Autumn RGA Events 2014 Please book now for the RGA events in October and November, details below, by e-mail to [email protected] or [email protected] Wednesday 22nd October 6.45 for 7pm – The Avenue Centre Pupil Premium: Policy and Impact, Marc Rowland, NET One of the hottest topics on Ofsted checklists – come to find out how to ensure you are up to speed about what Governors are expected to know about how pupil premium is being used in your school, what is effective and how to measure impact. NET is an independent Educational Charity which is also the sponsor of Battle Academy in Reading. Financial Benchmarking: Matt Espley & Julia Cottee Governors are expected to carry out a benchmarking exercise every year usually in the Autumn to compare their cost profile with similar schools using a national on line database. Come to find out more about this process and how the comparison database can be used to provide you with the most useful comparisons. Matt is a school business manager in Slough and both Matt and Julia are governors in Reading. Saturday 22nd November 9.30 to 2pm – The Avenue Centre - Annual Conference and AGM The Great Education Debate: An ASCL initiative discussing the purposes of Education – guest speakers tba This debate was initiated last year to encourage governors and educationalists to think about what we want from our education system, starting with the question “What is the purpose of Education?” Sometimes the answers to this question can surprise you but it is where we should start when considering the aims and vision we should be creating in our schools. ASCL initiated this cross sector country-wide discussion which aims to be non-party political and has no pre-determined outcome. The three phases are: 1) What are we educating people for/what are the purposes of education? 2) Leadership of learning 3) Systems and structures Questions we can ask ourselves are: - What makes an educated person? - What is the purpose of education? - Does your school favour a particular purpose? - Does the government emphasise the right purposes? - Does the National Curriculum develop appropriate workplace skills? - How does Ofsted’s definition of Outstanding leadership match the National Curriculum? - What is an outstanding teacher? - What makes an outstanding Headteacher? - How can we motivate and enable teachers and Heads to sustain high performance? All of these questions could form the basis of interesting discussions to have with your Governors so we decided to start with a discussion at RGA. Patrick Lowe, NGA SE Regional Director will also be addressing the conference AGM to follow at 1pm Both events are free for governors and clerks at schools which are members of RGA. The cost for Non-members is £10. Refreshments are provided.