National Governors Association Questions for governing bodies to ask Briefing note: 6 July 2013
National Governors' Association The National Governors' Association aims to improve the wellbeing of children and young people by promoting high standards in all our schools and improving the effectiveness of their governing bodies. NGA represents governors across England in both LA maintained schools and academies. In these notes, 'schools' includes academies. The NGA is a membership organisation: governing bodies can join at a standard ( 72 for 2012/13) or GOLD rate ( 260). To join NGA and receive regular updates, visit the following website: Thanks to NGA members This resource was developed with the help of many NGA members who attended one of seven regional meetings between February and April. Their comments were invaluable in fine tuning this suite of questions. Other 'Knowing your School' briefing notes: 1. RAISEonline for Governors of Primary School: NGS with RM education. 2. RAISEonline for Governors of Secondary Schools: NGS with RM education. 3. Getting to know your parents: NGS with Kirkland Rowell surveys. 4. Governors and staff performance: NGS with COGs 5. a) The FFT Governor Dashboard for secondary school governors b) The FFT Governor Dashboard for primary school governors The eight elements of effective governance: 1. The right people around the table 2. Understanding role & responsibilities 3. Good chairing 4. Professional clerking 5. Good relationships based on trust 6. Knowing the school- the data, the staff, the parents, the children, the community 7. Committed to asking challenging questions 8. Confident to have courageous conversations in the interests of the children and young people
Questions for governing bodies to ask This briefing note alerts governors to a range of questions that governing bodies can use to help them hold their schools to account and ensure high standards and the best outcomes for young people. The governing body needs to know its school's strengths and weaknesses, and this is intended as one aide (amongst many) to point you in the right direction. Knowing your school well and asking challenging questions are two of the eight elements of effective governance. Governing bodies are not always as good as they could be at challenging the school effectively and constructively in a way that leads to improved practice and outcomes. It is intended that these questions will help governors to do this. This new resource complements the 'twenty questions' published in July 2012 by the All-party Parliamentary Group on Education Governance and Leadership, which concern the governing body's own performance and how it governs itself. Those 'twenty questions' prompted the Secretary of State for Education to suggest that a further set of questions could be developed for governing bodies to ask headteachers; and NGA accepted the challenge. The House of Commons Education Select Committee in its report on The Role of School Governing Bodies last month also discussed the importance of governors asking effective questions and interrogating data effectively, and supported the publication of further questions. However, during their development it became apparent that not all the questions for which governors need to have answers have to be directed in the first instance to the headteacher. Some answers are available from other sources. Some of the questions are ones the governing body should be asking itself (and of course the headteacher would be involved in the discussion), for example questions about the vision and ethos of the school, and some the governing body should know the answers from nationally available sources. However, most of the questions will be asked of school leaders, and thought needs to be had as to the time, place and style of the questioning: see the health warning below. These new questions started with the ten questions included in the Government's White Paper 2010 'The importance of teaching' with further questions added under each, plus two more overarching questions. There is inevitably some cross-over between questions. They have also been cross checked against Ofsted's questions for governors and the questions in the DfE's Governor's Handbook. The new set of questions is designed to cover a range of governing bodies, from the very confident and competent, to the less so. In the former case, the governing body will already know the answers to a number- if not almost all - of the questions, but
may use others to probe further. For those governing bodies on a journey of improvement, the headline questions will provide a steer of what you need to know. The questions are generic and need to be adapted to suit your school and its context. Despite the number, these are not an exhaustive list; the more you discover about the school and its performance, the more follow-up questions you may need to ask to dig deeper on specific issues. Some of those may be as simple as 'So what are we going to do about it?' and 'How will we know the impact of doing that?' Governing bodies need to concentrate first on areas where self-evaluation suggests a need for improvement.
Health warning: these questions need to be used appropriately. You need to consider the best time and place to ask any questions- it may be at the relevant committee meeting, rather than in a full governing body meeting, and must be pertinent to the discussion at hand. It is absolutely NOT intended that these questions should be handed over to the headteacher and an answer to each one sought. This is not a test for school leaders, but a tool to help governors. If you are in any doubt about how to use these well, please contact NGA at governorhq@nga.org.uk The 12 Questions 1. Do we have a clear vision for the school? 2. What are the school's values? 3. What are we doing to raise standards for all children? 4. Are we making best use of the Pupil Premium? 5. Have we got the right approach to staffing? 6. How well does the curriculum provide for and stretch all pupils? 7. How does the school promote good behaviour to enhance learning? 8. Do we have a sound financial strategy, make the most efficient use of our resources, obtain good value for money and have robust procurement and financial systems? 9. Are the buildings and other assets in good condition and are they well used? 10. Do we keep children safe and healthy? 11. How well do we keep parents informed and take account of their views? 12. Does the school offer a wide range of extra-curricular activities which engage all pupils?
