School Governor/Move children

[slfk3]

So after Christmas I was appointed new Parent Gov for my boys school, as no one else applied. Before Coronavirus I was able to attend a few meetings which were mostly involved the school being informed by county authority that school was in trouble and had 6 weeks to get its act together with a plan for quick improvement. The plans were put together behind closed doors with head and chair and submitted sans review by board. When we started looking at the Policies they felt old, out of date and rather out of touch with what school is like now. I spent a lot of time comparing our policies to similar C of E schools with much better results, ofsted and reputation. When we were asked to review the policies I asked questions to try and help steer where our policies were falling short. Something which feels doubly important with the high staff turnover as teachers don't follow the same approach class to class. The Chair told me they were valid points and to file away for another time and that was it. Since then things continue to be odd, chair does everything behind closed doors with Head and then we are filled in as and when they see fit. The last Zoom meeting, head was asked one question about school work students have been set for homeschooling and he sort of fluffed it, said most children were accessing it and doing it. Something I know from friends, WhatsApp groups, Facebook and as someone who has gone in and read with children for four years at the school is not true, I would say a good half for various reasons won't be doing the little, poor work being set. I'm concerned that the large disparities we have in achievement are going to grow in the 5 months off school, assuming most don't return till September, and that the school haven't a plan to address this, especially as they have already drawn up lists of what children go in what class for September. Doubly worried as 5 of the 6 teachers ks2+ are or will be new in the last year, and two classes are job sharing with other new teachers.
The other thing is, pre virus, my eldest child had got to the point where he was fed up with the "fighting" at school, other children playing too aggressively, and the "talking during lessons so you can't hear the answers", so we had begun to look at moving schools. When I spoke to his teacher about having picked him up from school and his sobbing for a half hour after being upset by the fighting that day she told me "he was part of the problem too". Now, I don't think my child is perfect, but if he were a child who was contributing to the bad behaviour, why have the staff been pulling him from his lessons to pair up with other children in "friendship groups" in the hope he would "rub off on others". Not that they asked or told me they were pulling him from his lessons!
And is it normal for ks2 children to be grouped to teach themselves lessons? Was told at last parents evening son does well in maths so he sits with the yr4 kiddies in his mixed yr 3/4 class and they "teach themselves" the maths lessons, is the normal? Having just done weeks of this homeschooling business I haven't had single lessons of new content that he learnt by himself. Its as if the children who do well are left to fend for themselves and all resources are sucked up trying to keep those who struggle from throwing things at staff and children...literally. Suppose this is part vent post, part am I nuts/overreacting? The main thing seems to be my own children aren't happy there, and when I add in that even as a parent governor I see or hear nothing which makes me think they will improve, if anything, I see things getting worse and the other governors aren't aware, or interested, in improving anything. To add to the stress the school I'd like to move them to said they had places for the three from September, but one was pending a family moving and since the virus they don't know if that family are still moving so I'm not 100% that they can move schools anyhow.

If you can move then move schools.

Listen to your children.

Maybe now as a governor you have extra insight and it just seems though to have confirmed the experience the children have had.

Honestly just try move.

My children have had really different experiences of homeschooling. One teacher has been great the others have really reflected what did (or didn't) go on in the class room.

I think for me this time away from school has really highlighted stuff I probably deep down knew about the school but I kept trying to be positive and see if from the perspective of busy teachers in a challenging behavioural environment.

If you are not happy then you should move your kids

On the governor thing though:

Policies (or at least the important ones) are very rarely developed by the school these days to any great degree. They are mostly done by the LA or academy trusts and schools have to adopt them. In my main job and I think in schools policies are just dry dusty documents that have little influence on what goes on. I doubt complaining about policies will change things very much.

It is usual and encouraged for the head and the chair to meet outside governing body meetings. Some decisions will usually be delegated to be taken by the chair- check your scheme of delegation.

You have more chance of changing things via the school improvement plan. This should be voted on and have targets that the board agree and monitor.
Reducing inequality for PP and vulnerable pupils should absolutely be on there.
You need to look into the data presented and challenge them on that and ask what is our strategy for tackling this? How are we monitoring the effectiveness?
Your questions should be minuted which Ofsted can see and the minutes should be published on the school website.
I think it will be hard for you to change the whole culture as one new governor you need to get some others on side
What you should not do is speak from your child's anecdotal experience as evidence as this will not be taken seriously or get into operational matters

Paragraphs would have helped. It’s a hard read. However, if you decide to continue there it’s not going to be easy and you can now see why it’s a failing school. I would take dc out if it was me.

