Berry Education is a consulting service offering support to leadership teams and those responsible for governance in the education sector.
The requirements on schools, academies and multi-academy trusts to operate as corporate businesses as well as academic institutions is ever increasing meaning the pressures on leaders to ensure compliance and best practice is a growing one.
Those with strategic oversight need to continually up-skill their understanding to ensure they are able to be effective in their voluntary role of strategic leadership.
Berry Education provides a holistic consultancy service in the areas of educational leadership, governance and business management offering support options ranging from advice, guidance, coaching and mentoring to hands on reviews, audits and a diverse range of training and development options.
It is pertinent that all those responsible for governance understand their roles and can reflect on and share their best practices and understand where and when developments are necessary.
The support you will receive from your Berry Education Leadership and Governance Consultant will be in the context of your Multi-Academy Trust, your consultant will develop a sound knowledge of your organisation and how this meets with the strategic vision of your Trust. You will receive a quality service that promotes improvement to ensure your Trust Governance is effective and efficient.
To ensure we offer a proactive service that can fulfil the needs of your unique educational environment our strategic governance offer provides access to additional time, priced by the day, to your leadership and governance consultant who can support you with any or all of the following activities:
| · Governance Compliance Audit | · Governance Review |
| · Governance Evaluation and Development planning | · Skills Audit and Analysis reporting |
| · Induction Support | · Training and Development |
| · Chairs Coaching and Mentoring | · Dealing with Complaints |
| · Exclusions and Independent Review Panel Training | · Admissions Appeals Training |
| · Internal Clerk Development | · Stakeholder Management |
| · Responding to SRMA reviews and actions | · Communication Management |
| · Safeguarding and Child Protection Training | · Policy Reviews |
| · GDPR Compliance | · MAT Development |
| · Due Diligence | · SLA Reviews / Procurement |
| · Integrated Curriculum and Financial Planning | · Finance & Funding Compliance |
We will tailor a service package specific to your needs.
Your leadership and governance consultant will meet with you to draft an annual and/or termly workplan. This workplan will underpin the service offer as agreed and undergo consistent review being subject to change based on your ongoing governance requirements.
Support can be priced on a day rate or per activity and will be dependent on numbers of days or activities, contractual term and/or purchase of other services provided by Berry Education.
Contractual pricing terms are agreed in advance and fixed to support proactive budget management.
Educational Governance is a changing field with increasing responsibilities, particularly for those who govern multiple schools within Multi Academy Trust. It is pertinent that all those responsible for governance understand their roles and can reflect on and share their best practices and understand where and when developments are necessary. The sixth feature in the DfE competency framework for governance focuses on effective evaluation.
6.b. ‘it is essential for the board to reflect on its own effectiveness including the effectiveness of its process and structures. This will assist in building relationships and improving accountability and will enable the board to ensure that there is clear distinction between strategic and operational leadership…’
It is the responsibility of the board to evaluate their practice and gather a clear understanding of any improvements required. An external review will support the board with knowledge relating to their strategic effectiveness, provide compliance assurance and evidence how well they are achieving their three core functions of governance.
The outcome of your review will be a full written report providing details of your current position including an action plan to support any recommendations for development. Your leadership and governance consultant will present the report findings and action plan to your Board.
Our governance compliance and external review service provides three support options:
- Governance Review
- Compliance Review
- Governance and Compliance Review
Pricing available upon request
Accessing the most up to date and best practice advice and guidance is vital, combined with a robust clerking support service that records governance decisions accurately, provides evidence that your academy governance is fulfilling its core functions.
The support you will receive from your Berry Education Leadership and Governance Consultant will be in the context of your Multi-Academy Trust, your consultant will develop a sound knowledge of your organisation and how this meets with the strategic vision of your Trust. You will receive a quality service that promotes improvement and is highly organised to ensure an effective and efficient Board of Trustees.
Advice and guidance will be provided on all governance related matters. You will be provided with a direct contact to your consultant. Advice will be proactively provided during meetings and can be sought outside of meetings via telephone and email.
All members of your Board, and any designated staff will be added to our governance updates mailing list. Regular updates will be circulated via email and will relate to any statutory, best practice, regulatory or compliance updates relevant to governance in the education sector ensuring your Board are kept up to date with any impending changes and abreast of their responsibilities. Your consultant will also provide a termly update report to be circulated with meeting papers and will offer a verbal overview during meetings.
