With thanks to The Association of Sandwell Governing Bodies (ASGB) Using Data to Raise Attainment West Midlands School Governance Mini-Conference Saturday 21st January

10am Welcome & introductions by Chair Siddique Hussain, West Midlands Director, NGA Rowley Learning Campus Paul Piddock Programme Director, BSF

Emma Knights Chief Executive National Governors’ Association

Effective governance 1.Right people round the table 2.Understanding role & responsibilities 3.Good chairing 4.Professional clerking 5.Good relationships based on trust 6.Knowing the school – the data, the staff, the parents, the children, the community 7.Committed to asking challenging questions 8.Confident to have courageous conversations in the interests of the children and young people

School improvement Are we doing the best we can for all our children and young people? If not, why not? –Progress measures & the attainment gap –Will the rising floor standards affect us? Is the school providing the right offers? What aspirations do we have? What are the levers the governing body has for change? Expert advice & support: who should we work with? Collaboration with other schools: case studies i

DfE review is exploring : what we expect a highly effective GB would do in relation to school performance; the barriers that commonly prevent GBs from achieving this; the extent to which changes in policy & at local authority level will impact on GB effectiveness; ways in which the DfE could influence practice

Themes identified in review Lack of clear focus on raising attainment and narrowing gaps; Difficulty in attracting and retaining the right people and removing governors who are not performing; Difficulty in accessing and acting on information and data; Difficulty in getting the right relationship between the head teacher and GB.

Knowing your school A series of briefing notes produced by NGA working in partnership 1.RAISEonline for Governors of Primary Schools - with RM Education Nov RAISEonline for Governors of Primary Schools - with RM Education Dec Knowing your parents – with GL performance forthcoming

RAISEonline Paul Charman Data Solutions Director, RM Education Chair of Governors, Dyson Perrins Church of England Academy, Malvern, Worcestershire Questions Break – Drinks & Biscuits

Case Studies A choice of: Secondary School : Redhill School Primary School : St Paul’s C of E Primary A choice of: Special School : The Brier Special School Secondary School: George Salter Academy Primary School : St Paul’s C of E Primary (repeated)

Knowing Your Parents Ian Rowe, General Manager, GL Performance Associate Governor, Newminster Middle School Questions

Knowing our Parents Ian Rowe General Manager, GL Performance Associate Governor – Newminster Middle School

Ofsted Annual Report, 2010/11 “Most commonly, the governing body knew too little about the school because monitoring was not rigorous or because over-generous self review judgements were accepted without sufficient challenge: at times of change and in an inherently challenging sector, they accepted too much on trust.”

New Ofsted Inspection Framework “Self-evaluation is now well established in schools, providing the basis for planning for development and improvement. Inspection takes account of and contributes to a school’s self-evaluation.” “The quality of its self-evaluation is a good indicator of the calibre of the school’s leaders and managers and of the school’s capability to improve.” When schools are first informed that they are to be inspected, they will be asked to provide Ofsted with a summary of their self-evaluation. This should include evidence from school stakeholders.

New Ofsted Inspection Framework “Inspections will give greater consideration to the views of parents, pupils and staff as important evidence.” Ofsted will draw on pupils’ and parents’ views to inform inspection judgements and they will strive to inform inspection activities by gathering the views of pupils and parents who have a significant interest in the school.

Parents – the key stakeholder?

Parent Power The Government is transforming the relationship schools have with parents. The thoughts and views of parents have never been more important in shaping the way schools are run. The SEN Green Paper emphasised the need for more parental choice in where and how their children are educated. The Bew Review for KS2 assessment called for a wider range of data to be made available to parents. The results of the new mandatory phonics screener at the end of Year 1 will be shared with parents. As part of the new Ofsted framework, parents have been given the power to trigger a school inspection.

ParentView Ofsted launched the ParentView website in October 2011: The website enables parents to share their views on their child’s school and it covers a range of topics, including quality of teaching, bullying, behaviour and levels of homework. The responses to the 12 closed questions that make up the questionnaire will help Ofsted decide which schools to inspect, and when.

Understanding your parents – An effective survey

“Evaluating parental opinions is not easy” “Response rates are usually poor and I have to question the quality of our data” “Recording and analysing the data can take days – normally during the school holidays” “What do my results really mean?”

An effective parental survey – Start with the end in mind What evidence do you need for your self evaluation? What evidence do you need to challenge assumptions from ParentView? What changes are you planning to implement? – Are they the right ones? What changes have you implemented? – Were they successful?.

An effective parental survey – Importance verses satisfaction Identify any disconnect

An effective parental survey Importance v satisfaction Qualitative v quantitative Reliability Feedback Focus groups Repeat annually.

Improving response rates Advertise Paper verses Online Pupil power Get teachers on board Incentivise Get the timing right Feedback Take action

Analysis Allow time and resource to enter the data Use the expertise at your disposal Understand and have confidence in your data – 1 to 5 scale – standard error of the mean – True / False – standard error of the proportion Read the qualitative results!

Results Be aware of parental bias Kirkland Rowell Surveys 2011

Results Gender Analysis Year Group Analysis Weighted / Standardised data Historical data

The customer is always right? Don’t be alarmed by the results – you are measuring perception

Thank you Ian Rowe E: T: W:

12.55 Close Siddique Hussain, WM Regional Director, NGA Join NGA: Standard NGA membership for a school GB is £63 a year, and you receive: weekly e-newsletter for all governors, five copies of the bi-monthly NGA magazine, access to the members’ area of the website, a free place at NGA member regional events and national conferences GOLD package for £250 includes legal advice