Governance Training

This session will cover:

• Understanding the information about absence and attendance
• What the law says about attendance and absence
• Your school's attendance policy and procedure
• What questions should governors be asking about attendance
• Attendance of pupils on part time timetables or attending alternative provision.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Helen Lane, Learn Sheffield Improvement Partner

This course will develop key leadership skills and knowledge and to understand the role. To understand your own leadership style, strengths and areas for development. Delegates will be able to develop an action plan to develop their own boards. Understand the education landscape and working with leaders and the clerk. Understand how the governors and trustees fit into school improvement and how to be effective in leading the board in effectively challenging the school or MAT on its performance. There will be opportunities to work and network with other chairs. The course will run over more than one session, to enable between session actions and reflection. Please note that governors must commit to attending all three training sessions to make the most of this training.

Audience: Chairs, Vice chairs and aspiring Chairs.

Trainer: Mark Coppel, Education Governance Specialist

This session will look at the structures, organisation and culture of multi academy trusts (MATs) and the roles within them. The course will cover the different types of MATs and the essential documentation that governs their work, with a focus on the importance of the local tier of governance, the value they bring, and how they sit within the trust as a whole.

Audience: New, recently appointed, or current Local Governing Board members, or governors of maintained schools who are exploring academy conversion.

Trainer: Chasca Twyman, Governance Consultant

This session will provide governors with an overview of school and governors’ roles around Data Protection and Freedom of Information against the background of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force in May 2018.The session will support governors in understanding the school’s responsibilities as a data controller and will cover best practice in drafting and updating policies and procedures, managing information risks and also in dealing with information requests and data breaches. The session will be delivered by a Certified GDPR Practitioner who acts as a Data Protection Officer for a number of schools in Sheffield.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Andy Wynne, Learn Sheffield Data Protection Officer and Governance Lead

By the end of this short course, governors will have a clear understanding of the role of the employer in managing health and safety in school and in particular, the role of governors. The course will enable governors to gain an understanding of how health and safety is enforced under current legislation. Governors will also consider the importance of risk assessment.

The course will also enable governors to understand where they can go for support and advice in effectively managing health and safety in school.

Audience: All Governors, particularly with a responsibility for health & safety

Trainer: Jamie Clark, Head of Estates & Facilities, Five Rivers MAT

A key role of governors is to hold the headteacher to account for the day-to day running of the school. This session is designed to support governors fulfil this statutory duty.

The session will outline what makes a good and effective appraisal, the structure and regulation around the process, key paperwork to ensure consistency and setting and reviewing objectives supported by the external advisor.

The session aims to give a clear understanding of the role description of the headteacher and the way that head teacher’s standards are used in setting performance objectives how it works in practice, and the elements that contribute to the performance of a good school.

The session will update governors on recent changes to pay and conditions guidelines as they affect performance management and setting pay

Audience: All Governors involved in HT Performance Management

Trainer: Beverly Nicholson (Learn Sheffield Improvement partner) and Susanna Bradbury (Governance Manager)

This course focuses on the essential behaviours involved in governors holding school leaders to account. We will look at the key questions – What to hold leaders to account for at your school? And how do you hold someone to account for things they probably know more about than you?

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Mark Coppel, Education Governance Specialist

This course will examine what is meant by Online Safety in 2024/25. It will look at the major safeguarding risks in the online space and correlate them with the concerns and experiences of children and young people in Sheffield.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Sue Finnigan, Learn Sheffield Education Consultant

This session will help governors to understand the main principles of the Public Sector Equality Duty, what they need to do to ensure compliance with duty, and how the duty fits into the inspection framework.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Sai Patel, Learn Sheffield Improvement Partner

This workshop will focus on how schools will be inspected under the Education Inspection Framework (EIF). It will provide information about types of inspection and the four judgement areas in the EIF as well as insights into how inspectors gather and evaluate evidence in EIF inspections. The governance aspects of the leadership and management judgement area and the role of governors in inspections will also be included in the workshop.

Please note that it is recommended that you attend both sessions

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Huntington Research School

A key priority of the city’s education policy is to promote research and evidence-based practice in schools and settings. This session will look at research-based learning and help governors to understand what it is and to consider examples in which research-led practice is used to improve schools. The course will enable governors to understand the role of the governing body in promoting and monitoring a research-led approach. If you have attended a similar session in the past this briefing will still be of use as we will also look in more detail at what the research has to say about successful implementation of initiatives in school and the features of effective teacher professional development.

The session will:

• Give delegates an overview of the educational research and summaries that already exist to support different aspects of school improvement
• Introduce governors to the research informed guidance and assistance that exists for schools when implementing change
• Guide governors in the sort of challenge questions that they can bring to senior management teams in relation to their use of the existing research to support school improvement

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Alastair Gittner, Research Lead for the Sheffield Associate Research School.

It is a statutory responsibility for governing boards to adopt and publish their policy and procedures for managing complaints. Dealing with complaints can be a daunting prospect for governors and this course aims to provide you with the skills to undertake this process confidently.

