from building a school to governing a school – moving from being operational to being strategic...

From building a school to governing a school – moving from being operational to

being strategic

PaJeS4th November 2014

Richard TyndallNGA Consultant

© NGA 2013 1www.nga.org.uk


Purpose of the session

To develop our understanding of the governing body’s role in ensuring our

vision becomes reality. We will cover:

1. The current context for governance

2. Specific responsibilities and freedoms

3. Being strategic

4. Monitoring the strategy


1. The current context

for governance


‘without strong and effective governance, our schools simply won’t be as good as they can be’

HMCI


January 2014

• The ‘board of governors’ should operate at a strategic level, leaving the head teacher and senior school leaders responsible and accountable to it for the operational day-to-day running of the school.

• The board should avoid its time being consumed with issues of secondary importance, and focus strongly on three core functions: o Setting the vision and strategic direction of schoolo Holding the headteacher to account for its educational performanceo Ensuring financial resources are well spent

Departmental advice for school leaders and governing bodies of maintained schools and management committees of PRUs in England

The DfE want all governing bodies to operate as non-executive boards


Governance in the spotlight

• The great and the good are taking an interest especially since the ‘Trojan Horse’ enquiries

• A growing body of research confirming the importance of the role of the governing body and the importance of the chair

• The September 2012 Ofsted framework raised expectations …. the core responsibility of governing bodies is to ensure high standards

• More autonomy brings more responsibility and more risks

• More decision-making is being devolved e.g. academy conversion, performance related pay

• Limited resources require more efficiency

• We need to learn from other sectors

Organisations with strong governance do not fail


1. Specific responsibilities


Legal accountabilities

Academies are:

• ‘Independent’ state schools answerable to the Secretary of State both by

statute and the trust’s funding agreement

• Exempt charities with charitable trustees

• Companies limited by guarantee with directors of the company

• Governed by the academy trust, responsible for land and assets but usually

with most duties delegated to a local governing body


Governance and the governing body

• The trust delegates functions to the governing body

• The DfE describes the governing body’s key responsibilities as:

– Ensuring the quality of education provision

– Challenging and monitoring the academy’s performance

– Managing the trust’s finances and property

– Employing staff

• The trust and the governing body may be the same … but the trust must

report its finances to a meeting of the members once a year


Maintained school and academy responsibilities

Like maintained schools, academies must comply with and/or have regard to:

• The admissions code

• Guidance on exclusions

• The SEN Code of Practice

• Information to be published on the school’s website (recent funding

agreements only)

• Statutory policies as listed by the DfE


Additional responsibilities

As an academy you:

• Directly employ staff

• Have health and safety responsibilities

• Are the school’s admission authority

• Must ensure the school undergoes an annual external financial audit

You will be responsible for some services (provided to maintained schools by

the local authority) such as the assessment of free school meals eligibility,

central staff costs (e.g. maternity cover, trade union cover, long term sickness),

cost of terminating employment, pupil support (e.g. clothing grants), music

services, monitoring of national curriculum assessments


Governance in practice

There are few requirements … the governing body should properly determine:

• An election process for the chair and vice chair

• Delegation to committees or individuals

• Committee terms of reference and review these annually

• Ensure public liability insurance is in place

• Declare conflicts of interest and keep a register of business interests

• Appoint a professional clerk

• Keep statutory policies and documents up to date


Academy freedoms

As an academy you are free:

• From local authority control

• To set your own pay and conditions for staff

• To set your own curriculum

• To change the length and time of terms and days

• To spend your budget as you see fit

Many academies buy into a range of local authority services, adopt the School

Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document, follow the national curriculum and

continue to sync term times with other local schools.


