Governance Training

This session will cover:

• Understanding the information about absence and attendance
• What the law says about attendance and absence
• Your school's attendance policy and procedure
• What questions should governors be asking about attendance
• Attendance of pupils on part time timetables or attending alternative provision.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Helen Lane, Learn Sheffield Improvement Partner

This session will look at the structures, organisation and culture of multi-academy trusts (MATs) and the roles within them.

The course will cover the different types of MATs and the essential documentation that governs their work, with a focus on the importance of the local tier of governance, the value they bring, and how they sit within the trust as a whole.

Audience: Local Governing Board members, trustees, or governors of maintained schools who are exploring academy conversion.

Trainer: Chasca Twyman, Governance Consultant

This session will provide you with an overview of school and governors’ roles around Data Protection and Freedom of Information against the background of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The session will give you an understanding of your school’s responsibilities as a data controller. It will cover best practice in drafting and updating policies and procedures, managing information risks, and in dealing with information requests and data breaches.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Andy Wynne, Certified GDPR Practitioner, Learn Sheffield Data Protection Officer and Governance Lead

This session will support you as a governor in fulfilling your key role and statutory duty to hold the headteacher to account for the day-to day running of their school.

The session will outline what makes a good and effective appraisal, the structure and regulation around the process, key paperwork to ensure consistency, and setting and reviewing objectives supported by the external advisor.

The session will give you a clear understanding of the role description of the headteacher and the way that headteacher’s standards are used in setting performance objectives, how it works in practice, and the elements that contribute to the performance of a good school.

The session will also update you on recent changes to pay and conditions guidelines as they affect performance management and setting pay.

Audience: All Governors involved in HT Performance Management

Trainer: Beverly Nicholson, Learn Sheffield Improvement Partner, and Susanna Bradbury, Governance Manager

This concise yet comprehensive online course will equip you with the essential knowledge and confidence to fulfil your legal and ethical responsibilities around health & safety, including:

• understanding health & safety legislation
• clarifying roles and responsibilities
• setting the vision and prioritising health & safety
• ensuring compliance
• differentiating the legal obligations of maintained schools and academies

Audience: All governors/trustees

Trainer: Jamie Clarke, Head of Estates and Facilities, Five Rivers Multi Academy Trust

This course will look at and answer key questions you might have about this governor responsibility, including:

• What should you hold leaders to account for at your school?
• What are the essential behaviours needed for you to hold your school leaders to account?
• How do you hold someone to account for things they probably know more about than you?

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Mark Coppel, Education Governance Specialist

Taking on the role of chair can be a daunting, as well as an exciting, opportunity. This course aims to introduce you to the role of chair, help you develop to become an effective leader of your board, and share good practice to ensure the role is manageable.

There will also be opportunities for you to work and network with other chairs.

Please note this is a two-session course and you’ll need to attend both to complete the course.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Chasca Twyman, Governance Consultant

This course will update governors on the changes to the Ofsted Framework for 2025/26 and inform you how this impacts the work you do.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Diane Stokes, Learn Sheffield Improvement Partner

This course will examine what is meant by Online Safety in 2025/26. It will look at the major safeguarding risks in the online space and correlate them with the concerns and experiences of children and young people in Sheffield.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Sue Finnigan, Learn Sheffield Education Consultant

This session will help you to understand:.

• the main principles of the Public Sector Equality Duty
• what you need to do to ensure you’re compliant with the duty
• how the duty fits into the inspection framework

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Sai Patel, Learn Sheffield Improvement Partner

It is a statutory responsibility for governing boards to adopt and publish their policy and procedures for managing complaints. Dealing with complaints can be a daunting prospect for governors and this course aims to provide you with the skills to undertake this process confidently.

During the course we will cover:

• The complaints policy - regulations and best practice
• How to manage the stages within the policy
• Good practice when investigating a complaint
• The role of the complaints panel

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Chasca Twyman, Governance Consultant.

Regular evaluation supports boards to monitor and improve the quality and impact of governance, and ultimately the outcomes for the pupils in their setting.

This session examines what effective governance looks like and how this can be developed through regular skills audits and by reviewing the structures in place. It will look at how well governors work together, participate in discussions, and demonstrate effective challenge.

The session will cover the tools and methods for self-evaluation and independent assessments of effectiveness through external reviews, and how the board can use these to develop their practices and identify areas for further training.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Chasca Twyman, Governance Consultant

This course is designed for all staff and governors involved in school recruitment. The course will look at the ways we can identify and deter unsuitable candidates, while embedding a strong safeguarding ethos into the culture of your school.

