Governance Today Summer 2021

WHAT'S NEW Secondary governors and trustees An opportunity for secondary governors to learn more about the school and board obligations relating to careers education for pupils. (See the article on page 20.) Thursday 15 July, 5.00-6.00pm. Live interactive webinar: • An Introduction to the Careers Hub and Careers & Enterprise Company • The Government’s Careers Strategy, Schools Statutory duties and OFSTED’s approach • Implementing the board’s statutory duties and the Gatsby benchmarks • The role of a school Careers Leader • The role of an Enterprise Adviser • The role of a Careers Link Governor/Trustee • Support available • Panel available for questions. Please visit the Babcock Shop for further information and bookings. This session is free of charge for all schools. Supporting wellbeing - the staff wellbeing charter The past year has placed extraordinary stresses upon teaching staff in our schools. School leaders, teachers and the staff who support our children have had to find new ways of working in what have been uniquely challenging circumstances. As trustees and governors we recognise the huge amount of work that has been put in, and the impact that this has had on the health and wellbeing of our staff. The Governance Consultancy Team is often asked what governing boards can tangibly do to support staff with health and wellbeing, and the staff wellbeing charter will be able to help boards support the staff in their schools. The charter has been created by the education sector to highlight staff wellbeing within the sector, and allows trustees and governors to publicly commit to wellbeing strategies. The education staff wellbeing charter is a declaration of support for, and set of commitments to, the wellbeing and mental health of everyone working in education. All state funded schools and colleges are invited to familiarise themselves with the charter, and to sign up when it is available in the autumn, as a shared commitment to protect, promote and enhance the wellbeing of their staff. The charter is voluntary and there is no deadline to sign up. Trustees and governors can use the charter to demonstrate to staff that they take staff wellbeing seriously, and to open a conversation with staff about their wellbeing and mental health. It can also act as a spring board to create a staff wellbeing strategy and a culture focused on wellbeing within our schools. The charter includes 12 commitments on education staff wellbeing by DfE and Ofsted. It also sets out 5 principles of shared understanding on the meaning and importance of wellbeing and everyone’s roles and responsibilities. It is hoped that the charter will also initiate debate and accountability around wellbeing. The charter hopes to encourage school boards to make a declaration to protect, promote and enhance the wellbeing and mental health of everyone working within our schools. This can only be a positive step after a year in education like no other. Assessing the impact of training It is important that the whole board can benefit from training undertaken by individuals. Governors, trustees and clerks who have attended training should report to the board on that training and share key learning points and/or ideas raised during the training that can support the work of the board and committees. If you attend training organised by the Governance Consultancy Team we will ask delegates to think about three key points they wish to highlight to the board so that these can be shared at the next meeting. The clerk can minute the points raised, which will help the board provide evidence for Ofsted that board members have not only attended training, but the value that the training has brought to their work. The Governance Consultancy Team will be contacting clerks to ask about points raised by governors and trustees so we can be sure our training programme is meeting your needs. We are always keen to receive your feedback on training and hear of any additional areas you would like us to cover. In response to your feedback we are organising additional twilight sessions for training events, building in more activities during live webinar training and offering the governance and clerks’ briefings at the beginning of every term. We are reintroducing face to face training events in addition to a full programme of virtual sessions. Please let the team know what additional topics or sessions you would find useful! School email addresses Does the board in your setting use school email addresses? There are occasions when confidential or sensitive information may be sent via email, for example headteacher performance management objectives for the appraisal panel or reports from advisers who have visited the school. Colleagues in LDP have expressed concern that sometimes information of this nature is emailed to the chair, or another member of the board, via a family, personal or work email account. Whilst we fully recognise that it may be inconvenient to have to check an additional email account the Governance Consultancy Team would encourage all members of the board to consider if the practice currently in place is appropriate. There is also the risk that, should a freedom of information request or subject access request be received by the school, an individual’s private or work email account may contain information which would need to be disclosed. Governance Today 22