3. Being strategic


The language we use

Vision

Aims

Mission

Values

Ethos

Priorities

Strategy / strategic plan

School development plan

Targets / key performance indicators (KPIs)


Being strategic

The GB determines the vision and ethos … and a strategy for achieving this

The vision and ethos describe the sort of school we want to be in three to five years time

GBs do this by:

• Setting goals or aims and agreeing the school’s development priorities • For each priority setting targets or KPIs for the short and longer term • Structuring most of the GB business towards monitoring progress against

these • At the end of the year, formally reviewing and evaluating the strategy


The school’s vision

The vision should:

• Describe what your school will look like in three to five years’ time

– What the children will have left the school having learned

– How the children are prepared for the next stage of their education

What is measured

What is valued

• Take account of stakeholder views

• Be developed by the school

• Be agreed and owned by the GB


Discussion

Look at the handout Some visions

Do these constitute a vision statements?


3. Achieving the vision

In order to achieve the vision, it is necessary to identify:

• Where the school is now (through self evaluation)

• Where you want the school to be (the vision)

and

• How the school will get there (by determining the priorities to be pursued

and targets to be achieved)

which is the …

Strategy!


Question

What should a strategy document look like?

As a table or a plan? 1 or 3 or 10 or more pages?

Is it the same as the school development plan?


The strategy document

Your vision

Priorities for improvement

Targets for each priority

Measurable milestones (termly?)

Monitoring arrangements

(max three pages?)


The key priorities

– Need to be high level … so a maximum of about 6

– Must be SMART:

specific / measurable / agreed / realistic / timebound

– Should not just be hard nosed: value what you measure and measure

what you value

– Should include one for quality of teaching

– Must be broken down into measurable milestones (at least termly)


Who does what

We’re always being told to stay strategic

and not to involved in the operational.

What does this mean in practice?


Senior staff GB/board

Strategy origination

Strategy approval

Monitoring

Review and amendment

Framework for strategy development

Source: Caroline Copeman, 2011

Strategy implementation


Staying strategic

• Distinguish when you are governing and when you are volunteering in another capacity

• Use your time to best effect - on the key school priorities, not just compliance and ‘policies’ … differentiate ‘principle’ from ‘procedures’

• Ensure the school improvement plan has a limited number of high level targets / KPIs with measurable milestones against which the GB can monitor progress

• Check that school leaders are equipped to do their jobs (including HR, procurement, health and safety) to avoid operational support from governors

• Do not do someone else’s job: see the joint statement with ASCL and NAHT: “What governing bodies should expect from school leaders and what school leaders should expect from governing bodies”



The GB needs to decide:• What is monitored … and by whom• How often to monitor• What will be monitored• What evidence will be required to back judgments • How this will be reported

Key documents:

• Strategy framework which includes the vision / school aims / key priorities / KPIs or targets for each

• School development plan

• HT reports on progress being made


The headteacher’s report - strategy

(Governors) should check on progress and review regularly their strategic framework for the school in the light of that progress

(Governors’ Handbook)

GBs need information and updates on how the strategy is being implemented and that the expected progress is being made.

The HT should report on:• Progress towards achieving KPIs / targets• Reasons for targets not being met as expected - with particular reference to

budget allocation and staffing structures and specific initiatives • Actions taken to address issues raised• Adjustments to the strategy necessary for targets to be met

The HT should provide evidence (data) for progress towards and achievement of targets


Visiting the school

• Is the purpose of school visits clear?

– In order to get to know the school

and / or

– To monitor the strategy

• Is there a policy and protocols which have been agreed and shared with

staff?

• How do governors report on visits?



Governance making an impact

• Set the vision and ethos, including what the children should leave the school

having learned

• Stay strategic and focused on improvement priorities: leave the operational to

school leaders, and delegate

• Don’t get overwhelmed by compliance and reviewing policies: focus on principles,

delegating procedures

• Recruit good school leaders (a future challenge) … and trust them to recruit good

staff

• Ensure school leaders are equipped to do their jobs, including HR, procurement,

legal advice, and CPD


Reviewing the session

The session has covered …

1. The current context for governance

2. Specific responsibilities and freedoms

3. Being strategic


Any questions?


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from building a school to governing a school – moving from being operational to being strategic...

Documents

governance slide

local governing body

year slide

hmci slide

strategy slide

governing bodys role

strong governance

academy trust