The Key Roles of the Governing Body are to:
Provide a Strategic View
Act as a Critical Friend
Ensure Accountability
All the above involve asking questions.
It is often said that School Governors fulfil their key roles by Asking the Right Questions.
My next series of blog article are a selection of framework questions based around key topics which are supplied online by Sheffield City Council for their School Governors. Today I will cover Safeguarding, tomorrow dedicated headship time, then healthy schools, risk assessments, target setting and finally Special Educational Needs.
Sheffield also provide question frameworks around the following subjects which I am not covering in this series.
Adopting a Policy
Black and Minority Ethnic Student Achievement
Careers Education, Information Advice and Guidance (Secondary)
Continuing Professional Development
Early Years Foundation Stage
Extended Services (formerly known as Extended Schools)
Home School Agreement
Inclusion
Looked After Children
Modern Foreign Languages
Occupational Health and Safety
Parental Involvement
Personalised Learning
School Improvement Cycle
Transition
They can be found on Sheffield City Council website here
http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/education/schoolgovernors/questions-frameworks
Safeguarding
A Questions Framework for Governing Bodies
Does the governing body receive and discuss an Annual Safeguarding Report in the Summer term?
Is the report sent to the Local Authority?
What are the school’s Safeguarding priorities and how do we plan to address them?
What issues do we share and how do we work with other schools in our Family of schools?
What other agencies do we work with within our Family of Schools or area and how effective are these partnerships?
Is there anything we can do as a governing body to enhance partnership working?
Are there any implications for our staffing model ?
What is the impact on the workload of teaching staff and does this need addressing?
Do we need more staff dedicated to Safeguarding work (e.g. Learning Mentors)?
Are there any other resourcing needs?
Steve Barker Associate Trainer for Babcock 4S asks a different set of questions:
(1) How do we as governors, know pupils are safe?
(2) How safe to pupils feel?
(3) How do Head/SLT monitor safeguarding and what do they feed back to us as governors?
(4) What are the quality of links with outside agencies to protect pupils?
(5) What has changed in our policy this year and why?
(6)How many pupils have individual child in need or child protection plans?
(7) What more could we do to ensure our children are safeguarded?
Friday, 4 March 2011
Thursday, 3 March 2011
A Questions Framework for School Governors on Special Educational Needs
A Questions Framework for Special Educational Needs
Does the governing body have an up to date SEN policy and when is this due to be reviewed next?
Does the governing body have a nominated SEN governor who is clear about and able to fulfil their remit?
Are the governing body’s current reporting arrangements on SEN appropriate?
What funding does the school receive for SEN/AEN?
How is this funding used?
Staffing
Staff training
Resources
How many pupils within each year group are on the SEN register at School Action, School Action Plus, Statemented?
What is the nature and range of special educational needs in the school?
What is the proportion of SEN children within different groups of children, e.g. boys/ girls, black and minority ethnic (BME) pupils, Looked After Children (LAC)
Does the school have particular expertise in one or more areas of SEN provision which could be shared with others?
Are there areas of SEN provision which could be improved by learning from other schools which have expertise in this area?
What links does the school have with Special schools (if mainstream) or Mainstream Schools (if special) which foster Inclusive practice.
How does this compare with other similar and neighbouring schools?
How are children with SEN performing in statutory assessments compared to other pupils?
What proportion of exclusions are children with SEN? How does this compare with the proportion of other children excluded from school?
How effective is the school in including children with SEN in mainstream provision and what provision exists for withdrawal when necessary?
Is there any variation between year groups, subjects, departments in meeting pupils’ special educational needs.
What training has been undertaken by the SENCO?
What training in SEN has been undertaken by other staff in the school, both teaching and support staff?
Do all children with SEN have an Individual Education Plan (IEP)? What are the processes and timescales for reviewing IEPs with the involvement of parents/carers?
How are Newly Qualified Teachers supported to meet the needs of children with SEN.
How does the school work in partnership with parents to help meet the needs of children with SEN?
Do parents of children with SEN have access to information about sources of advice and support?
Does the school ensure that voluntary helpers are appropriately aware of the needs of children with SEN that they work with? Are voluntary helpers used to specifically support children with SEN?
