Transcript Policy Management

STRENGTHENING
CLERKING
A conference
for clerks and
chairs of
governors
A CHANGING ROLE
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HOW THE CLERK’S ROLE HAS CHANGED
Unpaid note taker
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Paid clerk
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Company secretary
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DISCUSSION
Has your role changed?
In what ways?
Why?
Is it changing now?
Why?
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NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
1995: survey of clerking and model job description
1999: national strategy for governor support and training
2001: new study and bids for clerks training
2003: national training launched, inc jd and person spec
2004? BTec Level 3 accreditation available
2010: Edexcel drop the accreditation
2010: White Paper: “We will encourage schools to appoint
trained clerks who can of fer expert advice and guidance to
support them”
 2010: NCOGS publish “Strengthening clerking” proposals; sent
to Lord Hill
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THE UNIVERSIT Y OF BATH GOVERNANCE
STUDY OCT 2008
 The status of the clerk to the governing body should
be raised
 The clerk should not work in the school in a different
capacity to reduce the potential for conflicts of
interest
 Training for new governors, chairs and clerks should
be compulsory
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GOVERNING OUR SCHOOLS: A REPORT BY
BUSINESS IN THE COMMUNIT Y
OCT 2008
 Every school should have a trained clerk
 Training and accreditation for clerks should be
compulsory
 Their pay should be commensurate with their
importance
 The authors likened the role of the clerk to “the roles
of Company Secretary, one of high status, requiring
training and accreditation, and Clerk to the Justices”
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OFSTED KNOWS YOU MATTER!
 The role of the clerk to the governors is pivotal to ensuring
that statutory duties are met, meetings are well organised
and governors receive the information they need in good time.
Consequently, governors come to meetings well prepared and
with pertinent questions ready so that they are able to provide
constructive challenge.
 School governance: Learning from the best
 Ofsted May 2011
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HOW CLERKS CAN HAVE A POSITIVE
IMPACT ON THE GB
“The Study’s findings indicate that there is an
association between the effectiveness of the
clerk and the effectiveness of the governing
body.”
 The University of Bath Governance Study (Maria Balarin |
Steve Brammer | Chris James | Mark McCormac) published in
Oct 2008
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DISCUSSION
How do you think you can influence the
improvement of your GB?
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SOME SUGGESTIONS
Agenda planning
Advising during meetings
Minuting accurately
Co-ordinating communication
Memory and record keeping
Action chasing
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CLERKING IN THE FUTURE
More schools become Academies
Clerking becomes Company Secretary role
Greater professionalisation:
“Strengthening clerking”
NCOGS 2010
Enhanced responsibilities
Increased powers
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ENHANCED RESPONSIBILITIES
Ensure accountability
Lead communication role
Ensure statutory responsibilities are met
Standing items for agendas
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INCREASED POWERS
Disqualify governors
Recruit and appoint community governors
Deny late papers
Receive complaints and ensure process
followed
Appoint appeals panels
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CLERKS TRAINING AND ACCREDITATION
NATIONAL AND LOCAL
 Latest data (for financial year 2009 -10) shows:
 national average of training provided for clerks per year is 32
hours-worth
 highest number of hours of training provided by region is
found in the south west (46) and lowest in the north east (18)
 Shire authorities provide the highest average number of hours
(62) and metropolitan authorities the lowest (21 )
 Health warning: these averages are based on unequal
numbers of responses from the dif ferent authorities and
regions, so may be misleading.
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ACCREDITATION
Currency
Accreditation programme Number of LAs
known to be using
this programme
Nationally recognised
qualification but not
specific to clerking role
NVQ Business and
2 (one not using
Administration Levels 2, 3 & level 2)
4
Nationally recognised
qualification specific to
clerking role
BTEC Level 3: National
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Clerks’ Training Programme
(DCSF)
NB NO LONGER
AVAILABLE
BTEC Level 3: Professional 3
Development Advanced
Certificate in Support and
Administration of Governing
Bodies accredited by
Edexcel (NO LONGER
AVAILABLE)
Hampshire/ISCG –
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accredited model
269
£300-£500
6-24
71
£250-£450
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241
£250-£1800
12-16
Individual LA programmes
70
Free-£1000
6-12
Qualification specific to
clerking role but not
recognised nationally
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No of clerks Price range Duration
known to
(months)
be
accredited
46
Free-£800
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HAMPSHIRE MODEL
 Accredited by ISCG
 Hampshire and NCOGS in discussion – decide this Spring
whether to recommend as national model
 Seeking Level 3 status – national recognition
 Accommodates Academy clerking
 Af fordable
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USEFUL INTRANETS FOR GBS
 School Leadership Systems – Governors Virtual Of fice
 www.schoolleadershipsystems.com
 Tel: 0844 800 6421
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Clerkmate
www.clerkmate.com
email: [email protected]
Tel: 07788 446 567
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GOVERNORS VIRTUAL OFFICE (GVO)
 Library
 An online storage facility that allows the Clerk to deposit
important documents which can then be accessed by
Governors whenever they need.
