Tales from an inner city school governor

Governor training days

2006-01-12T16:25:00.000Z

Recently I attended a training course entitled "Preparing for Ofsted". We are due an inspection any day now, and have quite a few governors who are new this year, so it was a good topic to study.

I read the SEF* like a good governor, and showed up to the training expecting to be lectured on knowing the school's vital statistics, its strengths and weaknesses, and our role in visiting the school, especially for link governors.

However, the exercises were all about communicating with each other - things such as telling three facts to the others, two truths and a lie - and just as I was wondering if I was in the wrong room, the trainer finally said "But what has this got to do with Ofsted?"

We were shown some more techniques which might be useful in brainstorming and problem solving, all useful stuff but I'm not sure how it will help if I am chosen to be interviewed by the inspectors! The only thing that came out of this for me is that I am better at lying than I thought...

* Note for non-governors - This is the Self-Evaluation Form, which is written by Governors and Head together. It's a living document about the schools's situation.

Dyslexia rules... KO?

2005-10-18T17:07:00.000Z

A month or so ago, the press were full of stories about the validity of the term "dyslexia" and whether it actually exists.

I've just been told from a colleague in the SEN team at the LEA that we actually can't say "dyslexia" now, it's another "non-specific learning difficulty".

Surely this opens a can of worms - those with ... let's call them spelling issues ... are now lumped in with those who are slow developers or have a low IQ. I bet they dislike that very much.

So far, so good...

2005-09-15T14:45:00.000Z

I hear from parents that the new Head is going down very well, particularly how she is making herself available to them. A couple of weeks into term and everyone seems fairly happy and settled. What a relief!

Book Review - Hackney Downs

2005-08-11T14:33:00.000Z

Book review - Hackney Downs - The School That Dared to Fight (1999).

This is the tale of the last few years in the life of Hackney Downs, a boys' secondary school in one of the most deprived areas of the UK.

It's quite a depressing read, to find how at every turn the school seemed to be up against the odds, but some of the quotes (for example, letters from supportive parents) are quite heartwarming and remind the reader why the whole battle had to be fought, why the stakeholders just could not give up and die. After all, when the school finally closed it was actually improving, with the potential for a promising future.

There are some aspects which strike a chord with my own school's situation - the majority of children speaking English as a second language, and a falling role leading to accepting a high number of children who had been excluded from elsewhere (both leading to a far higher than average proportion of pupils with special needs), as well as several Heads over a relatively short time.

Other issues which affected Hackney Downs are outside of my experience, and are things I hope would never happen to my school - a devisive "Black parents and staff" group causing problems, and the LEA never stumping up for promised essential building works. Most crucially, year 7 intake was suspended for a year, ostensively to undertake building work so that the school could go co-ed, but by the time it happened the proposal to admit girls had been thrown out. The school never recovered from the crippling loss of year 7, and didn't get the financial compensation the LEA had promised. Mysterious HMI visits and being taken over by an Education Association seemed to seal Hackney Downs's fate.

Ironically, when the school eventually closed, the property could not be sold off as it was held in covenant by the LEA for use as an educational facility - making a mockery of the financial argument for its closure.

The book is co-authored by Betty Hales, who was Acting Head at the end of the school's life, but the information is presented in a factual way, and uses quotes from HMI reports, parents and exam results in order to deliver the story, so there is no feeling of bias.

From a Governor's point of view, it's an essential read. It made me aware of the things that can happen; the way that parent support must be harnessed, the fact that the LEA can work against a school as well as with it, the way that the media can work when it is hunting for a story. It has made me feel I should take more of an interest in my school - we should be pro-active, rather than waiting to see how things unfold. We should be aware of our school's issues and development, and ensure that where the LEA promises action, we hold them to it.

As it is more of a study than a story, it's quite hard to get into (I read this book before becoming a governor, and again recently, and it made much more sense this time around) but well worth the effort, as both a cautionary and heartwarming tale.

Summer holidays...

2005-08-05T13:12:00.000Z

Summer holidays... peace at last! No longer are my lie-ins spoiled by the shrieks of children passing my house on their way to school. No longer do I have to stagger the dog's walk time to avoid schoolchildren (since some of them are scared of big dogs - especially the Asian boys, for some reason).

Of course, the parents among you are probably having the opposite experience!

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer.

Mixed age classes

2005-07-20T16:51:00.000Z

Next year, due to falling roll, we will have some mixed age classes.

