Money can't buy you Govs

School governors don't always get a good press. Ofsted head honcho Sir Michael Wilshaw recently complained, "In the worst cases, governors can be rather like the jury that was dismissed from a high-profile trial the other week: ill-informed and not able to make good decisions." Nice. Thanks for that, Sir Michael. The Chief Inspector of Schools floated the idea that paying governors might be one way of raising standards of school governance, a suggestion rejected by the National Governors' Association.

Professionalising governance may be more of a hindrance than a help. The fact that governors have nothing to lose financially and career-wise can give them the courage they need to hold senior leaders to account. Currently they don't have to worry that rocking the boat might deprive them of a nice little earner. 

But amateur doesn't have to mean amateurish. Most governors volunteer for the role to try and make a difference in the life of their local school and take governance seriously  Some have a background in education, others, like me, do not. When the latter is the case, newly appointed governors will find themselves on a steep learning curve. They'll sometimes feel that they are drowning in an Alphabetti Sphagetti of acronyms; CPD, ECM, TLR, SLT, BANG. I made the last one up. It means 'Baffled by Acronyms New Governor'. But as you get stuck in things slowly begin to make sense. Attending training courses helps to further clarify matters. 

Being a governor is a challenging and rewarding task. Hands-on governance takes time and won't make you any richer, but there are rewards that can't be measured in pounds, shillings and pence. Playing a part in helping to create a school where every student matters and all are able to achieve their full educational potential is one of them. 

Have a great half term break!

The Perfect (Ofsted) School Governor by Tim Bartlett

Independent Thinking Press, 2013, Print Length, 217pp, Kindle e-book

No, I'm not commending my authorised biography. Hardly. Rather, this book is meant to tell us how to become a Perfect (Ofsted) School Governor. At least that's the idea. I suppose there's no harm in aiming high, but Perfect? Even Ofsted are only after Outstanding at best. Enough quibbling about the title, though. Perfection in governance might be asking a bit much, but following the advice contained in this book will certainly help governing bodies to do their job more effectively.

The book has six chapters:

1. Strategic leadership and how governors provide it
2. Good governance: the importance of self-evaluation and effective policies
3. Governor visits to the school
4. Holding the head teacher and the leadership team to account
5. Oftsed: inspections and governors
6. Appointing a new head teacher

And no less than eleven appendices. I'm not going to list them here. You can check out the book's 'Click to LOOK INSIDE' thing on Amazon if you're interested.

I wish I had read this book when I was first thinking about becoming a governor, or at least when I had just joined the governing body. It would have helped me to hit the ground running. Well, at least walking purposefully rather than wandering around looking a bit bewildered. The book explains the essentials of governance and suggests ways in which things can be done better for the good of the school.

As a new governor I often found it hard to see the wood for the trees. I suddenly found myself in an educational forest that was so densely populated with jargon-laden information that it was difficult to get a sense of perspective. To that end the book includes some useful jargon and acronym busting. Key concepts such as strategic leadership and accountability simply defined. Illustrations are given of how they work out in practice. You won't find all that you'll need to know here, but this systematic overview will bring a welcome clarity to the thinking of the most befuddled new gov.

There are lots of handy tips here on improving governance that I plan to try out on our Governing Body over the coming months. We especially need to do some work on self-evaluation, seeking feedback from governors on the usefulness or otherwise of our various meetings.

Not that I'll be implementing all of the author's suggestions. Having our longsuffering Clerk read out her minutes for governors' approval at the end of every agenda item would slow the pace of meetings unnecessary. Yes, the Chair may sometimes wish to check that a precisely worded statement has been accurately minuted. But usually the gist of what was said is sufficient and the record can be approved at the next meeting.

I'd certainly urge that all wannabe and newbie governors have a read of this book. Battle scarred veterans of many a Full Governing Body meeting might learn a thing or two as well. In addition, it wouldn't hurt for the Senior and Middle Leaders who attend our sessions so we can subject them to Paxmanesque interrogation to give the book a once over so they can familiarise themselves with the principles and processes of school governance.

To return to the book's somewhat misleading title, I doubt whether our or anyone else's governing body will ever achieve an idealised state of Platonic perfection, but that doesn't mean that we can't improve our practice. Governors expect the school they serve to be constantly making progress. As agents of reform, governing bodies need to be perpetually reforming themselves. Perfect? Never. Better? Absolutely. But then, had the title been, The Better (Oftsted) Governor, it probably wouldn't have caught my attention when browsing for something governory to read on Amazon.