Record Keeping
The following records will be maintained by your Berry Education consultant:
- Trust Board constitution
- Appointments
- Terms of office
- Committee membership
- Link/monitoring roles
- Attendance at meetings
- Any declarations of business or pecuniary interests
Documentation output
- Governance constitution data
- Annual schedule of meetings as approved by the CEO and Chair of Trustees
- Agenda planner to include policies for approval and academy returns/submission deadlines
- All meeting agendas
- Declaration of business and pecuniary interests form
- Termly governance update reports
- All meeting minutes, draft and approved
- Meeting attendance records
Support is priced between £450 – £550, per meeting, dependent on contracted meetings numbers, contractual term and/or purchase of other services provided by Berry Education.
Contractual pricing terms are agreed in advance and fixed to support proactive budget management.
Admission Appeals
Academies are their own admissions authority and must meet all the mandatory provisions of the Schools Admissions Code (‘the Code’) which came into force on 19 December 2014 (except where variations have been written into a funding agreement to support fair access).
It is the responsibility of admission authorities to ensure that admission arrangements are compliant with the Code which is supported by the School Admission Appeals Code.
The purpose of the Schools Admissions Appeals Code is to ensure the independence of admission appeal panels and to ensure that all admission appeals are conducted in a fair and transparent way. The Code has the force of law.
Admission authorities must ensure panel members have received up to date and relevant training to include, as a minimum; the law relating to admissions; their duties under the Human Rights Act 1998 and Equality Act 2010; procedural fairness and natural justice and the roles of particular panel members. The admission authority must also appoint a clerk to the appeal panel who is independent of the school and the education functions of the local authority. The clerk must have knowledge of the School Admissions Code, the School Admission Appeals Code, other law relating to admissions and be able to offer advice to enable the panel to undertake its judicial function.
Pupil Exclusion & IRPs
Governors have a statutory obligation to consider the reinstatement of an excluded pupil where specific circumstances apply and must have regard to the current statutory guidance when making decisions on exclusions and administering the exclusion process.
Governors should have undergone exclusions training before they are called upon to sit on any pupil exclusion hearing panel. The clerk to governors plays a significant role in the organisation of exclusion panel meetings, accurately recording the meeting and offering professional guidance to the governing board during the decision-making process.
Where parents dispute the outcome of a pupil exclusion hearing they have the right to request an independent review. The academy trust has an obligation to constitute an independent review panel in line with statutory guidance and ensure that all panel members and the clerk have received training within the two years prior to the date of the review. This training must have covered: the requirements of the primary legislation, regulations and statutory guidance governing exclusions (which would include an understanding of how the principles applicable in an application for judicial review relate to the panel’s decision making); the need for the panel to observe procedural fairness and the rules of natural justice; the role of the chair of a review panel; the role of the clerk to a review panel; the duties of head teachers, governing boards and the panel under the Equality Act 2010; and the effect of section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (acts of public authorities unlawful if not compatible with certain human rights) and the need to act in a manner compatible with human rights protected by that Act.
If requested by parents, with their application for an independent review panel, the academy trust must appoint a SEN expert.
Most governors do not take on their role expecting to be involved with pupil exclusions, however this is something that they may be called upon to do, and it is very important that their involvement is handled correctly
Your Berry Education Leadership and Governance Consultant will be fully trained with expert knowledge, equipped to both train panel members where required and/or act as clerk at hearings. As clerk, your consultant will:
- support adherence to all statutory timelines;
- notify parties of the order of proceedings in advance of the hearing;
- respond to any queries received from appellants in advance of the hearing or identify and liaise with the appropriate person to provide a response;
- attend the hearing and provide independent advice and guidance on law and procedure;
- take responsibility for accurately minuting the hearing;
- draft the panel’s written reasons for decision;
- provide the written hearing outcome to all parties.
Due to the ad-hoc nature of admission appeals and pupil exclusion hearings or independent review panel requests it is difficult to determine the precise costs a school should budget for.
Contractual pricing terms for single and multiple hearings can be agreed in advance and fixed for
the academic year to support proactive budget management.