Coronavirus: boards should meet remotely;

In line with guidance on public health and school closure due to the coronavirus, governing boards should meet remotely.

You can agree remote meeting arrangements without first meeting in person.

This is set out in the Department for Education’s March governance update.

The powers to arrange remote meetings or remote attendance (set out below) are unchanged.

Maintained schools
You have the power to ‘approve alternative arrangements for governors to participate or vote at meetings of the governing board including but not limited to by telephone or video conference’.
This is set out in regulation 14 of The School Governance (Roles, Procedures and Allowances) (England) Regulations 2013.

This also applies to committee meetings.

Academies
Any trustee can attend meetings remotely under the DfE’s model articles of association for academy trusts (article 126), as long as:

• They’ve given notice of their intention to do so and provided the telephone number on which they can be reached and/or the videoconferencing platform they’ll be using at least 48 hours before the meeting, and
• The trustees have access to the appropriate equipment

The model articles add that “if after all reasonable efforts it does not prove possible for the person to participate by telephone or video conference, the meeting may still proceed with its business provided it is otherwise quorate”.
Refer to your own articles of association though in case they differ.

Governors attending remotely count towards the quorum
All governors present at a meeting, including those participating remotely, contribute to the quorum.

Refer to your virtual governance policy (if you have one) to see how issues, such as dropped calls, might affect the quorum. For example, the Devonshire Hill Nursery & Primary School has published a virtual governance policy which says (in section 2):

“Governors attending the meeting virtually will contribute to the quorum for the meeting. If the technological link is lost they will cease to contribute to the quorum, but this will not prevent the meeting continuing in their absence unless it has become inquorate.”

Moss Hey Primary School also has a virtual governance policy, which states that governors attending virtually contribute to the quorum.

How to run a virtual meeting
You’ll mostly run it in the same way as a normal meeting. Use these tips to make sure it runs smoothly:

Getting started

• Make sure all governors have access to a decent internet connection. Most people’s connections at home are good enough, but if you’re in an area with poor connectivity you may need to make additional arrangements
• Encourage everyone to call in with their webcam/video switched on, if possible. It’s much harder for everyone to participate, and for you to moderate the meeting, if you can’t see everyone
• The chair or clerk should set up the call on whatever platform you choose, and circulate the link to everyone else
• If possible, test the platform or system you’re using before the meeting

During the meeting

• Try to make meetings shorter – remote meetings are harder to manage, so shorter is better
• Time delays can happen, so make sure everyone has the opportunity to contribute and ask questions
• If you normally sign an attendance record at the start of a meeting, you’ll need to manage this in a digital format instead. It’s fine to have the clerk record who’s present (and indicating that they’re remote)
• If you’ll be discussing confidential information, make sure everyone can be in an appropriate location (to avoid other people overhearing confidential details)
• If you’re in a location with lots of background noise, mute your microphone when you’re not speaking – this improves call quality for everyone
• Check in regularly with the clerk – time delays and variable sound quality can make it hard to take accurate minutes
• In the minutes, make sure there’s a note that the meeting was held through teleconference

Sent on behalf of Tolis Vouyioukas, Corporate Director, Children’s Services Directorate

Dear Colleagues,

We are extremely grateful to our schools who have chosen to stay open during the Easter break; yet again this is an excellent example of our family of schools volunteering to go above and beyond during this challenging time. Thank you!

During our daily teleconference with our Headteacher Partnership representatives today, we have discussed the issue of Bank Holidays, as we recognise that this has been a question that many of you have understandably raised. The group have come to the conclusion that closing on Good Friday and Easter Monday is the right thing to do for our teaching staff so that they have an opportunity to spend time with their families which we understand is very much needed at this time.

Nevertheless, we also recognise that it is ultimately for individual Headteachers to make their own decision in conjunction with their senior leadership teams and Chairs of Governors based on the circumstances of their own school (including the demand of their key worker parents and the offers to work from their staff).

We are also mindful that our NHS colleagues will continue to work over this period and in order for us to provide a place for the children of those workers we are looking to facilitate a small number of clusters of schools which are located near to the main hospital sites in Buckinghamshire.

To enable us to support our schools over the Easter period we are asking that you inform us of the following:

• Please indicate how many NHS key worker children you have within your existing school roll and would be requiring support over the Bank Holiday period.

• Please indicate how many staff you may have who would be willing to volunteer to work over the two bank holidays either in their own school or within another within their locality area.

• Please indicate if you would like to be part of a cluster of schools who would collaborate to provide support for key worker and vulnerable children (initially for the Easter break). We are, however, keen to explore this model for a more sustained period in order to alleviate some of the pressures that some of your schools are experiencing.

Please submit your responses to the three points above to sis@buckinghamshire.gov.uk by no later than midday on Thursday 2nd April.

With thanks for your ongoing support and extraordinary efforts at this time.

Please take good care.