Supplementary Questions 1. Do we have a clear vision for the school? This is a question the governing body should take the lead on. a) Do we know where we want to be in the next 5 or 1 0 years? 2. What are the school's values? (See also question 6, 7 & question 12) This is a question the governing body should take the lead on. a) When did we last review our ethos/values statement? b) Are the school's values reflected in its development plans? c) How do we publicise our values (e.g. are they on our website)? d) How do staff and governors promote the school's values in their conduct? e) Do students know what the school's values are? f) How do we ensure that students leave our school equipped for the next stage of life? g) Does the school curriculum reflect and develop our stated values? h) How do staff embed the school's values into their teaching? (see also question 6) i) In faith schools- How are the school's religious/faith values promoted? 3. What are we doing to raise standards for all children? (See also question 6, question 7 & question 12) The governing body should know the answers to questions a) to k) from data sources, such as RaiseOnline, the Ofsted dashboard and Fischer Family Trust dashboard, and from internal data provided by school leaders, including the headteachers' report: a) How does attainment at this school compare to national averages and the government's floor standards? b) What, if any, impact does the context of our school have on pupils' attainment? c) How is the school performing in English and maths? d) How do children in our school progress compared with expectations?
e) How does the school s performance compare to those for other similar schools? f) Which groups of pupils in terms of gender and ethnicity are the highest and lowest performing? g) How are FSME (ever-six Free School Meal), SEN and EAL students progressing compared with other students in this school, and Compared with FSME students in other schools? h) How are low, middle and high ability children progressing and attaining? i) Which subjects are highest and lowest performing? j) Do we know how these results have been changing over the past three years: are we improving or not? k) How does attendance in each year group compare with national averages, and what are the trends over time? I) Does the headteacher's report give a clear indication of progress towards meeting the targets/objectives in the school development/improvement plan? m) Does the headteacher's report give a clear indication of pupil progress? For all year groups and subjects in the school? n) What are the strengths and weaknesses of the school? What are the Strengths and weaknesses of this school? o) How do we know that the information we have about our school is robust and accurate? How do we know that the information we have about our school is robust and accurate? Questions for the headteacher (Some of these should be answered regularly by the headteachers' report) a) Why is progress in some subjects under national expectations (2 levels of progress/key stage). Why is progress in some subjects under national expectations (2 levels of progress/key stage)? i. What is your strategy for improving the areas of weak performance?
b) Why is progress in some subjects or year groups better than others in the school? i. What is being done to raise performance specifically in those areas which are under achieving? ii. What has worked well and can we use it more widely? iii. How does this relate to the quality of teaching across the school? c) Why are some groups of pupils (as identified above: by gender, ethnicity, EAL, socio-economic status, ability) progressing less? Questions for governing bodies to ask: Pupil premium 4. Are we making best use of the Pupil Premium? (see also question 3 and question 8) For governing bodies: a) Can we identify how rnuch money is allocated to the school for the Pupil Premium? i. Is it identified in the school's budget planning? ii. Can we identify the Pupil Premium funding separately to any other funding for disadvantaged pupils? b) In determining the strategy for spending the pupil premium have we considered the Ofsted/Education Endowment Foundation information about what methods are effective in raising attainment for disadvantaged pupils? c) Do the school's improvement/action plans identify whether there are any issues in the performance of pupils who are eligible for the Pupil Premium? d) Do the actions noted for improving outcomes for Pupil Premium pupils: i. give details of how the resources are to be allocated? ii. give an overview of the actions to be taken? iii. give a summary of the expected outcomes? iv. identify ways of monitoring the effectiveness of these actions as they are ongoing and note who will be responsible for ensuring that this information is passed to governors v. explain what will be evaluated at the end of the action and what measures of success will be applied? e) Will we know and be able to intervene quickly to request remedial action if outcomes are not improving in the way that we want them to?
