So, we have made it to the end of the summer term, and it is my favourite term in education, not only because the weather is nicer, and children can spend so much time outside but is the term you get to really see the children blossom. Your provision will look quite different in the summer term to how it looked in the autumn term, because your children are now confident and capable in their surroundings. All the skills you have been embedding and teaching often come to fruition in the summer term. The children can display their independence skills as well as those other skills we have been supported them to acquire like perseverance, curiosity, and communication.

The rights of the child tell us that children have the right to have their voices heard. The children are often their most confident in the summer term, so this makes it the ideal time to ask them to give you feedback on their experiences in your provision and routines of the day.

Ask the children what they have enjoyed, what they struggled with. What would they like to tell the next cohort of children joining the setting or class?

In a previous role as the Under Fives Participation Officer, I conducted many consultations with young children. It was during one of these consultations, a child confidently stated that they “hate the carpet, it ruins my life.” Strong feelings for a young child, and this view was shared by many children across a variety of settings, albeit not so strongly!

When we gather a child’s voice, we need to acknowledge it and consider what the child is telling us and how we can we make the carpet session a place of excitement and joy for children.

Are there any times in your routine that your children have an opportunity give you feedback? what have you done when hearing or observing their views?

How often are you listening to the children to influence the provision you provide? We must remind ourselves that true consultation is more than “they asked for the dinosaurs, so we put them out.”

We should empower the children to have their own ideas, thoughts and allowing children to plan, problem solve, and experiment. Observing the mastering of these skills in children is one of my favourite things to see in early years children. The pride they exude when they have been trusted with the responsibility to lead on something or work together with others is so powerful in their journey to becoming confident competent learners.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) supports this when it tells us in article 12 and 13 that children have a right to be heard and to express their views and thoughts.

“Article 12 (respect for the views of the child)

Every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously. This right applies at all times, for example during immigration proceedings, housing decisions or the child’s day-to-day home life.

Article 13 (freedom of expression)

Every child must be free to express their thoughts and opinions and to access all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law.”

The British Values in Early Years also advise us to model democracy in action, support children in making decisions together as well as encouraging liberty and freedom for all. How are you empowering children to have a voice and use their voice in your setting and in their interactions with others?

With all this in mind, I wanted to offer some reflection prompts to help you consider the ways in which you gather the children’s views, thoughts, and ideas. Building on those developing skills as competent learners that want to investigate and find out more about the world and others in it.

Reflection questions

• How often can children make decision and form their own ideas? How do we ensure all the children get this opportunity?
• Do children have regular opportunities to share their ideas, likes and dislikes?
• In what ways do you demonstrate to children that their views and thoughts are important to you?
• Does the setting/ class create a sense of belonging for all children?
• How are you using what children communicate to you to create provision that supports every child’s interest, and learning?
• How often do children get opportunities to work together and communicate directly with each other?

If this blog has sparked an interest in listening and consulting with your early years children and you would like to find out more about the variety of ways, we can consult with young children. You can access the Hertfordshire participation toolkit to support your journey.

Voice of the child: A participation toolkit for practitioners

Without doubt the past academic year has had its moments of challenge not least the political turmoil that has resulted in 5 Secretaries of State for Education in 12 months, the ongoing education strikes, budget uncertainty on key areas such as staff pay, the convulsions at Ofsted in the wake of the Ruth Perry tragedy, the threats and opportunities presented by AI and various dire warnings in the media around an epidemic of vaping in schools, crumbling school estates, the ongoing challenge of asbestos in school buildings of a certain vintage,  persistent absence on the increase and much more besides. All of this creates challenge for boards and governors alike, a fog of negative stories and influences that conspire to hinder schools in their primary objective of improving outcomes for all their pupils and closing the disadvantaged gap.

As governors and boards, we need to be able to contextualise the above and keep it in perspective, some or all of the above will have an impact on our individual schools but we can do a lot by ensuring that our work remains focussed on outcomes and the strategic journey our school is on to achieve these. Can we work smarter? Can we improve our practice? Can we learn to do things differently? The answer is of course ‘yes we can’! So, the following are some suggested new academic year’s resolutions to help you on your way:

Meetings 

Do we need an endless round of committee meetings to underpin the work of the board or is it possible to roll some, or all, of that work into our FGB meetings? Many boards are moving to the ‘circular’ model of governance and dispensing with the work of committees altogether, others are gradually consolidating committees to focus and reduce workload, recognising the enormous amount of duplication and repetition that occurs for both governors and SLT members. Either way it's about questioning the way you are set up and challenging the reasons why you are where you are and to consider if changes can be made. Please do reach out if you would like to understand more about different ways of working.

