Strengthening clerking

1. Strengthening clerking A conference for clerks and chairs of governors

2. A changing role www.thegovernor.org.uk

3. How the clerk’s role has changed www.thegovernor.org.uk

4. discussion • Has your role changed? • In what ways? • Why? • Is it changing now? • Why? www.thegovernor.org.uk

5. National developments • 1995: survey of clerking and model job description • 1999: national strategy for governor support and training • 2001: new study and bids for clerks training • 2003: national training launched, incjd and person spec • 2004? BTec Level 3 accreditation available • 2010: Edexcel drop the accreditation • 2010: White Paper: “We will encourage schools to appoint trained clerks who can offer expert advice and guidance to support them” • 2010: NCOGS publish “Strengthening clerking” proposals; sent to Lord Hill • ……………… www.thegovernor.org.uk

6. The University of Bath Governance Study Oct 2008 • The status of the clerk to the governing body should be raised • The clerk should not work in the school in a different capacity to reduce the potential for conflicts of interest • Training for new governors, chairs and clerks should be compulsory www.thegovernor.org.uk

7. Governing our Schools: A report by Business in the CommunityOct 2008 • Every school should have a trained clerk • Training and accreditation for clerks should be compulsory • Their pay should be commensurate with their importance • The authors likened the role of the clerk to “the roles of Company Secretary, one of high status, requiring training and accreditation, and Clerk to the Justices” www.thegovernor.org.uk

8. Ofsted knows you matter! • The role of the clerk to the governors is pivotal to ensuring that statutory duties are met, meetings are well organised and governors receive the information they need in good time. Consequently, governors come to meetings well prepared and with pertinent questions ready so that they are able to provide constructive challenge. • School governance: Learning from the best • Ofsted May 2011 www.thegovernor.org.uk

9. How clerks can have a positive impact on the GB • “The Study’s findings indicate that there is an association between the effectiveness of the clerk and the effectiveness of the governing body.” • The University of Bath Governance Study (Maria Balarin | Steve Brammer | Chris James | Mark McCormac) published in Oct 2008 www.thegovernor.org.uk

10. discussion • How do you think you can influence the improvement of your GB? www.thegovernor.org.uk

11. Some suggestions • Agenda planning • Advising during meetings • Minuting accurately • Co-ordinating communication • Memory and record keeping • Action chasing www.thegovernor.org.uk

12. Clerking in the future • More schools become Academies • Clerking becomes Company Secretary role • Greater professionalisation: • “Strengthening clerking” • NCOGS 2010 • Enhanced responsibilities • Increased powers www.thegovernor.org.uk

13. Enhanced responsibilities • Ensure accountability • Lead communication role • Ensure statutory responsibilities are met • Standing items for agendas www.thegovernor.org.uk

14. Increased powers • Disqualify governors • Recruit and appoint community governors • Deny late papers • Receive complaints and ensure process followed • Appoint appeals panels www.thegovernor.org.uk

15. Clerks training and accreditation national and local • Latest data (for financial year 2009-10) shows: • national average of training provided for clerks per year is 32 hours-worth • highest number of hours of training provided by region is found in the south west (46) and lowest in the north east (18) • Shire authorities provide the highest average number of hours (62) and metropolitan authorities the lowest (21) • Health warning: these averages are based on unequal numbers of responses from the different authorities and regions, so may be misleading. www.thegovernor.org.uk

16. accreditation www.thegovernor.org.uk

17. hampshire model • Accredited by ISCG • Hampshire and NCOGS in discussion – decide this Spring whether to recommend as national model • Seeking Level 3 status – national recognition • Accommodates Academy clerking • Affordable www.thegovernor.org.uk

18. Useful intranets for GBs • School Leadership Systems – Governors Virtual Office • www.schoolleadershipsystems.com • Tel: 0844 800 6421 • Clerkmate • www.clerkmate.com • email:info@twiga.ltd.uk • Tel: 07788 446 567 www.thegovernor.org.uk

