Diocese of Portsmouth

Department for Schools
Park Place Pastoral Centre
Winchester Road
Wickham
PO17 5HA
Tel: 01329 835363 /

20th June 2014

To all governors and clerks

School Governance Bulletin No:7.14

This Bulletinis sent electronically to all governors, directors and clerks for whom an email address is held in the Department for Schools’ office. No hard copies will be issued. Bulletins will be circulated as and when appropriate and will be numbered for ease of reference. The bulletin will also be available on the diocesan web-site.

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In this bulletin:

  1. Governors Briefings July 2014
  2. Changes to School teachers pay and conditions May 2014
  3. Information from DfE
  4. Reminder
  5. Catholic education

1.Governors Briefings July 2014
Briefings will be held at 7.00pm on 2nd July 2014 at St Patrick’s Primary School, Woolston and on 3rd July at St Mary’s Primary Maidenhead. Topics to be covered include:-

  • Recruitment and induction of governors
  • Admissions
  • Reconstitution
  • CES contracts and policies

Please contact Maureen Simmons at to book places at either of the briefing sessions.Please provide names and an email addresses.

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2. Changes to School Teachers Pay and Conditions May 2014

Revised arrangements for determining the pay of school leaders come into force with effect from 1 September 2014. Key points to note include:-

  • There is no need to reassess the pay or allowances of existing headteachers or leadership teams in September 2014.
  • The new progression arrangements will apply to all school leaders from the 2014/15 appraisal year for payment from September 2015.
  • Schools will need to revise their pay and appraisal policies from September 2014 as a consequence of the removal of points from the pay spines to clarify their approach to making performance-based pay decisions for the leadership group.

Other changes include:-

  • An end to the need for a minimum differential of £1500 between the value of Teaching and Learning Responsibility payments (TLRs)
  • The STRB recommended that the detailed guidance about the framework of non-pay terms and conditions and the list of 21 tasks that teachers should not routinely be expected to carry out, are no longer necessary or desirable. The STRB considered that schools should be able to use their discretion to make sensible professional judgements at school level about how to apply the statutory principles underlying the non-pay conditions to best meet the needs of their pupils. These recommendations were accepted.

DfE advice can be accessed at

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3. Information from DfE

The Department for Education is seeking views on proposals for publicly funded schools and colleges to publish performance measures on their websites. The DfE plans to develop a data application that will contain headline measures in a standard format which schools will then be required to publicise on their website.

The consultation closes on 4th July 2014. It can be accessed at:

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4. Reminder

Clerks are asked to send a copy of full governing body minutes to Maureen Simmons at
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5. Catholic education

“Although Christian life consists in loving God and doing his will, intellectual work is intimately involved. The light of Christian faith stimulates a desire to know the universe as God's creation. It enkindles a love for the truth that will not be satisfied with superficiality in knowledge or judgment. It awakens a critical sense which examines statements rather than accepting them blindly. It impels the mind to learn with careful order and precise methods, and to work with a sense of responsibility.” The religious dimension of education in a Catholic School.

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Diocese of Portsmouth – Department for Schools

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