Report to councillors from the East Sussex Governor Forum

Author: Denise Kong, Chair of the ESGF

Date Mar 7 2025

In the last few months, the ESGF has seen a couple of themes developing.

To put things into context, the ESGF has attended its second National Governor Association meeting. Although there is one thing ESCC does have in common with other authorities, which is the fragmentation of the governance landscape due to the wish of many academy chains to provide their own governor support, we can see that in other areas, our situation at East Sussex is much better than that of other local authorities. We can rely on the East Sussex Governor and Clerking Service to provide an administrative framework, prompting us with ideas and timings; we can reach a large section of East Sussex governors by default, without having to ask individuals to opt in; GCS and ESGF have a good relationship; and as governors, we are able to contribute meaningfully to the strategic aims of the GCS.

Governors have attended sessions on the themes of Belonging and on Special Educational Needs, and the support for new governors continues, with a regular turnover of new faces, supported by what has become a regular section of the ESGF.

Belonging

The concept of Belonging has been developing nationally and is gaining traction in East Sussex Governors had a presentation from a school that has had success adding this to their vision and ethos. The presentation summed up Belonging as “feeling like an accepted, valued and legitimate group member.”

The presentation was well received. One of the benefits of increasing the feeling of belonging can often be improved attendance, but there are other benefits as well.

Governors networked in a follow up session and this session addressed some of the feedback questions that governors posed at the first session, around examples of what schools could look at doing, and what worked well. The ESGF gathered a few examples of these, and the extra session helped to increase awareness among schools who had not been able to attend the first presentation.

It could be seen from concrete examples in schools that Belonging is an important positive force that is worth pursuing.

Special Educational Needs

Governors at the Chairs’ network had a presentation from Nicola Angus of ESCC’s Education Division. They continued this discussion in the following term’s session, around the question of the transfer of funds from mainstream schools into the high needs block. Some schools have responded by writing to protest. Many schools have been puzzled regarding the reasoning behind the amounts that have been asked for, although this has been subsequently clarified following a direct query to the SEN department by one of the ESGF.

The good news is that ESCC and governors and schools are still able to have positive conversations around the topic. We are all aware that the question of SEN funding is very difficult, with high expectations from parents, and the situation of having private providers in the county.