Hampshire Governor - Summer 2000. No. 19

This Edition of Hampshire Governor

All the articles from the Summer 2000 edition of Hampshire Governor have been reproduced on this page. You can also view Hampshire Governor in its original format using the following link:

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Governor Services To Launch On The World Wide Web

In response to suggestions by training liaison governors in Winchester and elsewhere, Governor Services has been developing a website over the past few months.

Phase one of the online service goes live during July. Phase two will be developed over the coming months.

Phase one brings you:

access to the training programme;
the opportunity to book training courses online;
an email advice and information service through Local Offices;
Information for prospective governors;
details of vacancies for governors in your area;
Information on how governors make their voice heard through local, county and national forums and Hampshire Governors' Representative Group;
Publications including Hampshire Governor and Local Office newsletters.

From the Governor Services site you will be able to link to other governor-related websites.

We would be interested in your comments on the new site and your ideas for phase two.

You will find us at www.hants.gov.uk/education/governors

Other useful web sites - see inside.

Pay: A Trip Over The Threshold

A new teachers' pay structure will be introduced from 1 September. It will include an upper pay range for classroom teachers who meet national standards of expertise at a `performance threshold'. There will also be a series of additional cash allowances for management, special needs and recruitment and retention, which will replace the current system of additional pay points.

Promotion to the upper pay range - which is open to teachers who already have the maximum nine points for experience and qualifications - will mean an increase in basic pay of £2,000. Access to a further four pay points, worth around £1,000 each, will depend on substantial and sustained achievement against agreed targets.

A new leadership group will be created, with a separate pay spine, for heads, deputies and - depending on a governing body's decisions on school management structures - senior teachers who play a significant strategic role in the school.

Governors' main concerns will include:

The timescale for implementing the changes. John Wakeling, head of education personnel services, says schools should take the time they need to `create an environment where performance management works effectively'.
The impact on school budgets. Extra funding will be provided through special grants to schools. The DfEE website says: `Schools can draw down £2,000 plus on costs via their LEAs for the extra pay of each teacher who is successful at the performance threshold... These costs will be fully funded by the Government.'
The threshold assessment process. Governing bodies will want to assess the effect decisions to cross the threshold will have on the pay of teachers generally in the school.
School management structures. Among the many competing priorities schools face, there is no imperative to consider changing management structures.

John Wakeling writes - see inside.

I couldn't be a tutor... Could I?

Governor Services needs associate tutors in various parts of the county.

Who, me?

Have you ever been on a training course and thought: `I couldn't do that!' Well, that's where you might be wrong. The fact that you are a governor and go on courses means you are committed, interested and knowledgeable about governorship - and these are some of the key qualities of a good associate tutor. Governors want practical input from people who know the realities of governing schools.

But I'm not a teacher!

You don't have to be a teacher to be a tutor; in fact, most of our tutors are not teachers. Nor do you need to be a degree-level expert on education. If you have good communication and interpersonal skills, you can build on those and on your own expertise as a governor.

The content of the courses is already devised and sessions clearly planned. An induction programme ensures that you can assist and shadow experienced tutors before you are expected to `fly solo'.

Can I afford the time?

Most governor training is in the evenings. You do not need to commit to any more than you can manage and you can always say no when you are offered a course.

What's in it for me?

The opportunity to share your expertise with others, the chance to develop personal skills and to be part of a friendly, supportive team. And, of course, associate tutors are paid!

Interviews will be held in the autumn. If you are interested, contact Governor Services, River Way, Havant

(tel 023 9244 1481).

Making Monitoring Work

Whereas not so many years ago the core work of teaching and learning was largely forbidden territory for the governing body, now it is central to its responsibility to plan, monitor and evaluate the school's improvement strategies.

Still, however, classroom input and learning outcomes are areas that many governing bodies feel ill-equipped to deal with - and some teachers remain uncomfortable with the contribution of a lay governing body to this professional aspect of their work.

