Middle Leadership

Clerks Development Programme

Clerking in Practice: Record, retrieve and research

Professional development

Clerking in practice: Record, retrieve and research

(Estimated completion time: 7 hours)Record..3

Research..5

Types of governing body meetings..7

Governing body functions and Ofsted inspection of governance9

Record..10

Retrieve: Essential governing body records and how to maintain them12

Scenario15

Summary..21

References...22

1. Introduction

This is the Record, retrieve and research unit for NCTL Clerks Development Programme. Its objective is to provide clerks with the knowledge and understanding to effectively facilitate and support governing body meetings through the provision of accurate minutes and proactive research. It is a required unit of the programme.

Purpose of unit

To build the skills to enable clerks to:

produce agendas and minutes which focus the governing body on school improvement, accurately reflect the content of the meeting and provide evidence of the governors discharging their functions;

maintain an effective filing system on behalf of the governing body and to retrieve relevant documents to support governors to discharge their responsibilities;

access and conduct their own research in order to provide appropriate guidance to governors.

Competency development:

Competency 1: Administration Competency 2: Legal knowledge Competency 3: Educational awareness Competency 4: Advice Competency 5: Communication and relationships Competency 7: Performance and professional development

Development of knowledge and understanding of:

the different types of meetings governing bodies may have to deal with; the different skills and approaches needed to clerk different meetings; the role of the clerk in supporting governors with meetings; essential governing body records, documents and files and how to maintain them; the range of research facilities available to clerks and how to access them.

2. Research

In a constantly changing environment an influential and proactive clerk will take steps to keep their knowledge and understanding of operating frameworks and governing body functions up-to-date. There are a number of different ways in which you can achieve this:

DfE Governors handbook - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/governors-handbook this handbook is periodically updated to reflect regulatory changes and provides guidance for governors of maintained and non-maintained schools. The handbook provides helpful links to other documents and legislation, which provide more detailed advice and guidance. As a clerk you are most likely to access Section 2 of the handbook for procedural guidance. Local authorities may have a governor services co-ordinator or advisor who can provide advice and support. Do you know whom to contact for advice in your local authority? If not, take a moment to find out who it is and make a note of their contact details. Governorline governors can contact Governorline by telephone, email or text for free advice, information and support to anyone directly involved in the governance of maintained schools, academies and free schools in England. Contact by telephone on 08000 722 181, or by email currently available via http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/governance DfE Website https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education. There are many organisations which provide advice and support for governing bodies via a website, helplines and published resources. Those listed below will also usually inform members electronically of key events or changes impacting on governance. All provide free access to the members area of their website for a limited period and more in-depth support through a membership scheme.a) National Governor Association (NGA) http://www.nga.org.uk/ b) The Key for School Governors - http://www.tengovernor.comc) Optimus Education - http://www.optimus-education.comd) Freedom and Autonomy for Schools, National Association (FASNA) - http://www.fasna.org.uk Ofsted website: To access reports on inspection processes and guidance and the latest Ofsted reports for the schools you clerk. http://www.ofsted.gov.uk.

Specialist clerking websites: there are an increasing number of websites, which provide support for clerks. The links below are just three examples:

Clerk to Governors - http://www.clerktogovernors.co.uk/ Clerks Associates - http://www.clerksassociates.co.uk ISCG (Information for school and College Governors) provides resources for clerks including a Clerks Handbook, which is updated periodically.

When undertaking any research always be mindful of the limit of your professional competence when advising the governing body on its function, for example, employment law and health and safety. If in doubt it is wise to consult your local authority, legal teams or HR specialists for accurate advice and guidance.

Activity 2.1

Undertake the following tasks:

Access the Ofsted website and locate and download the latest Ofsted report for the school you support. What does the report tell you are the areas for improvement for the school and in what ways is your governing body focusing upon these priorities? Read section 2 of the DfE Governors handbook to develop your understanding of how the handbook is presented and how you can locate relevant information easily? Does your governing body subscribe to any organisation for advice and support? If so, which ones are these? Investigate at least two of the above independent websites suggested above and use your search engine to identify. Are there any that would be of particular value to you and your governing body?

3. Types of governing body meetings

Governors are required to convene meetings to deal with a broad range of situations. Whilst these will all require an agenda to be issued and minutes to be produced, many of these meetings will require different skills and approaches when clerking them.

When supporting your governing body, which of the following meetings have you had to support?

Full governing body meetings that deal with usual governance business. Legally, the full governing body must meet three times a year but most governing bodies meet five to six times on a half-termly basis.

Extraordinary governing body meetings that deal with an urgent or an exceptional item of business e.g. ratification of the appointment of new headteacher.

