Sian Stebbings (Merlin Top Primary School): Being chair of governors under 30

In this episode, Claire meets with Sian Stebbings, a former teacher and now Production Manager at Classroom Secrets as well as a Chair of Governors for a local academy school that is part of a multi-academy trust (MAT).  Sian explains how she started her teaching journey, to becoming a Production Manager, a school governor and now Chair of Governor for a MAT. She discusses the challenges she faced and explains her vision moving forward. Sian also explains how her current and previous experience has helped her as a school governor.  Sian and Claire explore the roles and responsibilities of a school governor in education today. They discuss the difference between the types of governors and the importance of school governors.    KEY TAKEAWAYS  It is pivotal to keep up to date with statutory information as a governess. They must be aware of any relevant changes to the education sector and issues that may affect their schools and/or trust.  Sian is part of the local governing body. She chairs the meetings and ensures Senior Leadership Team in schools are held accountable and the vision of the MAT is implemented throughout schools.    Strategic decisions are taken by the board of trustees of the MAT. The local governing body can contribute to some strategic decision through the scheme of delegation, but this is decided by the trust board.   The local governing body ensures the strategic decisions are taking place in schools, policies are followed and procedures and systems in schools are effective and purposeful.  Having a teaching background helps Sian to bring a sense of understanding of how the strategic decisions effect the school on a day-to-day basis.   This experience can allow questions and concerns to be raised at the local academy council meetings, such as how will this affect the staff? How will workload be managed for staff?   The vision of the MAT is ‘outcomes focused, child centred’, but it is important for Sian to consider the staff’s wellbeing and workload coming from a teaching background herself.   Meeting with teacher friends and former co-workers helps Sian to keep up to date with issues related to teaching and education. Working at Classroom Secrets, enables Sian to speak to teaching staff and understand the ongoing pressures of working in schools.   Sian recommends that people should aspire to become school governors to support their schools. People with refined skills and experience in Finance, Human Resource or other areas should come forward and apply for a school governor. The role also allows for professional and personal development.  Strategic and operational. Strategic - making the decisions, setting the vision of the schools, where the school aspires to go. Operational - how you get there?    Her role as the Chair of Governors has allowed her to progress at Classroom Secrets by starting as a Proofreader to Proofreading Manager to a Senior Manager, as well as understanding the corporate decisions that have taken place.   It has allowed her to make strategic decisions and set strategies to deliver those within her current job role.   Sian meets with the CEO of the trust to discuss the strategic decisions of the MAT and discusses the plan of action.   She explains the proposed strategy of having established systems and procedures in place within schools that will allow any new member of staff to understand them and continue to deliver high quality teaching and learning. They should be rigorous and thorough as well as consistent within the MAT.  The main difference between a local authority governor and an academy governor is the strategic decisions. In a local authority school, governors are expected to make those decisions as governors.   How would Sian change the LIFE/work balance for teachers? Sian would make sure all parties involved in education i.e. teachers, governors understand the role of OFSTED.   Three biggest changes in education she has seen are the new curriculum, pressures of testing in Year 2 and 6, the Phonics Screening test and the newly introduced Year 4 times table testing, the number of teachers that have left the profession.   Technology based learning and the computing curriculum will be beneficial to children.  BEST MOMENTS  “Being a part of something that big, that shapes so many children’s lives would just be such an amazing thing to do.”  “At the time I was 25 and it was a real novelty for them (the governors) to have someone so young in the room.”  “Over the last couple of years, they have really focussed on putting in support from the MAT, they have directors of learning who come down, visit and support and take good ideas from the various schools and share them.”  “We absolutely worked together as a MAT. We are not an individual school.”  “You don’t have to have five pieces of work in the English book every single week to show that you have done five English lessons across the week.”  “Looking at ways to reduce workload that aren’t needed in order to evidence a child’s progress.”  VALUABLE RESOURCES  The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/ Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/ Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/ LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/ OFSTED: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted Northern Education Trust:  https://www.northerneducationtrust.org/  ABOUT THE HOST Claire Riley  Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide.  Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff.  Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend.  The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.