Merry Christmas to all Governors and a Happy New Year

In the final Update before Christmas I have highlighted new guidance from the NGA on the statutory framework for school governance, the DfE’s updated Myths and Facts document, a new consultation on staffing and employment advice for schools, the Government’s vision for apprenticeships to 2020 and the publication of a report in to PE and Sports Premium funding in primary schools.

NEW NATIONAL GOVERNORS’ ASSOCIATION (NGA) GUIDANCE ON STATUTORY FRAMEWORK FOR SCHOOL GOVERNANCE
This new guidance provides a practical overview of the legal framework in which governing bodies of maintained schools and academy trust boards must operate. A helpful read for new Governors and a good reminder for experienced Governors, it explores the legal requirements that school’s governance arrangements must comply with, including how the membership of the board is decided, how meetings will be held and how decisions will be made.

UPDATED DFE MYTHS AND FACTS DOCUMENT PUBLISHED
The DfE has published a revised version of its Myths and Facts document for schools.

CONSULTATION STAFFING AND EMPLOYMENT ADVICE FOR SCHOOLS
The Government is seeking views on plans to revise its guidance on managing staff employment in schools. The revised non-statutory advice ‘Staffing and Employment Advice for Schools’ has been prepared to replace the department’s statutory Guidance on Managing Staff Employment in Schools.

GOVERNMENT VISION FOR APPRENTICESHIPS TO 2020
The Department for Education (DfE) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) have outlined the Government’s vision for apprenticeships until 2020. This revolves around improving the quality of apprenticeship provision, raising the profile and financial benefit of apprenticeships with employers and helping young people get into apprenticeships and work. Although much of this document is aimed at employers, it is useful for governors to know how the government intend to reform apprenticeships and what impact this will have upon schools and 6th forms.

PUBLICATION OF REPORT INTO PE AND SPORTS PREMIUM FUNDING IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS
The DfE has published its research into the PE and sport premium, its use and effect in primary schools.

This week I’m covering a range of subjects – an update to the statutory guidance on supporting pupils at school with medical conditions, publication of the 2015 phonics screening check and assessments at Key Stage 1 and 2, amendments to the Education and Adoption Bill to include academies and free schools, an initiative to improve better mental health provision in schools and new research into looked after children (LAC).

UPDATED STATUTORY GUIDANCE ON SUPPORTING PUPILS AT SCHOOL WITH MEDICAL CONDITIONS
The Government has updated the document including clarifying the distinction between statutory and non-statutory guidance and adding references to the SEND code of practice.

PUBLICATION OF THE 2015 PHONICS, KEY STAGE 1 AND KEY STAGE 2 ASSESSMENTS
This week saw the Department for Education publish provisional information on the 2015 phonics screening check and assessments at Key Stage 1 as well as updated information on the national curriculum assessments at Key Stage 2, including breakdowns by pupil characteristics.

EDUCATION AND ADOPTION BILL UPDATE REGARDING ‘COASTING SCHOOLS’
Earlier this week, the government confirmed that the Education and Adoption Bill, which is currently passing through the House of Lords, will be amended to include academies and free schools under the same “coasting legislation” as maintained schools.

INVESTING IN BETTER MENTAL HEALTH PROVISION IN SCHOOLS
Last week the Secretary of State for Education, announced plans to establish closer co-operation between schools and the NHS’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). The initiative, which will test a ‘named single point of contact’, will operate in 22 pilot areas across the country (including Sunderland) and involve 255 schools. It is intended to improve joint working and provide a more consistent service to children and young people.

