Governing Body Self-Evaluation Case Study

CONTEXT
Pontnewydd Primary School in Cwmbran has around 430 pupils, including Nursery. Governors participate with staff in the annual whole school self-evaluation session held as part of an Inset day at the end of the summer term. This leads to the Self-Evaluation Report for the year, and then the School Development Plan (SDP) for the following year. The SDP always includes a Governance Action Plan. At the whole school self-evaluation session the Chair of Governors does a presentation on the outcomes of that year’s Governance Action Plan. Governing Body Self-Evaluation is an integral part of whole school self-evaluation.

PROCESS
The GCS Governing Body Self-Evaluation scheme is undertaken every 3 years, rather than annually, because of the time commitment involved. In the intervening years governors complete the individual governor questionnaire, and this feeds into preparation of the subsequent year’s Governance Action Plan.

A small working group of governors, normally 4, is set up at the October AGM. They include the Chair of Governors, and have a range of governance experience to give a broad perspective. All governors complete the individual governor questionnaire. The group work is mainly undertaken during the spring term. Usually, the 6 areas of the scheme are divided between 2 sub-groups; then the whole group comes back together to review the outcomes.

The Chair drafts the report for consideration by the working group. The agreed report goes to the May meeting of the Governing Body, which then identifies what should feature in the next year’s Governance Action Plan.

OBSERVATIONS
– We use the electronic version because this avoids having to print off copies of the forms.
– Part A is a very useful check list to ensure the basics of governance are right.
– Using the individual questionnaire involves all governors in the process.
– The format matching the Estyn inspection areas gets governors into the analysis used in whole school self-evaluation.
– It is particularly worthwhile doing this in the run up to Inspection.

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