How then can a governing body fulfil its monitoring role in respect of the curriculum and the quality of teaching and learning?

We are not as governors expected to do professional tasks. Our role is to see that the jobs that need doing are done. Having identified with the staff what needs to improve and how we will go about resourcing and securing that improvement, we need to identify what monitoring needs to be done, who will do it and how it will be reported to the governing body. This reporting will come largely from the headteacher. Other staff, especially those with a management role, may report to the governing body. The attached inspector and other inspectors may provide written reports.

Governors should go into school from time to time to develop their understanding of how the school works. Such visits should be within a framework agreed by the governing body with the head and staff. Governors may report their `lay' perspective alongside those of educational professionals. But they should not be used as classroom monitors of teaching and learning, even if they have an education background.

However tempting free help may be to heads and governing bodies, we must keep in mind that the governing body role is to see that the right things are monitored, and that the information coming to them enables the school to know itself better, keep its improvement priorities on track and identify the next areas for improvement.

JANET SHERITON Head of governor services

Wedding Bells For Governors

Photo of Married Couple

When Dr Colin Martin invited his neighbour, Dr Victoria Hodson, to apply for a co-opted place on the governoring body of Wootey County Infant School, he changed his life and hers. The two - he a GP, she a PhD - were already friends and serving as governors together cemented the relationship. Earlier this year the couple were married in Scotland and pupils at the Alton school produced a giant card of congratulations. Victoria now chairs the governing body.

Sources Of Information On The Web

Here are some websites that may be of use to governors:

DfEE: www.dfee.gov.uk
DfEE performance tables: www.dfee.gov.uk/perform.shtml
DfEE school governors' centre: www.dfee.gov.uk/governor/governor.htm
Advisory Centre for Education: www.ace-ed.org.uk
National Association of Governors and Managers: www.nagm.org.uk
Hampshire County Council: www.hants.gov.uk
National Governors' Council: www.ngc.org.uk
Ofsted: www.ofsted.gov.uk/ofsted.htm

Help with recruitment

If there's a vacancy on your school's staff, do you have enough time to deal with the admin? Education Personnel Services can offer a professional and flexible service to both you and the applicants for your post.

EPS helps governing bodies with the administration of almost all headship posts advertised. But were you aware that this service also extends to deputy headships and teaching and non-teaching posts?

EPS can advise on advertising, writing person specifications and job descriptions, right through from placing the advert to the interview day.

Contact Lindsay Fothergill on 01329 316227 or hredlf@hants.gov.uk.

Parents join LEA

Three parent representatives have joined Hampshire Education Committee. Nominations were sought from among parent governors and the three to be elected were:

Virginia Assinder of Romsey Abbey Primary School;
Lynn Hodges of Court Moor School;
Carol Barfoot of Lankhills School.

`Fascinating' and `daunting' was how Lynn Hodges found the experience of serving on the committee for the first time, but she said she was made to feel very welcome by the chairman, Councillor Don Allen, and county education officer, Andrew Seber. She was appointed to the schools monitoring sub-committee.

`I have been very impressed by the total commitment and hard work of the officers and councillors, - she added. - I wish all parents knew how committed Hampshire County Council is to their children's education.'