Agendas

When considering the above, even if you make no changes, staff and governors time is precious so meetings need to be smart. A timed agenda is a great place to start, this means setting times in the margin for each item and therefore fitting the proposed business within a set timeframe, ideally 2 hours maximum. If you start at 6pm with a bit of practice and discipline your meetings will be finished by 8pm – the impact on the quality of debate and engagement can be amazing, knowing when a meeting will end gives renewed purpose and motivation to those in attendance.

Shared endeavour

There is nothing that unites a group of people more than a shared experience whether that be joint training, a school visit or attending a school event. When governors train together, they learn together, the training can be put in context for our own setting and apply that newly acquired knowledge with the confidence that all on the board will be equally informed. This can be done by attending a programme of agreed face to face training or by using a platform such as Modern Governor to set out an annual programme of learning that is undertaken half-termly, fitting neatly around work life commitments, which will ensure that the board acquires knowledge in a planned and strategic way. This can feed into supporting governors link roles so that when visiting school either individually or as a group on a governor’s session in school we can be on the front foot, knowledgably seeking out evidence that helps us triangulate with what we are being told at meetings and the internal and external reports we receive. Training together, visiting together (when possible) and meeting together ensures the workload and lived experience of school life is shared, considered, feeds into our monitoring of school and board plans and ultimately fulfils the strategic role at the core of our work.

Promote and celebrate the work of the board

Unless we tell our pupils, parents and community about the work we do no one else will! Use the tools at our disposal, for instance go beyond the guidance on what boards need to publish on the school website, use this parent and public facing window to shed light on our work and the impact it’s having. Share photos of governors in action – on a school visit, presenting awards, holding a meeting, in the staff room meeting staff. In doing so you will promote the work of the board and raise the profile and recognition of individual governors. Post messages of support and congratulation on the school’s social media, maybe have a termly newsletter that celebrates the boards work. The idea being to humanise and demystify what being a governor involves and encourage people to enquire and hopefully consider becoming a governor.

Recruitment, engagement and retention

These three are always somewhere near the top of challenges boards report facing and can be very difficult to deal with without a plan! However, if you get some or all of the above in place it can be a game changer. Creating an environment that encourages people to become involved, much in the way that PTAs do, ensuring once they step forward, they have a sense of joint endeavour and support. That ‘we are in this together’ is vital to emphasise, and in that way as the boards work leads to tangible improvements for the school and pupils, they will want to remain part of the journey. How to improve engagement? Training is vital, knowledge breeds confidence to challenge and ask questions. Encouraging governors to ask questions and comment, don’t be afraid to go ‘round the table’ so that there’s always an expectation that everyone contributes. Don’t just ‘hear’ those contributions but value them as well, there is nothing more off-putting, especially for new governors, when their contribution is neither acknowledged nor valued. Providing mentor or buddy support for new governors can be a vital tool of retention.

At the end of this term as the school corridors empty, the playground becomes silent, the echoes of school sports days fade, staff clear their classroom walls, final meetings are held, the kitchen is deep cleaned, clubs are paused and staff and governors take a welcome break, take a moment and give some thought to the above resolutions. To return in the autumn term with a determined focus to do things differently, challenge embedded practice, explore alternative ways of working, be more ambitious or perhaps seek an external perspective or review of board practice. As the tectonic plates of education slowly move so should all those involved, as governors we are uniquely placed to ensure our schools remain fit and agile to respond to the many challenges that arise – we need to be sure footed, trained, informed, inquisitive to enable us to rigorously support and challenge our senior leaders. Consider making some new academic year’s resolutions, add them to the top of your agendas so as not to forget them! For now though, as this academic year comes to a close be super proud of all that you have done this past year and know that in so many ways you will have improved the life chances of the pupils in your schools.

The HFL Governance team stand ready to support you whether it be through our acclaimed training programme, our supportive Clerking and Chairs service or our fantastic helpdesk. 

To contact us please use the following:  

Governance Helpdesk – 01438 544487   

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Or email us at governance@hfleducation.org