Schools Financial Value Standard Support Notes

Governing Bodies can use these notes which provide clarification of the questions, examples of good practice, and 

information on further support to assist schools in addressing specific issues.  You can download the support 

notes from below:‐ 

Governing Body and staff have adequate financial skills 

Governing Body have a finance committee (or equivalent) 

Definition of responsibilities of Governing Body and school staff 

Monitoring reports of the school’s budget position 

Business interests of Governing Body members 

Access to an adequate level of financial expertise

Skills Audit

No single governor is expected to have all the skills, knowledge and experience...... but across the team of governors these should appear and can be considered as essential for the Governing Body as a whole.

The Governing Body is a team, and need to ensure that between them they have all the necessary skills and knowledge around the table. If a skills gap is identified, then the next vacancy which occurs should be used if at all possible to fill that gap. www.gov.wiseacademies.co.uk/resources 

 

Twenty Key Questions for a Governing Body to Ask Itself

20 questions to prompt every Governing Body to challenge its own practice and, if the answers derive from a genuine discussion based on the evidence available, decide when and how improvements can be made. The questions do NOT attempt to cover every aspect of effective governance, give the answers, or replace existing good guidance. The questions are available at www.gov.wiseacademies.co.uk/resources

Further support on self evaluation is available from WISE Governance Services upon request.

Tools to Support Governing Bodies

Chief Inspector Raises the Stakes for School Governance

Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, has launched a powerful new online tool designed to support governors to hold their schools to account. He will say that there will be ‘no excuses’ for governors who don’t understand and challenge their school robustly. The School Data Dashboard will for the first time provide a simple, publicly available overview on a single page of how effectively a school is performing in test and exam results and attendance compared to other schools.

CONTENTS 

Page 1..... Tools to Support Governing Bodies

Page 2-3.. Changes to Policies & Procedures

Page 4 .... Updates and Information

NEWSLETTER 

SUMMER TERM 2013 

Welcome to WISE Governance Services As you are aware governors volunteer to take on a very important role that makes a difference to the lives of children, young people and the local community. WISE Governance Services are committed to provide a professional support, advice and clerking service to support Governing Bodies to ensure that their business is carried out effectively, efficiently and in line with school governance regulations.

 

Changes to Policies & Procedures

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Relaxation of DBS Check (formerly CRB)

Legislation is expected to be in place within weeks 

that would mean that some cautions and 

convictions will be ignored. 

Serious violent and sexual offences, offences with 

a custodial sentence and multiple offences ‐ 

regardless of their nature ‐ will continue to be 

included in checks. 

The Government hope to encourage people to 

look for alternatives, such as mediation, before 

going to employment tribunal. 

Under the proposals, an adult conviction resulting 

in a non‐custodial sentence will be filtered out of 

the system after 11 years, and a conviction 

received as a young offender resulting in a non‐

custodial sentence will be discounted after five‐

and‐a‐half years. Adult cautions will be 

disregarded after six years and cautions for young 

offenders will be ignored after two years.  

The changes will affect workers and volunteers 

who apply for jobs that require a check by the 

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), formerly the 

Criminal Records Bureau, including teachers, 

governors, doctors, nurses and care‐home 

workers.  More information is expected soon.  

Forthcoming changes to

Employment Tribunal Claims

The charging of a fee in employment tribunals, under which the claimant has to pay an initial fee to issue a claim and a further fee if the claim proceeds to hearing, is expected in summer 2013. There will be 2 levels of fee depending upon the complexity of the case. The aim of the fee is to ensure people using employment tribunals contribute to the cost of running the system. Also the Government hope to encourage people to look for alternatives, such as mediation, before going to employment tribunal. Further details soon.

School Teachers’ Review Body – Final Decisions on Pay & Performance

On Tuesday the 15 January 2013, the Education Secretary Michael Gove, confirmed that performance related 

pay for teachers will begin from September (this year). This follows the recommendations from the School 

Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) to link teacher’s pay more closely to performance. The four regional pay bands 

will be maintained but the current mandatory points between scales will be abolished, remaining only as a 

reference point. Mr Gove wrote to the chair of the STRB, Dame Patricia Hodgson, saying “I am clear that these 

changes will give schools greater freedom to develop pay policies that are tailored to their school's needs and 

circumstances and to reward their teachers in line with their performance."  Read more at 

www.gov.uk/government/news/new-advice-to-help-schools-set-performance-related-pay 

Redundancy Collective

Consultation Period is Reduced

From 6th April 2013, the collective consultation period on redundancies of more than 100 employees is being reduced from 90 to 45 days.

This is good news for larger employers and part of the plan to reduce the legislative burden on employers. It is unlikely that this reduction will be welcomed by the unions, who were firmly opposed to the change. More details at www.gov.wiseacademies.co.uk/resources

Portable DBS Checks (formally CRB)

From March 2013 a new updating service was introduced so that once a DBS check has been completed, the results are available online for employers to confirm that no new information has been added since the check was originally conducted. This means the check will be portable, and that an employee will not have to have a new check every time they start a new job. More information available at www.gov.wiseacademies.co.uk/resources

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Governance Regulations

The Department for Education (DfE) has commenced a short informal consultation on a new set of draft governance Regulations which will amalgamate three sets of existing regulations, covering: School Governance Procedures, Terms of Reference and Governor Allowances for Local Authority maintained schools. These will be revoked on 1st September 2013 and replaced with School Governance and (Procedures and Allowances) (England) Regulations 2013. WISE Governance Services will keep you up to date.

