To book onto any of the workshops below, please email jacqui.sugden@ntlearningtrust.org.uk
All of the workshops take place on Mondays to avoid clashing with your governing body meetings, they run for two hours from 5.30 – 7.30 p.m. and are held remotely using Zoom.
There are two places available per school on a first come, first served basis.
| 9 October – Safeguarding | Children are at the heart of school governance, and so it comes as no surprise that safeguarding is a core element of all governing roles. This session is designed for both new and experienced governors and at the end of this session participants will have an understanding of the theory and practice of safeguarding, and what the governing body’s role is in keeping pupils safe. |
| 20 November – Forming or joining MATs | The decision to form or join a MAT is one of the biggest decisions the governing body of a maintained school, or the trust board of a single academy trust will make. At the end of the session, participants should be clear about the issues they need to consider when forming or joining a MAT, how governance in MATs works, and how governance and leadership structures will change. |
| 4 December – Using data: for people familiar with performance measures | There is now a wealth of data sources that governors need to be aware of; they also need to be cognisant of the extent to which the data can be analysed, as well as other means by which governors can get to know and judge their school’s success. At the end of this session participants should be clear about the range of resources available to them, the key measures that they will need to be familiar with, and how this can feed into their core function of holding the school to account. |
| 22 January – An introduction to being strategic | The DfE’s Competency Framework and Governance Handbook make it clear that strategic leadership is a core function for all GBs and that effective GBs ‘provide confident, strategic leadership to their organisations; they lead by example and set the tone from the top’. However, unpicking what it means to be strategic in practice can be a challenge for leaders and governors. By the end of the session you will have a clear understanding of what constitutes strategic thinking and how it should inform planning cycles, monitoring and holding to account. |
| 12 February – Risk Management | At the end of this session participants will be able to start the process of ensuring that the GB’s role in managing risk becomes a routine and secure aspect of their governance role. |
| 18 March – Greener governance: environmentally sustainable schools | DfE’s Governance Handbook makes it clear that effective governance is based on “determination to initiate and lead strategic change when this is in the best interests of children, young people and the organisation, and to champion the reasons for, and benefits of, change to all stakeholders”. Schools have a crucial role in helping to create a sustainable future for our planet. GBs need to ensure that this happens. They determine the vision and strategic priorities for their school and should consider their role in environmental sustainability and ensure that their school takes action. GBs can take the decision to make environmental sustainability a key element of their school strategy. In doing so, environmental considerations should then run throughout the school’s decision-making and all of their work. This session has been developed to provide GBs with the information and inspiration to begin to think about climate action planning in their school. |
Other events
You may be interested in
Sign Up For Newsletter
Useful Links