For Senior Leaders f) Have you checked the Key to Success website to ensure that you have a full list of all eligible pupils- given that some of the children will not currently be claiming FSM. g) Are staff aware of which pupils are Pupil Premium children and the possible support and expected intervention? h) What processes have you put in place to evaluate whether the intervention strategies are working? I) Are the progress and outcomes of eligible pupils identified and analysed by the school s tracking systems? How will you report this information to governors in a way that enables them to see clearly whether the gap in the performance of eligible pupils and other pupils is closing? j) Do the school's systems enable you to give a clear picture to governors about the progress and attainment of pupils who are eligible for the Pupil Premium in all year groups across the school, not just those at the end of key stages? k) Are there gaps in the attainment of pupils who are eligible for the Pupil Premium and those who are not, and if so, are eligible pupils making accelerate;:d progress -to allow the gaps to close? I) Are you tracking the attendance, punctuality and behaviour (particularly exclusions) of this group and taking action to address any differences? m) Have you looked at the websites of other similar schools to see what interventions they are using? n) How do you promote awareness of FSM eligibility to encourage all eligible pupils to claim? Questions for governing bodies to ask: Staffing 5. Have we got the right approach to staffing? (See also question 8) a) If you could change the staffing structure, would you and why? i. What changes would you make? ii. Are there any areas (including business management) we need more/less staff in?
iii. iv. Is the support staff to teaching staff ratio right? Do we have the right line-management structure in place? b) Have we got an effective pay structure in place? i. Have we reviewed and updated our pay policy to take account of the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document 2013? ii. Is it clear how performance and pay are related? iii. Are we able to use the pay structure to reward our best staff? c) How effectively are all the staff managed and appraised? i. Do all line managers meet regularly 1:1 with their staff? ii. How do you go about setting objectives? iii. Do all classroom based staff (teaching and non-teaching) have performance objectives which relate to the school development priorities? iv. What objectives have been set for staff? v. How many $staff achieved their objectives for the past year? vi. What additional support is being offered to staff struggling to meet objectives and is that working well? vii. Are any teachers subject to capability proceedings? d) Is there correlation between appraisal outcomes, pay and the quality of teaching and learning? e) How many outstanding/good/satisfactory/inadequate lessons have you observed this term - what action is being taken where lessons are less than good? f) How effective is Continuous Professional Development in improving teaching and learning? How do you know? g) Do you have a programme of staff development for succession planning to ensure the school has a good supply of middle and senior leaders? h) What is the staff retention like in reference to similar schools? i) What is staff absence/sickness like in reference to similar schools? j) Are you carrying out 'exit' interviews for staff who leave- are there any common themes? k) Have we got human resources expertise which is high quality and how do we know?
I) Have we got the skills and knowledge in the staff team to manage personnel matters well, and how is this demonstrated? Question for governing bodies a) How effectively is the head teacher's appraisal carried out? b) Are her/his objectives set in line with school priorities? c) Does the GB/relevant committee receive good quality information about the performance appraisal outcomes of staff? Questions for governing bodies to ask: Curriculum 6. How well does the curriculum provide for and stretch all pupils? See also question 2, question 10 & question 12) Questions to senior leaders; a) How do we ensure our pupils receive a broad and balanced education? i. How do we know that the curriculum meets the specialised needs of all our pupils? b) If there were no rules, how would you change the curriculum? i. If so, what's stopping you? c) How do you ensure that the curriculum across the school promotes i.. the ethos of the school ii. the pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development? iii. What do internal assessments by staff tell us and parents? I.e. is it just pupils' progress through the curriculum? Or does it tell! us about the skills, values, and personal qualities they've developed? d) Could the curriculum be made more exciting/stand out more? e) Have you asked the pupils what they want from the curriculum? And what did they say? f) What do other local schools offer in their curriculum which is different from ours? g) How does the school use partnerships with other schools/businesses/the local community to enhance the curriculum?
