Category: Governance

Following amendments to the School Governance (Constitution) (England) Regulations 2012 (external link), the Department for Education (DfE) has released an updated version of the accompanying Statutory Guidance (external link).

The guidance has specifically been updated to cover the new power that means from 1 September 2017 maintained school governing bodies have the power to remove elected parent and staff governors in the same way as they can remove co-opted governors – that is, by majority decision of the governing body.

The changes haven’t stopped there. Any person removed as an elected governor from the governing body during their term of office will be disqualified from serving or continuing to serve as a school governor for five years from the date of their removal – not just at the school they have been removed from, but any school. The statutory guidance emphasises that the power to remove an elected governor should only be used in exceptional circumstances, providing some examples which could warrant removal. It also states that governing bodies are expected to provide an appeals procedure to enable any removed governor to test the reasonableness of the governing body’s decision to remove them and advises that an independent panel conducts the appeal.

It is important that governors are not removed for asking challenging questions and that boards contain a diverse range of viewpoints.

The new edition of Ofsted’s School Inspection Update (external link) provides details of how inspectors are being instructed to approach school performance data. This will be of interest to governors who wish to know what to expect when inspectors come to call.

Ofsted inspectors have access to a data analyst helpline during inspections and have been reminded:

• not to compare results from last year to this for the new GCSEs
• results for GCSEs and A levels have been stable overall and small fluctuations at school level should not be over-interpreted
• to consider whether decisions made by school leaders are in the best interests of pupils
• to use assessment data as a starting point for discussion rather than the only piece of evidence
• not to focus on single measures with small cohorts
• to treat data from key stage 2 teacher assessments with caution

Inspectors are also reminded to look out for evidence that schools may be trying to ‘game the system’, for example by entering pupils into qualifications with significant subject overlap or moving pupils to other settings.

Ofsted have reformed their inspection dashboard into a new style Inspection Dashboard Summary Report (IDSR) which focuses on trends in school performance over the previous three years.

Governing boards should, of course, already be considering how to use performance data in a meaningful way as part of a broader set of success measures, and ensuring all decisions made by themselves or school staff are in the best interests of their pupils.

In order to hold executive leaders to account for educational school performance, governing boards need to ensure that they have been given the right information. This includes having access to the right data, which can be used to evidence the progress being made against the agreed strategy.

A key source of data is Analyse School Performance (ASP) – the replacement service to RAISEonline. The DfE launched an updated and improved version of ASP in July 2017 – help with logging in is available on this YouTube video (external link).

The service now includes 2017 Question Level Analysis (QLA) and named pupil data for those with appropriate access levels. QLA data enables primary schools to assess how well their children performed in different aspects of the curriculum. It also supports secondary schools in identifying strengths and weaknesses for their incoming year 7s.

Additional reports have now been added to the service as well as enhancements made to the usability following user feedback and including improved printing and navigation functions.

At the end of September, Key Stage 2 data will be available in ASP – this is provisional data for 2016/17. Breakdowns of data such as disadvantaged will be added at the end of October along with Key Stage 1 and Phonics data for 2017. Provisional Key Stage 4 data will be available towards the end of November.

Governor Services is delighted to announce that training courses for governors in the Autumn term are now available to book via the Traded Services website (external link).

On Monday 31 July the RAISEonline service will close. The Department for Education (DfE) is asking schools to save any data needed from RAISEonline, such as school summary reports, before this date. Schools are also being asked to log on to the replacement service, Analyse School Performance (ASP), before the end of the summer term.

The Queen’s Speech set out the government’s legislative programme for the next two years.

Several policies which the Conservatives included in their manifesto, such as removing the ban on new selective schools and ending universal infant free school meals, were not included in the speech. However, the government has said that it will “look at all options and work with Parliament to bring forward proposals that can command a majority”. The government will continue to convert “failing” schools to academies.

On the national funding formula, the government say they “will deliver on our manifesto commitment to make funding fairer” but no mention is made of the timescale. Reference is made to the manifesto commitments to increase the overall schools budget by £4 billion by 2022 and to continue to protect the pupil premium.

The speech also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to reform technical education.

