As well as Ofsted, Church of England and Methodist schools are subject to Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) inspections at least every eight years, which provides a unique method to scrutinise a school’s culture.
Becoming a parent governor at our small village primary school, and later a trust governor when the school joined Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust (BDAT), my initial scepticism of faith schools was questioned. I learned how the Church of England challenges and supports schools to grow and thrive and how the faith element (or as we call it ‘Christian character) drives a school’s vision and provides an uplifting and holistic teaching and learning environment.
The Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust (BDAT) model of governance is for its trustees to delegate specific responsibilities to local governors who act as custodians of a school’s local character, budgets and policies. As governors and in light of other inspection frameworks such as Ofsted, it’s easy to become focused on results, compliance and finance and overlook other responsibilities. But that’s precisely where SIAMS helps. It re-centres our local governors to their calling role: looking at the vision and culture of the school.
