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.  

 

MPs met on Thursday 5th November to debate the school funding system, demonstrating the unanimous support of those in attendance for a National Funding Formula to tackle the lack of fairness in the current system.

To read the debate, -Click Here-


Stockport MPs Ann Coffey and Mary Robinson both spoke out in support of a change to the current system. This remains an issue that GOVAS will continue to highlight and we would urge all governors to use whatever means are at their disposal to publicise how unfairly Stockport schools are treated.

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Following an issue that has recently been raised in relation to schools procurement, please see an update provided by the LA. Can you please ensure that if your schools buy back into the LA service that they are aware of this latest guidance.

 

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Why become a governor?

For volunteers
Governance is about overseeing the success of the school. It is about agreeing priorities and monitoring progress towards them. It is not about running or managing the school or college – that is the job of paid professionals. Governance is about providing constructive support and challenge to leaders and managers to enable them to do their job to the best of their ability. Strong governance is becoming all the more essential as schools and colleges become more autonomous.

For Employers
Employers can really benefit from involvement with schools and colleges. This is particularly true of staff serving as governors. It helps staff develop valuable skills; enables employers to play a positive role in their community; and allows them to offer an employer perspective to the running of the school or college, its strategy and curriculum.
Many of the skills governors acquire are skills that staff might not otherwise develop until much later in their career. They acquire board-level strategic leadership skills and the experiences of working as a senior team. These are valuable skills that governors can bring back into the workplace, which come at no cost to the employer.

What do Governors do?

Together with the Headteacher they set the future direction for the school and decide how the school’s budget should be spent.

The School Forum who are they and what do they do click here for further information

 Welcome to the 12th edition of the Schools Forum Newsletter……..


In this issue, we are including key points from the Schools Forum meeting held on 22 September 2015 particularly; Early Years (2 Year Olds), Terms of Reference/Membership update, High Needs Review, 2016/17 Budget and
Budget Planning Software contract. A full copy of the minutes will be made available via the Council web-site in due course, see section 9 below.
Schools Forum Meeting 22 September 2015 – Key Points

1. Matters Arising from 9 July 2015 Meeting minutes

Minutes accepted as true and correct record.
Matters arising are detailed below:

a) School Balances – excessive surplus balance control mechanism
Clarity was sought from a member relating to the minutes published of the 9 July 2015 meeting. The points raised were addressed by the Director for Education and the Schools Finance Manager and Schools Forum members were satisfied the process had been completed and the minutes reflected the previous discussions and further responses to any points raised are detailed in the published minutes of this meeting.
No further action required.

b) Schools Formula Funding – National data
An update was provided further to the May 2015 meeting item on comparison of funding levels applied by other LAs relating to the Looked after Children (LAC) local funding formula factor.

c) Approved deficit budgets
In response to query raised on the above matter as part of minute item 7 of 12 at the 9 July 2015 meeting, the Schools Finance Manager informed Schools Forum members that the LA had approved the setting of a 2015/16 deficit budget at the following schools; (St Annes, Rosehill & Tithe Barn)

d) Schools Budget 2014/15 Final Out-turn
In response to query raised relating to the construction of the LA DSG central reserve held, the Schools Finance Manager informed members that the reserve fund consisted of monies transferred from DSG year-end underspends, Offerton school closing

John Hattie has looked at hundreds of studies of teaching and learning to try to find what the evidence shows about which teaching methods have a significant impact on achievement. In these two videos he presents his findings and there are some surprises here. Some governors might find that their pet theory about what makes a good school or what is good teaching is not supported by the evidence.

Part 1: Disasters and below average methods

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sng4p3Vsu7Y


Part 2: Effective Methods: what really matter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pD1DFTNQf4

The School Forum who are they and what do they do click here for further information

Welcome to the 11th edition of the Schools Forum Newsletter........


In this issue, we are including key points from the Schools Forum meeting held on 9 July 2015 particularly; Schools Budget 2014/15 Final out-turn, 2014/15 School Balances (Excessive Surplus Balance Control Mechanism), DSG Review Group and Schools Forum (DfE Self-Assessment Toolkit). 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 9 July 2015 – Key Points


1. Matters Arising from 21 May 2015 Meeting minutes

Minutes accepted as true and correct record.
No Matters arising.

Action: Peter Hughes to investigate other LA information on LAC schools local formula funding values and report back at September meeting.

2. SCHOOLS BUDGET 2014/15 FINAL OUT-TURN
Report presented as tabled
Discussions: Peter Hughes presented report detailing the final 2014/15 out-turn position relating to the Schools Budget predominantly financed by the deployment of the dedicated schools grant (DSG).
Decisions: N/A

Actions:
1. Schools Forum members to note the report.
2. LA to consider an update on DSG reserves and any other funding issues for training/development session for members at future meeting.

3. 2014/15 SCHOOL BALANCES – EXCESSIVE SURPLUS BALANCE CONTROL MECHANISM
Report presented as tabled
Discussions: The report provided detail/update of the process, SMT decisions and planned actions relating to the surplus balance of each individual schools excessive surplus balance position.

Help our children stay safe this summer.

The number of cases of online grooming, sexting, online bullying, nude selfies, etc keep on increasing nationally and Stockport is not immune from this problem. The Local Authority  have recently sent out parent guides to all primaries schools in Stockport covering Instagram and Snapchat Apps. As governors, we have a duty to monitor how our schools are tackling online safety, as part of the wider safeguarding agenda.

Parent Guides

Please check, therefore, that your school is promoting these guides, ideally on their websites.


Other resources which you may find useful are these articles on the South west Grid of Learning and the Thinkyouknow website

Have a good summer
GOVAS

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