Part 2 of 2 - Ofsted Inspection and Judgement Day

[Read Part 1 here]

Monday morning came round very fast and I got to school at 7.30am, the Ofsted team were expected at 8am.

The morning went very well with the first lesson observation graded as outstanding. One of the changes in the new framework is that the lead inspector will give you feedback throughout the day so we knew things were going well.

My Chair of Governors interview was scheduled at 2.30pm but I asked one of our teachers and the inspector whether they minded me observing a dance lesson at 2pm with them.

The lesson was outstanding and clearly the inspector was impressed. However, I am convinced they are trained not to show it through their body language.

Now it was my turn to come under scrutiny; everything so far was good – maybe even outstanding – so I didn’t want to let down the side down on safeguarding or governance.

I decided to bring in my Vice Chair as I figured two heads were better than one. I explained that I had been the Chair for 104 days, taking over from Chair who was in that position for 15 years. I communicated that I was passionate, committed, enthusiastic and a fast learner.

I also shared I had only been a School Governor for 470 days but was a lifelong learner. He set my mind at ease saying it’s not how long you have been a Governor or Chair, but what you bring to the role and how you approach it.

The first question the inspector asked was about how the governors effectively monitored the school.

This was my chance to impress; I reeled off the SEF, SIP reports, Head Teacher reports, School Development Plan, safeguarding monitoring, governor visits, governor training and RAISE online data.

I gave examples of the school’s strengths and areas for development without the need to refer to my notes.

The three roles we fulfil as governors are accountability, strategic view and critical friend. I gave examples how we fulfil our obligations in each of each of those areas.

We moved on to safeguarding and we were quizzed about safer recruitment. I had just completed my Online Safer Recruitment course on CWDC so I felt comfortable discussing it.

Finally, we were on the home straight and only Governor Safeguarding monitoring to cover off.

Luckily, I had completed a Governor Safeguarding visit in November based on the Ofsted inspector’s guidance for inspecting schools. This is a public document as I used back in November to monitor our school.

I gave a copy of my report to the inspector which seemed to go down very well. I had survived the Chair of Governors interview with no questions I couldn’t answer! Phew!

Many interviews and lesson observations later the inspector called together the Head Teacher, Senior Teacher, Vice Chair and myself into the Head’s office to deliver his judgement.

Drum roll please……

With a broad smile he said that he had judged our School to be outstanding overall! He explained we scored 23 sections as “Outstanding”, 2 as “Good” and nothing below good.

My Vice Chair and I were personally very pleased that governance and safeguarding were among the 23 sections that were regarded as outstanding!

The only disappointment was that we couldn’t tell anyone for 3 weeks.

Well now we can and here is our report!

The report says more than I could ever say in this blog.

If you are due an Ofsted inspection soon I’d be happy to answer any questions or give advice.

Sean Whetstone
Chair of Governors
Polesden Lacey Infant School
Sean.Whetstone@gmail.com

Part One – Ofsted calling!

I had been Chair of Governors for exactly 100 days and still finding my feet when Ofsted called!

I was in my Head Teacher’s office having our regular Chair of Governors and Head Teacher meeting on Thursday 14th January 2010.  It was our first meeting of the New Year – we had just finished discussing safeguarding and we started discussing a possible pending Ofsted inspection.

I said I felt I needed to know more about the new Ofsted framework to understand my role in the inspection.  We spent less than five minutes discussing Ofsted when the phone rang. 

The Head turned to me and said “Wouldn’t  this be funny if that was Ofsted calling”.  Her face went pale and she quickly wrote Ofsted on her pad and lifted it up for me to see.  She wasn’t joking!

Ofsted were giving us notice to inspect us on Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th of January which was less than 4 days away!

Panic was my first thought and excitement was second.  I knew our Self Evaluation Form (SEF) and School Improvement Partner (SIP) had been marked as outstanding.

However, I’ve heard so many horror stories about previously outstanding or good schools being marked down or special measures being put in under the new framework.  It made me scared.

In our own confederation, one previously good school was put into special measures and another had been graded as satisfactory so I knew these stories weren’t just urban myths.

As Chair I dedicated my weekend to memorising the new SEF, SIP reports, Head Teacher reports, School Development Plan, Full Governing Body minutes, committee minutes, Safeguarding monitoring, governor visit reports, governor training records and RAISE online data.

I know governors are not expected to memorise all this information. However, I felt would be a good use of my time and make me much better prepared if I didn’t need to refer to folders and papers all the time during my Chair of Governor’s interview.

It was time well spent; not only did I learn more about the schoo,l but looking at these papers combined gave me a new perspective.  Often these papers are read in isolation and things are lost. 