Governors, Schools, Pupils, Teachers: We're All Performers Now


PUPIL PERFORMANCE Hampshire Primaries Do Better Than Their `neighbours' Significantly more Hampshire primary schools achieve high standards for their pupils than schools in similar counties - but there are also more schools that need to make substantial improvements. Commenting on this polarisation of quality, county education officer Andrew Seber said: `The principle, and good sense, of working with schools `in inverse proportion to success' is seen more starkly in Hampshire than elsewhere.' The picture emerges from Ofsted data comparing Hampshire with 10 `statistical neighbours' - counties judged to be most like it. In the most recent inspection of each school, standards were judged to be good or very good in 62 per cent of Hampshire primary schools, compared with only 55 per cent of the schools of statistical neighbours and 51 per cent of schools across the country. However, 7 per cent of Hampshire schools were judged to need substantial improvements, compared with 5 per cent in statistical neighbours. Much work has already been done and many of these weak schools have improved dramatically. Ofsted continues to identify a few schools where improvement strategies have yet to bear fruit. In time, the number of these will decrease. Management and efficiency were judged to be good or better in 76 per cent of Hampshire primary schools, compared with 71 per cent in like counties and 68 per cent nationally. Hampshire secondary schools' overall performance remains broadly in line with that of similar counties. Ofsted's findings will help to fine-tune the County Council's education development plan for school improvement.
GOVERNOR PERFORMANCE Where's The Evidence Of Improvement? Mike French, chair of governors at a primary and a secondary school in Basingstoke, on why governors should assess themselves `Oh dear, more work - and we are already overloaded and find it difficult to cope.' `Why on earth should we undertake this self-assessment exercise when we are doing a pretty good job already? Our Ofsted report was very favourable!' These were two responses I had expected to hear from some of my colleague governors when I first recommended to the two governing bodies which I chair that we should participate in the pilot programme. Different responses - because the schools were in very different situations. In the primary school we were in special measures and working flat out to produce our action plan, update our school improvement plan, plan staff restructuring and completely overhaul our policies and procedures. So we were quite busy. At the secondary school we were doing rather well. We were meeting all the targets in our school improvement plan and had completed all the actions we had committed to in the last Ofsted inspection. But we were aware that another Ofsted inspection was due within 12 months and one key aspect which I have learned from attending the excellent governor training courses is `Where is the evidence?' of our progress/success etc. How can you demonstrate that the governing body is effecting and making improvements? To both sets of governors it was clear that we needed to have a measure of our effectiveness and it was better for us to make this assessment ourselves than wait for Ofsted to carry it out. We felt the couple of hours needed to complete the initial exercise was time well spent. It enabled us to gather views from every governor and to develop an effective action plan to address the shortcomings we identified. That was a year ago for both schools. We have completed all the actions we set ourselves and have evidence of our improvement. The exercise was very successful and we intend to carry out a second self-evaluation exercise shortly to determine what more we can do to improve. We expect the schools of which we are governors to become more effective each year, so why can't we expect that for ourselves? If you don't already have a self-evaluation pack, ask Governor Services to supply one.
TEACHER PERFORMANCE Trust And Time Are Needed To Make This Work An effective performance management system is an integral part of a successful school. Within such a system, mutually agreed individual targets, linked to overall school improvement, are vital. Why is it then that the current changes have received such a mixed reaction? There are a multitude of reasons, some of which have their origin years ago. There can be little disputing, however, that the speed of introducing the changes and the way the messages about them have been communicated have influenced the concerns which exist. To create an environment where performance management works effectively takes time. Trust between the parties is essential and sensitive management conducted in a spirit of mutual confidence and openness is a necessary prerequisite. Some schools will be more prepared than others for the new performance management regime and will have to make few adjustments to their current practices. Others will have a much longer road to travel. Yet the Government's stance appears to assume that all schools will be starting from the same point and able to work to the same timetable. Those schools which have got more to do should acknowledge this fact and take the time, in bringing in new performance management arrangements, to gain commitment and develop processes which will be at the centre of future success. The payback from this more considered approach will be massive. The alternative - to introduce a mechanical process against an unrealistic timescale to which few staff are signed up - will serve no useful purpose and is more likely to obstruct the school in its achievement of long-term aims. JOHN WAKELING Head of education personnel services Training To Appraise Your Head From September new arrangements for managing performance appraisal are being introduced by the Government. This has two main facets - headteachers - performance management and new appraisal arrangements for teachers. Governors will want to understand the implications of these changes and consider the impact on existing processes in the school. Teacher performance management will be handled by the headteacher and senior staff. Headteacher performance management will be directly managed by the governing body - mainly through a committee, though the full governing body will need to set broad policy. There is a requirement that governors seek the advice of an approved external adviser. Training for governors on this new activity is being funded separately by the DfEE and will be provided in three modules. Module 1 is for all governors and is being delivered across the county in the two weeks beginning 10 and 17 July. Modules 2 and 3 are skills-based events aimed primarily at the committee who will actually conduct the performance review with the headteacher. All members of such committees are encouraged to attend. These will be delivered during the weeks of 11, 18 and 25 September and 2 October. Further events will be arranged according to demand. PHIL HAND Governor services co-ordinator, New Forest
SCHOOL PERFORMANCE What `Best Value' Means To Governing Bodies The buzzword in local government is `best value' and it's relevant to governors, too. Best value focuses on cost and quality in striving to improve services. Schools need to demonstrate that they apply best value principles in arriving at decisions about all their actitivities, especially how the financial resources delegated to them are managed. Ofsted, which has issued guidance on best value, says: `One sign of effective planning is, for example, a challenging and appropriately costed school development plan,' It sums up the four principles behind best value as the four Cs: Compare: for instance, compare the performance of your school against others. Challenge: for instance, take steps to find out whether the school provides what the pupils need. Consult: for instance, seek views of those concerned when considering changes to the curriculum or other major developments. Compete: for instance, make sure the school has proper financial procedures including competitive tendering for significant expenditure. Ofsted inspectors will make information available on whether the school is applying best value principles effectively, so parents and local people can come to a view about whether it is being achieved.

