Around 80 East Riding Governors spent the day at the conference centre at Bishop Burton College on Saturday 10th March. In glorious sunshine and a convivial atmosphere, the delegates listened to a keynote from Estelle Morris who gave the narrative of an education system which has transformed over the last 50 years. In taking us on the journey, she brought us bang up to date but leaving some central questions open in our minds such as, where is the middle tier for supporting schools now that many quangos have either been shut or weakened or placed in the impossible position of being the only one left?

The Audience	Estelle Morris	Mike Furbank

Baroness Estelle Morris’s 10 top tips for governors

In her keynote address, Estelle urged governors not to get obsessed with structures but rather to keep constantly focused on the quality of teaching and learning within our schools and the quality of the leadership.  The politicians will always get excited about structures since they are always easier to get hold of, to change and to influence.   Governors must become more scientific about teaching and learning.  We need to know what works and what doesn’t work.  Do we use all that research out there? Where is the body of knowledge about best practice that should inform our questions? She concluded her address with 10 top tips:

1. Use your judgement and your initiative
2. Use your instinct: ‘smell the air in your school’. What does it feel like when you go into your school, into the playground?
3. Talk to pupils as often as you can-informally and formally.  What are they thinking? What are their concerns?
4. Get to know the whole staff, not just the senior leadership team.  Talk to new staff.  Invite them for a cup of coffee in their first year
5. Ask questions about the basics
6. Value those things we find hard to measure: the creativity in the school, the ethos, the kindness and the care, the drama productions
7. Ask constantly for evidence; why are we embarking on this particular change? Question the head and staff about what is happening.  Governors often find it hard to raise questions but it is fundamental to the role of governor
8. Don’t opt out of your own professional development
9. Listen to official advice and then make selective, best use of it – but don’t let it dominate
10. Know your own school but keep looking outwards and beyond – know what is happening out there

We were also joined by Mike Furbank, The Head of Achievement and Inclusion at East Riding of Yorkshire Council,  who provided us with ‘A view from the Riding’, from the big politics to the small politics. The day was interspersed with workshops from various experts covering topics such as Understanding School Finance, eSafety, RAISEonline and the New 2012 Ofsted Evaluation Schedule. After an excellent lunch, before the start of the afternoon programme, we were treated to a performance from the very talented Headlands School Performing Arts Company, who gave us a flavour of their range through an excerpt from various shows.

Look out for the full report in the next ERAGB newsletter. Special thanks go to Sue Gollop and Janet Slater (both of ERAGB) and Wendy Grundy (Area Improvement Advisor at ERYC) for all their hard work in organising this highly successful conference!

Fourth Joint ERYC/ERAGB Conference

Bishop Burton College – Saturday 10th March 2012

The Joint ERYC/ERAGB Annual Conference has now become firmly established in the calendar of events for governors and each year we have addressed topical governance issues. This year’s conference aims to do just that once again and is timely in that it closely follows Royal Assent of the government’s Education Act of November 2011 which sets out some quite dramatic changes to the way in which the education system in England is to operate. Consequently, the focus for this year’s conference is on how well you and your fellow governors understand the ways in which your school, college or academy may respond to the demands of emerging government policy.

The Rt.Hon. The Baroness Estelle Morris

We are delighted to welcome Baroness Estelle Morris, former Secretary of State for Education and Skills as our keynote speaker this year. She will be presenting her view of national educational developments and the extent to which schools make use of evidence to pursue school improvement. This will be complemented by workshops to explore a wide range of issues of interest to governors. Baroness Morris is foremost an educationalist; she combines a career in Education, the Arts and Politics. Her roles in education have allowed her to see the education landscape from classroom teacher to senior policy maker and it is this breadth of experience that is now reflected in her comments and analysis of education. Amongst other posts, she now works at the Institute of Effective Education at the University of York which aims to transform the relationship between education research and practice so that policy making and teaching can become more evidence based.

The Conference will, as always, be held at Bishop Burton College. The date for your diary this year is Saturday 10^th March 2012. If you would like to attend, please contact your chair of Governors, who should have already forwarded you these details. We look forward to seeing you there!