It also took my mind off the inspection and stopped me driving my family mad.  I also decided to take two days off work and be based onsite at the school for the whole inspection. 

I know everyone can’t do this but I figured it is only two days every three years so I didn’t mind taking the days as annual leave from work.

So, Ofsted sent us a Pre-Inspection Briefing on the Friday and it initially scared us.  The problem is you can read too many things into these briefings which just aren’t there.

We began analysing our attainment figures and we reviewed our community cohesion…..

Part 2 coming soon – The Inspection and Judgement Day.

If you are due an Ofsted inspection soon I’d be happy to answer any questions or give advice.
Sean Whetstone Chair of Governors
Polesden Lacey Infant School
Sean.Whetstone@gmail.com

When Cheshire restructured and split into Cheshire East, Cheshire West & Chester, governor training remained the same, as Ruth explains below:

“Modern Governor has remained a constant for Cheshire East throughout the authority restructure. Despite the difficulties a restructure poses, every Governor at Cheshire was always able to access training when they needed to.”

 
 For Ruth, there is no viable alternative to Modern Governor – thanks Ruth – we agree!

Ruth discussed benefits of using the Modern Governor as a training tool:

• the courses are accessible at any time
• learners an revisit the courses, for a refresher on topics
• the courses are designed by subject experts and instructional designers
• Modern Governor is complimentary to a blended learning approach

Cheshire East has found the courses interactive and engaging. Another plus is the courses are certificated, regularly updated and designed specifically for school governors.

An interesting read, Ruth’s PowerPoint presentation from the day can be viewed here.

Also see details of Donald Clark’s talk ,another speaker from the day.

Donald Clark, School Governor and revered e-learning commentator, spoke at our recent Modern Governor event in London.

Donald’s engaging and refreshing speech covered his own personal experiences as governor as well as his experiences in his corporate career.

Donald described two main  frustrations he saw with governor training:

Governor training pain points
• the tyranny of time – finding the time to attend training courses on evenings and at weekends

 •the tyranny of location – getting to the training venues, often in remote locations

Other pain points Donald identified were overly-long meetings and an abundance of paperwork. And not one person in the room disagreed with him!

Blended approach to governor training
Donald’s words enforced just how crucial it is for school governance to deliver cost-effective, flexible training which every governor can access anytime and anywhere.

Modern Governor has been so successful in engaging governors for these reasons.

That’s not to say that Modern Governor will replace all face-to-face training – everybody learns differently and group learning can be very effective. Many LEA’s we know say their successful governor training is based on a blended approach to learning.

View photos of our event here  to view the video see here

National Governors’ Association (NGA) events are always eagerly anticipated by the Modern Governor team– we get to meet the rather fabulous NGA team, check out a lovely venue and catch up with our customers and their colleagues.

Banner up, badges on and computers set up, we were ready for the day.

Our first chat of the day was with National Co-ordinators of Governor Services  (NCOGS) David Marriott of Wiltshire County Council. A great speech was delivered by David about ‘The State of Governance’.  

The main issues covered by the NCGSC chair included training for chairpersons, professional clerking, the relationship between School Improvement Partners and Governors, and the whereabouts of the Report on Governance. 

David also claimed to have run up the 175 steps from Russell Square tube station without stopping! 

Further details on speakers and their presentation slides can be found on the NGA website here.

During the day, a succession of our old and new friends came to say hello and hear a bit more about Modern Governor’s recent developments. Top of everyone’s concerns was budgetary cuts in the current financial unease. 

Modern Governor e-learning enables Governor Services and Local Education Authorities to target their resources where they matter most by delivering just-in-time training cost-effectively.  No wonder we were busy!

As well as talking with people about delivering great governor training, we also met some new people keen to become more involved with the Modern Governor community. 

Building a sharing ethos through guest-blogging, networking at our events and helping to develop new content are areas where people can get involved.

The day ended, as most events in London do, with people having to rush for the tube and trains – but the vast majority stayed on until the end to chat with us and their colleagues from across the country. 

It’s indicative of how highly these events are valued that people were happy to brave rush-hour transport!

by Elaine

“Making governance work at the local level” is the topic for the morning session with David Marriott, Chair of NCOGS, Head of Governor Services at Wiltshire and Phil Revell, Education Consultant, will be leading.

School Governors One Stop Shop (SGOSS) and Northamptonshire County Council will be talking about governor recruitment. Governor recruitment is a critical issue around the country, so it’ll be interesting to see how they’ve worked together on a solution for Northamptonshire.  If you’re trying to recruit more Governors, get in touch for more information and a free Modern Governor download available for your website.

Devon County Council will also be talking about their relationship with Devon Association of Governors.  Devon as a region is as widespread and diverse as it is beautiful, so it’ll be great to hear how they’ve worked in partnership to assist their Governors.

