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Inspections, Monitoring and Evaluation

What are our statutory functions?

The new framework for Ofsted inspection places a greater emphasis on inspecting the effectiveness and impact of governance on school improvement.

There have been cases of governing bodies across the country inspected last term being deemed as unsatisfactory because of non-compliance with statutory requirements. Advice from Ofsted to its inspections is as follows:

“where there is non-compliance with statutory requirements, the main factors to take into account in determining whether governance is unsatisfactory are:

where non-compliance has an impact on pupils achievement , their learning and the teaching they receive, or on their safety and welfare ;

  • whether the governing body has done all it reasonably could to ensure the school meets its statutory duties;
  • where the balance of the judgments lies, taking into account other evidence of a governing body's effectiveness.”

What are these statutory duties and how might compliance be achieved?

The governing body must ensure the school complies with the statutory duties as set out in table 1. It is no surprise therefore that these duties relate to the statutory duties of governing bodies as identified in School Governance regulations. Table 2 outlines these duties and poses questions for governing bodies to consider.

In order for governing bodies to ensure schools fulfill these statutory duties they must operate:

strategically – set the direction and policies of the school;

  • analytically – ask relevant searching questions, to be informed about how the school implements the direction and policy set by the governing body;
  • accountably – being accountable for the actions and standards of the schools.

Schools are evaluated through the impact and outcomes of what they provide that is:

Provisions should lead to improvments in outcomes measured by:

PROVISIONS ———————————————> OUTCOMES

  • teaching
  • curriculum
  • care and guidance
  • partnerships (parents / community)
  • leadership
  • management
  • standards (SATS)
  • achievement (value added)
  • attitudes
  • attendance
  • values
  • behaviour

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