Committee meetings that deal with functions delegated by the governing body. Some governing bodies have three or more committees, which deal with specific functions such as, finance and premises, personnel, curriculum and standards. In smaller schools a two-committee model is usual. For example, resources (finance, personnel and premises) and curriculum and standards.

Other meetings are convened to deal with specific exceptional matters:

Panel typeDescription

Complaints panelComplaints typically will be from parents and should be dealt with in accordance with the schools complaint policy. A Governors Complaints Panel is the last stage of the school based complaints process.

Admissions Appeal panelFormed where the school is its own admissions authority (Academy, Voluntary Aided Foundation schools), to deal with representations from parents when they have not been allocated a place in the school for their child.

Exclusions panelThese are formed when parents make representations following a decision to exclude a pupil on a fixed-term or permanent basis. There are guidelines detailing when these must be convened and further information can be found in the clerking panels unit.

Staff grievance, dismissal or appeal panelsTo enable governors to discharge their responsibilities for dealing with disciplinary, capability and other staffing matters e.g. redundancy.

4. Governing body functions and Ofsted inspection of governance

During an Ofsted inspection the inspection team will make a judgement about how effectively the governing body fulfil their functions. These are:

a. Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction; b. Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils; and c. Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

The inspection is informed by guidance for inspectors and the following document details the evidence, which the Inspector will be looking for when making their judgement. Ofsted Subsidiary Guidance

The minutes of governing body meetings are a primary source of evidence for inspectors regarding the effectiveness of the governing body. They also provide a record of governance, and demonstrate to what degree the governing body carries out its core functions.

Your role as clerk in advising, supporting and recording the work of the board is therefore vitally important. From the start of the process with setting agendas, advising on procedure, grounding action points and future reviews, to drafting accurate minutes and contributing to reviews of governing body effectiveness, you have a key role to fulfil.

The induction unit gave you an overview of the key aspects of administrating governing body meetings. This unit builds upon this introduction and enables you to develop your skills further.

5. Record

One of your primary functions in a meeting is to ensure that all action points are owned, timed and recorded, and that timescales for reviews of progress are agreed. For example, do governors wish to agree a review date for monitoring the impact of the improvement plan just discussed?

You can also ensure that your governing body remains focused on its core functions by planning a schedule of meetings and obtaining approval of the main items of business for each meeting. A basic template for a planner can be found in the resource section. The accountability unit provides further opportunities to develop this schedule into more detailed plan of the work of the governing body.

Activity 5.1

Firstly, look at the extract from the Ofsted Subsidiary Guidance and make a list of the implications on your role as the clerk to the governing body.

Secondly, you can engage in an important activity to demonstrate understanding of governance. Review and critique the agenda and minutes in the resource section below as if you are an Ofsted inspector making a judgement about the effectiveness of the governing body.

Identify: the evidence of the governing body fulfilling its functions any areas where the clerk has been particularly supportive or could have supported improved meeting outcomes.

When you have completed this activity, compare your answers to the pre-worked example and add your learning to your learning log.

What do you think is the most effective impact you have had as a clerk?

Providing clear, concise and detailed minutes that accurately reflect the duties the governing body has performed Iain Tessier, York

Effective minute taking. Most recently making a suggestion which resulted in the chair proposing a restructure of who would be part of the strategy working party Stephanie Neary, Swindon

School-based activity 5.2 (This should take approximately 3 hours.) (It is required that you complete at least one school based activity per unit.)

Examine and review the minutes of the last three full governing body meetings you have clerked. Do these provide evidence of the governing body fulfilling their three core functions? Can you identity areas for improvement in respect of the following:

where the governing body is fulfilling its core functions and areas where this could be improved? What you can do to address the improvements in your role as clerk? where do you need governing body support to achieve improvements and how you will do this?

Discuss your findings with your chair and agree the implementation of the suggested improvements. Record your learning in your learning log.

ResourcesSample agenda for Dell Infant school Sample critiqued governing body minutesAnnual planner for governing body meetings Sample governing body minutes

6. Retrieve: Essential governing body records and how to maintain themletter book think

Essential records

Governing bodies should have an operating framework in place to demonstrate how governance functions within the school. This will include some or all of the following:

Record of governing body membership: The clerk should maintain a record of the current membership. A copy is usually given to all members. This should include contact details, governor category, date of appointment and end of term. The end of term date is particularly important as it enables the clerk to alert the governing body to governors nearing the end of their term of office and prompt appropriate action to arrange elections and appointment process.

