Governor Update Autumn 2022

It is with deep sadness that we reflect on the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. She was not only our monarch but also the head of the Church of England and we are sure that all children and staff in our Church Schools will want to reflect on the special relationship that our church and schools have had with her. The Queen had a deep and profound Christian faith. She often told us about the support she derived from her relationship with God, her reading of the Bible and daily prayer. She leaves a profound legacy and an example we can all learn from about dedication and commitment to public life.

The following prayers for the Queen and for King Charles III may be useful at this time:

God of love,

We thank you for the life of The Queen,

for her service to our nation,

and for her faith in you.

Be close to all of us who mourn,

that we may we find comfort and hope in your love,

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Everlasting God, we pray for our new King.

Bless his reign and the life of our nation.

Help us to work together

so that truth and justice, harmony and fairness

flourish among us;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

May The Queen rest in peace and rise in glory. May God also bless King Charles as he prepares for a significant change in his role and status.

Our love to you all at this sad time.

Canon Richard and the Education Team

Autumn Term 2022

In this edition:

Senior Leaders' Briefing
Inspection Update
Admissions

Keeping Children Safe in Education
Finance
New Governors
Heads and Chairs Working Together
Chair of Governors' Network
Governors' Network
School Attendance
School Behaviour
Governor Network
Headteacher Performance Management
Supporting your headteacher
Monitoring and Evaluating the Effectiveness of your Church School
Additional Updates
School Leaders' Conference 22

Enrol now

Senior Leaders' Briefing

Tuesday 13th September 5 pm - 6 pm

FREE to schools in the ESP

A termly meeting for senior leaders, including governors, to update them on national, local and diocesan matters. An excellent opportunity to keep up to date and network with colleagues from across the diocese.

Please note if you have enrolled previously you will need to re-enrol for this academic year.

Inspection Updates

SIAMS

There are no major changes to the SIAMS Schedule this September however there is a planned meeting to discuss arrangements for SIAMS Inspections from September 2023 onwards. Dr Margaret James, National Director of SIAMS, is inviting representatives from every church school to a national update.

We are strongly advising that at least one representative from every church school in the Diocese attends this national update event, planned for Thursday 3^rd November. All staff, governors, and clergy of Church of England schools are invited to attend this online session, which will be led by the National Director of SIAMS, Dr Margaret James. She will set out the ways in which SIAMS will develop from September 2023, explaining what the developments will mean for schools.

There are two sessions to choose from:

Thursday 3 November from 10am to 11.30am – click here to register

Thursday 3 November from 6pm to 7.30pm – click here to register

Ofsted

As you will be aware Ofsted update their handbooks regularly. Some changes have been made for this September. The changes are briefly as follows:

An end to the transitional arrangements

When first introduced the School Inspection framework placed a large demand on many schools to focus more on having a progressive and ambitious curriculum in place, COVID hindered progress on this and so Ofsted allowed 'transitional arrangements' understanding that schools may not be as far along the journey as they had hoped. Those transitional arrangements have now ended. However, Ofsted has helpfully clarified their expectation; “we do not expect the curriculum to be perfect or a ‘finished article... the best curriculum thinking is always evolving to meet changing circumstances.'

Changes to the names given to inspections

Previously known as section 5 and 8 inspections - for clarity Ofsted are calling inspections 'graded' or 'ungraded' inspection.

Removal of temporary COVID measures

Reference to temporary COVID measures have been removed from the new framework, however, recognising that COVID and especially its effects, have not gone away, it is now referenced in the main body of the text.

In addition, they are enhancing Further Education College inspections and there have been some structural changes to the Early Years Handbook.

You can read more in this Ofsted blog.

Schools continue to focus on reading, which is a clear priority for Ofsted. At the Festival of Education in the summer Ofsted's Kirsty Godfrey HMI, Phil Minns HMI and Ivana Vidakovic, from Ofsted's research and evaluation team, gave a talk on reading. It covered phonics, the importance of encouraging a love of reading, and helping struggling secondary-aged readers.

If you want to hear their views, you can listen to this podcast here.

Admissions

For those schools that are responsible for their own admissions.

Just a reminder that we advise schools to revise their admissions policies on an annual basis. We have a document for this which is available in the Resource Library on ESP Online. The result of this review will be that you either wish to amend your policy for 24-25 or keep it the same.

If you are keeping it the same you merely need to ensure it is up to date (amending dates, checking links etc). If so, it still needs to be officially adopted at a full governing body meeting before 28th February 2023.

If you are making changes to your policy then you need to go through a consultation process. The draft policy needs to be sent to the Diocese in advance of the consultation. Please send it to info.ed@leeds.anglican.org. Consultation must take place for six weeks between October 1st and January 31st. For schools wishing to make changes to their policy, we strongly advise the use of the Church of England Admissions Builder tool. This is an online tool where governors simply upload a logo, answer questions and select oversubscription criteria and it produces a PDF of a compliant admissions policy.

Click here to access Admissions Builder online.

Keeping Children Safe in Education (KSCIE)

The new KCSIE guidance has been updated and applies from September 1^st this year. Governors and Trustees must ensure that they are up to speed with these changes.

We would like to highlight in particular there are new safeguarding training requirements for governing boards. For those who have not received an update on the changes through your usual channels, a summary is available from the NSPCC, click here to access it.