NGA National Chair Clare Collins takes the stage with Vernon Coaker M.P. Minister of State for Schools and Learners, for the afternoon session. The theme is, “Raising standards in schools, the governor’s role”.   Discussions will include the new role of School Improvement Partners and Support and Development for the Children’s Workforce.

If you’re going to the NGA  Conference, come along and say hello to us at Modern Governor. For all you twitterers out there, follow the events as they happen from @moderngovernor

This briefing will give you a chance to hear what your Governor Service colleagues are doing with e-learning. We’ll be holding a time of open discussion, where you’ll have the opportunity to share your training needs and what hurdles lie ahead for you.
 
We’ve got some fantastic guest speakers, Ruth Agnew from Cheshire East Council and Derek Balaam, London Borough of Brent.

Donald Clark, School Governor and revered e-learning commentator will also be speaking. Check out his blog http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/

Learning Pool’s community evangelist, Dave Briggs will be there, talking about the next step for Modern Governor by using community and collaboration. Take a look at his blog http://davepress.net/  or hear a bit of what he has to say about social media in local government http://vimeo.com/6847207

For more information and to book your spot please click here.

Like other areas of the public sector schools face increasing pressure to improve by making better use of available budgets.

Sound financial planning is essential for delivering improvements and effective procurement is at the heart of this.

The benefits of good basic procurement skills are not widely recognised in the schools sector even though such skills can save money and time.

Hear a podcast of Julie Hull, Head of Professional Development in Commercial Group at the DCSF explaining BuyWays and how it will help schools save money.

BuyWays is an e-learning course featuring six individual modules on procurement (see below).

The bite sized e-learning allows learners to dip in and out as their schedules permit.

It is available 24/7 and is free to all schools in England, courtesy of the DCSF. Who should take this course?

• School bursars and business managers
 • School administrators and support staff
• Teachers, Head teachers and School governors

BuyWays has been created for those directly involved in procurement or for those who want to find out more about how basic procurement skills can help efficiency.

BuyWays offers something for everyone. The information covered in the course is clear and straightforward, keeping jargon to a minimum and seeking to explain why procurement skills matter – perfect for those new to procurement.

More experienced procurement officers can use BuyWays as a handy ‘refresher’ for all the key procurement skills, for example contract law,

EU mandates or the process of managing a high value tender. Anyone who works in a school is eligible can access the course, for free.

To access BuyWays please visit www.buyways.co.uk and follow the registration procedure.

If you have any difficulties accessing this course, please call 0845 543 6033 or email support@learningpool.com

BuyWays was modelled on the successful ‘Passport to Procurement’ course previously developed for local authorities by Norfolk County Council’s Jane Waring.

Even that small figure however, will change as new rules (coming into practice in 2011) make sex education classes compulsory in England for all students aged 15 and over. The current rules allow parents to withdraw their children up to the age of 19.

Under the new rules, all pupils will be required to have at least 1 year of sex and relationships education before their 16th birthday including classes on topics such as same sex relationships and contraception. These rules will also apply to faith schools although governing bodies will still be able to ensure that classes reflect the religious ethos of the school.

Have Your Say: Should parents be able to choose for their children? Should sex education be the responsibility of schools?

 Nine Local Authorities have recently surveyed their Modern Governor subscribers and the results are pretty impressive!

Result Statistics

• 70% of respondents have been a school Governor for 1-10 years; 12% for more than 10 years
• 94% of respondents find Modern Governor useful
• 85% report that they use MG on their own, 7% use it in a Governor meeting
• 79% would recommend MG to other Governors
• Just 14% reported any problems accessing Modern Governor. All issues were resolved by our dedicated helpdesk with ease
• 93% said that their school should definitely continue to buy Modern Governor access for all their school Governors

Age Range of Respondants:

• 2% of respondents are aged between 18-30
•  58% are aged 31-50 
•  30% are aged 51-65

Top 5 courses  voted by  users:

• My Role as a Governor
• Community Cohesion
• Preparing for Ofsted
• Health and Safety
• Understanding School Finance

So what do the results really tell us?

Modern Governor courses are mainly being used by school governors before, during and after Governor meetings as preparation, revision and reference.

Experienced Governors are finding the service just as useful as new Governors.Varying age ranges use the service and find it easily accessible.

Modern Governor courses are providing Governors with the underpinning knowledge behind complex subjects like Ofsted, Health and Safety and School Finance.

When Governors start using this service, they keep using it and spread the word to Governors in their own authority and other authorities.

 For more information on Modern Governor, contact: elaine@moderngovernor.com or call 0207 101 9383.