Full details are available on pages 63-65 of the government’s background briefing notes (external link)  

What governing boards should expect from school leaders and what school leaders should expect from governing boards has been updated for 2017.

The NGA has collaborated with the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and the Local Government Association (LGA) to produce a new edition of this guidance document.

Effective working between those leading and those governing schools is vital to improving education for children and young people. This joint guidance aims to improve the effectiveness of governance by developing effective, mutually supportive and respectful working practices.

Among the expectations this document makes clear are that while governors must have the confidence to have courageous conversations, in turn, school leaders must be willing to be challenged. And while governors must be knowledgeable about the school, including its pupils, staff and community, in turn, school leaders must provide information to them in the appropriate way.

This guidance is available to both NGA members and non-members. Download as a pdf:

What Governing Boards Should Expect From School Leaders and What School Leaders Should Expect From Governing Boards (external link)

Amanda Spielman, HM Chief Inspector, outlined her vision for Ofsted's future (external link) at the Festival of Education on 23 June.

Firstly, she outlined that Ofsted will increase its “research function” in an effort to test the “validity and reliability” of the inspection process. As part of this, Ofsted will seek the views of stakeholders, including governors, “on how well [Ofsted] inform and advise” schools. The aim of this, Ms Spielman outlined, was to both inform practice as well as influence policy.

Ms Spielman also commented on the importance of the curriculum in schools, with Ofsted currently undertaking a project to look at curriculum practice in “hundreds of schools across the country”. She criticised the practice to “reduce education down” to labour market success and spoke out against preparing students for exams in year 4 and key stage 3. Ms Spielman went on to say that school leaders should ensure that teachers are “concentrating on the curriculum and the substance of education, not preparing … pupils to jump through a series of accountability hoops”. She said that rather than just focusing on accountability data, “Ofsted inspections must explore what is behind the data, asking how results have been achieved” and ensuring that “a good quality education – one that genuinely meets pupils’ needs – is not being compromised”. Commenting on the recent terror attacks across England, Ms Spielman also outlined how schools need to continue to fulfil their duty to teach students about British values through “a real civic education.”

Speaking on leadership challenges in “tough schools”, Ms Spielman recognised that pupil intake made a significant difference to accountability outcomes.  She outlined that Ofsted recognise “the [role played by] leadership and management teams in overcoming” significant challenge. She outlined that Requires Improvement schools in less affluent areas were two-and-a-half times more likely to achieve a “Good” for leadership than schools in affluent areas. Continuing on the theme of school leadership, Ms Spielman outlined how too much emphasis is placed on the headteacher in “transforming a school”. Instead, schools need “strong deputies and assistants … good department heads, [an] effective business and finance manager… and, of course, governors providing strong support and challenge”. Thus, in their “public pronouncements”, Ms Spielman outlined that Ofsted would put more emphasis on the importance of school management as a whole, rather than just focusing on the headteacher.

In March, the Department for Education launched a public consultation exercise (external link) about the future of the primary assessment system in England. Details are included in a statement (external link) made to Parliament on 30 March by Secretary of State for Education, Justine Greening.

The consultation sets out wide-ranging proposals for improving the primary assessment system. These include consideration of the best starting point from which to measure pupils' progress, how to ensure the assessment system is proportionate, and how to improve end of key stage assessments.

A parallel consultation, launched at the same time asks for views on the recommendations of the independent Rochford Review. The recommendations focus on the future of statutory assessment arrangements for pupils working below the standard of national curriculum tests at the end of key stages 1 and 2.

You have until 5.00pm on Thursday 22 June to respond to the consultations. All those with an interest in primary education are encouraged to share their opinions and insights.

If you have any questions please contact the assessment policy team at: PrimaryAssessment.CONSULTATION@education.gov.uk or Rochford.Review@education.gov.uk

Ofsted has amended its guidance about raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted (external link).

The guidance applies to the handling of complaints about Ofsted’s work, including the inspection and regulation of maintained schools including academies.

Reference in the guidance is also made to concerns organisations may have about an Ofsted inspection or inspector. More guidance on submitting a complaint about an Ofsted inspection report can be found here (external link).