Finance

The government has announced that there will be a price cap on energy prices for the public sector for six months. We await details. In addition, they have announced additional funds into the system to address disadvantage. You can read the announcement here. In our work with schools, we are acutely aware of the cost pressures within the system as a result of long-term underinvestment, unfunded pay awards and challenges with the cost of buildings. Careful use of the Enhanced Service Plan from the Diocese can be one way of achieving best value, speak to your adviser for the different ways schools make the best use of our support.

New Governors

The NGA have produced an animated video about the role of governors. It is available on YouTube and may be helpful in promoting the work of the board or as part of a recruitment campaign if you have vacancies. The video can be accessed by clicking here.

Just a reminder that it is an expectation on the part of the Diocesan Board of Education that new foundation governors complete the online Foundation Governor Induction course within the first six months of being in role. The course is available through ESP Online, link below.

Foundation Governor Induction course

Heads and Chairs Working Together

The relationship between head and chair is of paramount importance and often there is insufficient time for heads and chairs to work together to plan for strong governance. As a result, we are running a one-day, face-to-face course to provide quality facilitated time for the head and chair to reflect on their relationship and plan together to make the board more effective. There will be time to reflect on the professional relationship between head and chair, clarify your roles and what is strategic and operational in your context. There will also be an opportunity to review your board's effectiveness and consider your roles in supporting its wider work so that you can leave the day having made a plan, together, for improving board effectiveness.

Enrol now

Heads and Chairs Working Together for Strong Governance

Tuesday 4th October 9.30 am - 3 pm

Church House, Leeds

£150 for schools in the ESP

(The Head pays and the Chair of Governors attends for free!)

Enrol now

Chair of Governors' Network

Tuesday 4th October 6 pm - 7 pm

FREE to schools in the ESP

A termly opportunity for those in the role of Chair of Governors to share ideas and resources and discuss matters relating to the leadership of the board. You may wish to invite your vice-chair of governors as part of your succession planning process.

Enrol now

Governor's Network

Wednesday 5th October 6 - 7 pm

FREE to schools in the ESP

This termly network is for any governor or trustee, set up in response to a request by schools. The agenda is driven by those who attend. This is a valuable space to network and share with colleagues in other authorities and MATs.

School Attendance

Non-statutory guidance on attendance has been updated by the DfE. The document called 'Working together to improve school attendance' outlines the governors' responsibilities for promoting attendance through ensuring a whole school culture of expectation and promotion of high attendance and a regular review of the effectiveness of policies and procedures.

You can access the guidance here.

School Behaviour

The DfE have produced new advice on behaviour including what should be included in school policies. In addition they have updated their exclusion guidance, in particular the process of who to notify when making decisions on exclusion.

Behaviour in schools advice

Exclusions Guidance

Headteacher Performance Management - plan now

The number of schools using the Diocesan Education Team to provide external support for their Headteacher appraisal continues to grow.

If you would like to use our team to support headteacher performance management this year then speak to your named adviser or email us at info.ed@leeds.anglican.org. This service is provided at a 40% reduced cost to schools in the ESP and at £395 provides good value for money for governors.

Supporting your headteacher

Governors often ask how they can support their headteacher. The last few years have been hugely challenging for headteachers and very few have had opportunity to engage in high quality professional development, including focussing on their development as a leader. Aware of this we offer two comprehensive pathways for headteachers. Do discuss this with your headteacher.

Headteachers' Pathway

Lasting one year, this development programme is for headteachers in years two to five of their headship and focusses on deepening an understanding of leadership.

More details Here

Experienced Headteachers' Pathway

This one year course for experienced heads (five years or more) aims to sustain heads as they continue on their leadership journey. A year of reflection and replenishment with experienced colleagues.

More details here

Enrol now

Monitoring and Evaluating the Effectiveness of your Church School

A course for governors

Tuesday 18th October 4 - 6.30 pm

How can governors ensure that there is a robust and continuous approach to the monitoring and evaluation of their church school? What should they look for and what questions should be asked? Governors are invited to join us for this practical session.

Additional updates

Other items of news which may be of interest...

In July, a report on mental health services for young people was published by the Commission on Young Lives. The report, co-authored with the leading think tank Centre for Mental Health, and the Children and Young People's Mental Health Coalition, reveals a deep crisis in children and young people's mental health services in England and a system of support that is buckling under pressure. The report can be read here.
A survey from the Early Intervention Foundation found secondary schools and teachers face multiple barriers to better supporting pupils’ mental health – predominantly because of a lack of qualified staff, insufficient help from other professionals and critically a lack of time. You can read more of the findings here.
In June, Education Support in collaboration with Public First produced a report on the pressures facing middle leaders in our schools. There has been an increased focus on middle leaders throughout the school system and governors should be aware of the views of those teachers with additional responsibilities. The report can be read here.

All governors and trustees are invited to our School Leaders' Conference.

Diocesan Education team

Church House, 17-19 York Place, Leeds, LS1 2EX

0113 200 0540

info.ed@leeds.anglican.org

www.leeds.anglican.org/education/home

Why am I receiving this email?

This email from the Diocesan Education Team is sent to those who have asked to receive it by 'subscribing' or who receive it because they have a relationship with the diocese, holding an office or position in a church in the diocese, a church school or access our services through the Enhanced Service Plan. However, if you do not wish to continue to receive these emails, simply use the 'Unsubscribe' button below.

Under no circumstances are email addresses shared with third parties.