School Inspections: implications for governing bodies

May 2014

Executive Summary

• OFSTED’s work on ‘leadership & management’ factors in judgement on governance

• Governance considers 3 core functions– strategic planning / clarity of vision– holding HT/staff to account for school performance– overseeing school finances

• OFSTED expects governors especially to know about – level of pupil premium funding and how used– teacher performance mngt and pay scales– key elements of the school improvement plan– have an understanding of the quality of teaching

• Governing Body Annual Statement – *new for 2014*• Document everything - evidence is critical!

Governing Body’s Three Core Functions

ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction

holding the head teacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils

overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent

Hold to account

Value for money

Vision

Judgement on governance (as part of leadership and management) will take account of how well governors:• ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;

• contribute to the school’s self-evaluation and understand its strengths and weaknesses, including the impact of their own work;

• support and strengthen school leadership, including by developing their own skills;

• use performance management systems, including the performance management of the head teacher, to improve teaching, leadership and management.

Judgement on governance (as part of leadership and management) will take account of how well governors:

• ensure solvency and that the financial resources made available to the school are managed effectively;

• operate in such a way that statutory duties are met and priorities are approved;

• engage with key stakeholders;

• use the pupil premium and other resources to overcome barriers to learning, including reading, writing and mathematics.

DETAILED TRAINING MATERIALS

Aims: by the end of the session you will have:

• a good understanding of what inspection teams will consider when determining the effectiveness of governance;

• reflected on the extent to which your own governing body currently fulfils OFSTED expectations;

• considered examples of evidence that would demonstrate the governing body’s work and impact and a suggested format for presenting evidence documents;

• shared ideas for ensuring that the governing body’s effectiveness is well evidenced.

OFSTED views on the quality of governance

• OFSTED inspectors undertaking routine school inspections are now required to include, in their report, a paragraph about the quality of the school’s governance.

Where governance is ineffective in a school judged to require improvement, inspectors will make the following recommendation in the report.

An external review of governance should be undertaken in order to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Since September 2012, Ofsted has significantly increased the focus on school governance

Sept 10-July 11

Sept-Dec 11

Sept-Nov 12

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Proportion of all inspected schools receiving recommendations regarding governance

YesNo

Reminder of 4 point scale of judgements

• Grade 1 Outstanding

• Grade 2 Good

• Grade 3 Requires improvement ( replaces previous satisfactory judgement

• Grade 4 Inadequate (serious weaknesses or special measures)

Inspection judgement on the overall effectiveness of the school will take into account:• the judgements made in four key areas i.e.

- the achievement of pupils- the quality of teaching- the behaviour and safety of pupils- the quality of leadership and management

• plus:-the extent to which the school meets the needs of the

range of pupils, particularly disabled pupils and those with SEN

-the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils

-where relevant, the overall effectiveness of the sixth form

Quotes from Sir Michael Wilshaw HMCI

• Your work as governors will be assessed against the four key judgements in the inspection framework: achievement, the quality of teaching, behaviour and safety and leadership and management.

• The best governing bodies get the balance right between support and challenge. They ask the right questions, whether they are governors in a maintained school, an individual academy or part of an academy chain.

Judgement on governance (as part of leadership and management) will take account of how well governors:

provide challenge and hold the head teacher and other senior leaders to account for improving the quality of teaching, pupils’ achievement and pupils’ behaviour and safety, including by using the data dashboard, other progress data, examination outcomes and test results

Governors can find out about the quality of teaching from:• school self evaluation process;• head teacher reports; • subject leader reports;• school improvement adviser reports;• CPD priorities and impact reports;• previous OFSTED report;• school improvement plan progress reports;• and, in your school-----------------?

NGA briefing note due out soon!

Governors can find out about pupils’ achievement from:• analysis of school pupil progress tracking data; • raise summary data reports;• school leaders’ reports;• school improvement plan progress reports;• OFSTED and Governors’ Data Dashboards;• reports on comparative achievement of vulnerable pupil groups; • school improvement adviser notes of visit;• reports on progress of pupils eligible for pupil premium funding;• and, in your school----------?

Pupil Premium: inspectors will look at (and expect governors to know):• The level of pupil premium funding received by the school in the

current academic year and levels of funding received in previous academic years

• How the school has spent the pupil premium funding and why it has been spent it in that way

• Any difference made to the learning and progress of pupils eligible for the pupil premium ( especially in English and Maths)

Evaluating impact of the Primary Sport Funding on pupils’ life styles and physical well being: e.g.• increase in participation rates in activities such as swimming,

dance, gymnastics, athletics;• increase and success in competitive school sports;• a more inclusive PE curriculum;• growth of partnership working in providing sports activities;• greater awareness amongst pupils of the dangers of obesity,

smoking and other activities that undermine their health.

Governors can find out about the behaviour and safety of pupils from:• head teacher reports; • school improvement adviser reports;• racist incidents and bullying reports;• exclusions data;• school visits;• views of pupils and parents;• school’s safeguarding audit;• and, in your school-----------------?

Governors can find out about the quality of leadership and management from:• monitoring reports from head teacher and other school leaders;• reports from School Improvement Adviser;• initiatives to engage parents and carers in children’s learning;• rigour of school self evaluation and improvement planning;• impact of school improvement planning on outcomes for pupils;• head teacher performance review (PM governors);• head teacher report on the performance management policy;• and, in your school--------

Performance Management: inspectors will want to know the proportion of teachers who have:• progressed along the main pay scale;• progressed to, and through the upper pay scale;• progressed along the leadership scale;• received additional responsibility payments, such as teaching

and learning responsibility payments and special needs allowances.