Tolis Vouyioukas
Corporate Director
Children’s Services Directorate
Buckinghamshire Council

01296 383 104

tolis.vouyioukas@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury HP19 8FF

Home > Knowledge Centre > Leaders & governing boards > Coronavirus: Information for governing boards March 2020

***NEW*** Download guidance on Business continuity and holding virtual meetings March 2020

NGA

Watch our webinar, led by Steve Edmonds, director of advice and guidance, on Virtual Governance.

https://www.nga.org.uk/Knowledge-Centre/Executive-leaders-and-the-governing-boards/The-Coronavirus-Information-for-governing-boards-M.aspx

Coronavirus was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation on the 11 March 2020. It is now a major concern for school leaders monitoring and dealing with the risks and implications in an evolving situation.

The government has announced that all state schools will close to almost all pupils until further notice. The closure will take effect from the afternoon of Friday 20th March. Nurseries, private schools and sixth forms should also follow this guidance. The closure will apply to all children, except those of key workers and those who are “most vulnerable”, including those with social workers and education, health and care plans. The cabinet office has published a list of the key worker categories.

This is an unprecedented and extremely difficult situation. It will lead to more questions than there are answers over the coming days and weeks. Those governing will want to support their schools the best way that they can at the same time as dealing with their own personal circumstances. They will also be considerate of the enormous task that staff have in ensuring continuity of education and making the reduced provision work on the ground.

NGA are producing information sheets on a regular basis containing key messages about the Coronavirus, schools and governing boards taking into account the evolving situation and the implications for school governance.
Guidance is also on available on continuing the business of the governing board during these challenging circumstances. This guidance covers business priorities and other business; the work undertaken by panels; taking urgent decisions; and holding virtual meetings successfully.

NGA Information Sheet 3 19 March 2020

NGA Infomation Sheet 2 18 March 2020

NGA Information Sheet 1 12 March 2020

Dear Colleague,

You will know that a group of headteacher colleagues and I meet via Skype every day with my team to make sure that we do the best we can to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and keep our children and staff safe and healthy.

I want to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude for the way you have responded in these unprecedented times. Keeping our schools open to those pupils who need to be at school for the reasons that we all know, despite the fear that everyone is experiencing right now, takes an altogether different type of leader, if not a superhero. Being brave, kind and disciplined every single day whilst managing uncertainty is not easy and I want you to know that this is appreciated beyond measure. Equally, I do not underestimate the impact that this is having on you personally and your families.

I have run out of verbs and adjectives to say thank you, so instead I am sharing a quote from a book I have been reading which made me think of you and all our staff in Children’s Services in Buckinghamshire.

“Be the person who cares. Be the person who makes the effort, the person who loves without hesitation. Be the person who bares it all, the person who never shies away from the depth of their feeling, or the intensity of their hope. Be the person who – believes in the softness of the world, in the goodness of other people, in the beauty of being open and untethered and trusting. Be the person who takes the chance, who refuses to hide. Be the person who makes people feel seen, the person who shows up. Trust me when I say – be the person who cares. Because the world doesn’t need more carelessness, any more disregard; because there is nothing stronger than someone who continues to stay soft in a world that hasn’t always been kind to them.”

– Bianca Sparacino, The Strength In Our Scars

Please take good care.

Tolis Vouyioukas
Corporate Director
Children’s Services

Good morning
This is just to update you that based on the most recent government advice, in addition to all office based staff, we are now advising all field based turn IT on staff to work from home unless the work they need to deliver absolutely can’t be delivered remotely. Your consultant will contact the school on the day of your visit as normal and check with you that there is nothing urgent or essential that cannot be done remotely. If we do need to visit site then we will work on a plan to make sure you are supported. Please keep asking all your staff to log tickets via the customer support portal as normal and as per my message last week we will be able to support teachers whether they are at home or at school.

In addition to supporting teachers working from home we will be extending our support service to include your school governors and ensuring they have safe ways of carrying out meetings. More will follow on this this tomorrow

Finally I wanted to let you know that following the interest in last weeks Remote Learning session, Using Team with Pupils we have scheduled a number of additional sessions to assist with distance learning. If you missed the session last week you can watch the recording here. Please do forward this mail to any teachers in your school that may be interested in this.
• Today – Tuesday 24th March – 13:00-13;45 – MS Teams – Basic Set Up & Organisation
• Wednesday 25th March – 13:00-13:45 – Configuration of Google Classroom – Setting up a Google classroom
• Thursday 26th March – 10:00-10:45 – Teaching and Learning with Teams – Manage pupil / student learning, organise resources and track progress
To register for any of these sessions please complete this form or email ellie.wilding@turniton.co.uk with the session you wish to join.
We plan to share more sessions in the coming weeks, if there is a particular topic you would like a session on please let us know by emailing ellie.wilding@turniton.co.uk
If there are any issues please just let me know and I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Kind regards,
Chris Woodward
Team Manager
turn IT on

phone: 07508 294155
email: christopher.woodward@turniton.co.uk
web: www.turniton.co.uk
office: Wittas House, Two Rivers, Station Lane, Witney, OX28 4BH