NEW RESEARCH INTO LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN (LAC)
New research suggests children in long term foster families make better progress at school compared to those ‘in need’ i.e. those from troubled families who remain with their birth family. The research also found that:

• each additional change of care placement after age 11 is associated with one third of a grade less at GCSE
• young people in care who changed school in Years 10 or 11 scored over five grades less than those who did not
• for every 5% of possible school sessions missed due to unauthorised school absences, young people in care scored over two grades less at GCSE
• for every additional day of school missed due to fixed term exclusions, young people in care scored one sixth of a grade less at GCSE

Schools receive £1,900 of pupil premium funding for each looked after child (LAC). Do you know how many children at your school are LAC and what their attendance is like, have you asked what the impact of this funding is having on the progress of these children and if there are differences between these pupils and their peers, what is being done to support them?

This week I highlight consultation on mandatory DBS checks for all Governors, new advice to be published from DfE on handling complaints, the consultation on how to get at least 90% of pupils to take GCSEs in the EBaccalaureate subjects and a new version of Ofsted’s toolkit to help schools to encourage parents to use Parent View.

COMPULSORY DBS CHECKS FOR GOVERNORS
Whilst it is not currently mandatory for all governors to have a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, the Government is currently consulting on all Governors in maintained schools having to be DBS checked. If the proposal goes ahead, checks will be compulsory for all new Governors from 1 April and for existing Governors from 1 September 2016.

In North Tyneside checks have been undertaken as a matter of good practice for a number of years so this shouldn’t present an issue. Schools maintain a Single Central Record for all staff, volunteers and governors and liaise with their Clerk to ensure Governors are DBS checked on appointment/re-appointment.

NEW GUIDANCE ON HANDLING COMPLAINTS
The DfE has indicated it will be publishing new advice on handling complaints “Best Practice Advice for School Complaints Procedures 2016: Departmental guidance for maintained schools, maintained nursery schools and local authorities” in January 2016. It will advise on the contents of a complaints procedure, contain a link to a model procedure and will recommend how to handle serial or persistent complaints, commonly called ‘vexatious complaints’.

In the New Year Governing bodies will no doubt want to review their existing policies against this new advice.

EBAC CONSULTATION
The Secretary of State for Education has set a target of 90% of all secondary school pupils to take the English Baccalaureate subjects (English, Maths, Science, a foreign language, and either History or Geography) in 4 years’ time. This isn’t planned to be done through legislation but by changing performance measures and giving the Ebac a more significant role in Ofsted inspection.

The consultation is running until 29 January 2016 if you would like to participate.

ENCOURAGING THE USE OF PARENT VIEW
Ofsted has issued an updated version of its Parent View Toolkit for Schools which provides information about Parent View and advice on how schools can encourage parents to use the site to register their views.

This week the DfE published the new Governance Handbook, an essential reference for all Governors and the Chancellor announced the Spending Review and Autumn Statement which included details of the DfE’s budget over the course of this Parliament.

GOVERNANCE HANDBOOK
The Governors’ Handbook has been re-named the Governance Handbook to make clear that it applies to all those involved in governance. It now refers throughout to the ‘board’ to emphasise that it applies equally to the governing body of a small maintained school as it does to the board of a large MAT.

The Governance Handbook is departmental advice from the Department for Education. It sets out the government’s vision and priorities for effective school governance, and:

• outlines the core role and functions of the board of governors in maintained schools and academies;
• summarises and provides a first point of reference on all the legal duties on boards, signposting to more detailed information, guidance and resources; and
• provides information on the support available to boards to be effective.

It has been brought up to date with reference to the Prevent duty and tackling extremism as well as the new requirement for maintained schools to publish information on their Governing boards.

IMPACT OF SPENDING REVIEW AND AUTUMN STATEMENT FOR EDUCATION
This week the Spending Review and Autumn Statement was published including details of the Department for Education’s budget. Over the course of this Parliament this means:

• doubling free childcare from 15 hours to 30 hours a week for working families of 3 and 4 year olds;
• protecting the schools budget in real terms, enabling a per pupil protection for the dedicated schools grant and the pupil premium;
• making around £600 million savings from the education services grant (ESG) and supporting schools to realise efficiencies;
• £23 billion capital investment over the Parliament to open 500 free schools, provide over 600,000 additional school places, rebuild and refurbish over 500 schools and address essential maintenance needs.