Is there an accessibility plan in place and when is this due to be reviewed.
What are the key issues in respect of SEN which need to be addressed in the School Improvement Plan and what progress has been made in addressing current SEN issues in the plan.
It is often said that Governors fulfil their key roles by Asking the Right Questions.
The Questions framework above is provided by Sheffield City Council as a guide to their School Governors
http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/education/schoolgovernors/questions-frameworks
Does the governing body have an up to date SEN policy and when is this due to be reviewed next?
Does the governing body have a nominated SEN governor who is clear about and able to fulfil their remit?
Are the governing body’s current reporting arrangements on SEN appropriate?
What funding does the school receive for SEN/AEN?
How is this funding used?
Staffing
Staff training
Resources
How many pupils within each year group are on the SEN register at School Action, School Action Plus, Statemented?
What is the nature and range of special educational needs in the school?
What is the proportion of SEN children within different groups of children, e.g. boys/ girls, black and minority ethnic (BME) pupils, Looked After Children (LAC)
Does the school have particular expertise in one or more areas of SEN provision which could be shared with others?
Are there areas of SEN provision which could be improved by learning from other schools which have expertise in this area?
What links does the school have with Special schools (if mainstream) or Mainstream Schools (if special) which foster Inclusive practice.
How does this compare with other similar and neighbouring schools?
How are children with SEN performing in statutory assessments compared to other pupils?
What proportion of exclusions are children with SEN? How does this compare with the proportion of other children excluded from school?
How effective is the school in including children with SEN in mainstream provision and what provision exists for withdrawal when necessary?
Is there any variation between year groups, subjects, departments in meeting pupils’ special educational needs.
What training has been undertaken by the SENCO?
What training in SEN has been undertaken by other staff in the school, both teaching and support staff?
Do all children with SEN have an Individual Education Plan (IEP)? What are the processes and timescales for reviewing IEPs with the involvement of parents/carers?
How are Newly Qualified Teachers supported to meet the needs of children with SEN.
How does the school work in partnership with parents to help meet the needs of children with SEN?
Do parents of children with SEN have access to information about sources of advice and support?
Does the school ensure that voluntary helpers are appropriately aware of the needs of children with SEN that they work with? Are voluntary helpers used to specifically support children with SEN?
Is there an accessibility plan in place and when is this due to be reviewed.
What are the key issues in respect of SEN which need to be addressed in the School Improvement Plan and what progress has been made in addressing current SEN issues in the plan.
It is often said that Governors fulfil their key roles by Asking the Right Questions.
The Questions framework above is provided by Sheffield City Council as a guide to their School Governors
http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/education/schoolgovernors/questions-frameworks
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
A Questions Framework on Target Setting for School Governors
Questions Framework for Target Setting:
What processes are in place in school to make target setting effective?
Does the school track individual pupil performance?
Does the school have intervention strategies to support underachieving pupils?
Are some groups of children performing less well than others? (boys/girls, ethnic minority pupils, Looked After Children)
Are pupils performing better in some subjects than others?
What test information is available and do we use it to predict future performance?
Will our strategies to support proposed targets benefit all children?
What do we need to know to help us put benchmarking information into context?
Are our proposed targets both challenging and realistic?
It is often said that Governors fulfil their key roles by Asking the Right Questions.
The Questions framework above is provided by Sheffield City Council as a guide to their School Governors
http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/education/schoolgovernors/questions-frameworks
What processes are in place in school to make target setting effective?
Does the school track individual pupil performance?
Does the school have intervention strategies to support underachieving pupils?
Are some groups of children performing less well than others? (boys/girls, ethnic minority pupils, Looked After Children)
Are pupils performing better in some subjects than others?
What test information is available and do we use it to predict future performance?
Will our strategies to support proposed targets benefit all children?
What do we need to know to help us put benchmarking information into context?
Are our proposed targets both challenging and realistic?
It is often said that Governors fulfil their key roles by Asking the Right Questions.
The Questions framework above is provided by Sheffield City Council as a guide to their School Governors
http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/education/schoolgovernors/questions-frameworks
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