Anyone in a school governing body? Request for advice

[Aria11]

For reasons related to the recent developments re education provision, I became very interested in issues related to school governance and parent engagement and I would like to understand more what is going on in primary schools in general. For parents/teachers and especially those involved in school governance, can you please give let me know what is the situation in your school regarding any or all of the issues below:

1. Is there any specific management policy on parent engagement?
2. How does the governing body work in terms of addressing concerns raised by parents? E.g. is there a standing item in the agenda about this? Are parent governors required to canvass the opinion of parents regularly and provide feedback in meetings?
3. Can parents raise collectively issues/complaints to management or the school governing body?

Sorry in advance for all these questions. I have limited knowledge in this area and any information would be extremely helpful.

Chair of govs here.

1. We do a yearly parent survey. Other issues may be discussed if they come up. What parents want has been discussed but has not been the focus of our decision making re reopening - we are more focused on what the gov guidance says, the safety and wellbeing of our pupils and staff, and the academic benefits.

1. No standing item, and no that is not the role of parent governors. You have misunderstood our role.

3.we have a complaints policy, like all schools. We would expect parents to raise concerns individually using the policy, but if they chose to do so collectively the principle would be the same that it is for the school as an operational matter, not the governing body until appeal stage (and then only in accordance with the policy).
3.

Many thanks, GolfForBrains, this is very helpful.
On 1. I fully understand that parent priorities should not drive management decision-making re school re-opening. I just came across the recent governance code that seems to place much more importance on parent engagement, although it relates to the board og governors, and hence my question.
On 2. I understand that parent governors are there to highlight how decisions may impact the school from the parents' perspective. I am not interested in issues that are of relevance only to individual parents but those that may affect a group of families (e.g. remove halal as an option from the school canteen). How are parent governors expected to form an opinion in such cases? Is it solely based on their personal integrity/values? I could see problems with this, as the dynamics in board meetings are quite particular.
On 3. Good to know that this is possible.

Thanks!

I was about to say the same on point 2 as the pp has said. A parent governor or staff governor for that matter is not a union rep who takes people's views to meetings, they are a governor in their own right.

Thanks both. Here is part of the section on parental engagement (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/788234/governance_handbook_2019.pdf)
As the strategic leaders of their organisations it is vital that boards are connected with, and answerable to, the communities they serve, particularly parents/carers. Parental engagement can have a large and positive impact on children’s learning. It should not be confused with parental representation on a board and neither should it be seen as a one-off exercise for organisations. Boards should ensure that their organisation is regularly communicating with parents and carers and that parental engagement is used by the board to inform their strategic decision-making. Communications with parents and carers should be clear in supporting them to understand the structure of the school, how it operates, and how they can support their child’s education. All boards should assure themselves that mechanisms are in place for their organisation to engage meaningfully with all parents and carers. Parents and carers should be able to use these mechanisms to put forward their views at key points in their child's education. Boards should be able to demonstrate the methods used to seek the views of parents, carers and the local community. They should also be able to show how those views have influenced their decision making and how they have fed back to parents, carers and the local community.

The way I read this is that boards (which include executive management of the school) are required to engage with parents regularly, including in respect of strategic decision-making. It may not be through parent governors but through other means but this needs to take place.

Parent engagement policy in place. Governors make themselves visible at events, questionnaires as needed.
Regular feedback on the school newsletter about link visits so parents know what we do
No complaints are ever discussed at any board meeting. Complaints are separate and there will be a policy for this. As a parent governor you would direct any complaint to this channel and not discuss it with the parent.
There would never be anything on the agenda of this nature nor would you deal with wholesale complaints.
You don't represent the parents or their views. You are a parent with your own views. You will have a code of conduct and induction which would lay out your job.

You don't access views or feedback. You have no power to act as an individual unless you are asked to do X,Y,Z by the board.

Questioning at meetings about why decisions were made is how SIT are help to account.

You can request the minutes of any meeting to see what is being discussed. They are public documents. This might be helpful to you after schools get back to normal.

Governors are strategic leaders and are not permitted to be involved in the operational, day to day management of the school. That is the job of the head and the senior leadership team. Something like the example you gave re halal food is an operational matter and not something governors would decide. Similarly, as others have said, parent governors are not there to canvas opinion on operational matters and bring them to the table as these will be operational. Any form of complaint or views or concerns would always need to be discussed with the school leaders. The only time that governors may get involved is if a parent makes a formal complaint about about a specific incident.

1. No, not one single policy. But there are lots of policies managing all sorts of aspects of home-school communication.
2. No standing item, and no, parent governors are not spokespeople for parents. They are governors that are also parents. The existence of the "parent governor" role simply ensures that there are a certain number of positions on the governing body that are only available to parents.
3. Of course. How that happens depends on the school, and on the parents. e.g. some schools have parent councils (separate to governors), some use the PTA.

The NGA published some guidance on parent engagement and governance.

Others have explained how a parent governor doesnt represent the parents and how, if you want to complain you must follow the complaints procedure. I must stress that talking to governors outside the complaints process about your complaint makes it hard for the clerk to create an independent panel to hear it.