This week I report on a new enquiry into governor effectiveness and a study to determine the quality of governance in schools, a proposal for an amendment to the Education and Adoption Bill to enable schools to sponsor a failing school without converting to academy status and new non statutory DfE advice for schools considering cloud software services.

OFSTED LAUNCHES ENQUIRY INTO GOVERNOR EFFECTIVENESS
Yesterday, Sir Michael Wilshaw, Ofsted’s Chief Inspector announced that Ofsted had drafted in “outside experts” to carry out “urgent” external reviews of governance in over 500 schools last year. Inspectors had now been commissioned to carry out an “in-depth and far-reaching survey into the effectiveness of governance in our schools”.

The National Governors’ Association has questioned the suitability of the inspectorate to undertake the review and last week Schools Week revealed that the Department for Education was planning a study to examine whether the quality of governance in schools could be monitored using performance metrics.

EDUCATION AND ADOPTION BILL PROVOKES DISCUSSION IN THE LORDS
The Education and Adoption Bill 2015 is currently being considered by a Grand Committee of the House of Lords. The Local Government Association (LGA) has lobbied for an amendment giving maintained schools or local authorities the option to sponsor a failing school, as there are a lack of academy sponsors available to take on new schools. Currently, schools have to convert to academy status and apply to become a sponsor before they can sponsor another school.

This issue has been raised by the National Governors Association and others throughout discussion of the Bill and as part of the inquiry into the role of regional schools commissioners. The government has stated it anticipates more high performing schools establishing local multi-academy trusts (MATs) to take on failing or struggling schools in their area.

DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION ADVICE ON DATA PROTECTION FOR SCHOOLS CONSIDERING CLOUD SOFTWARE SERVICES
New non statutory advice has been produced by the DfE to assist schools in complying with the law outlining how schools need to consider data security when moving services and sensitive information to internet-based facilities of cloud computing (‘the cloud’).

This week I publicise the new legal duty for teachers to report any cases of Female Genital Mutilation (FBM) to the police and consultation on the English Baccalaureate.

MANDATORY REPORTING OF FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION (FGM) COMES INTO FORCE
From 31 October 2015, teachers now have a legal duty to report any cases of FGM, to the police. In a change to the FGM Act 2003, they will have to report any ‘known’ cases of FGM in under 18s. ‘Known’ is defined as where a girl informs them that this has taken place, or physical signs appear that do not seem to be from any surgical procedures.

Governing bodies have to ensure that senior leaders have introduced procedures for identifying, and reporting FGM, and that they will monitor those procedures to ensure they are understood and effective. You may wish to check with your Safeguarding/Health and Safety Committees that this item is being discussed.

CONSULTATION ON ENGLISH BACCALAUREATE
The DfE is currently holding a stakeholder consultation on how to get at least 90% of pupils to take GCSEs in the EBaccalaureate (Ebacc) subjects i.e. Maths, English, Science, a foreign language, and either History or Geography. In 2010, fewer than a quarter of pupils (22%) entered this combination of subjects; it is now 39%. The Government wants the EBacc to become the default for pupils, with the exception of a small minority of pupils for whom it is not appropriate. The expectation will be that the 90% mark will be hit by the time that this years’ Year 7 cohort reaches year 11.

Governors are welcome to participate in the consultation which continues until 29 January 2016.

This week has seen the announcement of the re-introduction of formal testing for 7 year olds, plans for a technical and professional education system, the publication of a new DfE report on the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and the creation of a new National Teaching Service.

PLANS FOR THE RE-INTRODUCTION OF KS1 NATIONAL TESTS
On 3 November the Education Secretary Nicky Morgan announced controversial plans for the re-introduction of formal SAT examinations for 7 year olds. The Department for Education has said these plans were triggered by a need for more confidence in knowing that students are progressing well through primary school. The Government has said it will be working with Headteachers in the following months to ensure clarity, while holding schools to account and also giving them “full credit for the progress they achieve”.