(see subsidiary guidance used by inspectors)

OFSTED expectations of challenge and support

• Where leadership and management of the school is judged to be outstanding: governors robustly hold senior leaders to account for all aspects of the school’s performance.

• Where leadership and management of the school is judged to be good: governors systematically challenge senior leaders. As a result, the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement have improved, or previous good performance in these areas has been consolidated.

School Inspection Handbook April 2014

OFSTED expectations of challenge and support

• Inspectors must evaluate the extent to which governors both challenge and support the school and hold senior staff, including the head teacher, to account for the achievement of pupils.

• Inspectors should consider whether governors are challenging and supporting leadership in equal measure.

Subsidiary guidance for inspectors April 2014

Support can be demonstrated by:

• championing the school in the local community;• offering specific skills e.g. finance, legal, public relations;• acting as a sounding board for senior school leaders;• agreeing the school’s vision and strategic direction;• praising and rewarding significant staff achievements;• lobbying on behalf of the school e.g. for additional resources;• being visible in school e.g. attending assemblies/performances;• fulfilling range of governing body responsibilities effectively;• not making unnecessary demands of school leaders.

Support can be demonstrated by:

• suggesting evidence to support school’s self evaluation judgements;

• showing concern for staff well being;• dealing effectively with parental complaints;• not getting involved in day to day school management issues;• participating in staff selection processes;• responding meaningfully to school council proposals;• conducting staff exit interviews;• keeping GB performance under review.

Challenge can be demonstrated by:

• asking for information in a particular format e.g. allocation and impact of pupil premium funding;

• questioning where an aspect of school practice is seen not to reflect the policy e.g. behaviour; marking and feedback;

• seeking evidence of impact of initiatives on pupils e.g. teacher visits to schools in other countries;

• requiring school leaders to report on outcomes of pupils’ assessments and impact of interventions;

• using benchmarking data to questions whether the school is making best use of resources.

Challenge can be demonstrated by:• seeking evidence that pupil performance targets are suitably

challenging and monitoring progress against them;• setting challenging, but realistic, performance targets for head

teacher;• exploring reasons for gaps in achievement of different groups of

pupils;• asking searching questions about the impact of action plans;• subject link governors requesting information based on their

discussions with subject leaders.

• a

Readiness for inspection

• Inspection teams are given the name of the school to be inspected up to 14 days before the inspection date and will look at the school’s website during that time.

• We might consider if the governors’ pages can be improved.

Evidence of GB’s work and impact

• Schools are expected to provide inspection teams with evidence of the governing body’s work and impact.

• Governing bodies might consider putting together a folder of key documents that demonstrate the impact of their work.

• Ideally, this would include documents that demonstrate how the governing body has challenged school leaders and what the impact of that challenge has been.

Governors’ work and impact might be evident in:

• School’s Strategic Plan; • School Self Evaluation Form and Improvement Plan;• Minutes of GB meetings; • Relevant School Improvement Adviser reports;• Questionnaires for parents and carers;• Link Governor Reports;• Annual work planner;• Accountability reports to parents;• Feedback from training reports;• GB Annual Statement. ( new expectation!)

Governing Body Annual Statement to include:

• governance arrangement in place, including the remit of any committees;

• the attendance record of individual governors at board and committee meetings;

• an assessment of the effectiveness and impact of the board and any committees with details of any particular challenges that have arisen

• School governance ( roles, procedures and allowances regulations 2013)

Example format for recording evidence of GB work and impactDocument

• GB Monitoring and Evaluation Policy

• Feedback from Governor Training

• FGB minutes Sept 2012

• Finance Committee minutes January 2013

Evidence of GB:• holding school leaders to

account• using training to improve

effectiveness• being assured that pupil

performance targets are suitably challenging

• requiring HT to report on pupil premium funding

. Quote on governance from recent inspection

The governors have been instrumental in driving forward improvements. They keep their skills up to date through good quality training from the local authority and other consultants. They are very knowledgeable about the school’s performance data, responding swiftly to the underachievement in last year’s national tests. They hold all leaders to account very rigorously and are very clear where teaching is good and where it requires improvement. Their pay policy has been adjusted to reward only effective performance. Financial management is extremely sound and resources such as the pupil premium fund and primary sports grant are being managed effectively.

Current hot topics for inspection of governance

• Scrutiny of range of pupil performance data• Ensuring pay progression is linked to quality of teaching• Evidencing the impact of pupil premium funding spending on

eligible pupils • Evidencing the impact of the primary sport grant allocation• Demonstrating the impact of governor training undertaken • Offering examples of appropriate challenge to school leaders• Having a thorough understanding of the quality of teaching• Seeking parents’ views as part of school self evaluation process

Useful documents downloadable from www.ofsted.gov.uk

• Framework for School Inspection• School Inspection Handbook• Subsidiary Guidance for Inspectors• Getting to good: report on steps taken in schools that have

improved from satisfactory to good or outstanding• Guidance on summary for school self evaluation• The pupil premium report and summary• Monitoring visits and support for schools that require improvement

in order to become good or outstanding• Improving Governance: a training resource for schools