Welcome to the July 2019 Monthly Bulletin, produced with the aim of keeping governors, clerks and school leaders informed of the latest educational developments. The most effective way of using this briefing is to ensure that it is a standing agenda item for both your Full Governing Board and Committee meetings. PLEASE NOTE - this Bulletin is now published on GovernorHub and The Education People website; it will no longer be available on Kelsi.

Details of how your school spends the PE and sport premium funding must be published by the end of the summer term or by 31 July 2019 at the latest. This is different to last year’s reporting deadline.

The DfE has published the workbook for the budget forecast return 3 year (BFR3Y) for 2019. The form went live on 18 June 2019, the deadline for submission is Tuesday 30 July 2019.

This draft guidance will be published on 2 September 2019 and at that point KCSIE 2018 will be withdrawn. Until then, schools and colleges must continue to have regard to KCSIE 2018.

Since 1 April 2019, the DfE have required academy trusts to declare all contracts made with related parties before they are agreed with their supplier; DfE also requires trusts to seek approval for all contracts and transactions over £20,000, either individually or cumulatively, within the same financial year.

2019 Academies Financial Handbook was published in June.  Academy trusts must comply with this handbook as a condition of their funding agreement. It provides an overarching framework for implementation of effective financial management and control. Other resources are available to help you get the right systems in place.

The standard for 2019 to 2020 was updated in April; it helps schools and local authorities meet basic standards for good financial health and resource management.  Your attention is particularly drawn to section A3 of 2019 to 2020 checklist guidance relating to monitoring reports being produced regularly and shared with the Governing Body or finance committee and the recommendation that this should be at least 6 times a year.

This document explains how inspectors will look at the quality of education under the new Education Inspection Framework (EIF) while recognising that each inspection is different.

Amanda Spielman spoke about the response to the consultation on the Education Inspection Framework (EIF) and what it means for Governors.

Amanda Spielman spoke about education’s role in preparing young people for life in modern Britain; Ofsted as a force for improvement, research, curriculum, British Values, the role of schools, knowledge as being the answer.

HMCI repeats call for outstanding school exemption to be lifted as more schools lose top Ofsted grade.

NGA updated resources

Membership packages and sign up

Up to £1,000 DfE funding is now available for NGA Development for Chairs, (previously £500); courses are delivered by members of our Governor Services team working in partnership with the NGA.  Each board (including Multi Academy Trusts boards and local governing/advisory boards) will now be able to access 2 fully funded places (previously only 1), this includes Chairs, co-Chairs, Vice-Chairs, committee and future/aspiring Chairs.

• Registration deadline for cohort 3 is 26/08/19; face to face sessions 27/09/19, 06/12/19, 20/03/20

Holiday Inn Maidstone, London Road, Sevenoaks TN15 7RS, 9.00am -1.00pm.

• Registration deadline for cohort 4 is 02/11/19; face to face sessions 11/01/20, 29/02/20, 13/06/20

Bridgewood Manor, Walderslade Woods, Chatham ME5 9AX, 9:30am - 1:30pm.

Boards should be actively succession planning.

Can you afford to miss this additional opportunity of FREE training?

Governor services are permitted to assist as a part of the reference process where appropriate.

This accreditation forms part of the NGA leading Governance programme, it is designed for those already in a clerking role to ensure both new and experienced clerks have all the knowledge and skills they need to carry out their role effectively.

Full course cost is £425 of which £350 support funding is available from the DfE.

The programme runs over a 9-month period; pre work begins Sept ‘19 and includes:

• four face-to-face workshops
• a dedicated mentor
• 360-degree diagnostic of the participant’s strengths and areas for development
• access to interactive e-learning modules and resources
• participation in peer-to-peer and group learning
• support with creating and completing a focussed school-based project
• support in completion of a learning log to record personalised areas for focus and key learning points

Governor services are permitted to assist as a part of the reference process where appropriate.

This free webinar is open to both NGA members and non-members and will be directed to school governors and trustees.  Join the discussion and hear first-hand about the recent consultation and the findings, the changes Ofsted are making and why, and what the changes mean for schools.  There is to be an opportunity to raise questions.

Minutes, presentations and documents, dates, times and venues of County Assembly meetings, together with the association’s aims and objectives, and details of how you can get involved to support your local district can be found on KELSI.

Canterbury Christ Church University Medway Campus

Do you lead or aspire to lead Governance? –  A conference is being held in partnership with Canterbury Christ Church University for anyone with responsibilities for, or aspirations to, lead governance.  Attendees are (not exclusively) expected to be either Chairs, Vice Chairs, Chairs of Committees, Trusts or Local Governing bodies, and of course, those who aspire to take on such a role in the future. The conference includes workshops that are designed to inspire, equip and provide support.

The agenda for the conference is available at Booking reference GV 19 / 122

Further to the publication Best practice guidance for school complaints procedures 2019 (March 2019) confirmation has been sought from both the NGA and DfE regarding the minute-taking at complaint panel hearings and the complaint panel’s subsequent deliberations.  We have been advised that:

• the deliberations should be recorded separately and made confidential
• all parties should have the opportunity to reflect upon the draft minutes to ensure that they accurately capture the meeting, with the understanding that the minutes are not a verbatim transcript
• the complaints panel response should reflect how the deliberation came to the outcome

The next closing date for LA Governor nominations is 18^th October 2019.  Clerks should ensure that both new and re-nomination forms, together with Full Governing Body minutes, are submitted to Governor Services before 18^th October; scanned documents should be emailed to [email protected]

• End of year data scrutiny in order to set and agree the next set of School Improvement Priorities?
• Analysis of the training needs of the Full Board against the agreed School Improvement Priorities (once agreed), including succession planning for the roles of Chair, Vice-chair and Finance lead/Chair of Finance committee?
• The Governing Board’s own self-evaluation activities?
• Analysis of School-to-School / Board-to-Board support and how Governors monitor its effectiveness and impact?

As we approach the end of this academic year and our first as The Education People, may we take this opportunity of wishing you all a very restful summer break and thank you for all your hard work in supporting and improving  the life chances of young people in Kent and Medway.  We have achieved a great deal over this year and the schools that are good and outstanding remain a very high.  We have hopefully reduced your workload with the implementation of GovernorHub and if you would still like to subscribe to the extended package please contact the team.  The Governor yearly questionnaire will be sent out next week and please take the time to complete this.  We hope that you will have seen direct changes in our service provision as a result of your comments last year.  We really do listen!  Thank you once again on behalf of my team and see you in September.

Governor Services Manager: Suzanne Mayes

[email protected]

North Kent (Dartford, Gravesham, Sevenoaks): Jude Johnson

jude.[email protected]

South Kent (Ashford, Dover, Folkestone and Hythe): Tina Gimber

tina.[email protected]

East Kent (Canterbury, Swale, Thanet): Lorraine Monkhouse

[email protected]

West Kent (Maidstone, Tonbridge and Malling, T Wells): Julia Durcan

[email protected]