Terms of reference (governing bodies and committees): Provides groups with details of their membership, quorum requirements, and frequency of meetings, responsibilities and delegated powers. These often detail any policies, for which the group responsible.

Governing body code of conduct: a set of principles for governor conduct. This can be useful in terms of managing relationships, non-attendance and breach of confidentiality as the code provides an approved framework for members of the governing body about expectations of the governor role.

Policies: A register of policies, approved by the governing body, which details review dates should be maintained and stored in the school office and/or on the school website. A sample list of policies a governing body of a maintained school is required to approve can be accessed from resources.

Pecuniary interest register: The governing body must maintain a register of the business and potential conflicts of interest. The clerk should ensure that members sign a declaration when they are appointed and renew the declaration annually, (normally at the first meeting of the autumn term). A sample form and guidance can be accessed from the resource section.

Filing and archiving papers: Schools are required to keep a copy of all paperwork considered at every governing body and committee meeting, including signed minutes and agendas, for an indefinite period. Confidential papers, which form a part of this record, need to be kept in a secure location separate from other governing body paperwork. All these records need to be accessible to the clerk, chair and headteacher at any time. Some schools use a secure section of the school website to hold recent governing body papers. However, depending on the storage capacity of the website, papers will need to be archived in paper format at some point. A copy of the governing body paperwork, excluding confidential items, also needs to be available at all times in the school for public scrutiny.

Dealing with confidential documents and freedom of information requests: Clerks need to be mindful of the Data Protection (DP) Act and the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. Clerks need to ensure that appropriate action is taken to protect personal data held on governors, particularly when transferring electronically, and that they are aware of the deadlines and action required if a Freedom of Information request is received. You might find the Data Protection, Freedom of Information and Confidentiality resource useful.

Membership matters: The clerk has an important facilitator role in prompting the governing body to manage vacancies and succession planning for the leadership of the governing body.

Governance is a demanding role, and it is important that anyone appointed to the governing body should therefore have the skills to contribute to effective governance and the success of the school. This could include specific skills such as an ability to understand data or finances as well as general capabilities such as the capacity and willingness to learn. The government is placing great emphasis on the constitution of the governing body and its skills base capacity and capability.

The clerk can provide early notice of impending end of terms of office in order that the board is proactive in filling vacancies, but the clerk may make a broader contribution to this process.

Reflection

Please read the document Succession breeds success; how to grow leaders in your governing body, which provides an overview of succession planning for governing bodies and reflects on what advice and support you can give to your governing body to help them plan and prepare for the future.

In addition to succession planning, governing bodies are now required to place a great emphasis on the skills of their governors and to ensure that governors have the relevant skills, experience and expertise to effectively lead the governance of the school.

The most effective governing bodies take a proactive approach to managing governor skills and use skills audits to identify what capacity they currently have and where there may be gaps in knowledge and understanding. This information can be used to help governing bodies identify future governor membership and governor development requirements.

It is important all members meet the eligibility criteria for their role, (defined in the School Governance Constitution Regulations 2012) and complete an identify check on appointment.

Scenario: Key information to record in minutes of governing body meetings

This scenario will explore how a conflict of interest can arise within a meeting, the support a clerk may offer to the governing body to deal with the issue and options for handling it effectively.

Context

This is a recently formed federation of two schools Southgate and Northgate Primary Schools. The new governing body (GB) has many new governors the executive headteacher (EHT) has been in post for three months. The chair was previously the chair of Southgate Primary School. The clerk previously supported Northgate Primary School.

The school is facing a challenging budget situation. The EHT has formulated proposals to harmonise learning support assistant (LSA) structures and pay rates for both schools in the federation. This will involve reduced hours for staff in Northgate Primary school and a change of pay scale for LSAs in both schools.

The EHT asked for the clerk to include Learning support staff restructuring proposals on the agenda, (item 6) for the next GB meeting. The agenda was approved by the chair and the clerk distributed this seven days before the meeting together with the EHTs report outlining her proposals. The conversation starts at the beginning of the GB meeting.

Profiles

John Small is chair. John is a strong believer in teamwork, but can be dogmatic when challenged. He is just getting to know new governors, but does not know some experienced governors from Northgate as well as he would like.

Molly James is the clerk. She knows governors from Northgate very well and is on good terms with them all and particularly David Hornsby and his wife, who works as an LSA at Northgate Primary School.

David Hornsby has been a local authority governor for 15 years at Northgate Primary school and is well respected for his incisive contributions in meetings to pupil progress.

John: Welcome to meeting. We have apologies from Jane Brown and Reverend Sanderson both of whom are on holiday. Moving on to item 2 Declarations of pecuniary interest or conflict of interest. Does anyone have an interest to declare in respect of any agenda item for this meeting?

