The Handbook of Training 2017-2018
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B Business Services The Handbook of Training for Governors, PRU Managers and Trustees 2017-2018 B Business Services Contents 3 Welcome 6 Bookings 7 Being a CPD Leader 7 NGA Learning Link 8 Certificate of Governor Competence & Commitment 8 Whole Governing Board Training 10 SECTION 1: FUNDAMENTAL GOVERNANCE 11 FG1: Welcome to Governance 12 FG2: Safeguarding for Governors 13 FG3A: The Fundamentals of Academy Finance 14 FG3M: The Fundamentals of Maintained School Finance 15 FG4: Understanding Performance Management 16 FG5: My First Ofsted 17 FG6: Educational Performance Information: What is Available and How Do We Use It? 18 FG7: The Governors Role in Monitoring and Evaluation 19 SECTION 2: ADVANCED GOVERNANCE 20 AG1: The Governors Strategic Role in School Improvement 21 AG2: Safeguarding Now; An Update on Responsibilities 22 AG3: Being an Effective Chair and Leader of Governance 23 AG4: Effective Headteacher Performance Management 24 AG5: Preparing for Ofsted 25 AG6: Handling and Resolving Complaints 26 SECTION 3: NAMED GOVERNANCE 27 NG1: Named Governor for Safeguarding 28 NG2: Named Governor for SEND 29 NG3: Named Governor for Health & Safety 30 SECTION 4: CURRENT GOVERNANCE 31 CG1: Termly Locality Briefings 32 CG2: Termly Governor Seminars 33 Venue Information 34 Training Planner 2017/18 56 Contact Us 2 Welcome Hello and welcome to the 2017/18 Handbook of Training. If you are new to governance it can seem a daunting task and if you are experienced, you will know how quickly the educational landscape and role of governors can change. This is why here at Schools’ Choice Governor Services we offer a robust training package designed to support and empower you to govern effectively in your schools, academies and PRUs. Governance, and the training and development that governors undertake, is becoming increasingly more high profile. In the Improving Governance report published by Ofsted in December 2016 it was stated that Ofsted will: ‘report more robustly on the extent to which governors are committed to their own professional development in order to secure sustained improvements in governance practices’. Our training courses are designed and reviewed frequently to help governors, PRU managers and academy board members meet and surpass the high expectations placed on them. All of our courses, unless otherwise stated, are suitable for governors of maintained schools, academies and PRU managers– the focus of our training is what makes governance outstanding irrespective of school type. We have made a number of changes to the training programme for the 2017/18 academic year to support you to better target your training and to allow your boards to be more flexible. The training courses we have in place for the coming year are all new or have been updated to be directly linked to the 3 core functions of governance as defined by the Department for Education and their Competency Framework for Governance. This will better support you to select what courses to attend as a result of your skills audits and keeps us in line with national expectations. 3 We have also separated our courses into 4 categories to support you when it comes to selecting what courses to attend: 1. Fundamental Governance For new governors to help them get up to speed with what is expected of governors in 2017/18 focussing on the three core functions of governance as defined by the Department for Education. 2. Advanced Governance For Chairs and experienced governors or governors looking to further develop their knowledge and understanding. These courses build on the fundamental courses to expand governors’ knowledge on areas such of Ofsted inspections and Headteacher Performance Management or, introduce new areas, that more experienced governors are likely to be involved with such as handling and resolving complaints. 3. Named Governance These select courses are predominantly for those governors with named responsibility for SEND, Health & Safety and Safeguarding. We are delighted to be able to offer the Named Safeguarding Governor training as part of our governor training subscription offer this year. 4. Current Governance These sessions will address any new priorities or legislation that is issued over the course of the year as well as being responsive to your needs. If you would like any topics addressed at these sessions, please do let us know. 4 Alongside the new offer of training in this handbook we have also made positive changes to our in-house whole governing body training offer for subscribing schools. In recognition that it can be challenging to travel to our face to face training courses and that each governing board faces its own unique circumstance subscribing schools are now entitled to two in-house training courses as part of the subscription over the course of their respective financial years. See page 8 for further information about whole governing board training. As well as the above changes we are still delighted to be able to offer to subscribing schools access to over 50 online learning modules via the National Governance Association Learning Link which was launched in the summer of 2017. See page 7 for further information about the Learning Link. If you have any suggestions for future courses or seminar sessions or any comments regarding current courses, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please email us via [email protected] All of the training detailed in this handbook is free to attend for schools that subscribe to the School’s Choice Governor Training service. If your school doesn’t subscribe but would like to or, if you just want to attend a one off course, please email [email protected] for a quote. We hope that these changes to the service are beneficial to you and we look forward to seeing you at training in the future. The Schools’ Choice Governor Training Team. 5 Bookings Bookings for Core Programme courses can be made via Schools’ Choice CPD Online http://cpd.schoolschoice.org/ and searching by date, course code or a keyword. If you have not used the online system before you will need to create a “New User” account. If you already have an account on this system, you can continue to use your existing username and password. If you have forgotten either/both of these, then just click on “Forgotten login details”. We recognise that an online system will not work for everybody so, the Schools’ Choice Governor Services team, will still be able to make bookings for individuals and contact details are below. The training programme can also be found on the governor pages of the Schools’ Choice website: https://www.schoolschoice.org/Governor-Services Please note: courses for which fewer than 8 governors have booked may be subject to cancellation. If it is more convenient for you to attend training in another area of the county, that is easily arranged and you will be most welcome. Offices: Endeavour House (B2/F3), 8 Russell Road, Ipswich, IP1 2BX Telephone (01473) 263977 E-mail [email protected] West Suffolk House, Western Way, Bury St. Edmunds, IP33 3YU Telephone (01284) 758783 E-mail [email protected] If, having booked, you find you are unable to attend; you may be able to ask another governor from your school to go in your place. If this is not possible, please email or call governor services or a no-show fee may be charged to your school. 6 Being a CPD Leader One of the additional benefits to using the online booking system is that a governor can be set up as the CPD Leader for the governing board. Being a CPD Leader means that you can download and view training information for the governing board at any time and you can also make bookings on behalf of your colleagues. We recommend that the Link or Chair of Governors have this access as well as your governing board clerk if you employ one outside of the Schools’ Choice clerking service but it can be assigned to any number of people on the governing board. If you would like to be a CPD Leader for your governing board please email [email protected] with your name and the governing board you serve on. NGA Learning Link NGA Learning Link provides users with access to over fifty modules curated by NGA’s expert team of policy and information specialists. Modules are comprehensive and cover a range of governance-related topics including: strategy, team work, assessment, staffing, financial oversight, elements of effective governance, compliance and collaboration to name a few. The service was launched in the summer of 2017 and is free to access for those boards who subscribe to the Schools’ Choice Governor Training package. Those governors who had previously registered and accessed GEL training should have had their records migrated across to the new platform. Those who have not previously registered can do so by visiting https://nga.vc-enable.co.uk/ 7 Certificate of Governor Competence & Commitment We are keen to help new governors contribute effectively as soon as possible to the work of their schools and to recognise the commitment of governors to training which is why we have introduced the Certificate of Governor Competence & Commitment. For a governor to receive their certificate of competence they must attend our four recommended courses (FG1; FG2; FG3 and FG4) over a period of 12 months and then send us evidence in the way of a facilitator’s signature that you attended. For new governors, a form is included in their welcome pack from Schools Choice. If you are an existing governor who would like to attend these courses and receive the certificate or a new governor who did not receive the form in your pack, please email [email protected] and request a copy be sent to you.