Stories + Views: Governors

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Fiona Millar: Michael Gove praises LSN and Blue Labour’s Maurice Glasman hints at a return to “stakeholder governance”

Last night I went to an interesting debate at the London School of Economics. The Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove and Labour peer Lord Glasman , author of Blue Labour and involved in the party’s policy review, were discussing who “owns” the concept of One Nation, originated by Benjamin Disraeli and appropriated by Labour leader Ed Miliband in ... read more and comment →

16 comments

Latest comment by Peter Prince: "The FAQ 'What risks did the NAO describe in its report about delivering public services through markets?' exemplifies why the FAQ section here, as currently structured, may not be as useful as it could be. The NAO report describes both the ......"

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Henry Stewart: Educate and Celebrate: Schools LGBT at the Emirates Stadium

It is two years since I wrote about the LGBT celebration at Stoke Newington School. A lot has happened since then and that event seems a long time ago. Ofsted inspected the school's work on homophobia and LGBT equality, pronounced it Outstanding and now promotes the school's work in its best practice section of its web site. Elly Barnes, the ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "I hope that anyone who sneered at Stoke Newington's work on LGBT awareness two years ago reflects on their attitude especially if they have anything to do with schools...."

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Henry Stewart: Ofsted Dashboard Uses the Wrong Data

When Sir Michael Wilshaw showed me round Mossbourne some years ago one of the most impressive features was their use of student data. The school leadership and each individual teacher received reports, every six weeks, on student progress against expectation. No student could quietly slip behind and intervention could be quickly targeted at those that needed it. Given that data was ... read more and comment →

23 comments

Latest comment by Peter Nye: "Gaynor this is my understanding of how it works. The APS improvement of Pupils A and B from KS1 to KS2 (12.8 and 12.6 points respectively) is a measure of the absolute progress they have made from one point in time ......"

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Michael Dix: Accountability: raising or restricting standards?

If you work in schools you will be aware of the recent outbreak of Ofsteditus. Sweeping across the country, causing mayhem and panic, this viral phenomenum occurs every time that the Office for Standards in Education changes it's inspection schedule. In the last seven days I have experienced a concerned chair of governors who'd had a briefing at the school ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Rebecca and Michael - see faqs above for results of OECD research into schools and autonomy, "Is it true that schools with more autonomy tend to achieve better results?", for details about UK being among only four countries which allowed ......"

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Janet Downs: Judicial Review for school forced to become an academy

On Tuesday, 14 August, parents of pupils at Downhills School will be at the Royal Courts of Justice for the judicial review of the arbitrary decision by Michael Gove, Secretary of State, to convert the improving school into an academy with an imposed sponsor, the Harris Federation. The Harris Federation is run by Lord Philip Harris, Chairman of the Carpetright chain, ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "Thanks Tim. Of course Downhills had an abysmal record of performance. It was in special measures. How could they argue otherwise? It's very useful that Michael Gove has an inspectorate that does precisely what it's told and is accountable only ......"

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Joanne Tisdall: We need some guidance in a dispute between the leadership team and governors and a large group of parents at Kevicc in Totnes

I would be really grateful for any shared experience or advice that others have of a breakdown in trust between parents and a school. Kevicc is a large community school (1800 children) in Totnes, Devon. Among other things it has the dubious distinction of being the school Toby Young went to in the 80s that he often refers to as the ... read more and comment →

50 comments

Latest comment by Andy: "Leonard, I compared the 2010 and 2011 data available in the public domain: see the embedded links. Unless stated the figures are year by year comparisons of the schools performance. Official estimated targets for pupils will be based ......"

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Sarah Dodds: Do not mention autonomy……I think we said it once, but it looks like we got away with it….

I just wanted to give a quick update on where we are in the mad, mad academy world of Lincolnshire. First of all....this story has broken in the press this week. The Greenwood Dale Trust are becoming a major sponsor of schools down the east coast of Lincolnshire, despite people always expressing concern to me about their policies on unofficial ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "Nobody should be making judgements about these kinds of statistics at a school without investigating the circumstances. There will always be outliers. If inspectors tell a school to reduce a statistic that statistic will be reduced whatever the consequences and ......"

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Vicky Mackenzie: Why is the government ignoring complaints about academies?

Our son was mistreated at his school and we were lied to by the headteacher, (who was also SENCO) for a number of years, she told us for 3 years he was not special needs and needed no support, even bringing in an outside party, not connected to the school to enforce this opinion. In fact, she was claiming him as ... read more and comment →

15 comments

Latest comment by Vicky Mackenzie: "We just feel that our son has suffered because of the actions of the governors and head of this school and they should be held accountable, no matter what kind of establishment they were or are now. It seems as ......"

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Sarah Dodds: Reflections on the Priory…

Having campaigned for over a year against the raise of academies in Lincolnshire, I am surprised not to be getting more of a kick from the Priory scandal (the details of which are outlined by Fiona in an earlier post.) The reasons for the deflation are varied. But as a Labour councillor, much of the bad taste is because this scandal ... read more and comment →

80 comments

Latest comment by Sheila: "Temper temper!!..."

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Terence Ayres: Given fair funding allocation unbelievable things can happen.

Some twenty ago I became Chair of Governors of a small Primary located in one of the most deprived inner city areas in the UK - opponents of state education would consider the school to be the typical 'failing school'; budget deficit out of control (LA operated a 'No redundancy Policy), SATS scores in the first year were for English ... read more and comment →

3 comments

Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "Thanks Ricky. Any idea why? I heard the cuts were too painful for the better funded to take and equalisation money was not available but that may have been more speculation than fact...."

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