Covid’s impact still being felt at Governor level

Covid’s impact still being felt at Governor level

The Schools North East’s annual Governance Conference 2022 took place this week, with hundreds of NE governors joining us for sessions including cyber security, safeguarding, environment and wellbeing, and an update from Ofsted Regional Director Emma Ing.  Many thanks to our event Main Sponsor Wrigley’s Solicitors (visit their website here) for their support in hosting this mainstay of our annual calendar.

Emma Knights, CEO of the National Governance Association, got proceedings underway and, as one of our Keynote Speakers, passionately addressed the important roles Governors can play in ensuring that the environment does not drop off the agenda for schools. Admitting that it is tough to finance environmental strategies on a tight budget, Emma stated that, by adopting a ‘Think global, act local’ approach, schools can still make a real change to the environment. 

By considering the Four C’s of Environmental Sustainability (Curriculum, Campus, Community and Culture), Emma declared that schools can not only improve the environment for themselves, but by consistently pushing a message that has drifted from view during the pandemic, schools can bring it back into the national spotlight.

The same theme appeared to run throughout the conference, with many speakers discussing how the global pandemic has impacted on what their main strategic focus was and the additional pressures that the post-covid environment would place on schools and governors.  Governance Professional and Independent Reviewer Fiona Stagg stressed the importance of values within schools and trusts and of Governors using them to focus on the ‘big picture’. Paula Gascoigne (Vice Chair of Governors at St. Michael’s RC Primary School) covered the importance of sourcing additional funding opportunities for schools as we move into more straightened financial times.   

Other sessions included the governor’s role in Cyber-Security and Probity and Transparency, with speakers Ellie Cheshire of The Key and Graham Shaw (Consultant with event sponsor Wrigleys Solicitors) touching upon how the pandemic had significantly changed the landscape for governors, and the importance of ‘prevention-before-cure’ approaches.

On Day 2 of the Conference our second Keynote Speaker Emma Ing, Ofsted Regional Director, discussed similar themes as she covered the three core functions of Governors.

As well as ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction, Emma stressed the vital role of governors in holding executive leaders to account and making sure that money is well spent.  

The Ofsted Update was followed sessions on ‘Safeguarding’ from Hannah Glossop of Judicium Education and ‘New Governor Recruitment’ with Emma Harris of Governors for Schools, before  the conference closed with sessions on the governors role in staff wellbeing from Andy Mellor, Wellbeing Director of the Schools Advisory Service, and a session on careers leads and inspection with Louise Liddle & Rachel Green of the Careers & Enterprise Company. 

The Governance Conference was a great success, with some outstanding speakers and valuable insights for all governors  into the many and complex aspects of this vital role. 
It’s not too late to view our Governance Conference, as all sessions were recorded. Click here for more information.