About Us
About Bury Governance Development
The Bury Governor Association takes responsibility for the provision of governor training and development for those Bury schools that buy into the Bury Governance Development collaborative package. The BGA appoint a Board of members who oversee the development of the training programme and ensure that the funds that school governing bodies provide through the council’s Traded Service scheme are used effectively.
The Chair of the Governance Development Board is appointed by the BGA Executive Committee and it is currently Mark Lockwood, a very experienced high school governor.
The overarching aim for Bury Governance Development is to improve the life chances of the children and young people of Bury by enabling them to achieve their full potential. This will be achieved by developing the capacity and capability of school governance in Bury so that governors play a key strategic role in school improvement.
There is an increasing expectation from the government that school governors are fully equipped with the skills to carry out their statutory duties effectively and economically. It is the vision of the Bury Governance Development Board that Bury will be a place where:-
- all schools benefit from outstanding governance;
- governors work together in partnership with each other and service providers to continually develop their capability and capacity;
- all governors grow in effectiveness through excellent training, induction, coaching and mentoring programmes;
- we aspire to draw all governors into collaborative working;
- investing in governor training and development is recognised as representing excellent value for money;
- the quality of governance is nationally recognised.
The Bury Governance Development Board work together and in partnership with the Local Authority and other key stakeholders in the school-led system to enhance governor development in ways which increase the capacity of individual schools to achieve quality for their students. This is done more economically and effectively through governing bodies using their combined purchasing power and expertise. Please see BGDB Terms of Reference below:
Partners
Partnerships are very important for the group to be successful in Bury. Our partners include:
BEST Trust (Bury Education Support and Training) formerly Bury Primary Learning Collaborative (BPLC)
http://www.besttrust.uk/
The fundamental principle of the Collaborative is a group of schools working together to enhance staff professional learning in ways which add value over and above the impact of schools working separately. This involves managing the resources for professional learning, people and money, in ways which increase the capacity of individual schools.
Comments from evaluations at the end of the first year
about the success of the BEST Trust include:
• Clear agendas based on current issues.
• Opportunities for working together and sharing practice.
• Much closer links between schools.
• The ability to influence the development of the Collaborative.
• The quality of the bespoke training.
Bury Secondary Learning Collaborative (BSLC)
The Bury Secondary Learning Collaborative is committed to providing high quality training opportunities for all staff in Bury secondary schools and colleges in a cost effective way. There is a strong ethos of collaboration, an emphasis on teachers training teachers and sharing good practice and expertise for the ultimate benefit of all students. In the four years since its inception, the BSLC has grown and now provides a hub for the delivery of national qualifications for Middle and Senior Leaders as well as Business Managers.
Bury Teaching School Alliance (BTSA)
Primary and Secondary Schools across Bury have always worked together and have well-established primary, secondary and governors collaborative groups. The Bury Teaching Schools Alliance was created in 2014 to make this partnership even stronger. The aim of the Teaching Schools is to share knowledge, to generate new learning and to provide support within and beyond the alliance. We identify and co-ordinate the best teachers and leaders to offer a range of training and support to teachers and leaders, as well as others working in education.