PUPIL PERFORMANCE

Hampshire Primaries Do Better Than Their `neighbours'

Significantly more Hampshire primary schools achieve high standards for their pupils than schools in similar counties - but there are also more schools that need to make substantial improvements.

Commenting on this polarisation of quality, county education officer Andrew Seber said: `The principle, and good sense, of working with schools `in inverse proportion to success' is seen more starkly in Hampshire than elsewhere.'

The picture emerges from Ofsted data comparing Hampshire with 10 `statistical neighbours' - counties judged to be most like it.

In the most recent inspection of each school, standards were judged to be good or very good in 62 per cent of Hampshire primary schools, compared with only 55 per cent of the schools of statistical neighbours and 51 per cent of schools across the country.

However, 7 per cent of Hampshire schools were judged to need substantial improvements, compared with 5 per cent in statistical neighbours.

Much work has already been done and many of these weak schools have improved dramatically. Ofsted continues to identify a few schools where improvement strategies have yet to bear fruit. In time, the number of these will decrease.

Management and efficiency were judged to be good or better in 76 per cent of Hampshire primary schools, compared with 71 per cent in like counties and 68 per cent nationally.

Hampshire secondary schools' overall performance remains broadly in line with that of similar counties.

Ofsted's findings will help to fine-tune the County Council's education development plan for school improvement.

GOVERNOR PERFORMANCE

Where's The Evidence Of Improvement?

Mike French, chair of governors at a primary and a secondary school in Basingstoke, on why governors should assess themselves

`Oh dear, more work - and we are already overloaded and find it difficult to cope.'

`Why on earth should we undertake this self-assessment exercise when we are doing a pretty good job already? Our Ofsted report was very favourable!'

These were two responses I had expected to hear from some of my colleague governors when I first recommended to the two governing bodies which I chair that we should participate in the pilot programme. Different responses - because the schools were in very different situations.

In the primary school we were in special measures and working flat out to produce our action plan, update our school improvement plan, plan staff restructuring and completely overhaul our policies and procedures. So we were quite busy.

At the secondary school we were doing rather well. We were meeting all the targets in our school improvement plan and had completed all the actions we had committed to in the last Ofsted inspection.

But we were aware that another Ofsted inspection was due within 12 months and one key aspect which I have learned from attending the excellent governor training courses is `Where is the evidence?' of our progress/success etc. How can you demonstrate that the governing body is effecting and making improvements?

