Category: Governance

Governor training sessions have been added to the Spring 2018 Programme and can be booked online:

NEW – General Data Protection Regulations (Regulations effective from May 2018) 15 January at 10am and 6pm    

Health and Safety – What are governors’ responsibilities?    27 February 10am       

Safer Recruitment – 8 March at 1pm and 6pm

Safeguarding- Are your Children Safe?   – 13 March at 1pm and 6pm

Book online (external link)  using the log-in details sent to you by Governor Services or your school governing body clerk.

The Department for Education (DfE) has updated its guidance on primary and secondary school accountability to include the ‘coasting’ schools definition for 2017. This is a data based accountability measure which sits alongside the floor standard as a way for the DfE to identify schools where pupil outcomes may be a concern.

The floor standard is the minimum standard that the DfE expects schools to meet; the 2017 floor standards are:

• A primary school will be below the floor standard if less than “65% of pupils meet the expected standard in English reading, English writing and mathematics” or the school does not make the required amount of progress, which is “at least -5 in English reading, -5 in mathematics and -7 in English writing”.
• A secondary school will be below the floor standard if: “it’s Progress 8 score is below -0.5, and the upper band of the 95% confidence interval is below zero”.

The category of ‘coasting’ school was introduced in 2016 as a way for the DfE to identify schools in which pupils “do not fulfil their potential”. Whether a school is ‘coasting’ is based on three years of data, although some schools with small cohorts/lack of pupil data will be excluded from this measure. The DfE confirmed that a school be considered to be ‘coasting’ if:

• For secondary schools, in 2015, fewer than 60% of pupils achieved 5 A*-C at GCSE” and, in 2016 and 2017, if “the school’s progress 8 score was below -0.25”.
• For primary schools, “in 2015, fewer than 85% of pupils achieved level 4 in English reading, English writing and mathematics and below the national median percentage of pupils achieved expected progress in all of English reading, English writing and mathematics” and, in 2016 and 2017 “fewer than 85% of pupils achieved the expected standard at the end of primary schools and average progress made by pupils was less than -2.5 in English reading, -2.5 in mathematics or -3.5 in English writing”.

We are pleased to inform you that there are no schools in Haringey that fell below the Floor standard in 2017.

Maintained schools must have and make available a procedure for dealing with complaints. Governance Services have updated their model complaints policy taking into account guidance from the DfE.

Please contact Carolyn Banks  at carolyn.banks@haringey.gov.uk if you would like a copy of this policy.

The Department for Education (DfE) released provisional data on GCSE (or equivalent) outcomes for 2016 and 17. The provisional data outlines how well secondary schools did against the KS4 headline measures, which are: attainment and progress 8; Ebacc entry and attainment; and the number of students achieving grade 5 or more in English and maths.

The key findings are:

• The average attainment 8 score for each pupil has fallen by 3.8 points in state schools. The (provisional) average attainment 8 score for each pupil is now 46.0. Haringey’s provisional score is 46.0.
• Overall Ebacc entry is down by 1.5% compared to 2016. This year, 38.1% entered for the Ebacc and 21.1% achieved the qualification. The Ebacc is made up of five subjects including a language. Interestingly, the number of pupils entering for four Ebacc subjects rose by 6.2%. The majority (80.4%) of those that took four Ebacc subjects were missing the language element. For Haringey 21.8% achieved this qualification.
• The percentage of students achieving a level 5 or above in maths and English was 42.2% in state funded schools, this compares with 43% for Haringey. As this is a new measure, there is no comparative data.

The Department for Education (DfE) has updated its guidance for secondary schools on the Year 7 Literacy & Numeracy Catch-up Premium. The new guidance, published on 17 October 2017, details the value of the Year 7 Literacy and Numeracy catch-up premium funding schools receive, advice on how to spend it and regulations regarding how its use must be reported on school websites.

The main change to the publication is the inclusion of Literacy and Numeracy catch-up strategies (a new publication) which provides schools with details of interventions that have proven successful in assisting low attaining pupils, in Literacy and Numeracy at the end of Key Stage 2, make accelerated progress. The publication defines low attainers as those pupils whose attainment in Literacy and Numeracy, when they leave Junior school, is below age-related expectations.

Action for Governors

Governors in secondary schools should be exploring how the Catch-up premium is being used in their school(s) and if schools are aware of this new publication and are planning to use it. This should inform detailed exploration of the value for money that is being achieved through expenditure of this funding.

Action for Clerks

Clerks should be ensuring that governors are aware of this new publication, how to locate it and ensure it is included on the agenda/being discussed at relevant committee meetings or governing body/trust board meetings this term.