PLANS FOR A TECHNICAL AND PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM
Yesterday the Skills Minister Nick Boles announced plans for up to 20 specific new professional and technical routes leading up to employment or degree-level study, which will be as easy to understand as academic routes.

These new routes will lead young people from compulsory schooling into employment and the highest levels of technical competence, which for many will mean moving on to apprenticeships as quickly as possible. The government has pledged to deliver 3 million quality apprenticeship starts by 2020.

To deliver the reforms, the government will work closely with an independent expert panel, headed by Lord Sainsbury, former Minister of Science and Innovation.

SUPPORTING THE ATTAINMENT OF DISADVANTAGED PUPILS
On Saturday 17 October I attended the NGA’s Northern Regional Conference and we heard from Professor Steven Higgins of Durham University on his research around pupil premium. The formal report has now been published by the DfE and the findings suggest that schools which have been more successful in raising the performance of disadvantaged pupils have put the basics in place (especially addressing attendance and behaviour, setting high expectations, focusing on the quality of teaching and developing the role of TAs) and have moved on to more specific improvement strategies.

CREATION OF A NEW NATIONAL TEACHING SERVICE
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan also unveiled plans this week to create a National Teaching Service (NTS) which will deploy the country’s teaching elite to work in underperforming schools. A pilot of the service has been launched in the North West to recruit 100 teachers and leaders to start work in primary and secondary schools from September 2016.

This week has seen the launch of the much anticipated Government consultation on proposals to intervene in under-performing maintained schools and views on a definition of what constitutes a ‘coasting school’. There have also been calls for national guidelines for Regional School Commissioners as well as having responsibility for smaller geographical areas.

CONSULTATION ON PROPOSALS TO INTERVENE IN UNDER-PERFORMING SCHOOLS AND AGREEMENT ON THE DEFINITION OF A ‘COASTING SCHOOL’
On Wednesday the Government launched its consultation on proposals for tackling maintained schools causing concern, including seeking views on a definition of what constitutes a ‘coasting’ school.

The consultation document sets out:

• the background and context, including an overview of the changes being introduced in the Education and Adoption Bill;
• that the Schools Causing Concern guidance will describe how Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) and local authorities should use their intervention powers in practice; and
• how it is proposed that schools will be identified as coasting.

A school will only be identified as coasting in light of three years of results. This means in the first instance results from 2014, 2015, and 2016. RSCs will only be able to notify schools that they are coasting at the point of publication of performance tables reflecting final 2016 results and no school can be identified as coasting prior to that point.

According to the Government’s proposed definition, a coasting secondary school would be one that falls below 60% of pupils achieving five good GCSEs or an above average proportion of pupils making acceptable progress in 2014/5. From 2016, the level will be set based on Progress 8, the government’s new accountability measure, which shows how much progress pupils make between the end of primary school and their GCSEs.

At primary level, the definition will apply to those schools who have seen fewer than 85% of children achieving an acceptable secondary ready standard in reading, writing and maths over the course of three years, and insufficient pupil progress. If a school is below the 85% performance standard but above the progress standard, or vice versa, in any of the three years it will not be regarded as coasting.

Whether and when Special schools and Pupil Referral Units might be considered to be coasting is yet to be determined, and will be subject to responses to this consultation.

The deadline for responding is 18 December 2015 and you are encouraged to do this online by visiting http://www.education.gov.uk/consultations. If you are unable to do this you can download a word document and email it to intervention.consultation@education.gsi.gov.uk or post it to Nathan Hug System Reform Group, 3rd floor Department for Education Great Smith Street London, SW1P 3BT.

CONCERNS REGARDING THE WORK OF THE REGIONAL SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS
In the first of a series of hearings into the work of the Regional School Commissioners (RSCs), witnesses from across the schools sector on Wednesday told the Education Select Committee of differing approaches between the eight Commissioners appointed last September to oversee academy performance.