Term-time holiday

The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 currently allow Headteachers to grant leave of absence for the purpose of a family holiday during term time in “special circumstances” of up to ten school days leave per year. Headteachers can also grant extended leave for more than ten school days in exceptional circumstances.

Amendments to the 2006 regulations remove references to family holiday and extended leave as well as the statutory threshold of ten school days. The amendments make clear that Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. Headteachers should determine the number of school days a child can be away from school if the leave is granted. Read more about the amendments at Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New OfSTED Guidance for Inspectors

In February 2013, OfSTED released new subsidiary guidance for inspectors. The new guidance is largely 

the same as the guidance that it replaces, however, the section on governance reviews has been 

expanded and OfSTED inspectors will now expect to meet “as many governors during an inspection as is 

possible.” 

The guidance also states:‐ 

'that Inspectors must evaluate the extent to which governors both challenge and support the school and hold senior staff, including the Headteacher, to account for the achievement of the pupils.  The Governing Body hold important strategic responsibilities for the development and improvement of the school' Inspectors should meet with as many governors during an inspection as is possible and consider whether governors: 

carry out their statutory duties  understand the strengths and weaknesses of the school, including the quality of teaching  ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction  understand and take sufficient account of pupil data, or whether they are misled by ‘headlines’  are aware of the impact of teaching on learning and progress in different subjects and year  

 groups  are challenging and supporting leadership in equal measure  are providing support for an effective Headteacher, or whether they are hindering school 

  improvement by not successfully tackling key concerns  understand how the school makes decisions about teachers’ salary progression  performance manage the Headteacher rigorously  are failing to perform well and contributing to weaknesses in leadership and management.  

Inspectors should also satisfy themselves that the Governing Body is ensuring that the school’s finances are properly managed, and investigate governors’ role in deciding how the school is using the Pupil Premium. Further information detailed in the Subsidiary guidance.doc 

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Updates and Information

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Policies and Other Documents that Governing Bodies are Required by have by Law

The statutory policies for schools document makes clear how often each policy must be reviewed and was updated in October 2012 to show the level of approval required, where this is prescribed in regulations. There are instances where statutory guidance states that policies and procedures should be in place. Although this is not the same as a legal requirement, this document has been updated to make clear the policies referenced in statutory guidance.

Teaching Schools Get £10 Million to Boost Quality of Teacher Training

On 21st March 2013, Education Secretary Michael Gove announced an extra £10 million for Teaching Schools so they could lead the way in training the next generation of brilliant teachers. The extra funding will help teaching schools build capacity for Initial Teacher Training. This could include conducting recruitment on behalf of their partnerships, or it could be used to cover the cost of senior staff involved in setting up as a School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) school.

Town End Academy is a Teaching School Alliance and received £60,000 in their first year of operation – and will now receive an additional grant of £33,000 for the next financial year (2013/14). If you want your school to work in partnership with Town End Teaching School Alliance contact Kirsty Wilcox (Teaching School Manager) email: k.wilcox@townendtsa.co.uk. More information available at www.townendtsa.co.uk.

Inspection of Early Years Providers

This is a consultation on Ofsted’s proposals to revise the framework for the inspection of early years providers Good early years provision for all Consultation period 19th April 2013 - 24th May 2013.

 

 

Administered by: WISE Governance Services, WISE Academies, Borodin Avenue, Sunderland SR5 4NX,  

Tel (0191) 553 6996, e‐mail linda.jobson@wiseacademies.co.uk  

www.gov.wiseacademies.co.uk

Primary Schools Face Tougher Targets From 2014, primary schools will have to ensure that 65% of their year 6 pupils gain a level 4 in English and Maths, up from the current floor standard of 60%. Further changes include publishing data about the number of primary children who achieve a “good” level 4 in English and Maths, and who are therefore deemed truly “secondary ready”. Pupils gain a “good” level 4 by scoring in the top two-thirds of the level 4 mark range. In addition, schools not judged to be ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by OfSTED and who are failing to close the gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers will have to draw up an action plan of how they are spending their Pupil Premium. They will be assisted in this by an outstanding educational leader, either from the National College or a school with a track record of improving disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes effectively. Full details available from the DfE press release .

School Sport Funding  Primary schools will each receive a share of a 

£150m fund (at least for the next two years) to 

improve sports provision. The money is being jointly 

funded by the DfE (£80m), the Department of 

Health (£60m) and the Department for Culture, 

Media and Sport (£10m) and will be available from 

the 2013/14 academic year. The money, which will 

be ring fenced and so will have to be spent on sport, 

is being called the sports premium. 

Schools with seventeen or more pupils will receive a 

lump sum of £8,000 with an additional £5 per pupil. 

Schools with fewer pupils than this will receive £500 

per pupil without a lump sum. From September 

2013, Ofsted will be looking at how well this money 

is spent to improve the quality and breadth of PE 

and sporting provision. Further information 

available from DfE School Sport announcement 

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