A hardback edition is available for any without a newfangled e-reader device (see here).

Highly recommended.

So, what’s a Guv’nor then, mister?

Two episodes.

Episode One. I was sitting in on a RE lesson. Before the teacher got started a student asked what I was doing in the class. ‘I’m a governor.’ I replied. ‘What’s one of those?’ asked the child. Well, I’d only just become a governor and didn’t quite know how to explain to a Year 8 pupil exactly what it meant to be a member of the school’s governing body. I mumbled something about us appointing the Head Teacher and making sure that things get better in the school and that was about it. The student didn’t look entirely satisfied. I tried.

Episode Two. Mr. Ofsted was in the building. I, together with other governors had to meet him. Scary. Wearing a suit, shirt and tie and with my governor’s ‘blue lanyard of power’ around my neck I strode purposefully down the corridor. A small child approached me. Year 7, I guess. He looked up at me with big pleading eyes, a bit like Puss in Boots from the Shrek films. ‘Please sir’ he said, proffering what looked like a tin full of cookery ingredients, ‘do you know where I should put this?’ Maybe I had the look of someone who might. But I didn’t and told him that I was a governor, not a teacher and directed him to a nearby member of staff. The poor lad looked crestfallen and rather confused, as if to say, ‘What’s the point in those governors if they don’t even know where I should put my cookery things?’

Epilogue. With Mr. Oftsed waiting I didn’t have time to explain that where the cookery stuff goes is an operational matter and the job of governors is to provide the school with strategic leadership. If you like, the governing body punches the coordinates into the educational SatNav, setting the overall direction of the school. Then the head and senior leaders collectively get behind the wheel, put their foot on the gas and make sure we get there. Along the way Governors hold leaders to account to ensure that the school isn’t going off track. That, in essence is what we do. Kind of. In case you were wondering. 

Open Evening Coffee Morning

Thursday was the school's Open Evening. I'd attended a couple of these as a parent some years ago and was quietly impressed by what I saw, but I can't remember much about them save an exploding Jelly Baby trick involving a test tube, Bunsen Burner and said item of confectionery. 'Well' I thought, 'if they can nuke a Jelly Baby, that's the school for our kids.' And so it was. 

If you attended Thursday's event and were brave enough to venture near the science labs, you may well have witnessed the feat for yourself, as it's still a favourite with prospective parents and children. But that's not all you will have seen. The hall was packed with punters who experienced some great live music from our students. Our new head, Dr. Riding gave a talk, setting out his vision for the school.  

I did my bit too. Not wanting to single-handedly destroy our reputation for artistic excellence I decided against a song and dance act and said a few words on behalf of the governing body instead. Short and sweet. Well, short anyway, 

Our purpose as a governing body is to ensure that Matravers becomes a School in which every child fulfils their potential.

We aim offer students an education that will stretch them academically so that they achieve the best possible exam results. Year-on-year our results have continued to improve. We will set ambitious targets for next year’s GCSEs and A-Level grades.

As a thriving arts school we seek to unlock our pupil’s creative talents and encourage their self-expression.

We maintain a strong and caring pastoral ethos where every child matters, not matter what educational challenges they may face.

Matravers offers a full, enriching and rounded curriculum in a safe and inclusive environment. We want our students to be academically successful, but that’s not all. We also want to help form them into mature and responsible members of society, with a strong sense of moral purpose.

Our driving ambition is to ensure that coming to Matravers will not place limits on students’ life-choices, but open them up. Speaking as a parent as well as Chair of Governors, I know that’s why we sent our children here.

I hope that the open evening experience helped prospective parents and children to see that Matravers is the school for students aged 11-18 in our community. 

And then it was back to school for Friday's Coffee Morning in aid of Dorothy House. The event was organised by Sixth Formers, with hot drinks and tasty cake in plentiful supply. Once more, school musicians did us proud, providing an eclectic soundtrack for visitors and staff. 

Somewhat embarrassingly I received a telephone call on returning home, telling me that I (or the wife, more precisely) had won a rather fetching red Pashmina scarf. If a governors team also wins the quiz competition, people will think that there has been a fix. We were tempted to use our smartphones to Google for one or two of the answers, but resisted, as cheating in a 'test' would not have been be a very good example for governors to set. Conscience makes cowards of us all. 

Around £275 was raised by the Coffee Morning for a very good cause, so thanks to our brilliant staff and students for all their hard work and to everybody who came along for their support and generosity. 

A week in the Chair

No, that doesn't mean I've been doing nothing but sit around for seven days on the trot. I've been up and about occasionally. Honest. But this has been my first full week as Chair of Governors. 