i. Have you developed links with the infant/junior/middle/secondary school(s) and FE /tertiary institutions h) How are staff encouraged to be more innovative about the teaching of the curriculum? i. Is there sufficient lesson differentiation to provide for students of all abilities? ii. How are you encouraging different key stage staff to collaborate and interdepartment collaboration? j) What information do you hold about the destinations of our pupils when they leave this school? For schools using the National Curriculum: k) How do you ensure all teaching staff are clear about the National Curriculum requirements- especially given the impending changes? l) What proportion of the week do pupils spend on the National Curriculum? i. Is this too much? Too 1'1ttle? Or about right? ii. How have you developed the offer for the remaining time? m) What skills do we want our children to leave with? i. To what extent are they being developed? ii. How can this be improved? Questions for governing bodies to ask: Behaviour 7. How does the school promote good behaviour to enhance learning? (See also question 2, question 6, question 10, question 11 & question 12) The answers to some of these questions will be found in the behaviour policy, but as part of the review and monitoring process, these can be useful: a) Is this a happy school with a positive learning culture? i. What is the overall picture of behaviour in this school- how does it compare with other schools? ii. How is good behaviour rewarded? And how often? b) How are pupils, parents and staff made aware of the school behaviour policy i. What measures are in place to ensure good behaviour, discipline and respect is communicated to pupils?
ii. iii. Are staff clear about the school's behaviour policy and the extent of their disciplinary authority/powers? What steps do we take to inform parents about how they are expected to behave while on school premises? c) What impact does the behaviour policy have on classroom practicehow do you know? d) How do you monitor whether the behaviour policy is being applied consistently across the school? e) How do you assess/monitor pupils' attitudes to learning? f) What information do you have about i. the levels of attendance, ii. incidents of bullying (including cyber-bullying and homophobic bullying), iii. levels of poor behaviour? iv. What are you doing to address any issues? g) What measures are in place to deal with persistent poor behaviour? E.g. systems to identify and address the needs of pupils who continuously display disruptive behaviour. i. How do you monitor pupils causing concern? ii. Do you/the staff know the root causes of poor behaviour? iii. What external support do the staff have for dealing with any behaviour issues? iv. Have all staff received appropriate training in relation to dealing with aggressive pupils where restraint may be required? h) How many pupils have been excluded (fixed term and permanently) in the last term/year/three years? I) How many managed moves have taken place this term/year? j) How do you deal with poor behaviour that takes place beyond the school gate? k) How do you deal with cyber bullying? i. What steps do we take to educate staff about the issues of social media
ii. What steps have you taken to inform/educate parents about the potential pitfalls of social media, for example, cyber- bullying, 'grooming' and 'unfriending'? I) How do you deal with poor behaviour that occurs during a school organised or related activity/trip? m) Does the school have links with other schools in relation to behaviour initiatives? n) How many CAFs (Common Assessment Framework) reports have been filled in on pupils in this school? Questions for governing bodies to ask: finance 8. Do we have a sound financial strategy, make the most efficient use of our resources, obtain good value for money and have robust procurement and financial systems? (See also question 4, question 5, & question 9) a) Do we understand how the delegated budget received from the local authority or the General Annual Grant from the Education Funding Agency has been calculated? i. Are we clear what items of expenditure this budget is meant to cover? b) Do we have the necessary skills on the governing body to effectively monitor the finance and procurement processes effectively? c) Are there clear terms of reference for any committee(s) dealing with finance? d) Are there a clear financial procedures, including procedures for procurement, in place? i. Are there appropriate mechanisms in place to ensure that the agreed procedures are being followed? ii. Have we taken/received advice from the local authority/our auditors on our financial systems? iii. Do we have sound procedures in place for fraud detection? e) Are we allocating funding in line with development/improvement priorities? f) Are we making efficient use of all our financial resources?
g) Are there areas in which we could obtain better value for money from our budget? h) Are we under or over spending in any areas of the budget? Why is this? i) Do we have a deficit and do we have a clear plan for eliminating it? j) Do we have any reserves and do we have a clear plan in relation to spending them? Questions for school leaders: k) Does the school have the necessary skills in the staff team to manage finance and procurement well? I) Do you think that the governing body has the necessary skills to effectively monitor the finance and procurement processes effectively? m) Have you benchmarked our spending on (e.g. learning resources and energy) against similar schools? n) Have you considered joint procurement with other schools? a) Do you have a hospitality policy? o) Have all governors and members of staff been made aware of it? Local authority maintained schools: p) Is the Schools Financial Value Standard (SFVS) return a regular item on the relevant GB/Finance Committee agenda? i. Have the governing body put in place an action plan to address any issues found when completing the SFVS ii. Have all members of the governing body seen a copy of the SFVS? Questions for governing bodies to ask: Buildings and assets 9. Are the buildings and other assets in good condition and are they well used? (See also question B) a) Is there a systematic cycle of planning and review of the state of our buildings and other assets?