KCSIE 2025 states that ‘It is vital that as part of their whole school or college approach to safeguarding governing bodies and proprietors create a culture that safeguards and promotes the welfare of children in their school or college. As part of this culture, it is important that they adopt robust recruitment procedures that deter and prevent people who are unsuitable to work with children from applying for or securing employment, or volunteering opportunities in schools and colleges.’ ‘Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that those involved with the recruitment and employment of staff to work with children have received appropriate safer recruitment training.’

This course is accredited by the Safer Recruitment Consortium and is updated annually to take account of recent legislative changes.

Audience: Senior Leaders, Governors, School Business Managers and staff involved in HR and recruitment

Trainer: Sai Patel, Learn Sheffield Improvement Partner, and Susanna Bradbury, Governance Manager

This refresher course is designed for all staff and governors involved in school recruitment. The course will look at the ways we can identify and deter unsuitable candidates, while embedding a strong safeguarding ethos into the culture of your school.

KCSIE 2025 states that ‘It is vital that as part of their whole school or college approach to safeguarding governing bodies and proprietors create a culture that safeguards and promotes the welfare of children in their school or college. As part of this culture, it is important that they adopt robust recruitment procedures that deter and prevent people who are unsuitable to work with children from applying for or securing employment, or volunteering opportunities in schools and colleges.’ and ‘Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that those involved with the recruitment and employment of staff to work with children have received appropriate safer recruitment training.’

This course is accredited by the Safer Recruitment Consortium and is updated annually to take account of recent legislative changes.

Please note, you must have completed an accredited Safer Recruitment course within the last 4 years and be able to provide a certificate to evidence this to be eligible for this refresher course.

Audience: Senior Leaders, Governors, School Business Managers and staff involved in HR and recruitment, who have previously completed the full day training in Safer Recruitment.

Trainer: Sai Patel, Learn Sheffield Improvement Partner, and Susanna Bradbury, Governance Manager

This course will cover the key processes and requirements for schools considering suspending and excluding pupils. It will draw upon national guidance and good practice in ensuring that decisions to suspend and exclude pupils are rational, proportionate and fair

The course will inform you on how to provide robust oversight and scrutiny of decisions to suspend or exclude pupils.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Malcolm Leigh, Education Consultant

This course will give you:

• a complete understanding of the role of governance and the three core functions
• knowledge of where roles and responsibilities lie, depending on if you are a governor/trustee for a MAT, an academy school, or a maintained school
• an understanding of the three tiers of governance within a MAT, the scheme of delegation and where the three core functions lie
• an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of governors at different levels and how to make school leaders aware of this

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Mark Coppel, Education Governance Specialist

At the end of this session, you will have a better understanding of how trust funding works and how to ensure that your trust’s finances are being well spent. You will also know how to meet the expectations of the trustee financial oversight role, including meeting the compliance obligations arising under the Academy Trust Handbook, charity and company law.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: David Werry, Governance Consultant

At the end of this session, you will be more confident in ensuring that your school’s finances are being well spent and managed and that it gets value for money while making an impact.

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: David Werry, Governance Consultant

This course will guide governors in primary settings to better understand the role of pupil performance data in monitoring school improvement and the impact of the curriculum, learning and teaching. It will include:

• understanding the information from national tests and examinations
• the difference between progress and attainment
• interpreting your school's IDSR (you should bring the latest copy of your school's IDSR with you to the training)
• a School Report Cards update
• what questions you should be asking about performance data

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Diane Stokes and Sarah Hubbard, Learn Sheffield Improvement Partners

This course will guide governors in secondary settings to better understand the role of pupil performance data in monitoring school improvement and the impact of the curriculum, learning and teaching. It will include:

• understanding the information from national tests and examinations
• the difference between progress and attainment
• interpreting your school's IDSR (you should bring the latest copy of your school's IDSR with you to the training)
• a School Report Cards update
• what questions you should be asking about performance data

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Diane Stokes and Sarah Hubbard, Learn Sheffield Improvement Partners

This course will cover:

• the importance of vision and setting the strategic direction in governance
• how having the right vision informs governance work (agenda setting, performance management, school/trust improvement, board self-evaluation)
• understanding the difference between a vision, a mission statement and school values
• the process of setting a vision and what makes a good vision

Audience: All Governors

Trainer: Mark Coppel, Education Governance Specialist