 The library is structured to reflect the organisation of your
school's Governing Body.
 Gives Governors access to all relevant papers and documents
in one place.
 Ability to search for documents by subject, author, date etc.
 Ability to control access to individual documents to nominated
governors only.
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CALENDAR/MEETINGS
 Calendar
 An online calendar where the school and Governors' calendar
can be maintained and accessed via the world wide web.
 Links to the meetings management function to allow
Governors access to information for each meeting.
 Meetings Management
 A facility to help Clerks and Chairs schedule meeting for the
Governing Body and for sub -committees and to prepare and
distribute meeting packs.
 Prepare, discuss and approve agendas.
 Link meeting papers to the agenda.
 Distribute agenda and papers electronically without Governors
having to handle multiple attachments.
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TASKS
 Tasks
 An online tool to help manage delegated tasks within the
Governing Body
 Create a record of tasks that have been allocated to
nominated individuals or groups (e.g. sub -committees).
 Develop a comprehensive task 'folder' that contains all
relevant material.
 Track progress towards completion with updates from the
nominated task manager.
 Generate automatic prompts for tasks that are becoming due.
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NEWS ETC
 News, Views and Comments
 Facilities where Governors with specific responsibilities can
keep one another informed between meetings.
 Post news items to help keep Governors up to date.
 Governors can hold online discussion on subjects of mutual
interest.
 Can be used to solicit Governors' views on a topic.
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POLICIES
 Policy Management
 An online repository for all the school's policies where they
can be accessed when needed without having to refer to the
Clerk.
 Reminder system highlighting which policies need review.
 Policy owner can make new or amended policies available for
review.
 Governors can add comments, suggestions and questions that
all Governors can see.
 On line ratification or rejection by Governors.
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WHAT DOES IT COST?
 Secondary School
 £695
 £1,195
 1 st price=12 months;
 2 nd price =24 months
 3 month support=£195
 On site support=£595
 Primary School
 £395
 £695
 Small Primary Schools
(<200 pupils)
 £295
 £495
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CLERKMATE
 a web-based system developed specifically to assist clerks as
they play their part in achieving outstanding school
governance
 At the beginning of each school year the clerk configures
Clerkmate with the information that will drive the system
through the year:
 Areas of Responsibility
 People
 Committees
 School Calendar
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AGENDAS
 Fourteen days before a meeting Clerkmate automatically
emails the clerk and governors to remind them that the
agenda for the meeting is due out in seven days and items for
the agenda must be submitted as soon as possible.
 At any time the clerk can work on the agenda for the meeting.
The following items will be added automatically:
 Standard items (e.g. minutes of last meeting, matters arising)
 Apologies (generated as a result of people clicking on the
Apologise link in their reminder email)
 Statutory responsibilities from the School Calendar (e.g.
“Review Child Protection”)
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AGENDAS 2
 The clerk can now add, edit, delete and re -order the agenda
items. They can also choose to bring forward an item to the
next meeting if they know that it cannot be dealt with at this
meeting.
 When it is complete the clerk confirms the agenda and a link
to the agenda is automatically sent to all members of the
committee. Clerkmate is now ready for the meeting itself.
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MINUTES
 The agenda is displayed on the screen and the current item is
highlighted.
 The clerk can add any amount of text underneath the current
item heading.
 Once the minutes are ready the clerk confirms them and an
email is sent to every member of the committee with a link to
the minutes.
 Clerkmate sends an email for every action in the minutes to
the person to whom the action was assigned. This email has
three links for the recipient to click on – “Acknowledge”,
“Completed” and “Bring Forward”. If no link is clicked within
seven days the clerk is alerted.
 Actions are automatically added to the agenda for the
following meeting as matters arising.
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WHAT DOES IT COST?
 £375 + VAT per year.
 The price includes email support.
 Discounts are available for multiple subscriptions (for
example if all schools in a cluster agree to subscribe at the
same time).
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DISCUSSION
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What do you like and dislike about the examples?
What value could a governors’ intranet add to your situation?
What do you use at the moment?
Which of the examples would suit you best, if you had to
choose?
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