Devon Association of Governors - Run by Devon Governors for Devon Governors
Academies
Information about Academies from a variety of sources.
Latest News
Area Meetings
Details of Area Meetings for the Autumn Term are now available, together with a list of supporting documents. See Area Meetings Autumn 2010.
(31 August 2010)
Inside Knowledge
The Inside Knowledge programme, currently in its pilot phase, has been launched by the DofE and is designed to enable schools to learn from other schools with leading practice. Each visit will provide a unique opportunity for schools to share their own experiences and progress towards excellent practice on national priorities.
The visits are delivered by a number of host schools, who have been chosen based on the progress they have made in areas focused around the national priorities. They have been recommended to share their own experiences across the following six initial topic areas:
1. Sustainable schools
2. Narrowing the gap for disadvantaged pupils
3. Maximising pupil progress through effective use of assessment data
4. Teachers and teaching assistants as writers
5. Managing school budgets effectively to deliver best value and
6. Effective transition from early years to school
Of particular interest to Devon Schools will be the fact that Alphington PS will be hosting visits to do with Sustainable Schools on 12 October 2010; 10 February 2011 and 14 June 2011.
To register an interest and receive details of this and other visits please go to www.schooltoschool.org.uk.
(23 August 2010)
Devon Education Forum
Eight of the DAG allocated places on the Devon Education Forum are up for election / re-election on 31 August 2010. See DEF voting page.
(6 August 2010)
DAG President stands down
Ivan Godfrey, the current DAG President, a stalwart member of the DAG Board for many years and a leading light in Devon School Governance has decided to stand down and we wish to record formally a public thank you to Ivan for all he has done and wish him every happiness and success in the future - Goodbye Ivan and thank you very much
(5 August 2010)
Academies
New items added to Academies section, from the NGA: Members Q & As and a Briefing Paper on Free Schools. DAG has found the NGA series of Q and A's most useful. The latest series appeared on 23 July and we particularly commend Q3.
(24 July 2010)
Oriana Hosford
It is with the greatest sadness that we report the sudden death of Oriana Hosford, a former Vice Chair of DAG and a highly committed and effective school Governor.
Although blind since birth, Oriana (formerly Margaret) never let this impact one jot on her hugely independent and varied life.
A Russian scholar, well read and versed in many of the great classics in that language and our own, Oriana was always an engaging and erudite companion.
A devoted school Governor at Clyst Heath and Ladysmith Schools as well as the West Of England School for Young People with Little or No Sight, she was a fierce advocate of the requirement to provide the best, most appropriate additional and special needs education to suit an individual. Her grasp of detail in any setting was quite extraordinary.
She was a valuable member of the DAG Board for a number of years before her election as our Vice Chair in 2002 and during her Vice Chairmanship she was a singularly supportive but challenging individual of DAG's activities.
In addition to her school Governance roles she represented DAG on the Devon Education Forum (Vice-Chair), the School Organisation Committee (which she Chaired for a year) and a number of other LA Committees, Boards and Task and Finish groups, where her wisdom and insight were always valued greatly and well-received.
Oriana was an inspiration to everyone who had the pleasure of meeting and knowing her, and she will be missed very much.
(22 July 2010)
Academies
The DAG Board anticipated and has received several enquiries from GBs seeking advice about Academies. The DAG Board has drawn up a “Position Statement” which it hopes will assist GBs.
There has been a welter of information about Academies from a variety of sources and DAG will endeavour to keep GBs informed of such information.
To that end we have added an additional section to the website, Academies, and all relevant information will be placed there in future, with alerts on the news page.
(21 July 2010)
Vetting and Barring Scheme Halted
The new Government has announced their decision to halt the final phase of the new Independent Safeguarding Authority's (ISA) Vetting and Barring Scheme, due to launch in July. Read DCC comment on ISA Halted.
(22 June 2010)
Managed Service blocks SPAM
The SWGfL Managed Service provided by Research Machine (RM) blocks SPAM. For example – In the week commencing 16th of May the service received 24,612,942 emails! Of those 84% were identified as SPAM and were blocked. 4,082,050 genuine messages were delivered. As you can see, the service does reject a large majority of mail as it is definitely SPAM. However, RM knows that they do not stop all SPAM emails but they do identify senders that are sending a large volume of SPAM emails. In order to block SPAM that is sent to your school you can also notify RM of any you receive by forwarding the email with headers to spam@swgfl.org.uk Detailed guidance on how to get headers from e-mail.
(10 June 2010)
Great Torrington Community School Sports College - Proposal to change the age range
The Governors of Great Torrington School are consulting on the proposal to change the age range from the current 11-16 to 11-18 with effect from September 2011. A Statutory Public Notice has been issued on 20th May 2010. The closing date for responding to the Public Notice is 17th June 2010. Full details and the complete proposal can be obtained from Mr. M Clarke, Deputy Headteacher at the school or from the school's website at: www.greattorrington.devon.sch.uk. Any person may respond to or comment on the proposal, see complete proposal for details.
(26 May 2010)
Coalition Government
The Coalition Government has given a new Ministerial team at the newly renamed Department for Education, and the Coalition Government has now published an agreement covering policy matters.
(22 May 2010)
NGA Governance Awards 2011
Nominations are now open for the National Governors’ Association Awards for Outstanding School Governance 2011. There are two prestigious awards: the NGA’s and Governor Wales Outstanding Clerk Award (England & Wales) and NGA’s Outstanding Governing Body (England only). There will be both national and regional winners, which will be awarded at a national ceremony in March 2011. The closing date is 15th November 2010 (12 Noon), so there is plenty of time to spread the word or to nominate someone yourself. Don’t let great work go unnoticed. All our members have supported our first ‘ask’ in our manifesto of raising the profile of governors and the importance of school governance. These awards are a very good way of joining in – please do so.
