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governor partnerships

Audrey
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governor partnerships

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    1. Governor Partnerships Summer Term 2010

    4. Inspection of Safeguarding andLooked After Children Service

    5. Safeguarding Services

    6. Services for Looked After Children

    7. Budget - Challenges

    8. New Children’s TrustArrangements Consultation on the Children’s Trust Board (CTB) Please complete and respond

    9. Government Changes - Impact

    10. Letters from Secretary of State 26th May

    11. ‘Strong local authorities (LAs) are central to our plans to improve education. The Coalition Government has partnership at its heart and I want to work in partnership with LAs to drive up standards for all children in all schools. I want to help LAs to continue to be powerful champions of educational excellence. As we develop our plans for the future, I would like them to have a strong strategic role working with schools to drive up standards, supporting schools who want to work together to share expertise, and promoting the spread of innovation to the benefit of all. I want local authorities to be shaping the vision of their local area and empowered to drive improvement.’

    12. Secretary of State Letter to Outstanding Schools Freedom from LA control Ability to set your own pay and conditions for staff Freedom from following the National Curriculum Ability to change the length of school terms and days Having greater control of school budgets and Freedom to spend the money the lA currently spends on your behalf

    13. Secretary of State Letter to All schools – Key Priorities: Reducing bureaucracy Giving teachers and heads more say over the curriculum Giving teachers and heads more power to ensure good behaviour Giving schools to opportunity apply for Academy freedoms if they wish to do so.

    14. Letter to All schools from Peter Duxbury This stems from confusion on government policy on Academies; differences in letters to LA and schools Heads and Governors seeking advice from LA.

    15. Lincolnshire is very proud of its schools and has worked hard to have a sustainable relationship with all schools. We strongly believe in school autonomy, but we also believe they must be accountable to the local community. We have an excellent record of working with all schools and whether Academies or Local Authority funded schools, we will seek to maintain that relationship to ensure all children achieve their potential. The performance of Lincolnshire’s schools is amongst the best in the country and we believe that strong leadership in schools, combined with federations and collaborations where appropriate, has helped to sustain this improvement. Lincolnshire will continue to offer services to Academies and maintained schools, however all Academies will be charged full costs of all services as the schools will be independent of the Local Authority

    16. Lincolnshire County Council has long held a view of school autonomy and it has delegated more powers to schools than almost any other Local Authority. Furthermore, over the last few years the performance of Lincolnshire schools has been almost second to none in the country and currently the Local Authority has only one special measures school and 4 notice to improve. Lincolnshire has worked with the last Government on the Academy programme because it brought major investment to Lincolnshire to enhance resources for young people and removed schools at risk of ‘failure’ (by Government floor target measures). Lincolnshire will have benefited by over £140 million of capital investment as well as several millions in transition grants and £1.5 million for National Challenge Trusts.

    17. The Council has studied the new Academies Bill and guidance and there is a lack of clarity around a number of issues and some we are told decisions are yet to be made. It is however clear there are no transition grants or large capital programmes as part of this new breed of Academies, except for a grant of £25,000 to spend on establishing the Trust and making legal arrangements. We recognise that having the freedom not to follow the National Curriculum may be attractive to some schools, however we have not seen any Ofsted inspection report that makes reference to failure to comply for the last 10 years. Some people have stated that by being an Academy they will not be subject to Ofsted inspection, this actually refers to all outstanding schools whether an Academy or LA maintained. However if a school is outstanding and performance falls then it will automatically be subjected to an inspection whatever its category.

    18. Our advice to Governing Bodies is to be prudent and be in command of all the available facts before making such a fundamental decision to become an independent school. The responsibilities are very significant and there do not appear to be any significant benefits from being in this first group of Academies, Governors and Trustees are advised to fully recognise the liabilities and responsibilities that they are taking on; it is not the same situation as with Foundation schools where the Local Authority has some key responsibilities and liabilities. We believe, as you do, in openness and consultation and therefore hope that all Governing Bodies will consult with parents, students and their staff in order that constructive and democratic debate can take place. Whilst there is no duty to consult with the Local Authority and we will not seek to attend particular meetings, we would of course be happy to provide assistance if this is requested.

    19. Some Headteachers have been critical/concerned by the apparent restrictions and excess bureaucracy imposed by the Local Authority. We would be happy to listen to the views of schools and consider making any changes to the system if it can be made more efficient and more responsive We welcome discussion on this asap.