To both sets of governors it was clear that we needed to have a measure of our effectiveness and it was better for us to make this assessment ourselves than wait for Ofsted to carry it out.

We felt the couple of hours needed to complete the initial exercise was time well spent. It enabled us to gather views from every governor and to develop an effective action plan to address the shortcomings we identified.

That was a year ago for both schools. We have completed all the actions we set ourselves and have evidence of our improvement.

The exercise was very successful and we intend to carry out a second self-evaluation exercise shortly to determine what more we can do to improve.

We expect the schools of which we are governors to become more effective each year, so why can't we expect that for ourselves?

If you don't already have a self-evaluation pack, ask Governor Services to supply one.

TEACHER PERFORMANCE

Trust And Time Are Needed To Make This Work

An effective performance management system is an integral part of a successful school. Within such a system, mutually agreed individual targets, linked to overall school improvement, are vital.

Why is it then that the current changes have received such a mixed reaction? There are a multitude of reasons, some of which have their origin years ago. There can be little disputing, however, that the speed of introducing the changes and the way the messages about them have been communicated have influenced the concerns which exist.

To create an environment where performance management works effectively takes time. Trust between the parties is essential and sensitive management conducted in a spirit of mutual confidence and openness is a necessary prerequisite.

Some schools will be more prepared than others for the new performance management regime and will have to make few adjustments to their current practices. Others will have a much longer road to travel. Yet the Government's stance appears to assume that all schools will be starting from the same point and able to work to the same timetable.

Those schools which have got more to do should acknowledge this fact and take the time, in bringing in new performance management arrangements, to gain commitment and develop processes which will be at the centre of future success.

The payback from this more considered approach will be massive. The alternative - to introduce a mechanical process against an unrealistic timescale to which few staff are signed up - will serve no useful purpose and is more likely to obstruct the school in its achievement of long-term aims.

JOHN WAKELING

Head of education personnel services

Training To Appraise Your Head

From September new arrangements for managing performance appraisal are being introduced by the Government. This has two main facets - headteachers - performance management and new appraisal arrangements for teachers.

Governors will want to understand the implications of these changes and consider the impact on existing processes in the school.

Teacher performance management will be handled by the headteacher and senior staff. Headteacher performance management will be directly managed by the governing body - mainly through a committee, though the full governing body will need to set broad policy. There is a requirement that governors seek the advice of an approved external adviser.

Training for governors on this new activity is being funded separately by the DfEE and will be provided in three modules.

Module 1 is for all governors and is being delivered across the county in the two weeks beginning 10 and 17 July.

Modules 2 and 3 are skills-based events aimed primarily at the committee who will actually conduct the performance review with the headteacher. All members of such committees are encouraged to attend. These will be delivered during the weeks of 11, 18 and 25 September and 2 October. Further events will be arranged according to demand.

PHIL HAND

Governor services co-ordinator,

New Forest

SCHOOL PERFORMANCE

What `Best Value' Means To Governing Bodies

The buzzword in local government is `best value' and it's relevant to governors, too. Best value focuses on cost and quality in striving to improve services. Schools need to demonstrate that they apply best value principles in arriving at decisions about all their actitivities, especially how the financial resources delegated to them are managed.

Ofsted, which has issued guidance on best value, says: `One sign of effective planning is, for example, a challenging and appropriately costed school development plan,' It sums up the four principles behind best value as the four Cs:

Compare: for instance, compare the performance of your school against others.

Challenge: for instance, take steps to find out whether the school provides what the pupils need.

Consult: for instance, seek views of those concerned when considering changes to the curriculum or other major developments.

Compete: for instance, make sure the school has proper financial procedures including competitive tendering for significant expenditure.

Ofsted inspectors will make information available on whether the school is applying best value principles effectively, so parents and local people can come to a view about whether it is being achieved.

Inclusion: What's In A Name?

