Development Governor Newsletter
Summer Term 2015
Welcome to the Summer Term edition of the Development Governor
Newsletter, which targets the member of the governing body who has
responsibility for the training and development of each governor and of the
whole board.
Courses and briefings
I’m particularly pleased that we have added to our Summer Term
programme two courses that are targeted at governors and others working
in academy situations. Please find below details of course G033: ‘Introduction
to Academy Governance’ and course G034: ‘Support for the Academy Clerk
and Company Secretary’. The courses are being led by two people who have great
experience of working with primary and secondary academies. Victoria McIntosh is
well known in the county and beyond for her legal advice to schools in her role with
brownejacobson. In addition, she still manages to fit in being a chair of governors to
one school and a member of the governing body of another. Debbie Stoneman is also
very well known as an experienced clerk and trainer who works for a number of
academies. I could not wish to have two better people to lead these courses.
Unfortunately we had not completed sorting out the detail of G033 and G034 before
our course update for spring and summer was sent out to schools and I am trying as
many other ways as I can to make governors and clerks aware of these
courses, especially as G033 takes place on 14 May. If you think these courses
might be useful for your governors please publicise them. Note also that there will be
advantages to more than one member of the governing board, or for a member of the
Senior Leadership Team to attend and the school can take advantage of the 25%
reduction for more than one person.
I would like to have a pound for every governor who has complained to me about the
full governing body, or committee meetings that they attend. I also have a lot of
sympathy with those who are given the task of chairing meetings, when in many
cases they have little experience to fall back upon and they probably only reluctantly
agreed to do it. Please take a look at the half day course G011: An Aid to Strategic
governance – an Effective Governors’ Meeting. The course gets very good
evaluations, but we haven’t had the numbers attending that relate to the proportion
of complaints I receive. Please do flag this one up to the relevant people, especially
as it happens quite soon – 6 May.
Development Governor Newsletter Summer 2015
Page 2
Finally, in response to a number of requests from governors who missed the course in
November, we are repeating course G020: ‘Understanding your Safeguarding
Responsibilities as Governors. It will take place on Friday 19 June at Carew House
(10.00 am – 3.30 pm)
Brief details of all the Summer Term governor courses are given below and full details
can be found at www.cornwalllearningonline.co.uk
The importance of governor training
In my workshop at the recent Governor Networks Conference I provided five
examples of the section on governance from inspection reports where the Ofsted
judgement was ‘outstanding’ and asked participants to record which aspects were
frequently featured. One of those was governor training. One comment can
represent them all:
‘Members of the governing body have an exceptional
awareness of the school's strengths and areas for
development and keep fully up to date with their
responsibilities by attending relevant training.’
Clearly it is important that Ofsted inspectors can find evidence of your governors
taking advantage of training. More importantly, given the responsibility placed upon
governors, it is vital that they are helped to carry out their role of working with the
Senior Leadership Team to provide the best possible education for the children and
young people of the school/academy. This extract from the Governor’s handbook is
an example of that expectation:
‘It is essential that every governing body have at least one governor
with the skills to understand and interpret the full detail of the financial
and performance data available. These governors should make sure
that the wider governing body has a correct understanding of the
school’s performance and finances. They should identify from the data
the issues that most need to be discussed. Other governors should
learn from them and undertake any available training opportunities to
improve their confidence and skills in looking at data. While governing
bodies may decide to establish a committee to look in detail at
performance data, all governors should be able to engage fully with
discussions about the performance of their school.’
Development Governor Newsletter Summer 2015
Page 3
We are currently in the process of putting together our Directory of development
opportunities for 2015/16 and I hope that either during the Summer Term, or in the
next Directory you will find a number of courses that suit your governors. In addition,
don’t forget that I am able to draw upon a team of colleagues who are experienced
across many fields and that we can put together a ‘bespoke’ programme for you at a
time and place of your choosing.
Summary of Summer Term Cornwall Learning/Local Authority Courses
GO1 Induction for New Governors – Part One
Lanhydrock Hotel & Golf Club, Bodmin – Monday 20 April 2015
Sands Resort Hotel, Porth – Tuesday 19 May 2015
Tricky’s Hotel, Redruth – Saturday 20 June 2015
All 9.30 am – 4.00 pm
GO2 Induction for New Governors – Part Two
Eagle House Hotel, Launceston – Tuesday 14 April 2015
Sands Resort Hotel, Porth - Saturday 16 May 2015
Tricky’s Hotel, Redruth – Wednesday 24 June 2015
All 9.30 am – 4.00 pm
GO3 Clerks’ Forum
Carew House, Bodmin – Thursday 4 June 2015, 9.30 am – 12.30 pm
Tricky’s Hotel, Redruth – Wednesday 10 June 2015, 9.30 am – 12.30 pm
GO4 Induction for New Clerks to Governors
Tricky’s Hotel, Redruth – Tuesday 12 May 2015, 9.30 am – 4.30 pm
GO5 The Role of the Chair of Governors
Tricky’s Hotel, Redruth – Tuesday 16 June 2015, 9.30 am – 4.00 pm
GO6 Headteacher Performance Management: Guidance on the Governor Role
Tricky’s Hotel, Redruth – Saturday 9 May 2015, 9.30 am – 12.30 pm
GO11 An Aid to Strategic Governance - an Effective Governors’ Meeting
Carew House, Bodmin - Wednesday 6 May 2015, 9.30 am – 12.00 noon
GO13 The Role of the SEN Governor
The Hub Club, Pool – Thursday 23 April 2014, 1.00 pm – 4.30 pm
GO18 Briefing for Science Governors in Primary Schools
Carew House, Bodmin – Tuesday 12 May 2015, 5.00 pm – 7.00 pm
GO18B Briefing for Secondary Science Governors
Carew House, Bodmin – Tuesday 12 May 2015, 5.00 pm – 7.00 pm
Continued . . . . .
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GO20 Understanding your Safeguarding responsibilities as Governors (EXTRA DATE)
Carew House, Bodmin – Friday 19 June 2015, 10.00 am – 3.30 pm
GO22 Understanding and Using EYFS Profile Data (EXTRA DATE)
Carew House, Bodmin – Thursday 7 May, 1.30 pm – 3.30 pm
GO28 Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, preparing for Ofsted
Carew House, Bodmin - Wednesday 29 April 2015, 9.30 am – 12.30 pm
GO29 e-Safety Training for Governors
Sands Resort Hotel, Porth - Saturday 25 April 2015, 9.30 am – 12.30 pm
The Hub Club, Pool - Thursday 14 May 2015, 9.30 am – 12.30 pm
GO30 Role of the Governing Body in Performance Related Pay
Tricky’s Hotel, Redruth - Tuesday 2 June 2015, 9.30 am – 12.30 pm
GO33 Introduction to Academy Governance NEW COURSE
Carew House, Bodmin – Thursday 14 May 2015, 9.30 am – 12.30 pm
GO34 Support for the Academy Clerk and Company Secretary NEW COURSE
Carew House, Bodmin – Tuesday 23 June, 9.30 am – 12.30 pm
For full details and to book a place on any of the above courses please visit
our courses website: www.cornwalllearningonline.co.uk.
Our best wishes,
Bob Damerell and Ann Kemp
Bob Damerell
LA Governor Development
Coordinator
[email protected]
Ann Kemp
Administrator
Tel 01872 326368
[email protected]
Development Governor Newsletter Summer 2015
Cornwall Learning
Carew House
Beacon Technology Park
Dunmere Road
Bodmin, PL31 2QN
www.cornwalllearning.org