19. Governors virtual office (GVO) • Library • An online storage facility that allows the Clerk to deposit important documents which can then be accessed by Governors whenever they need. • The library is structured to reflect the organisation of your school's Governing Body. • Gives Governors access to all relevant papers and documents in one place. • Ability to search for documents by subject, author, date etc. • Ability to control access to individual documents to nominated governors only. www.thegovernor.org.uk

20. Calendar/meetings • Calendar • An online calendar where the school and Governors' calendar can be maintained and accessed via the world wide web. • Links to the meetings management function to allow Governors access to information for each meeting. • Meetings Management • A facility to help Clerks and Chairs schedule meeting for the Governing Body and for sub-committees and to prepare and distribute meeting packs. • Prepare, discuss and approve agendas. • Link meeting papers to the agenda. • Distribute agenda and papers electronically without Governors having to handle multiple attachments. www.thegovernor.org.uk

21. tasks • Tasks • An online tool to help manage delegated tasks within the Governing Body  • Create a record of tasks that have been allocated to nominated individuals or groups (e.g. sub-committees). • Develop a comprehensive task 'folder' that contains all relevant material. • Track progress towards completion with updates from the nominated task manager. • Generate automatic prompts for tasks that are becoming due. www.thegovernor.org.uk

22. News etc • News, Views and Comments • Facilities where Governors with specific responsibilities can keep one another informed between meetings. • Post news items to help keep Governors up to date. • Governors can hold online discussion on subjects of mutual interest. • Can be used to solicit Governors' views on a topic. www.thegovernor.org.uk

23. policies • Policy Management • An online repository for all the school's policies where they can be accessed when needed without having to refer to the Clerk. • Reminder system highlighting which policies need review. • Policy owner can make new or amended policies available for review. • Governors can add comments, suggestions and questions that all Governors can see. • On line ratification or rejection by Governors. www.thegovernor.org.uk

24. What does it cost? • Secondary School • £695 • £1,195 • Primary School • £395 • £695 • Small Primary Schools (<200 pupils) • £295 • £495 • 1st price=12 months; • 2nd price =24 months • 3 month support=£195 • On site support=£595 www.thegovernor.org.uk

25. clerkmate • a web-based system developed specifically to assist clerks asthey play their part in achieving outstanding school governance • At the beginning of each school year the clerk configures Clerkmate with the information that will drive the system through the year: • Areas of Responsibility • People • Committees • School Calendar www.thegovernor.org.uk

26. agendas • Fourteen days before a meeting Clerkmate automatically emails the clerk and governors to remind them that the agenda for the meeting is due out in seven days and items for the agenda must be submitted as soon as possible. • At any time the clerk can work on the agenda for the meeting. The following items will be added automatically: • Standard items (e.g. minutes of last meeting, matters arising) • Apologies (generated as a result of people clicking on the Apologise link in their reminder email) • Statutory responsibilities from the School Calendar (e.g. “Review Child Protection”) www.thegovernor.org.uk

27. Agendas 2 • The clerk can now add, edit, delete and re-order the agenda items. They can also choose to bring forward an item to the next meeting if they know that it cannot be dealt with at this meeting. • When it is complete the clerk confirms the agenda and a link to the agenda is automatically sent to all members of the committee. Clerkmate is now ready for the meeting itself. www.thegovernor.org.uk

28. minutes • The agenda is displayed on the screen and the current item is highlighted. • The clerk can add any amount of text underneath the current item heading. • Once the minutes are ready the clerk confirms them and an email is sent to every member of the committee with a link to the minutes. • Clerkmatesends an email for every action in the minutes to the person to whom the action was assigned. This email has three links for the recipient to click on – “Acknowledge”, “Completed” and “Bring Forward”. If no link is clicked within seven days the clerk is alerted. • Actions are automatically added to the agenda for the following meeting as matters arising. www.thegovernor.org.uk

29. What does it cost? • £375 + VAT per year. • The price includes email support. • Discounts are available for multiple subscriptions (for example if all schools in a cluster agree to subscribe at the same time). www.thegovernor.org.uk

30. discussion • What do you like and dislike about the examples? • What value could a governors’ intranet add to your situation? • What do you use at the moment? • Which of the examples would suit you best, if you had to choose? www.thegovernor.org.uk