We may not have been able to hold a physical event this year, but that didn’t stop Schools North East from hosting a fantastic line up with record numbers for the fourth annual Northern Governance Conference 2020.
Due to the Coronavirus crisis, the physical event was unable to go ahead, however at a time where many are reflecting on their roles and have the opportunity to do more CPD, it was really important that we still provide this opportunity for Governors from across the North. Moving the event online, with live webinars over three days, spread weekly proved popular, with over 350 governors from across the region signing up, doubling last year’s attendance. We were also able to support governors from outside of the region, with Governors joining from North Yorkshire, Bolton, Cumbria, Burnley, Blackburn, Bradford and Leicester.
Governors tuned into live keynote webinars from a number of key figures in the sector, including Sir David Carter, Director of Executive Director of System Leadership, Ambition Institute, Emma Knights CEO, National Governance Association and Emma Ing, Regional Director, Ofsted as well as a live session and Q&A from Interim Regional Schools Commissioner, Katherine Cowell, who adapted her session in light of Sunday’s announcement about the planned return to school.
The conference saw a mix of sessions with some focused on what you can do as a governor in the current crisis, with Sir David Carter looking at the phases of the crisis, to help governors reflect on their actions so far and plan what to do next, while Kaley Foran from The Key looked at the issues schools would be dealing with on reopening, which was timely given this week’s announcement. Nicki Wadley from The School Bus also brought an extremely practical session answering the big questions from the Schools North East governance community. This really interesting session asked governors to reflect and consider what they had done to help their school in the current situation, and to think about what they could do to support their school leaders going forward.
As well as considering the current situation, sessions from Graham Vials, Partner at Ward Hadaway, Simon Richards from NGA and Lindsay Wardle, local school governor and PHD Researcher at Durham University Centre for Evidence Education, looked at more general issues affecting Governing Boards and the skills you need to deal with these, from Exclusion Panels, to Succession Planning and Understanding Disadvantage in your school.
The Conference was a resounding success with fantastic feedback from delegates. Conversations are continuing in the dedicated Governors group on our ConnectEd online community.