Does anyone have experience of them? Is it effective? How should it be done to be most effective - should classes be composed of the best from the younger year, and the worst from the year above, or should it be more mixed, with consideration for ethnic background, sex, and other issues?

Is it popular with parents, or will it take a lot of effort to "sell" it to them?

Any comments welcome.

Recruiting a new Head, part 3

2005-07-19T21:30:00.000Z

A few days after the assessment centre day, one of the trainer / assessors came to provide feedback on the candidates. In fact we had sent only two people to the assessment day (as would have been apparent to them if they spoke to each other).

The feedback was very interesting - quite detailed, but all verbal. We were told how each candidate had performed in the tasks, particularly their "critical interview", in which they were pushed to draw on experience, so it would have been very hard to revise for this or to fake it in any way.

One candidate had extremely good feedback in all areas, so we decided to take her forward to interview, which would be held in a week's time.

We agreed on the questions we would ask, to be typed up and assigned to panel members on the day. We also decided on the activities we would ask the candidate to undertake - which were a question and answer session from a panel of children of all ages on the issues which concerned them most (to be viewed by a couple of the panel) and an unseen presentation (to be heard by all of the panel), followed by the interview itself.

Lunch was booked, and it looked sure to be a long day...

Although we only had one candidate going forward to interview, I was very clear that we still had to decide if she was good enough, and appropriate for, our school. We could still opt not to appoint anyone, and recruit again... we still had to take the interview day very seriously.

There's not a lot else I can say - the rest would be confidential as it relates to the candidate and our discussions and not the process in general - but suffice to say she acquitted herself very well. We voted to appoint her, and she accepted.

It is the current Head's leaving party today. The new Head starts in September. Here's hoping she is just what our school needs, and works well with staff, children, parents and governors alike!

Recruiting a new Head, part 2

2005-07-01T20:13:00.001Z

Apologies for the delay in posting - due to summer holidays etc. Also this replicates the gap left between putting the advert in TES and getting the responses. The rest of the process was faster, so I shall try to post in simulated "real time".

A week before the meeting to shortlist candidates, I received copies of all the applications in the post, along with a matrix on which to score them ahead of the meeting.

There were a handful of applicants; quite a typical response from what the LEA told us. The matrix reminded us of the criteria we had set down, and which we had wanted to see demonstrated in the application form. We had to mark them from 1 (no evidence or very weak evidence) to 5 (extremely strong evidence) in each category.

At the meeting we went over our scores. In fact some of the panel had scored them, some had only ticked yes or no for evidence shown or not shown, and one hadn't received the paperwork in time to prepare. We considered each application in turn, against the matrix one point at a time, and took an average of our scores. In fact what I had thought was "strong evidence" was often wrong; luckily the LEA were there to guide us with the benefit of their experience, to explain what they would like to see in the ideal answer, so in many cases I revised my mark as we went along, to something more realistic.

Some candidates had written their application out addressing each of the criteria in turn with a brief paragraph (e.g. 1. Strong Leadership: My experience of this is...) which had seemed more time consuming and dull to read when first faced with the forms, but which made it much easier to score when it came to it. Others had written in more general prose, which seemed easier to read and often came across as far more inspirational, but was harder to score as we had to go through it with a toothcomb looking for evidence on each point.

Anyway, when the scores were totted up at the end of the meeting, it was agreed we would send the strongest candidates to an assessment centre the following week, with a trainer from the assessment centre coming to provide us with feedback the next day.

More soon...

Recruiting a new Head, part 1

2005-05-31T20:17:00.000Z

The process of recruiting a new Head is over, in around 6 weeks from electing a panel of Governors through to appointing the new Head. So I can now begin writing about it - although of course all confidential information is going to be left out.

The first stage was to elect a panel at the Governors Full Body meeting. We agreed that there would be one of each type of Governor (LEA, Parent, Staff, Community) plus an extra (our chair) - and two reserves. As the only community governor, I was elected to the panel. We were given several handouts by the LEA representative, including sample interview questions, suggestions for the job spec criteria and so on. We set the first panel meeting for the next morning.

We were immediately faced with a deadline - to get an advert in the TES the following week. The pay and personnel panel had roughed out a draft advert, so we approved it with a few minor changes in order to get it out in time.