The special educational needs branch was renamed `Inclusion' branch as part of last year's refocusing of the Education Department. The branch includes educational psychology, education welfare, education for children who are not able to attend school and also staff responsible for allocating resources to children with special needs.

The change is more than cosmetic. Inclusion focuses on all those children who may find it difficult to learn because of disability or disaffection. Inclusion has to be a two-way process. Schools are developing ways of supporting pupils (such as closer liaison between primary and secondary schools). Pupils sometimes need help to combat disabilities (e.g. access to specialist computer equipment) or to improve their social skills, attitudes and behaviour (e.g. group work on anger management). The education welfare service and the educational psychology service have combined both approaches in recent school-based projects. For example, a social skills training group ran during the summer holidays last year for Year 6 pupils who were thought to be at risk of a difficult transfer to secondary school.

Hampshire County Council takes seriously the needs of `looked after children' (children in public care). It provides a better service than most LEAs but is not complacent. Looked after children's attendance and achievement will be closely monitored.

Inclusion is sometimes seen as a separate agenda to that of raising standards of achievement. This distinction is false. To include all children effectively will involve improving the quality of teaching and learning. In turn, this raises standards of attainment for everyone.

Sheila Arney (ACEO Inclusion) is leading briefings for governors and SENCOs about inclusion, special needs and behaviour policies during July.

CLIFF TURNER

Assessment and intervention manager

Talents In Demand

Photo of Children With Artwork

A range of expertise is important on every governing body. Even embroidery can come in handy! June Mitchell, a governor of Poulner Junior School and national tutor on embroidery for the Townswomen's Guild, advised pupils on making a millennium tapestry, featuring an owl, the sun, moon and a river flowing through trees. The project included learning about design, fabrics, knitting and rug-making.

Update Your Admissions Policy

A much simplified admissions policy for community and voluntary controlled schools will take effect from September 2001. Full details were sent to schools at the end of March, following consultation. Governing bodies of community and voluntary controlled schools should ensure their admissions policies are amended and published in the next edition of the school prospectus.

In response to increasing concern about the `governors' compelling reasons' category, this has been deleted although it will still be possible for governors to suggest `school specific' reasons for consideration first by the Admissions Forum and then by the county education officer.

Other significant changes include withdrawing the preference given by some schools to children with parents employed at the school and to children whose brothers or sisters attended the school in the past. These changes reflect guidance in the DfEE code of practice on admissions, the results of recent findings by the admissions adjudicator and discussions at the Admissions Forum, which includes governor representatives.

We hope this simplification will result in a fairer system and an easier one to implement.

ALEX MUNRO

Education officer (special projects)

Autumn target for class sizes

In its drive to raise standards, the Government has decreed that infant classes - Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 - must have no more than 30 pupils. The DfEE expects this target to be met by September 2000. The following arrangements will comply:

up to 30 pupils in an ordinary teaching session with one qualified teacher;
more than 30 in an ordinary teaching session - but with two full-time qualified teachers;
more than 30 with one qualified teacher in `non-ordinary' lessons such as PE, drama or music.
The following arrangements will not comply:
31 or more pupils with one qualified teacher and any number of non-teaching staff;
31 or more pupils with 1.5 (or any fewer than two) qualified teachers.

Two-thirds of Hampshire's infant and primary schools already meet the target. Governors and staff in the remaining schools are implementing plans to ensure they meet the target by September.

For the next two years, schools will receive specific funding to help achieve the target. After this, it's expected this money will be incorporated into LMS allocations.

For some schools there will be difficult decisions to make, for example reorganising into mixed-age classes. Guidance on teaching mixed-age classes has been distributed to schools to help headteachers.

The legislation on infant class sizes and the additional resources to support it are to be welcomed.

Together we can make it happen. For further details, see the 23 May Education Committee paper `Infant Class Sizes' on Hantsnet.

