You can find it on the Learning Leads website (see below for how to access this site).

As governors we always need to be asking questions.  But these questions need to be well-informed if they are to give us the information we require to ensure that our schools are really operating well.  We also need to be able to understand the answers we are given, to examine the evidence, and to ask further incisive questions about it. 

STOCKPORT GOVERNORS` CONFERENCE 2012

Registration for the Conference will open shortly on this website. 

The Conference  will be on 

Saturday, March 24^th, at Cheadle Hulme High School.  The subject is

RAISING STANDARDS, IMPROVING LIVES

The keynote speaker will be Frank Norris, HMI, who will be highlighting the implications of the new Ofsted inspection framework.  The workshops will also be designed to help you in dealing with your future.  There are three workshops, so if you bring three governors from your school you can benefit from all of them.  We also have a speaker from the National Governors` Association, and there will be opportunities to look at support resources, to network with other governors and to review your practice. 

BOOK THE DATE NOW

New Ofsted inspection framework

The new Ofsted inspection framework will be in operation from now.  There are some changes which are particularly significant for governors.  The key judgments will be about

·         achievement

·         quality of teaching

·         behaviour and safety

·         leadership and management

Governance is included in the leadership and management judgment.  However, inspectors will meet with governors, and will be asking you probing questions about how you work and what difference you make to the school.  They will be looking for evidence of what you do.  You need to ensure that you have this evidence, either in your minutes or elsewhere, and that it is made available to inspectors. 

A good deal of advice and information is available to you.  Keep your eyes open for new opportunities for training and information on Ofsted.   Stockport`s School Improvement section, and Governor Services will be offering extra training around the new framework, and GOVAS strongly recommends that you take advantage of this.

Learning Leads website

The Learning Leads website now includes a good deal of useful material for governors.  If you haven`t accessed it yet, we suggest that you explore!  Go to www.learningleads.org.uk   To log in you use your own name, pre-fixed by governor - username format  governor.joe.bloggs  Your password is your surname.  Once logged in, got to My networks and click on Governor networks.

Modern Governor website

Another important source of training and information is the Modern Governor website. Go to www.moderngovernor.com where you can create an account by entering the Local Authority and then the name of your school.

Finance

Finance is not going to get any easier for schools in the next few years.  While you should not find a huge difference in your income per pupil for 2012-13, you need to look carefully at whether you are really getting value for money in all aspects of the budget.   Consider exactly what the Service Level Agreements which your school buys into deliver, and make sure you buy back the best package for your school.

In subsequent years we are likely to find ourselves with diminishing resources.  So it`s more important than ever that we tighten up our scrutiny of the budget, and question the school`s priorities.  Peter Hughes of the School Finance Section at SMBC says “Budget monitoring information is therefore a vital management tool and responsibility and deployment of financial resources should be clearly linked to the School Improvement Plan (SIP). The Budget monitoring guide book released by Schools Finance in December 2011 provides in depth information and guidance to support governors in this area.”  It isn`t easy to make changes, but they may need to be made, and governors are sometimes the people who are objective enough to spot the need for a fresh look.

Peter Hughes of the school finance section at SMBC, updated Chairs about the situation for 2012-13 at the Chairs` Briefings held this week.  He says “The DfE recently announced the details of the 2012/13 Schools Funding Settlement (details included in summary paper enclosed). The Local Authority commenced its budget setting process/cycle for 2012/13 last term and has been discussing with Schools Forum the finer details and decisions involved in preparation of the overall Schools Budget Block (both the Individual School Block distributed to schools via the local formula and the Retained Schools Budget block managed by the LA). The Local Authority is committed to engaging with all stakeholders and will be holding a series of meetings later this month with both Head teachers and Governors to outline the full process, decisions to date and options available for the 2012/13 Schools Budget.”

GOVAS and SMBC are jointly arranging a meeting for all governors to be updated on finance.  This is  an opportunity to hear the latest figures, and to ask questions about what they mean for your school. The meeting will be on Monday, January 30^th, at 6.30 at the Alma Lodge Hotel.  See more detail on this website.

Safeguarding

Lynn Perry, Senior Safeguarding Adviser, was also at the Chairs` Briefings.  She gave a detailed account of changes to the requirements on schools regarding all aspects of safeguarding.  Both the recent Education Act and the new Ofsted framework have implications for what we do in our schools, from policies to site security, e-safety and training.  GOVAS recommends that you make sure that you review your safeguarding policies and practicein relation to the wider safeguarding agenda.  Lynn has posted some important documents on Office Online, including a re-worked Safeguarding Children Policy and a self-assessment tool to help you to check whether you have covered all the requirements.  Make sure that your Governing Body has accessed these - and use the training opportunities that are made available.  Lynn reminds us to “Please be mindful that your safeguarding policy itself must be reviewed annually and ratified by your full Governing Body.”

NGA new publication

NGA have produced another very useful publication.  They have followed up their advice from primary governors with Knowing your school: RAISEonline for governors of secondary schools.  Ofsted inspectors are certainly asking how well you know your school, and whether you have studied RAISEonline data.  You can download it from the NGA website at www.nga.org.uk   Go to Resources then Useful documents.

New Chairs Reception

The annual Reception for new Chairs of Governors was held at the Town Hall on January 4^th.  This is a small but important event when new Chairs can get to know each other, and when their contribution to the success of Stockport`s schools is acknowledged.  This year the Mayor, Cllr Les Jones, and the Mayoress, Mrs.Jacqui Jones, were there.  The Mayor and Mayoress have achieved about 50 years of governance between them!  Andrew Webb, Director of Services for People in Stockport, and Richard Bate and Phil Beswick of the Education Service were there, as was Cllr Stuart Bodsworth, the Executive Councilor for Children and Young People.   The event was organised by our Coordinator of Governor Services, Libby Evans.  It is good to know that the hard work of governors in Stockport is appreciated, and we welcome occasions such as this.

Gillian Stunell

GOVAS Chair