    20. Ofsted Update

    21. Context Ofsted official data for inspection outcomes for the first four months of the new inspection framework reflect Ofsted’s sharper focus on weaker schools and confirm that by emphasising the overall achievement of all pupils, in particular their progress as well as the quality of classroom teaching and learning, Ofsted is providing the additional challenge to schools as intended in the new inspection Ofsted carried out 2,140 school inspections from September to December 2009. The new inspection regime focuses more on weaker provision, and good and outstanding schools are now inspected less frequently. So, fewer schools that were outstanding or good at their last inspection were chosen for inspection in the autumn. This means that these results cannot be taken as reflecting the general quality of provision across all schools. The figures show that, through the combination of raised expectations and the selection of a greater number of weaker schools for inspection, the proportion of schools judged to be good or outstanding was 49%. Forty percent were graded as satisfactory and 10% were inadequate in England.

    22. There have been changes made to the framework and protocols the most recent in May 2010. This protocol for monitoring satisfactory schools May 2010 sets out the basis on which up to 40% of schools whose overall effectiveness was judged satisfactory before September 2009 under the previous inspection framework are selected for a section 8 monitoring inspection. Selected schools will be inspected between 12 and 24 months after their section 5 inspections. Schools where one or more of the judgments in the section 5 inspection, which judged the school’s overall effectiveness to be satisfactory, was graded inadequate. Schools not already included under priority 1 whose capacity to improve was judged to be satisfactory (grade 3). Schools not already included under priorities 1 and 2, which have received a local authority warning notice since their last section 5 inspections. Schools not already included under priorities 1 to 3 where there has been a significant decline in pupils’ attainment and progress since the last inspection. The order of selection will be in line with the magnitude of the decline.

    23. Schools not already included under priorities 1 to 4 where there has been a significant decline in attainment or progress since the last inspection. The order of selection will be in line with the magnitude of the decline. Schools not already included under priorities 1 to 5 where there has been no significant improvement in either attainment or progress. Comparing schools’ attainment and progress indicators with national averages will determine the order of selection. Our experience in Lincolnshire is that some visits last one and a half days with the inspector contacting the school in the morning and then arriving before lunch to go through data and safe guarding. Returning on the second day to observe lessons etc. Schools on the whole have found this a productive process. Other changes may well reflect the priority for supporting disadvantaged pupils as from September 2010 all inspectors must have undergone additional training in Inspecting SEN before inspecting in the new school year. Safeguarding remains a key inspection focus with slight alterations now in place allowing schools to make minor administrative changes during the inspection in order to fully comply with the requirements and so avoid being placed in a category.

    24. The new Framework has raised the bar nationally. No real surprises in the category 4’s. The message from the 2’s moving down to 3’s is about the impact of attainment on the final judgement AND to do with the need for better leadership and management in terms of self-evaluation. This was also the case for one school moving from 1 to 3. The message for those moving up a grade was one of robust self-evaluation driving improving attainment, with good or better capacity to sustain improvement.

    25. Key Messages for governors  Attainment. The need to do everything possible to ensure that attainment is as close to the national average as possible in non-selective schools. Attainment is the key driver. Ask questions about current progress towards targets as frequently as possible. School Self Evaluation. Several schools were downgraded because leaders (including governors) were not doing enough to identify weaknesses and/or to deal with them. Do governors help inform the school development plan and do they regularly discuss progress in implementing the plan? Behaviour. Acceptable behaviour is no longer considered to be OK. There is a real pressure to have good behaviour. Attendance. If pupils are not in school then the “system” is failing them. Is the attendance at your school at least average, is it improving, is persistent absence low?

    26. General governance. A number of crucial questions have been raised in recent inspections Are policies reviewed regularly and are these reviews visible in governors’ meeting minutes? Is there a written plan to develop community cohesion? Are actions clear? Which ones have been evaluated? It is the governors duty to promote community cohesion Is safeguarding at least satisfactory? Is the single central record fully in place? To what extent have governors been checked? Has at least one governor completed the Safer Recruitment Training Does equal opportunities policy include diversity and disability schemes?

    27. SEN update Three elements of work: 1. Statements – evaluation of impact, transition over coming years 2. Review of Special School provision 3. Review of EBSS and PRUs/Solution 4

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