I know what the chair and head are doing is wrong. The pp above is wrong about policies too. Yes, schools get guidance on policies but they do have to engage with them in an effective manner. Governors should have dates for review on all policies and members of staff should be allotted to each policy, and a governor, and together they review the policy. With a behaviour policy there should be consultation with parents too. So this is a poor school and they should take policies seriously and governors must monitor if they are effective. If not, they need tweaking!

Ditto the improvement plan. Normally SLT write this. Governors look at it and apocrine it. It must be SMART. A governor should be attached to each section of it and a report must be given to the governors at each meeting with regard to progress and effectiveness of the plan.

Lastly at every GB meeting there should be a film report from the Head. Most LAs give a template for this. Ours used to be based on Ofsted inspections. Frequently with 30 pages of info and data. It’s received at least 10 days before the meeting. Governors submit questions and head sends out final report with answers 1 week before the meeting. It’s all evidence that governors know the school, are monitoring performance and are effective.

I’m afraid you won’t get this school to change and i feel the gb should be replaced - and probably the head.

A string head monitors classroom teaching to ensure policies, such as behaviour, are being adhered to. Ditto in the playground.

Strong head!!

Gosh: I’m so sorry about all the typos! Need a coffee!

Governors approve the improvement plan.
There should be a full report from the head.

Sorry about the ramble and lack of paragraphs, I haven't been sleeping the last few nights fretting. Another worry is in January the school had chickenpox and scarlet fever going around at the same time, something Public health England say should trigger alerting all parents. We weren't told, and my youngest fell ill with scarlet fever, I only knew that it may be that from a friends child who had it so knew to get to GP and keep him away from others. The school knew it was going around, and despite other parents asking re public health England protocol, they didn't say anything. As a governor I then asked about it, and still nothing was circulated. Come March my son fell ill with scarlet fever a second time which GP then told me put him at risk of rheumatic fever. Add to that we have USAF who had flow from Northern Italy, during time when they were at peak and were allowed to come back into UK, without quarantine, and spend time with their children who then came in to school sharing classrooms with high risk/vulnerable children with asthma, diabetes, compromised immune systems (mostly in reception and YR1). When I informed staff they all looked at me like I had lost my marbles, even when I showed them gov advise saying that the children and their families should have been self isolating. Health concerns are double worry after my husband spent last year having treatment for cancer and is now at greater risk from issues discovered during scans.

I don't know if I'm overreacting but it feels like they have a blatant disregard for health and safety, and that their approach when schools return will continue to be one of burying their heads in the sand and crossing their fingers that nothing goes wrong. It wouldn't be so upsetting if we weren't sent the risk assessment information for going back to school and having it pointed out to us as governors that we are "responsible" for the staff and children safety as their "employers". If we/I am, then why on earth have they ignored me on the last two occasions re rather serious health issues.

Oh well. Thank you so so much for confirming what I, and the boys, have been feeling about the school. The head is now heading to his second year, and second deputy head is starting since he began. As for policies, its a C of E, no academy, and we were told staff write policies to be approved by Governors. They did poorly on their last SIAMS so the mainly C of E affiliated board have been obsessed with getting that sorted. The EYFS policy is really good, as that teacher is established and has a clear vision. After that the policies read as bare minimum, vague, bland and I honestly feel as someone who has been very involved in the school for four years now that it explains a lot. Common problems between parents, children and staff are lack of communication, poor/terrible behavior, if one reads the policies there's no direction for staff or children to look to. They also seems to work under the impression that things aren't as bad/serious as they are, in part because the governors don't actually visit or monitor things in real life, simply ask head polite questions, pat each other on the back and then pray some more. No issue with religion, as long as they are actually doing the best for children and staff, instead of presiding over the school becoming one of the worst in the county, in a poor performing county and focusing solely on improving their SIAMS.

Many thanks again!

Your last post sums up the school for me, that they are much more worried about the SIAMs report and solving that than getting other basics right.
Add to that the LA have given you 6 weeks to come up with an improvement plan that has obviously been concocted between the headteacher and the Chair of Governors and you have a recipe for a school going rapidly down the pan.
The question for you is two fold. As a governor, do you think that the GB will be able to exert any influence to start making real changes in the school in the next 6 months and the answer from your posts seems to be no, unless there is a groundswell of other governors who are prepared to lead a revolution starting with a new Chair of Governors.
2nd question. If you were just a parent, what would you now be doing and I would suggest that would be looking for another school for your children.
So I think you know the answer to your dilemma, resign as a governor and get your kids out of the school. Saying that, makes me very angry because what is really required is a new GB or interim executive board who are going to put the pressure on the headteacher to make urgent and sustained changes to help the pupils in this school or find somebody who is capable of making the necessary changes.