Nomination forms (Word files
)
are available to download:
Clerk Award;
Governors Award.
(22 May 2010)
DCC guidance on boycott of SATS
Devon County Council has been informed by the NUT and NAHT, and the NASUWT
that they are calling on their members to take action short of strike action
by refusing to administer Key Stage 2 assessment tests for English and
Maths, commencing on Tuesday 4 May and this will be continuous. Read the
DCC Guidance Re
Sats 2010 (
)
document that is being given to all Governing Bodies. DCC say it is
important that there is a consistent response to the industrial action.
(28 April 2010)
SATs boycott
See NGA comment on SATs Boycott for details of NGA response.
(15 April 2010)
Long Awaited Government Report on School Governance
The 21st Century School: Implications and Challenges for Governing Bodies is a Ministerial report giving a review of the current school governance arrangements and developing proposals to give every school a highly skilled, more effective and better-trained governing body.
(5 April 2010)
Parental Engagement using Merlin
Following a request for information from schools Steve Cayley (Adviser for e-Learning, Devon Learning and Development Partnership) has prepared a document: Using SWGfL Merlin to support Parental Engagement. This has been sent to the Devon headteacher and governor associations.
(3 April 2010)
New Constitution
At the DAG AGM held on 25 March 2010 the new 2010 Constitution was adopted and Board Appointments made. (See DAG Board Page.)
(27 March 2010)
Great Torrington Community School Sports College - proposal to change the age range
The Governors of Great Torrington School are consulting on the proposal to change the age range from the current 11-16 to 11-18 with effect from September 2011. The closing date for the consultation is Friday 14th May 2010. There will be a public consultation event at the school on Thursday 22nd April 2010 from 6pm to 8pm.
If you would like to comment on the proposals, please come along to the meeting, comment by writing to the school, or by . Further information is available on the school's website.
(23 March 2010)
SATs Boycott – Proposed Action by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT)
Advice for Governing Bodies has been issued by the NGA: see NGA Guidance on SATs Boycott.
(14 March 2010)
Governors and Local Learning Consortiums
DAG is keen to ensure that Governors have a greater say in their LLCs and presented a paper for discussion at the recent Local Partnership Forum (LPF) attended by 24 LLC's Chairs. They in turn will present to the next LLC meeting and will report back in June to the LPF. Meanwhile DAG would welcome GBs’ feedback on this paper for inclusion in future presentations to the LPF in June. Please direct any comments or observations to David Tall.
(12 March 2010)
Delivering excellent education in a period of financial restraint
The Devon Education Forum (DEF) has produced a very important document called “How to continue to deliver excellent and sustainable 21st century education in a period of financial restraint”, and will be holding a number of briefing and consultation events (pdf file) around the county from 8th to 31st March.
(9 February 2010)
DAG at NGA Conference
David Tall and Don Patterson on behalf of DAG and Debbie Clapshaw of DGS are giving a presentation today, entitled ‘Building Effective Local Associations’, at the NGA Conference on the theme Working with Governors. The presentation slides are available to download: DAG/DGS Presentation (Powerpoint file, 1.38MB).
(27 January 2010)
Notice of AGM 2010
The Annual General Meeting of the Devon Association of Governors will take place on Thursday 25 March 2010 at 6pm at County Hall, Exeter. See DAG AGM 2010.
(24 January 2010)
Devon Schools Music Festival
On Wednesday 23rd June 2010, an incredible mix of top international artists, professional musicians, community musicians, and young performers from Devon's primary and secondary schools will showcase their work at Westpoint Arena near Exeter.
The annual event, now in its fifth year, incorporates over 100 individual concerts and workshops with a wide spectrum of musical styles, from rock and gospel to jazz, folk, world music and classical. The highlight of the day is at 2.45pm when all the children get together in the arena for a mass singing experience called the BIG SING.
We are also attempting the world record for the largest Ukulele ensemble. For more information please contact David Tall.
(18 January 2010)
Governor of the Year
Many of you will remember that Ian Courtney, the Chair of Governors of Okehampton CC was a national finalist at last year's awards ceremony, and once again there is an opportunity to recognise the fabulous contribution any number of Devon Governors make to their school, through a nomination for the 2010 Award, as Governor of the Year.
The closing date for nominations is midnight on 1 March 2010 and the deadline for endorsements (which) have to be completed by the headteacher is 5pm on 8 March 2010. See a copy of the criteria to be considered.
There are 12 other categories offering an opportunity to recognise outstanding staff and a particularly interesting new category is the Outstanding School Team of the Year.
There is also equipment / money to be won. The "Film my School" competition, which invites children and young people to get involved and make a short film celebrating their school, offers a prize of £5000 of video equipment.
The biggest money awards are offered to the Special Sector. Outstanding special needs teams can bid for funds to support their crucial work. There are 3 awards, one at £15000 and 2 at £10000. All details are at www.teachingawards.com.
(8 January 2010)
New Year Honours
DAG was delighted to note the award of an MBE to Mrs Cathy Slow, Chair of the West Exmoor Federation, in recognition of her outstanding leadership, which saw the Federation established in 2007. It is always a terrific moment when Governors receive appropriate national recognition and we send Cathy our warmest congratulations on her marvellous achievement.
DAG is also delighted to send congratulations to Paul Jones, the Executive Head of the First Federation for his award of the OBE.
(6 January 2010)
For earlier news items see News Archive.