CHRIS HOLT

Education officer (primary)

Don't Be Coy About Inspection, HMI Tells Governors

Hampshire Governor reports on the DfEE/Ofsted National School Governors' Conference held in Birmingham

Be positive about inspection. That's the advice to governors of Peter Matthews HMI, head of Ofsted's Inspection Quality Division. Speaking at the DfEE/Ofsted Governors' Conference, Peter explained the changes to the inspection system from 2000, covering school governance.

`Governing bodies should not be coy about the things they would like to see inspected - we urge that you make full use of the opportunities available,' he said. Governors should:

specify particular features of the school that they want inspected;
meet and discuss the inspection with the registered inspector;
give their perspective of the school and the issues the governing body faces;
call in and see the inspectors during the inspection to see how things are going, but remember that they will not be able to get an ongoing report on inspection findings during the inspection;
remember that the self-evaluation process which is not part of the inspection is not there to catch governors out - it helps the inspectors to come to a view about whether the school knows itself well or not.

Peter pointed out that inspectors do not inspect governors, they inspect the school. But they need to evaluate the governing body's impact on the quality and standards of the school. The main issues for inspection are:

how efficiently and effectively the head and key staff lead and manage the school;
how well the governing body fulfils its statutory functions and accounts for the performance of the school;
how effectively the school manages and evaluates its performance, diagnoses strengths and weaknesses and takes effective action to secure improvements;
the extent to which the school makes the best strategic use of its resources.

In brief, the governing body should be asking itself: How well is our school currently performing? Are some parts of the school better than others? Are some groups of pupils doing better than others? How does the school's achievement now compare with its previous achievement? How does its achievement compare with that of other schools?'

Painting a picture of the state of school governance, Peter said: `There is no doubt that good schools and good headteachers normally have able and efficient governing bodies behind them. In many of the schools that do badly in inspections this is not the case. If the managers and governors of a school are at loggerheads the school is often on a slippery slope and likely to sink.'

He said that the overall picture, based on 5,000 inspections in 1998/99, was positive and improving.

Changes in the inspection process include:

shorter inspections for the most effective schools (two days for primaries and about three days for secondaries);
a shorter period of notice of inspections, between six and ten weeks;
inspection reports containing two lists of `what the school does well' and `where the school could improve';
a new category of underachieving schools which are not doing as well as they ought, considering the ability of the pupils and the parental support available.

Delegates Join In

The conference was attended by governors, heads, representatives of the national governor and teacher organisations, HMI and DfEE staff. It departed from the style of previous years in that the focus was on talking to each other and sharing good practice. This took place in workshops and both formal and informal discussions, enabling delegates to take a more active part.

Estelle Morris, Minister for School Standards, praised governors for their ability to meet new challenges. The programme included developing ideas on a national governor training strategy and governors' role in performance management.

Partnership strengthens

Hampshire's parent partnership is proving its value, with the level of enquiries and requests to the service continuing to rise.

The parent partnership was set up to develop and improve links between the Education Department, voluntary agencies, parents and children. Among the services it provides to schools are:

advice on home-school liaison practice;
information on support networks through voluntary organisations;
access to advice and information on special educational needs;
mediation;
independent surveys on parents' views;
staff training on working with parents.

Contact the parent partnership on 01962 845870.

Forget GM status!

In governors' annual reports to parents, some governing bodies are still faithfully recording their annual consideration of grant maintained status and their decision.

You can stop doing it! In fact, it hasn't been necessary for some time.

Hampshire Governor,

Hampshire Governor Services,

Hampshire County Council Education,

The Castle, Winchester SO23 8UG.

Tel 01962 845706.

Prepared and published by

Hampshire County Council

Education Department.

Edited and produced by Bob Poulton, WordWright, Fareham.

Mailed to governors in Hampshire LEA.

Views expressed do not necessarily coincide with those of the LEA.Publication of Hampshire Governor is helped by a government grant specifically directed at the training and information needs of school governors.

Governor Services