Just wondering (and I honestly don’t know the answer) but are CofE academies very slow at getting rid of “nice” people or GBs who are simply not doing the job? What you describe is a failing GB and I bet it has been for years. Policies are down to SLT but who, from the academy chain, is putting up with this in the very long term? It’s not a sudden problem. It’s clearly been ongoing. So what has the new head been doing?

Yes, it need a new GB. I find it almost criminal in this day and age that GBs are so badly run. Have they never accessed training? Have they learnt nothing? It’s very sad for the pupils.

I think C of E academies are very insular, I know when they drew up their response to the intervention/warning they relied heavily on the C of E support. Rather than speaking to the board to draw up a plan, despite asking to attend the meetings to contribute they changed the time and held them without informing the rest of us, or allowing review before they were submitted. Needless to say once I read it, it felt there were massive holes/issues, like it was written for another school. The majority of the governors have been on the board for years, are in their 60-70s, some haven't children so don't really understand modern life/problems/requirements. I think that's why they haven't caught on to how there isn't any ICT taught in the school, other schools seem to have iPads and regularly start children coding, working on a full ICT curriculum etc., which I would think is more or less a requirement for children to succeed in secondary school but at the moment the school never does it, same with music.

I believe the other governors have had some training, the chair was a teacher, I'd done courses online and then ask questions based on that only to be fobbed off with "not now" or "later". Given they were size weeks off having local authority intervention now seemed like a more sensible approach.

The insular group of governors seem to handpick new members to fill vacancies from within their group of church people, and are inevitably more 60-70 year old women who all nod and say how lovely everyone is and leave things at that. They have begun working with another local C of E School on SEND, but that school doesn't have as many as we do, nor is doing a better job so I don't understand that choice.

The school has been struggling for years and I had hoped to help change things, half the staff have the potential to achieve more with the students, the other half need to be weeded out, retained if any good instead of abandoning the sinking ship! The new head hasn't done very much, spent some of the PTA money on new books which were needed but poorly chosen and then never rolled out and implemented properly so reading levels are still generally below par. About a third to half of the year 3/4 kiddies are struggling to read above year 1 level. I don't think that's normal from looking at other schools results.

There was a good group of parent volunteers who came in to help with one to one reading but the head has let fall apart, I was one of 3 left compared to 30 before. One volunteer asked to read in a certain class and the new teacher for that class said she couldn't so the children in that class have no one to one support with reading, head backed her up in that decision.

It sad, and frustrating, but I think I need to accept it and just hold out for the other school to come good with the places they thought they'd have for my 3. Fingers firmly crossed I hear soon, I feel like I want to resign now and say they are moving but am stuck until I officially have places for them elsewhere.

I think you have ideas that are a bit too ambitious. I don’t think all primary schools have I pads and teach coding. You should look at the technology and maths curriculum to ascertain this but I’m not aware that it’s a requirement. So fight winnable battles!

However you are not going to change anything. Governing bodies must choose governors with skills to do the job. This patently isn’t happening. It’s a church school issue. They are undoubtedly over represented on the GB. They make no effort to find people with suitable skills.

The areas that require improvement (I assume from an “inspection” or from school data) must be in the plan. It must address these issues. Not your issues. Therefore behaviour, literacy, numeracy and other issues which have been highlighted must be addressed first. It’s also SLT that must write it as they implement it. Yes, it’s not the subject of GB meetings to write it. It should be written by professionals, not untrained governors.

All governors should be trained in how they will hold the school to account. They don’t write policies or improvement plans but they do monitor and evaluate progress. You all desperately need training to understand this. Governors also set strategy but in c of e schools this can be taken over by the MAT. This can leave local governors as a mouthpiece of the church. I’m not a fan but a strong GB will find a mix of people with skills. Your GB is about 25 years behind the curve. However if the GB doesn’t understand its part of the problem then they do need to go.

Individual training with other governors is best. You actually get to see how good schools run. Obviously not available at the moment but induction training is vital.

What does your heads report look like? It should be a detailed document with all the progress stats and policy monitoring info. Eg: boy:girl progress comparisons, progress broken down into year groups, subject progress, cpd of teachers, Pp data, progress on improvement plan targets etc. The good news items usually are contained in a heads newsletter. The report to governors is vital data.

I hope you still have your school places elsewhere. No school should have a GB like yours.

When did Ofsted last visit? They look at your published data and if they haven’t visited I guess the rush to improve is because a visit is expected due to poor outcomes and progress.