As this is the beginning of a new school year there has been lots to do, including fine tuning the Terms of Reference of our various committees and thinking about the goals and objectives of the governing body for the coming academic year. What larks. Actually, I quite like tweeking Terms of Reference. Did I really just write that sentence? Oh man. I'm becoming a proper governance geek. 

On Tuesday morning I put Dr. Riding's 'open doors' to Staff and Governors policy to the test by bothering him about something or other. Then we had a 'meet the head' full Governors' session in the evening, where Dr. Riding set out his 'route map' for school improvement. We carefully scrutinised his plans, with governors newbie and veteran asking lots of pertinent questions and the head giving some well thought out answers to our queries. That's what we do, us Governor types.

Parents and carers had their own opportunity to meet Dr. Riding on Wednesday afternoon. I'm a parent as well as Chair of Govs so I thought I'd pop along too. There was a good turn out, with the hall's tiered seating virtually full. The head outlined his vision for the school and he and other senior leaders were available to speak to parents after the presentation. There seemed to be a very positive buzz about the event.

That brings us to Friday when I had my weekly meeting with the head. Most of the time was spent sharpening up our targets for school improvement. Hang on a minute. I'm having a Bernard from Yes, Prime Minister moment. Technically speaking it's not targets that need to be sharp, but the darts that are thrown at targets. But you probably know what I mean.

Last week I attended a Head Teacher Performance Management course, which was useful. Amongst other things I learned a new mnemonic that came in handy when it came to setting goals:  CSMART Objectives.

C CHALLENGING
S SPECIFIC
M MEASURABLE
A ATTAINABLE.
R RELEVANT
T TIME BOUND

Clever, eh? That's what this school needs: some nice, shiny CSMARTies. We're working on it.

So much for my first week in the Chair.

Guy Davies
(Chair of Governors) 

Goodbye...Hello

First up, hearty congratulations on behalf of the Governors to our students on their BTEC, GCSE and A-Level results. It's good to see grades improving year-on-year. We'll be doing all we can to ensure that next year's results will be even more successful. We wish school leavers well as they head for University, College or the world of work. Thanks to our staff who have worked so hard to help many of our students realise their dreams.

We also want to welcome the new Year 7 intake to Matravers and other students who are new to the school. Our aim as Governors is to make sure that all students fulfil their educational potential. We expect our pupils to make rapid and sustained progress from the moment they start at the school until the day they leave. That won't happen without the students' hard work, support from parents and carers, good teaching and effective leadership. Together we can make sure that children get the best out of their time at Matravers.  

The task of the Governing Body is to provide the school with strategic leadership and accountability. We look forward to working with new Head, Dr. Simon Riding in the quest for continuous school improvement. Next Tuesday evening the Governors will be holding a special 'Meet the new Head' session of the Governing Body where we'll be scrutinising Dr. Riding's plans for the school. 

Parents and Carers will have an opportunity to meet the new Head on Wednesday 11th September, 5pm to 6pm. See the school website for more info. 

Here's wishing all our students every success at the beginning of a new school year.

Guy Davies

(Chair of Governors)  

Matravers students celebrate GCSE success

GCSE results press release: 

Students at Matravers School are celebrating their GCSE results with 51% of entries achieving five good passes at GCSE including English and Maths. This year our Maths passes A*-C are at record levels and well over the national average. Other high performing subjects were Science, where there were 100% A*-C pass rates for Biology, Physics and Chemistry and Art and Design and Photography with A*-C pass rates over 90%. Core Science, Textiles and English Literature A*-C pass rates were 80% or better and results in Drama, Geography and PE improved significantly.

There were many star performances among the year 11 students with the number of students getting top grades up sharply. Jess Holland who gained 10 A*s and an A grade, Shane Roy who gained 5 A*s and 3 A grades and Alistair Blance who achieved 4A*s and 6As. Gemma Sawyer, Chloe Merrit, Charlie Pickford and Chloe Bleakly all gained 3A*s and a host of A grades. Many other students achieved high grades including Nikita Turner with 1 A* and 8 A grades and Zoe Booth who also got 8 As. 

Congratulations to the year 11 students and staff of Matravers on another successful year; the school has improved rapidly under the headship of Mrs Beverley Martin and will continue to build on these achievements in the coming academic year. There are still a limited number of places available for sixth form next year. Enrolment will take place on 28th and 29th August; please contact the school if you would like to join Matravers Sixth Form. 

On behalf of the Governing Body, well done!