About Govas

GOVAS works closely with the Stockport Children and Young People Directorate, but we are a fully independent association of governors affiliated to the equally independent National Governors Association. Every governor in Stockport is automatically a GOVAS member (as long as your institution pays their subscriptionof £10.00 PA)and our Management Committee is made up exclusively of serving volunteer governors in Stockport’s schools – nursery, primary secondary and special. Our biggest strength is our links with all the school governors in Stockport through our newsletter, special communications, and this website.  

 

Dear Governors

The annual Govas AGM will take place 21st January 2021 after a turbulent year we have decided to do this in a virtual world, quite strange but most of you will have had experience with this over the last 9 months

Lynn Perry has accepted our invitiation to speak about "Covid 19 and the impact of schools and education in Stockport"

 

Agenda

18.50 Technology check - invitation to make sure it all works till 1900

19 00 Introduction from current chair Anne Trafford

19 05 AGM just a bit of boring stuff but has to be done all paperwork can be found -Here (incl Chair report Treasurers report)- New Members are most welcome please email us in advance -click here- and then click on contact form-

19 20 Lynn Perry- "Covid 19 and the impact of schools and education in Stockport", during this time  questions can asked via the chat box on the Teams application and again for the Govas questions. you can also email questions in advance -here- and then click on contact form

19 45 Lynn Perry- Answering questions from the previous session,  no further questions may be answered from this point onwards.

20 15 Question to Govas via chat will be answered by the Chair or someone else

20 30 ish Close of the meeting.

 

So how will this work

We will be using Microsoft Teams to deliver the conference and in order to have some form of security you will need to register in advance for the AGM just like you may have done in the past via the Govas website -click link- 

A day before the conference you will be sent a Microsoft Teams exclusive link to join the Presentation/AGM you should then join and mute Video and Audio to save bandwidth.

If you have no experience with microsoft Teams then why not Team up with a fellow Governor to try it out, download Microsoft Teams -Here-

Beverages will come from the kitchen served by your partner at 19.45

We are looking forward to seeing you there -well sort of there.

Govas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Schools’ Forum (an elected group of Head teachers, Principals, Governors and other associated members) is the key decision making and consultative group required by DfE regulation which oversees/governs all financial and administrative matters relating to the Schools Budget financed by the dedicated schools grant (DSG).

There is currently a vacancy for a primary governor

In 2021 there will be a vacancy for a secondary governor

Anyone who is interested in filling these vacancies should contact Peter Hughes or contact Govas. Obviously if there is more than one interested party there would have to be an election

The current make-up of the Stockport Schools Forum is:

Schools members

  • · 5 Primary head teachers – including 1 from a VA school
  • · 5 Primary governors – including 1 from a VA school
  • · 2 Secondary head teachers - including 1 from a VA school
  • · 2 Secondary governors
  • · 1 Special school head teacher/governor
  • · 1 Nursery head teacher
  • · 1 PRU head teacher
  • · 3 Academy representatives

Non-schools’ members

  • · 1 Diocesan representative
  • · 1 Trades union/professional association representative
  • · 1 non-Executive elected member
  • · 1 Vulnerable Children representative
  • · 1 Post 16 representative
  • · 1 PVI Early Years sector representative

The roles and responsibilities of the Schools’ Forum can be found in the guide recently updated by the DfE in May 2020 -click this lnk to read the guide-

 

Dear Governors

GOVAS has met a few times in the past few months in a virual enviroment discussing the current issues that are going on in schools.

Based on that success we are considering a virtual AGM with some speeches via most likely -"zoom"

Date set for this to take place would be the 21st January 2021 -1900hrs, if you have any ideas or thoughts then please do not hesitate to contact us via the -contact us- link above (then click -contact form-)

Govas

 

GOVAS MEETING FOR ALL GOVERNORS THURSDAY 19th SEPTEMBER 7-9pm

GOVAS had arranged a meeting open to all governors in Stockport (Published via Governorhub) to provide an early opportunity for you to meet and hear from our new interim Director of Educational Services, Steve Nyakatawa. Steve outlined his and the Council's priorities over the year ahead, with a particular emphasis on Special Educational Needs. Steve was joined by colleagues from the service, including Cathy Lyall, lead officer for SEND. <- Link to the powerpoint presented on the evening - Click Here ->

The meeting included a short GOVAS AGM.  Governors interested in joining the GOVAS committee can contact us above.