b) Do we have a priority list of buildings and assets in need of repair/replacement? c) How will projected pupil numbers affect the building requirements for the next three years? d) Are all parts of our buildings used to their maximum potential and, if not, do we have a plan in place to improve this. e) What process does the school use to identify possible building development funds? f) Have we identified all the obvious risks (including asbestos) associated with our buildings and do we have a plane for managing them? g) Have we got adequate levels of insurance? h) Do we now employ someone to maintain the buildings/manage repairs? i) Do we have a plan for investment in learning resources (including IT systems)? j) Do we invest adequately in comparison to other schools? Questions for governing bodies to ask: Health and Safety 10. Do we keep children safe and healthy? (See also question 2, question 7 & question 12) a) Do we meet the statutory health and safety requirements? i. How does the school ensure it keeps up to date with relevant health and safety regulations and guidance? ii. Is there a designated health & safety co-ordinator: are governors and staff aware of whom this person is? iii. How often are safety inspections carried out and are the outcomes reported to the governing body. iv. Are the school's procedures for dealing with a breach or incident clear? v. Are staff clear about the procedures for dealing with health and safety emergencies? b) Does the school have clear and proportionate procedures in place for approving (risk assessing) school trips/outdoor activities?
c) How are child protection issues monitored, do we have a child protection coordinator (name, contact details)? i. Are staff aware of the procedure that needs to be followed when they have concerns about child protection? ii. Have staff and governors received appropriate child protection/safeguarding training? iii. Do we run-safety awareness training for staff, governors, pupils and parents? d) Is the school offering a good range of sports, and other outdoor activities (see also question 12): l. How many pupils are participating in these? ii. What could be done to get more pupils involve e) Is school food healthy and popular? f) Has the school applied for Healthy School Food Standard/Artsmark/Eco- Schools etc? Questions for governing bodies to ask: Engaging parents 11. How well do we keep parents informed and take account of their views? a) Are we meeting the statutory requirements on publishing information? b) How does the school communicate with parents? i ii. iii. How often? Who? For what purpose? How good if the school website as a source of information for parents? How do you know and how could it be improved? Should the governing body be communicating with parents? c) Do we ensure that parents are made aware of any changes taken place in school? d) When and how were parents last asked for their views about the school? i. What did the results show? ii. What action was taken as a result? e) How does the school development plan take account of parents' views? f) Is it easy for parents to get in touch with the school?
g) Are parents directed toward Ofsted's parent view website? h) What is done to encourage parents to help their children learn? i. What is the school doing to provide support to/for parents to do this? i) How are parents informed about their child's behaviour (bad/good) and what methods are used to engage them (parents)? j) Why are parents choosing- or not choosing- our school? How do you know that? Are there better ways of learning this? k) Why do children leave the school before their final year? i. How do you know that? Are there better ways of learning this? I) Should governors be carrying out focus groups to find out more? m) What complaints have we had from parents and what action was taken as a result? Questions for governing bodies to ask: Extra-Curricular provision 12. Does the school offer a wide range of extra-curricular activities which engage all pupils? a) Do the extra-curricular activities on offer complement the school s values? i. What do the pupils gain from the extra-curricular activities on offer? b) Are extra-curricular activities integrated into the school improvement plan? If not, how could this be done? i. How do the extra-curricular activities contribute to the pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development? c) Is the range of activities broad, including a wide range of arts, sports and other out-door pursuits? d) How are extra-curricular activities organised? i. Could this be done more effectively? ii. How are extra-curricular activities funded?
iii. iv. Could this be done more efficiently? Are the activities sustainable? e) Are the extra-curricular activities physically and financially accessible to all pupils? i. Are extra-curricular activities part of the plan to close the gaps in attainment between different groups of children, particularly those from poorer families? f) What efforts are made to involve/engage parents in extra-curricular activities? i. How could this be done/done better? g) Is there any local community involvement in extra-curricular activities? i. How could this be done/improved? h) How do you monitor the impact of extra-curricular activities? i. Is this used to improve and adapt them? End.