There is a lot of history with our school - it has had many different Heads in a short space of time, and also amalgamated at the start of this year from an Infant and Junior school to an all-through Primary. For that reason, different Governors brought different issues and perspectives to the table. Our main issue was whether we would consider a deputy Head or only an existing Head. We agreed on the wording "experienced leader" which would not exclude deputies, but that would indicate that we were looking for strong candidates.

Also at that meeting we agreed on the criteria for the job and personal specifications, based on a list supplied by the LEA. We decided which were essential and which were desirable, and which we wanted to see demonstrated in the application form, at assessment, at interview, or any combination of those.

Finally, we assembled as many documents as possible for the application pack (School Prospectus, something from the kids on the kind of Head they wanted, and so on) and agreed which of us would take candidates for a tour of the School if they requested it.

We set the next meeting for a few weeks hence, when we would review applications and form a shortlist...

Computers For Schools?

2005-05-10T19:08:00.000Z

Tesco's "Computers for Schools" scheme ends soon - vouchers will stop being given out on Sunday.

As ICT Link Governor I'm being asked to research and recommend some equipment for the school in the near future - not sure that remit extends to these vouchers though!

So far, I've collected 131 vouchers, although I hope to get more later in the week as the promotion ends and checkout staff give away their spares.

This means I am only 49 vouchers short of the lowest priced item in the catalogue, "Keyboard stickers". Wow, I get 3/4 of a pack of keyboard stickers (described as "Range of letters and colours to suit most users including those with visual impairment, upper and lower case provided") for having spent £1310 in the store? Alternatively, I could account for a tenth of a single copy of "Mighty Maths" software, or a hundredth of a desktop PC. Seems like a rip off to me...

I'll be interested to know how many vouchers we collect, from a school of just under 500 pupils. Does anyone find it a worthwhile scheme, or just some more PR for Tesco?

Paperwork

2005-04-15T16:17:00.000Z

Me (watching the news): Is that a girl or a boy? Who is it?
My partner: That's Ruth Kelly, the Education Minister
Me: Oh... You'd think I should know that, being a governor
Partner: Well, I didn't like to say...

Today's boring task is to find a new lever arch file for my governance paperwork - I've filled the last one in around three months. Not only do I have minutes and policies and so on, but the council send me "useful information" every few weeks, such as newsletters and updates reminding us of who to contact if necessary. All of this gets filed in "Misc" and I doubt will be read again. Nobody warned me there would be this much paper! I am so used to emailing documents and doing everything online that receiving "tree copies" is a bit of a shock to the system. Perhaps I should get more ruthless with my recycling bin.

Parent Apathy

2005-04-07T18:14:00.000Z

As I mentioned a while ago, the Head is leaving us. I've now been elected to the panel which will recruit a new Head. I'm rather excited about this, but it's quite a responsibility. I'm assured that the Education Authority will guide us through it.

Anyway - I will of course be very limited in what I can discuss; I'll talk about the process, but there will be so much that is confidential. Also, I plan to write about it a little while after the event rather than while the process is ongoing, so please bear with me on that.

What is bothering me today is parent apathy. We recently wrote to parents inviting them to a parent meeting, and agreed that we needed a set number of replies in order for the meeting to go ahead. However, what we got was just a handful of responses - one reply per 75 children. Needless to say, the meeting was cancelled.

Now, I can't imagine my own mother not having an interest in my education and wanting to learn more; mind you, she was a governor too. But the apathy really struck me, and it seems that is actually a fairly typical response.

We also have vacancies for parent governors...

I wonder whether parents genuinely don't have much interest in their childrens' education, or whether they are just too busy to attend. Without the support of their parents, how are the children supposed to develop?

The Head has resigned

2005-03-17T23:05:00.000Z

A bit of a shock; the Head - who I like and think has done a great job to improve the school - has resigned. So now we have to recruit a new one, although the option is available to appoint an acting Head in the meantime (as any new Head would presumably have to give a term's notice, so if we can't find someone before the end of this term, we wouldn't get them in before the next school year).

Obviously I won't be able to talk about the confidential aspects of any discussion, but it will be very interesting to see the process and hopefully to get involved. In my opinion, selecting a new Head is the most important task the Governors can undertake for a school.

I'd be interested in any comments from people who have been through this experience.

Quiz answers

2005-03-14T19:26:00.000Z

The answers to the quiz...