As previously reported the Government is planning to increase their powers to intervene in ‘failing’ and ‘coasting’ maintained schools, but concerns about their different approaches have been raised by many organisations. At present there are no national guidelines on the way Commissioners take decisions and witnesses reported a lack of shared practice for RSCs was leading to inconsistencies in the way they were holding schools to account. There was also concern expressed that the territories represented by each RSC were too large and that an increase in the number of Commissioners was required.

This week I provide some advice on how to recruit new Governors, report on the proposed right to request wraparound childcare provision from schools and a consultation on proposals for newly qualified Early Years staff to hold a Paediatric First Aid Certificate.

RECRUITING NEW GOVERNORS
It can sometimes be difficult to find new Governors and I am often asked where Governing bodies can go to for support. There are a number of routes available including registering with:

• School Governors One Stop Shop (SGOSS) – an independent charity dedicated to recruiting volunteers to serve on school governing bodies across England.
• Inspiring Governors Alliance – a wide range of organisations demonstrating their commitment to high quality school and college governance. The programme has thousands of employee volunteers with a wide range of skills and experience interested in becoming school governors.

Of course, your skills audits will help you to identify any gaps in expertise and determine how best to recruit. Some schools have also placed adverts in their local post office windows, approached local churches and voluntary organisations or contacted local chambers of trade to help fill gaps on their governing bodies.

NEW RIGHT TO REQUEST WRAPAROUND CHILDCARE PROVISION IN SCHOOLS
Addressing the Conservative party annual conference last week, the Secretary of State for Education, announced that parents would be given a new ‘right to request’ wraparound childcare provision from their children’s school.

Whilst full details weren’t provided Schools Week (newspaper for schools) had access to a briefing note for MPs indicating schools would be “expected” to allow childcare providers to use their sites outside school hours or at times when the sites were used for clubs or activities. A consultation is expected to take place this term to identify and provide models of schools and childcare providers already working together, so that the rule can come into force in September 2016.

CONSULTATION ON PROPOSALS FOR NEWLY QUALIFIED LEVEL 2 OR 3 EARLY YEARS STAFF TO HOLD A PAEDIATRIC FIRST AID CERTIFICATE
The Department of Education has reviewed the current paediatric first aid requirements and is now consulting on proposals for newly qualified level 2 or 3 early years staff to hold a paediatric first aid certificate.

Responses can be made online or via a response form emailed to Consultation.PFA@education.gsi.gov.uk or by post to Paul Oates, Childcare Providers and Regulation, Department for Education, Sanctuary Buildings, Great Smith Street, London, SW1P 3BT.

This week I highlight the Prime Minister’s speech at the Conservative Party Conference, the Government’s continued commitment to retain universal free school meals and news on the publication of a re-branded version of the Governor’s Handbook.

ALL SCHOOLS TO BECOME ACADEMIES!
On Wednesday, David Cameron caused a stir with his Leader’s speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester when he declared:

“Head teachers are growing in confidence as they throw off the shackles of local council control……raising the aspirations of children, parents, communities. This movement is sweeping across our country. So my next ambition is this. 500 new Free Schools. Every school an academy……and yes – Local Authorities running schools a thing of the past.”

Mr Cameron didn’t mention that currently decisions on academy conversion in schools performing well are taken by Governing bodies and not the Government.

UNIVERSAL INFANT FREE SCHOOL MEALS TO CONTINUE
Rumours that universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) are to be cut in the government’s November spending review have been dismissed by the Prime Minister. Mr Cameron restated a commitment the Conservative party made in their 2015 election manifesto, saying that the government was “committed to free school meals in England”.

NEW GOVERNANCE HANDBOOK
At yesterday’s National Co-ordinators of Governor Services Conference in Nottingham, it was announced that a re-branded version of the Governors’ Handbook – to be known as the Governance Handbook – is due out sometime in late October 2015.