Governors: Silence Governors offer no declarations.

John: Ok. Lets move on to item 3 Minutes of last meeting.

Guidance:

As an individual, you know that Davids wife works in Northgate School as an LSA. You know that other governors who were on the Northgate Governing Body know this too, but they have not challenged David about a potential conflict of interest. What as clerk to the governing body will you do?

Option a: Do nothing

Option b: Pass a note to the chair indicating that you know Davids wife is an LSA and in your view he has a potential conflict of interest. Will he raise the matter?

Option c: Seek a short comfort break before item 6 is considered and discuss with the chair

Option d: In a sensitive and non-threatening way suggest that David may be perceived as having a conflict of interest with regard to item 6 and suggest he considers his position with regard to this matter.

Results: Now consider the effect of your response:

Result a: As clerk you have a responsibility to ensure that the governing body is procedurally secure and support them appropriately to ensure the integrity of their decision making process. After the meeting it would be reasonable to consider why this matter was not surfaced at agenda setting so that a plan for addressing conflicting interests of this kind could be discussed. Doing nothing is not an option and friendships should not be allowed to impact on your role as clerk.

Result b: By giving the chair a note you are enabling him to lead a discussion on the question of Davids potential conflict of interest. This may be appropriate but the chair may not be entirely clear on what constitutes a conflict of interest himself and may ignore your note. You are then left with the decision to intervene later to surface the issue later.

Result c: You could seek a comfort break but your discussion with the chair is likely to be fairly obvious unless you leave the room together. There is no guarantee that the chair will see that there is an issue and may override your concerns.

Result d: By raising the issue at agenda item 2 the matter is being considered at the appropriate time in the meeting, and all governors would be aware of the issue. If David does not see that he has a potential conflict of interest then the GB has the option of deciding whether he has one! The issue could be pitched sensitively by explaining that you and the GB are not challenging his judgement or ability to be objective but others (possibly staff and others outside the GB) could potentially do so and also question the effectiveness of the GB.

You may now like to document your reflections in your learning log, including whether the result of your choice was as you had expected.

Activity 6.1

Research different approaches to auditing the skills of governors and identify a template that works for you. You may want to ask your learning triad to share the skills audits they use or you may already have one that works well at school.

Ask your governing body to complete the audit and return it to you and your chair.

Review the information collated to identify:

Does the governing body have the relevant skills, knowledge and expertise to lead governance at the school and implement the school development plan? Where there are skills gaps for your governing body? What are the training and development needs of your governing body? How can you use this information to help inform future recruitment of governors?

Record your learning in the learning log.

Resources

Record, retrieve and research membership record templateTerms of reference templateDfE statutory policies for schools and academiesData Protection, Freedom of Information and Confidentiality

School-based activity 6.2 (It is required that you complete at least one school based activity per unit.)

Review your governing body practice, in terms of:

Governing body minutes: where is the evidence of governors fulfilling statutory responsibilities? Are there any gaps in information? How do you currently plan for policy and statutory regulation requirements? Do you have an annual planner or scheme of work? If not, then produce one, and if you do, review its content and ensure it is valid and relevant for the forthcoming year? Terms of reference for governing body and committee meetings: Do you have them? When were they last reviewed? Are they reflective of the governing body priorities and powers? Guidance and compliance for information security: What systems and processes do you have in place for data protection, the confidential storage of information and for dealing with freedom of information request? Is it in line with national legislation?

Identify any opportunities for improvement and discuss and agree these with your chair.

Record you learning in your learning log. letter book think

7. Summary

Now that you have completed this unit, record your reflections in your learning log.

What have I learnt?

What have I learnt from the unit? What impact has it or will it have on your role as clerk? Record your key learning points in your learning log Update and review your programme action plan.

Impact on my practice as a clerk

You may like to record the impact this unit has had on your practice as a clerk. What competencies have you focused on and developed?

My next steps

What will I do next?

8. References and further reading

Clerk to Governors, accessed 2014.

Clerks Associates, accessed 2014.

DfE Governors Handbook, accessed 2014.

DfE School Governance Constitution Regulations, 2012, accessed 2014.

DfE Website, accessed 2014.

Freedom and Autonomy for Schools, National Association (FASNA), accessed 2014.

Governorline, accessed 2014.

ISCG (Information for school and College Governors), accessed 2014.

National Governor Association (NGA), accessed 2014.Ofsted Subsidiary Guidance, Ofsted, accessed 2014.

Optimus Education, accessed 2014.

The Education Network for Governors, accessed 2014.

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