Vivienne Durham GSA Chief Executive viviennedurham@gsa.uk.com
“The triumvirate at the heart of school leadership: Head, Bursar and Chair of Governors.”
The Triumvirate • Remember, the Governing Body, working closely with the Head, Bursar and other Senior Leaders, are responsible for agreeing the strategic direction and aims of the school. It is not up to you on your own. • Legally, the Governing Body is responsible for much of the work of the school – they delegate to you!
The Role of the Head “The Head is expected to articulate the vision and objectives of the school and may be perceived as the leadership figure at the top of the staff hierarchy, responsible for all school issues and required to be all things to all people. Parents and staff look to the Head as the figurehead providing a confident steer over all aspects of school leadership and management. The Head certainly has an overview but… given the diverse and high expectations of a Head’s performance, it makes sense that real success requires cooperation and the sharing of ideas. The Head’s strengths need to be capitalised on and weaker areas mitigated by those who have complementary strengths.” (Tony Little, former Head of Eton College)
The Role of the Bursar • Company Secretary/Finance Director • Legal and regulatory compliance • Responsible for all support functions • Leads the support staff • Strategic thinker • Wise advisor • Some knowledge and understanding of academic issues • Often unobtrusive but needs to be highly effective • Has confidence of all • May also be Clerk to the Governors • Large schools may subdivide the role so that there may also be a domestic bursar or an estates bursar and so on
Head and Bursar • The Head and Bursar are jointly and separately responsible to the Governors. • The Bursar is also responsible for supporting you, the Head, as you are the CEO.
An ex- Head’s view • “The best bursars are the ones who cover all the ground and keep their Heads on track, while selflessly keeping the lowest of profiles themselves.”
Working with your Bursar • Do you know your finances? • Understanding accounts • Be involved • Budget setting • Who decides what to spend and when? • Ask if you don’t understand
Working with your Bursar • Compliance, legal and regulatory matters • Health and safety • The medical team • The school keepers • The neighbours • The local authority • The travel plan • Fundraising matters • Storage space or the lack of it • Availability of offices, classrooms • The appearance and maintenance of the school fabric
Working with your Bursar • Charitable status • Bursaries – their funding and their allocation • Child protection, recruitment and safeguarding • GDPR • Personnel issues • ICT and communication technology generally • Building development • Risk management and strategic planning
Working with your Bursar • Communication, communication, communication! • Potential problems • Who appoints the Bursar? • To whom should the Bursar report? Bursar as Clerk? • What are the dangers? What are the advantages? • Advice- paperwork and governor relations • Remember to ask! • Trust, as ever, is the key!
• The Clerk/Bursar should not be involved in the appointment of a Head other than to help with practicalities and even then the outgoing Head should be kept informed. • The setting of agendas for governing body meetings and for key committee meetings should involve the Head. You should not be presented with a fait accompli. • The minutes of Governing Body meetings should be agreed with the Head as well as the Chair before being published. • The annual return which is often completed by the Clerk should be checked by the Head well before it is finalised. • There should never be a situation in which a Governor is allowed to raise an issue at a meeting which you do not know about, indeed the Clerk should always resist any attempt to circumvent the Head. • The membership of sub-committees should be discussed with and agreed by the Head. • As Head do not be afraid to ask questions.
Governors • “Good oversight of schools - through good governance - is as much a characteristic of the best schools as a visionary Head and a strong leadership team.” (Sir Michael Wilshaw) • “Bad governance is far less obvious than bad Headship, but in the end is far more damaging.” (Kenneth Durham)
Unappreciated and underestimated? • Governors are ultimately responsible for the proper running of the school • Welfare of pupils and staff • Safeguarding its assets, finances and reputation • Longer term strategy and direction • Charitable trustees • Ensure that the school meets all of its obligations in respect of charity law, child protection, companies, competition, construction, consumer credit, education, employment, Data Protection, discrimination, Health and Safety, intellectual property, planning and transport and so on.
ISI and Governance Part 8 Para 416 The DfE has advised that any material failure to meet the independent school standards, should lead to consideration by inspectors of whether there has been a commensurate failing of leadership (including governance) and management. Materiality in this context is to be judged primarily by reference to the effect of the failing on pupils, or the potential for effect on pupils whether or not any detriment is evident at the time of the inspection. Safeguarding deficiencies, in particular, are likely to be considered ‘material’ unless purely administrative, and to lead to corresponding reporting in relation to Part 8.
Part 8 Para 420 Inspectorates made judgements on aspects of leadership, management and governance for many years prior to the introduction of the regulatory standard. The introduction of a standard relating to leadership and management empowers the DfE to take appropriate regulatory action following a finding that the standard in Part 8 is ‘not met’. A school is required to produce an action plan showing how the standards will be met. The action plan is required to show what the school intends to do to improve leadership and management to ensure that the school consistently meets all the standards.
Inspection and Governors How does the Board ensure proper oversight of safeguarding, including the identity of the board-level lead for safeguarding and arrangements for reviewing the school’s child protection policies and procedures annually? Oversight of safeguarding, including arrangements for reviewing policies and procedures. Part 3 Para 112 – A ‘board - level lead’ should be designated to take a lead in relation to responsibility for the safeguarding arrangements. Schools should appoint a member of the proprietorial body to take this role, but should bear in mind that the safeguarding duties remain the responsibility of the proprietorial body as a whole.
Part 3 Para 113 A review of the school’s child protection policies must take place at least annually, including an update and review of the effectiveness of procedures and their implementation. Proprietors should also ensure that the school contributes to inter-agency liaison through effective communication and good co-operation with local agencies. KCSIE indicates that the proprietor should draw on the expertise of staff, including the DSL, in shaping the safeguarding arrangements and policies. KCSIE is now intentionally silent about the means for the review and the mechanism for the review; these are matters for the proprietorial body to decide. Part 3 Para 114 The implementation of the policy provisions will be checked through discussion with proprietors and DSL, and by scrutiny of available evidence underpinning the review (e.g. any written report or information to support the review, minutes of meetings, training records, referral information in respect of requests for help and support for individual children, issues and themes which may have emerged in the school and how these have been handled, contribution the school is making to multiagency working in individual cases or local discussions on safeguarding matters).
Delegation of Powers • Governors need to understand the difference between strategy, tactics and operations and be clear about what they do and what the Head, Bursar and SLT do.
The Chair of Governors • Leads the Governing Body • Ensures the GB runs effectively • Responsible for the discipline of the GB. (And can help you to deal with troublesome governors, either directly or indirectly.) • Reviews the committee structure, committee membership, establishes key individuals as the chairmen of committees. • Ensures the governing body comprises appropriately qualified, skilled, committed people; ensures succession planning for all governors. • Ensures effective monitoring of the governing body • Welds the GB into a team • Represents the governing system to the operating system
The Chair of Governors • Supports, guides and encourages – you. • Builds a good relationship with the Head. • Challenges, persuades, and prods the Head and the Bursar, and indeed other governors. • Looks after key employees, making sure they all have reasonable contracts, terms of employment, are regularly appraised and their salaries are reviewed.
Recommend
More recommend