GOVAS will also be organising its annual conference in partnership with the Local Authority in March next year. Details will follow, but the anticipated date is Saturday 28th March ( 9am-1pm).

Best wishes for a successful year governing, 

 

Andy Kent ( outgoing GOVAS Chair) 

 

SCHOOLS’ FORUM

NEWSLETTER 30 – July 2019

The Schools’ Forum (an elected group of Head teachers, Principals, Governors and other associated members) is the key decision making and consultative group required by DfE regulation which oversees/governs all financial and administrative matters relating to the Schools Budget financed by the dedicated schools grant (DSG).

The roles and responsibilities of the Schools’ Forum can be found in the new short guide recently updated by the DfE in March 2015

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-forums-operational-and-good-practice-guide-2015

The DfE has identified as part of their review of Schools’ Forum that effective best practice relating to Schools’ Forum and its operational duties includes communication to all the wider stakeholder audience of the business matters discussed and decisions made. (i.e. ensuring all decisions made at forum are duly recorded and shared).

To enhance communication with the wider school audience, the Local Authority will produce a brief overview newsletter of the discussions/views, decisions made and agreed actions in relation to all business matters after each meeting and distribute to stakeholders via the following means:

  • Office on-line;
  • Council’s web-site (see below link);
  • Govas web-site;
  • Schools Finance monthly newsletter; and directly
  • To all Schools’ Forum members

 

Welcome to the 30th edition of the Schools’ Forum Newsletter……..

In this issue, we are including key points from the Schools’ Forum meeting held on 11 July 2019 particularly; DFE SEND Call for Evidence consultation, 2020/21 Local Formula (Primary), DSG Review and Schools’ Forum membership. A full copy of the minutes will be made available via the Council web-site in due course, see section 8 below.

Schools’ Forum Meeting 11 July 2019 – Key Points

  1. MATTERS ARISING PREVIOUS MINUTES

Item 7 School Places – further discussions have taken place via the SMP board and additional information will hopefully be available early in the new academic year.

Item 10 DSG Review – Actions resolved and further verbal update provided (see section xx below)

Item 11 School Insurance Scheme – An update will be provided at the September 2019 meeting on the matters arising.

Item 13 SFVS – Training dates have been set up for the autumn term as below:

30 September – Annual Introduction to SFVS (New Governors/School Staff)

16 October (10am – 12 Noon 2 x 1hr sessions) – SFVS update and introduction to the new dashboard.

NEWSLETTER 29 – May 2019

Welcome to the 29th edition of the Schools’ Forum Newsletter……..

In this issue, we are including key points from the Schools’ Forum meeting held on 23 May 2019 particularly; School Places, SEN monitoring, DSG 2018/19 Outturn, 2018/19 Final School Balances, SFVS, DSG Review and School Insurance Schemes 2018/19 outturn. A full copy of the minutes will be made available via the Council web-site in due course, see section 11 below.

Schools’ Forum Meeting 23 May 2019 – Key Points

  1. MATTERS ARISING PREVIOUS MINUTES

Jon Roper (Primary HT) raised matter of published minutes not presenting a full and clear picture of the meeting discussions/debate undertaken – LA officers to feedback to democratic services.

Education Healthy Schools Capital fund:

Discussion took place in relation to LA decision making/process and final determination of how funding to be distributed – LA officers to provide further update/report on progress/final spend and address any further SF member queries raised in due course.

“School Governance in Changing Times: Threats, Challenges and Opportunities"

This took place on the 23rd of March, details on all the workshop slides - follow the links below


Keynote Speaker
Dr Tony Breslin -Author of the RSA- Royal Society of Arts ‘Who Governs Our Schools’?’

Workshops

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