During the course we will cover:

• The complaints policy - regulations and best practice
• How to manage the stages within the policy
• Good practice when investigating a complaint
• The role of the complaints panel

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Alan Richards, experienced Chair of Governors in both Primary and Secondary and licensed National Leader of Governance by the National College of Teaching and Leadership.

Regular evaluation supports boards to monitor and improve the quality and impact of governance, and ultimately the outcomes for the pupils in their setting.

This session examines what effective governance looks like and how this can be developed through regular skills audits and by reviewing the structures in place. It will look at how well governors work together, participate in discussions, and demonstrate effective challenge.

The session will cover the tools and methods for self-evaluation and independent assessments of effectiveness through external reviews, and how the board can use these to develop their practices and identify areas for further training.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Chasca Twyman, Governance Consultant

Truly understanding the role of governance and the three core functions. Where the roles and responsibilities lie depending on if you are a MAT, or a maintained or academy school. For MATs understanding the three tiers of governance (members, trustees and local), the scheme of delegation and where the three core functions lie. Ensuring leaders understand the roles and responsibilities of governors at different levels.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Mark Coppel, Education Governance Specialist

This Safer Recruitment course is designed for all staff and governors involved in school recruitment. The course will look at the ways we can identify and deter unsuitable candidates, while embedding a strong safeguarding ethos into the culture of your school.

KCSIE 2024 states that ‘It is vital that as part of their whole school or college approach to safeguarding governing bodies and proprietors create a culture that safeguards and promotes the welfare of children in their school or college. As part of this culture, it is important that they adopt robust recruitment procedures that deter and prevent people who are unsuitable to work with children from applying for or securing employment, or volunteering opportunities in schools and colleges.’ and ‘Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that those involved with the recruitment and employment of staff to work with children have received appropriate safer recruitment training.’

This course is accredited by the Safer Recruitment Consortium and has been updated to take account of recent legislative changes.

Audience: Senior Leaders, Governors, School Business Managers and staff involved in HR and recruitment

Trainer: Sai Patel and Susanna Bradbury Learn Sheffield

This Safer Recruitment course is designed for all staff and governors involved in school recruitment. The course will look at the ways we can identify and deter unsuitable candidates, while embedding a strong safeguarding ethos into the culture of your school.

KCSIE 2024 states that ‘It is vital that as part of their whole school or college approach to safeguarding governing bodies and proprietors create a culture that safeguards and promotes the welfare of children in their school or college. As part of this culture, it is important that they adopt robust recruitment procedures that deter and prevent people who are unsuitable to work with children from applying for or securing employment, or volunteering opportunities in schools and colleges.’ and ‘Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that those involved with the recruitment and employment of staff to work with children have received appropriate safer recruitment training.’

This course is accredited by the Safer Recruitment Consortium and has been updated to take account of recent legislative changes.

Audience: Senior Leaders, Governors, School Business Managers and staff involved in HR and recruitment, who have previously completed the full day training in Safer Recruitment.
Delegates are required to provide evidence of this when registering on the course.

Trainer: Susanna Bradbury/Sai Patel, Learn Sheffield

This session will provide an overview for school governors of the SEND Code of Practice and Sheffield's procedures around SEND including its graduated approach strategy. The session will cover the role of the governing body and the legal duties of schools and governors in respect to special educational needs and disabilities.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Nick Whittaker, Education Consultant, Learn Sheffield

This course will cover the key processes and requirements for schools considering suspending and excluding pupils. It will draw upon national guidance and good practice in ensuring that decisions to suspend and exclude pupils are rational, proportionate and fair and that governors provide robust oversight and scrutiny of decisions to suspend or exclude pupils.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: John Bigley, Sheffield City Council

This course will guide governors in primary settings to better understand the role of pupil performance data in monitoring school improvement and the impact of the curriculum, learning and teaching. It will include:

• Understanding the information from national tests and examinations
• The difference between progress and attainment
• Interpreting your school's IDSR (governors should bring a copy of the school's IDSR with them to the training)
• What questions should governors be asking about performance data

Audience: Governors of primary settings

Trainer: Helen Lane, Learn Sheffield Improvement Partner

This course will guide governors in secondary settings to better understand the role of pupil performance data in monitoring school improvement and the impact of the curriculum, learning and teaching. It will include:

• Understanding the information from national tests and examinations
• The difference between progress and attainment
• Interpreting your school's IDSR (governors should bring a copy of the school's IDSR with them to the training)
• What questions should governors be asking about performance data

Audience: Governors of secondary settings

Trainer: Helen Lane, Learn Sheffield Improvement Partner

This course will cover:

• The importance of vision and setting the strategic direction in governance
• How having the right vision informs governance work (agenda setting, performance management, school/trust improvement, board self-evaluation)
• Understanding the difference between a vision, a mission statement and school values
• The process of setting a vision and what makes a good vision

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Mark Coppel, Education Governance Specialist