Thanks all for the information. I can understand that parent governors are not there to canvass the opinion of parents and not to put forward complaints. However, it seems that there may be a gap in cases where boards are not engaging with parents directly (as the code seems to suggest). In addition, some issues may be not raised necessarily as complaints and I would expect that there should be scope to raise such issues in the board. The headteacher in the school my son attends has now prohibited parents from raising group concerns/complaints to the senior leadership team. This in combination with the very limited rights of parent governors and lack of regular engagement by the board in our case is, I think, deeply problematic.

Yes the code of practice does mention having methods to gain feedback - in practice this is often an annual survey and then governors attending events and chatting to parents informally at the events about the wider school. they might hold a specific group about a bigger change coming up.

you should be able to see the minutes of meetings to get an idea of what is being discussed.

Thanks, I looked at the minutes of some meetings and I am concerned that some issues that one would think should be discussed at board level are not and hence my concern. I can understand that some issues may be presented as operational but they may be more than that in reality, e.g. prohibiting parents from raising complaints/concerns as a group or removing halal as an option. I would expect that boards would pick up on these without parents having to complain about these issues and the fact that this has not taken place suggests that there is an issue.

I'm not sure I follow what you're saying about parent governors. Does there seem to be a particular issue at your school? Parent governors have exactly the same roles and responsibilities as governors in any other category. Do you have a clear idea of what you'd want from discussions with the SLT?

My issue is not with parent governors per se but with understanding the role of boards in school governance. The examples I gave are, I think, illustrative. If the senior leadership team decides to prohibit parents from raising complaints collectively, shouldn't this matter be discussed at board level? Given also the recent changes in the Governance Code, I would assume that boards would do much more to engage with parents directly. My experience so far is that boards are not engaging at all with parents.

I think at this moment in time, whilst governance is still going on. It is focussed on urgent issues. You may struggle til September

I dont quite understand the collective concerns. I understand head saying they wont have a meeting with a large group of angry parents - but i dont see how they can refuse to accept a letter signed by several people.That is odd.
The halal - i presume there is still a vegetarian option which muslims can eat?

One would assume that it is in periods of crisis that governance is more important, especially when there have been problems with the senior leardership team already. In our case, the head teacher refused to accept a letter written by a group of parents. As for the removal of halal, I don't think that offering a vegetarian option is the same. If the board is silent on issues such as these, I would think that it is only there to legitimise the leadership team.

I would have to reiterate that governing bodies do not make decisions about operational matters such as these. Currently I imagine most GBs are, like ours, principally focused on matters of H & S, safeguarding, pupil engagement and finance. As you're clearly unhappy with the response you're getting about your grievances, you need to look very hard at your school's complaints policy and follow it to the letter. Once you have exhausted the process at school level, you will be able to take it further if you don't get a satisfactory response. I should point out that this may not mean you get to have the final say in the decision, but the school should at the very least not be dismissing you out of hand.

I think we are talking about different things here. I am not saying that the board should decide on these matters but I assume that they would be/should have been made aware of these changes in policy or practice. If they have been made aware and did not react, I would be concerned about their independence. If they were not aware, I think that their duty re parent engagement is not fulfilled.

Another issue I am interested in is potential conflicts of interests. Would it be considered a conflict of interest if a governor of the lgb used to a member of the trust (in the case of academies)? What about if the present chair of the lgb is a close family member of the chairman of the trust? If that would be in the context of corporate governance, with which I am more familiar, in any of these cases the individuals wouldn't be considered independent.

If parents are unhappy about something, they should talk to the head. A group of parents is not a great idea so you may be better with individual concerns that affect your child. If you feel that the head does not address your concerns you could then make an official complaint about the head, to the governors. General parental feedback to governors is through questionnaires, on fairly broad topics.

Yes in periods of crisis governance is important. But the focus is on urgent issues. They should have been doing things like looking at the risk assessment for reopening and testing its robustness; looking at updated safeguarding etc. The difference between operational and strategic is hard to get.

I agree with the above that you now need to follow the schools complaint policy to the letter. Good luck.

The GB engage by sending out surveys, attending PTA meetings, parents evening, workshops, plays, sports day.
It doesn't mean they are not engaging by not meeting with a group complaint.

The Head is responsible for the day to day running of the school (how things are done)( How they get to where they need to be)

The board is responsible for the direction the school takes.
( what is being done to get there and why)

The Governors follow the complaints policy.
If you have a complaint use the complaints procedure and it will be dealt with according to any policy.
A group complaint has parents with differing issue and they should do their own individual complaint.

Each one is dealt with separately.

The GB are not required to meet parents for a group complaint.

Thanks both. I understand the difference. I guess in our case the letter concerned specifically the situation at present and hence the concerns about the way the head responded. I know that our only option now is to go to the board but I am frankly concerned that given the lack of engagement so far it will not lead to much.

Lots of detailed replies. I am a chair of govs.

Catering is an operational matter. There may well be people who disapprove of halal too, of course.

One of the first things parent governors learn is how see their role as strategic.

Part of the role is to challenge theSMT, however

Right now, we are just working on opening the school, though. You might get a better audience in the autumn

In terms of conflict of interest. There should be a register of interests which clearly states any interests. Then at the start of each meeting they should declare any interests that are relevant to the agenda and either leave / not vote for that bit.
In a MAT i would expect a scheme of delegation showing what local boards can decide on and i would expect a MAT member on the board as they own all the assests of a school. I dont know as much about academy governance though.