In today's (24 April 2023) "Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg", an interview with Amanda Spielman, Ofsted chief inspector, looked at the recent tragic events around Caversham Primary, and subsequent calls for changes to Ofsted (including scrapping it completely). Spielman remained confident that Ofsted has a part to play, but separated the politics - where decsions are made by … Continue reading Laura Kuenssberg interviews Amanda Spielman, Ofsted chief inspector
Author: Bruce Levitan
National Leaders of Governance programme to end
National Leaders of Governance (NLGs) are experienced college governors, governance professionals and clerks with a strong record of supporting college improvement. They provide mentoring and improvement support to governance boards. The current leaders are listed on the DfE website here. A useful summary of what they do can be found on the Edapt website here. The programme … Continue reading National Leaders of Governance programme to end
Derbyshire School Leadership Conference – DSGA subsidy
DSGA is pleased to announce that we are able to subsidise twelve places at this year's Derbyshire School Leadership Conference (7th July 2023). Normally the cost per person is £80 (or £88 if your school is not an S4S subscriber, which may be the case for some academies), but we will pay half the fee - … Continue reading Derbyshire School Leadership Conference – DSGA subsidy
The Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership
Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Council, Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board and Derbyshire Constabulary (the Statutory partners) work in partnership with relevant agencies such as health providers, schools and education settings, probation providers and others to improve local safeguarding arrangements and hold each other to account as to how they are keeping children safe. … Continue reading The Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership
Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders
A long term research project, "Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders" is entering its second year. Initial findings have not yet been published, but Schools Week has obtrained some of the results, and reports on them here. They note that teachers’ average working week is 48.7 hours long, Senior leaders’ average week now stands at 56.8 hours.
DSGA Survey Results
Between January and March of this year we ran a survey to assess how well known/used is the web site, and to gather ideas for improvement. Chairs of all Derbyshire schools were invited to take part and we would like to thank the nineteen Chairs who responded. You can find the results of the survey in … Continue reading DSGA Survey Results
Derbyshire School Leadership Conference 2023
The Derbyshire School Leadership Conference 2023 is entiled Inspire, Lead, Create Stronger Together- a brighter and inclusive future for all It takes place on 6th and 7th July 2023 (Governors can attend on day 2 only). Booking form and further details are on the S4S web site here.
Summer 2023 Governor Training Programme
From the Governor Support Team in Derbyshire County Council comes this recent announcement: FAO All Chairs of Governors and Clerks to Governors Dear Chair & Colleague We are pleased to attach our governing board training and development programme for the summer term 2023. As a result of your feedback and requests, this includes some newly … Continue reading Summer 2023 Governor Training Programme
Comments on the Spring Budget
This article from the NGA highlights their response to the recent Spring Budget from the government. In summary the points made are: POSITIVE: investment in childcare is long overdue and very welcome, but: NEGATIVE: a failure to fund an increase in provision for pupils with additional needs; NEGATIVE: a failure to fund an increase in funding … Continue reading Comments on the Spring Budget
DDSCP Safeguarding Briefing Note: 13th March 2023
The link below is to the 14 page briefing note issued by the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (DDSCP ). It contains a wealth of useful information about a wide range of safeguarding aspect. This has been circulated to headteachers. DDSCP Safeguarding Briefing Note
The Cyber Ready Project
Cyber Ready is a flagship two-year project targeted at improving cyber resilience in all Derbyshire our schools. The project started in Sept 2022 and will conclude in July 2024. Derbyshire County Council is currently the only Local Authority offering dedicated, and fully funded support to its maintained schools, with the aim of helping schools meet the … Continue reading The Cyber Ready Project
SEND and alternative provision improvement plan
The Government published its long awaited SEND and alternative provision improvement plan on 2 March 2023 - you can find it on the DfE website here. You can find both the full report "SEND and alternative provision improvement plan: right support, right place, right time" and the "SEND and alternative provision roadmap" on this page. The NGA, who … Continue reading SEND and alternative provision improvement plan
Governor Training
Forthcoming Governor-related training from Derbyshire S4S: Governor Strategic Briefing Spring 2023Wed, 1 Mar 2023 17:30 - 19:00, OnlineFree of charge to subscribing schools Equality Act 2010: The New Ofsted Framework and its ExpectationsTue, 07 Mar 2023 18:00 - 20:00, Online Safeguarding Training for School GovernorsTue, 14 Mar 2023 17:00 - 19:00, Online Preparing for OfstedWed, 15 Mar … Continue reading Governor Training
Teachers go on strike: the challenges facing the schools sector
This article by Helena Gillespie, Associate Pro Vice Chancellor for Student Inclusion and Professor of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, University of East Anglia, analyses the underlying reasons for the teachers' pay claim and strikes, arguing that it's not just about pay, but a whole host of issues including wokrload, the impact of government policy … Continue reading Teachers go on strike: the challenges facing the schools sector
DSGA AGM
This year's AGM will be held at the March meeting of the DSGA Executive. Please note change of date - the meeting has moved to 29 March at 7:00pm (online). A Zoom link will be emailed in due course.
dsga.org.uk 