1. HT - Head Teacher (that's an easy one to start off with!)
2. GB - Governing Body
3. SIP - School Improvement Plan
4. PANDA - Performance and Assessment Report - this is produced by Ofsted for your school
5. SEN - Special Educational Needs (the co-ordinator is the SENCO)
6. NQT - Newly Qualified Teacher
7. FSM - Free School Meals
8. EAL - English as an Additional Language (when I was at school this was ESL - English as a Second Language. I suppose some pupils might have English as their third language though...)
9. NPQH - National Professional Qualification for Headship - you want your HT to have this!
10. PTR - Pupil Teacher Ratio

Quite a handful. There are others, but I shaln't bore you with them unless they come up in future events.

Acronym quiz

2005-03-12T19:00:00.000Z

As promised, a quick quiz to give you some idea of the acronyms that we ought to be familiar with.

Can you tell what these are?

Answers after the weekend.

1. HT
2. GB
3. SIP
4. PANDA
5. SEN
6. NQT
7. FSM
8. EAL
9. NPQH
10. PTR

Who are school governors?

2005-03-11T00:09:00.000Z

So, what sort of people are school governors?

Well, there are parents and staff, of course. The parents are a great bunch who really care about child welfare and performance - although they have a little more interest in their own child's class than the rest! The staff include both teaching and non-teaching members, and are also very caring people, although we have one union activist who usually has a different viewpoint to offer. Both parent and staff governors are elected by their peers, and they serve a 4 year term - the other governors have no power to remove them unless they stop attending meetings. The Head is automatically a governor too¹.

Then there are LEA governors, who are appointed by the local authority to serve at a particular school. These made up most of the governors I met at training sessions - probably because it's easier for them to get the time off to attend, as it's part of their job! I had initially worried that they would turn up with a very definite agenda and try to steer things, but in fact our LEA governors fit in very well. I've noticed that they tend to be on more subcommittees than the others, but this may be a coincidence.

There are also community governors - that includes me. These are people active in the local community, either residents or businesspeople. They are appointed directly by the other governors, and can be de-appointed by the others too. In my case, I saw an advert in the local paper, and applied directly to the governing body.

In a faith school, there are foundation governors instead of community governors. These are appointed by the diocese.

From all of these people, we elect a chair. The chair has more power than merely hosting meetings - they should be the first port of call for anyone approaching the governors, they can take action in an emergency, and they can investigate things themself (such as a complaint about the Head) before deciding whether to bring them to the rest of us. However if you're in a faith school, chances are that you will have the priest or vicar as the chair by default and you're stuck with him, like it or not!

So there are quite a range of people, all with different interests and some varying opinions. However, we have no individual responsibility - only as a group; we must accept and abide by majority decisions. As a group we do have a lot of responsibility - for spending the budget, for hiring the Headteacher, for setting policies and assessing progress - it's rather like running a business which just happens to have child customers. So far, I'm enjoying the challenge.

Next time I will post a quiz to see if you can handle the huge number of acronyms we have to get our heads around. For example, what on earth is a PANDA?

[1. Thanks to Ian Grey who corrects me on this; the Head can choose not to be a governor if they wish.]

Introduction to me, and this blog

2005-03-09T23:01:00.000Z

Having been inspired by work-related blogs (such as Random Acts of Reality, The Policeman's Blog and The Law West of Ealing Broadway) I realised my experiences as a school governor might be interesting to others. It's something I only want to write about in a blog so it can be anonymous. I'll use this blog to explain what governors do and how it works, as well as the turn of events at my school. If anyone would like me to tackle something specific, please email me.

So, a quick introduction. I'm a community governor at an inner city primary school, and I've been governor less than a year. In that time I've undertaken training (parts I and II of "Governor Induction" run by our local council) and been asked to be ICT Link Governor as I work with computers - a tenuous link but better that than something I know absolutely nothing about, I suppose.

I remember my first meeting, where several governors befriended me and told me how they feel about the school, all with passion, but all with their own agendas... I arrived to find the chair had just resigned citing a rift between headteacher and governors and I realised this would be a baptism of fire!

Shortly after that, the head took me around the school. Many things shocked me. The school had just bought some tables for lunchtime; before that, children had eaten packed lunches on the floor. The school had just had a cull of its oldest library books; these were being given to children who had no books at home. I can't conceive of not having had books at home! The uniform is basic and inexpensive, but there was a sign up asking for donations of clothes if possible. And so many rooms needed a lick of paint or more than that.

So I have jumped in at the deep end, and am swimming along with the other governors. There's a full governing body meeting this week, and I suspect I will be co-opted onto at least one committee...