Whilst I do agree that this GB doesn't sound good the OP did say she was the only candidate for the parent governor so it's likely that people are hardly falling over themselves to apply.

I have a hollow laugh at the idea of skills audits and filling the skills gaps. We can't get any volunteers let alone any with appropriate skills. Of course they tend to be retired. What kind of idiot takes on a completely unpaid job with vast responsibility whilst working full time and bringing up a family (well me but I regret it pretty much daily)

The level of ability, training and responsibility for a wholly voluntary role is pretty ridiculous in my view and it's no wonder many schools can't get decent governors.

The school is not very likely to change unless the head and the chair of governors change or the MAT insists on change.

Based on what you say, I’d be looking for another school for my DC. It doesn’t sound like there’s a focus on improving education.

@BubblesBuddy the national curriculum says that primary schools should be teaching coding to pupils.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/239033/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_Computing.pdf

Last ofsted was while we had interim head. One of the office staff, used to be parent governor, told me she was shocked the governors passed the last inspection. Based on the results since then going even further down and the intervention of the county authorities we were on watch for another inspection. This virus has bought the school time and I suspect upon return things are going to get worse. We are supposed to have a zoom meeting tonight to review the back to school plan and my heart just isn't in it but as I haven't confirmed places feel I'm best to be in the tent pissing out as it were. The board are definitely old fashioned, I'd say more than 25 years! Re ICT, I don't expect everyone to do coding but if it's part of the curriculum surely it should be done in some way, other local primaries do weekly ICT ranging from touch typing to iMovies, depending on age and resources. To do none feels very negligent. Same with French, they do 6 weeks a year once a week for an hour to fill in Teacher planning so our students don't learn any to prepare them for secondary. The improvement plan did highlight where things needed to improve but in large part because of staff turnover the training planned has to be done again. A new behavior policy was planned but two years+ still hasn't been seen, nonetheless implemented. Shame as one of the good young teachers we had was rugby tackled by a child during assembly and left in tears as surprise surprise she has chosen to leave the school after this term, so another new person to find and train again. Another good LSA won't be returnjng, last time I saw her while in school a child was throwing books at her. Funny how all of it connects and feeds to make the problems compound. I shall see if there is an update from the other school next week. Thank you all!

First of all apologies about coding error. However few schools can afford iPads . Do they do coding in y6? How do you know it’s not done. It is important to get this into context though. It’s a small part of the curriculum and governors cannot, and should not, look at every aspect in detail. The head has to do the operational side of this school. The IT governor (if you have one) and Maths Governor are responsible for looking at progress in this subject. Any governor can enquire about teaching of coding but it’s not something that should be a big issue regarding how it’s taught. That’s not your remit. Otherwise every single aspect of the curriculum is up for comment which would be ridiculous. Schools differ but governors need to look at the bigger picture, not the detail. This would become evident with training.

Also don’t compare your school with others who might be richer. You have to understand the budget and decisions based on the needs of the school. They might have an expensive staff. The buildings might cost a lot to heat. You need to know everything about the budget before iPads are mentioned. Get fund raising by parents if the budget cannot afford this. Neither can you micromanage books purchased and French or parental help. All of this is operational.

Yes many schools do get skilled governors because they recruit from a wider pool then the church. Churches are a small community. The wider community often can find suitable governors and often skilled parents stay on. Others who work from home are a good bet too. As are local companies who have a community outlook. If schools don’t try, they don’t get suitable people. Even if people are older and come from one socio economic group, they can still be excellent governors if they train and work effectively by understanding their role. They need a good head to work with though.

The lack of a behaviour policy is very concerning and leads to a lack of expectation from the GB. How is behaviour monitored? SLT are responsible for this so why have the governors not expected it to be produced. As a I said earlier, parents should be consulted. Who is the behaviour lead in school? This policy should be part of their performance management. And of the head too.

There are so many issues to unpick here. It’s definitely a sad state of affairs. I know teachers and staff will leave a poor school. I doubt if the governors know what quality of staff they have nor how well the curriculum is taught. However teachers won’t stay in crap schools and neither should governors put up with poor SLT.

Why did the school get an ultimatum regarding the improvement plan? After ofsted there should be an ongoing one? Is the mat saying it’s not acceptable or fit for purpose?

I agree with bubblesbudy that unless you know the detail of the school's finances it is not realistic to be asking for lots of things. However you are a governor at the school and you should know what the financial situation is. Are the school really spending their funding on those things that are critical or not?
Everything that you have posted says that this is a school with a narrow and old curriculum, which is going to be severely criticised when Ofsted come calling. The only way out of this situation is for the GB to do the job they are there for, which seems highly unlikely from your posts.