Department for Education (DfE) Launch New Monthly School Governance Update
September 27, 2019
On Thursday 19 September, the Department for Education (DfE) issued its first new monthly school governance update. This is intended to provide those governing with relevant information from the government.
The first monthly update opened with a message from Lord Agnew, in which he expressed his appreciation for the hard work of the governance community:
“To my mind there is nothing more important to the proper running of schools than governance … I am incredibly grateful for the time and energy that you give to this vital public service, and the dedication shown by all governors and trustees to provide strong, effective governance in our schools”.
The monthly message will be circulated to those governing whom the DfE have up-to-date contact details on get information about schools (GIAS). To guarantee that you receive the monthly updates, please ensure that you update your contact details on GIAS.
Accompanying these updates, the DfE has also looked to consolidate its resources for trustees and academy committee members and governing local authority maintained schools into one place. Those governing can now find useful links, guidance documents and other resources (such as model policies) on one webpage. The new collections also include links to a fresh guidance document on statutory policies for schools and academy trusts. However, all changes made to the page reflect previously announced requirements, and there are no new requirements for schools in this update. Users of these collections should also note that not all statutory guidance are included, with a full list available here.
One piece of guidance that has been updated this week is how schools can use Integrated Curriculum and Financial Planning (ICFP) to create the best curriculum for pupils with available funding (first published 5 September 2019). Its resources for governors and trustees now include a number of practical examples, namely the Pioneer Academy Trust’s staff deployment analysis manual and tools, along with a video on Outwood Grange's approach to ICFP.