Welcome to the School Governor Pages

Chairs' Leadership Development Programme

For information on Cheshire East's licence to deliver the National College for School Leadership's Chairs' Development and forthcoming dates, visit the Governors' Network North West partnership webpages or see the Development Programme flyer (PDF, 949KB).

What's New?

Governor Dashboard

You may already be aware that Fischer Family Trust has been working on a Governor Dashboard in association with the National Governors Association and the Wellcome Trust. The FFT dashboard includes a wider range of school performance indicators, including value added pupil progress for all subjects, attendance by year group and a summary of strengths and weaknesses for the school. It gives governors the information they need to answer questions about how results and pupil progress compares to other schools, and see which pupil groups (e.g. FSM/pupil premium) are making good progress. 

Each governing body still needs at least one governor data expert who needs to look at RAISEonline.  However this dashboard will provide a very useful summary for every governor. FFT will continue developing the governor dashboard and plans for the next 12 months include extending the dashboard to Infant school (KS1) and Post-16 (KS5) and developing an online interactive dashboard. The NGA and FFT have also produced two briefing guides for the dashboard, as part of the NGA ‘Knowing your School’ series.

Governors are recommended to access their school report but will need to do so via their school, as Governors do not have access to FFTlive.  The Dashboard is:

• A four page summary
• Available for primary (KS2) and secondary (KS4)
• Provides information about school performance and context
• Will be updated early in the autumn term

The DfE Governors' Handbook has now been published

The Handbook replaces the Governors’ Guide to the Law and it provides information about the role and legal duties of governing bodies in maintained schools and academies (including free schools).

Section 1 outlines the core role and functions of school governing bodies, all governors should read this section.
Sections 2 to 8 summarise all of the specific legal duties on governing bodies –providing a first point of reference for those with a specific area of interest.
Further reading, signposted from within each section, provides more detailed information on governing bodies’ legal duties and any supporting guidance or resources.

The Handbook is now available at the DfE website.

Director's Report to School Governing Bodies

The summer term report is now available.

Fischer Family Trust Data Dashboard for Governors

The Fischer Family Trust will be publishing a new data dashboard for governors on 16th May (revised date). The dashboard has been designed in conjunction with the National Governors' Association. It will be available on the FFT website. Governors will need to use their school's log in details to access the dashboard.

School Funding

SEN Funding letter (PDF, 102KB),  to all schools and governors, from the Director of Children and Families.

DfE Schools Block Funding Formulae 2013-14.

Cheshire East Governors’ Conference at Tatton Park on 22 March 2013

The fourth Governors’ Conference for Cheshire East was another enjoyable and informative day. The presentations are now available from our speakers on the day:

• Frank Norris 'Governing Bodies in the Slipstream'  Keynote Presentation - Spring 2013 (MS Powerpoint, 2MB)
• Steve Barker Cheshire East Conference, March 2013 (MS Powerpoint, 3MB)
• Maggie Farrar 'Collaborative Governance for a 'Self-Improving' Education System' - 22nd March 2013 (MS Powerpoint, 1MB)

Primary School Sport Funding  

The Government is providing funding of £150 million per annum nationally for academic years 2013/14 and 2014/15 to provide new, substantial primary school sport funding. This funding is being jointly provided by the Departments for Education, Health and Culture, Media and Sport, and will see money going directly to primary school headteachers to spend on improving the quality of sport and PE for all their children.  The sport funding can only be spent on sport and PE provision in schools.

All schools with 17 or more primary-aged pupils will receive a lump sum of £8000 plus a premium of £5 per pupil (based on January 2013 Census). Actual funding allocations will be notified by the DfE in late September / early October 2013.

Detailed information regarding, for example, the purpose of and reporting requirements for the funding, can be found on the DfE website

The Director of Children's Services Report to School Governing Bodies - future briefing dates

Arrangements for the Director of Children’s Services’ Report to School Governing Bodies briefings are as follows:

• Wednesday 1 May 2013
• Wednesday 18 September 2013

Both briefings will take place at the Chimney House, Congleton Road, Sandbach  CW11 4ST.  Refreshments will be available from 6.00pm for a 6.30pm start and the briefings will finish at 8.30pm.  All governors are welcome to attend.  Please notify schoolgovernance@cheshireeast.gov.uk if you will be attending.

Ofsted School Data Dashboard

Ofsted have now published a Dashboard for all schools and academies. It is aimed at supporting governors in their understanding of how well the school is doing, and is also intended for parents.

LA update on the new SEN Funding

The LA update on the new SEN Funding approach from April along with a letter from the minister, David Laws, to David Rutley MP , which explains the Government’s view on this issue.

Re-Shaping Relationships with Schools

Thank you to the many school leaders and governors who attended the event at the Tytherington Club on Wednesday 23rd January. The presentation that was delivered at the session and feedback from the table discussions can be downloaded by clicking on the links below:

• Lorraine Butcher's Presentation (PDF, 207KB)
• Table Discussion 1 feedback (PDF, 306KB)
• Table Discussion 2 feedback (PDF, 300KB)

Revised Ofsted Documentation

Ofsted's framework and guidance documentation was updated in December 2012.

Considering a Change of Status? A good practice guide for governors and headteachers

Decisions about possible or actual changes of school status and organisation are the responsibility of governing bodies. If your school is looking at the potential benefits, challenges and risks of federation, foundation, trust or academy status, you may find this recently revised guide produced by the National Co-ordinators of Governor Services (NCOGs) useful.

Visit  the The Governors' Learning Partnership webpages to view the document.

You will need to log in to view the resource. If you subscribe to governor support and development and haven't yet got a log in, go to 'create new account' at the top right of the screen. 

Other Useful Information and Resources

School Information (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012

These new regulations took effect from September 2012. They remove the requirement for schools to produce a prospectus and instead publish specified information online. This will include:

• details of the school’s pupil premium allocation and plans to spend it in the current year; and, for the previous year, a statement of how the money was spent and the impact that it had on educational attainment of those pupils at the school in respect of whom grant funding was allocated;
• details of the school’s curriculum, content and approach, by academic year and by subject (including details of GCSE options and other qualifications offered at Key Stage 4 (for secondary schools), and approach to phonic and reading schemes (for primary schools);
• where applicable, details or links to the school’s admission arrangements, including its selection and oversubscription criteria, published admission number and the school’s process for applications through the local authority;
• details of the school’s policies on behaviour, charging and SEN and disability provision;
• links to the school’s Ofsted reports and DfE School Performance Tables and details of the school’s latest Key Stage 2 and/or Key Stage 4 attainment and progress measures as presented in the School Performance Tables;
• a statement of the school’s ethos and values.

National Governors' Association Self-Evaluation Tool

In conjunction with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Governance the NGA has produced a new self-evaluation tool - Twenty Key Questions for Governing Bodies.

Ofsted Report on Governance

Ofsted has published a report on good practice in school governance. The good practice in school governance summary and full report is on the Ofsted website.

Understanding School Data

The booklet Making Sense of School Performance Data - The Governors’ Role in Supporting and Challenging Schools (PDF, 2.8MB).

Useful Links

• Governors' Learning Partnership
• Ten Governor Support
• Cheshire East Association of Governing Bodies
• The 2012 Governors' Guide to the Law 
• National College Members' Site
• National College (DfE) website
• Department for Education Website
• National Governors' Association Website