News Archive

We have changed the venue for the MSA History Lead Network on the 18th of October 2023 to Hough End GMP Sports & Social Club, Mauldeth Road West, Manchester, M21 7SX. You will have received an email if you have … Continued

We are excited to share our programme of events for the autumn term, available to all schools that are members of the MSA for 2023/24. For information about events, including how to book, please click on the Programme of Events … Continued

Monday 15th May 2023, 1-4pm Hough End Centre/ GMP Sports Club, Mauldeth Rd West, M21 7SX During this afternoon session, Allan Torr (education consultant and current Ofsted inspector) will provide an overview of what it means to be an effective … Continued

Wednesday 22nd March 2023, 8.30-10.30am Interacting with parents is fundamental for any school from day-to-day queries to formal complaints. Complaints are increasing in frequency and complexity with senior leaders devoting significant time to their resolution. This breakfast briefing will provide … Continued

Monday 6th March 2023, 1-4pm The MSA works in partnership with the University of Manchester Science and Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub (SEERIH) that delivers these networks. This session will look at tackling the tricky bits & managing misconceptions: … Continued

Tuesday 17th January 2023, 3.30-4.30pm, via Teams FREE to MSA members, this workshop offers sensitive, empathetic training in the issues around menopause. You’ll discover what the menopause actually is and how it affects the body and mind, common symptoms, the … Continued

Wednesday 25th January 2023, 5.30-8pm via Zoom FREE to MSA Members, this session will explore the issue of school complaints including what the governing body’s responsibilities are, what a complaints procedure should include and what publishing it means,  how much … Continued

Wednesday 21st November 2022, 5.30-8pm By the end of the session governors/trustees will understand how school/academy budgets are generated and how they can effectively monitor the school’s finances. The session focuses on where the money comes from, different types of … Continued

Wednesday 23rd November, 9.30-11.00am Aimed and SLT and school assessment leads this session is for those that are new to FFT as well as a refresh and introduction to new services for experienced users. Heidi Leung, Principal Adviser at FFT, … Continued

Thursday 17th November 2022, 3.30-4.30pm Though you need some pressure in your life, too much pressure can lead to stress. During this webinar you will discover how to recognise stress and triggers in yourself and others, look at how to … Continued

  We are pleased to announce our upcoming primary heads conference ‘Manchester Together’ on the   29th & 30th September 2022 at Cottons Hotel & Spa. Please see the attached flyer. This is the first city wide primary residential in over … Continued

 Friday 1st April 2022, 9.30am – 12.30pm, Hough End Centre. The aim of the session is to provide time and space for Manchester headteachers to consider their own wellbeing. During the morning there will be input from Ros McMullen. Ros has … Continued

Thursday 25th November 2021, 6-8.15pm, via Zoom Book here. Places are currently limited to 2 governors per school By the end of the session governors/ trustees will have an understanding of curriculum requirements and the role of the board should … Continued

Wednesday 10th November 2021, 9.30-11.30am, via Zoom Book here Aimed and SLT and school assessment leads this session is for those that are new to FFT as well as a refresh and introduction to new services for experienced users. Stephen … Continued

Monday 8th November 2021, 2-4pm, via Zoom Book here This Network is for Science Subject Leaders of any experience level to enhance their practice, meet their peers and share ideas. If you have not attended a meeting before you can … Continued

Wednesday 18th November 2020, 6-8.30pm, Virtual Session This FREE session is open to all MSA member schools governors. “Governors will leave the training with an overview of their roles and responsibilities in improving the mental health and emotional well being within the whole school community” and the aims … Continued

Wednesday 21st October 2020, 9-11am, Virtual Session This FREE two-hour overview session will look at the FFT Aspire system in depth, focusing on; self-evaluation and school improvement implementing effective target setting and identifying gaps in performance by subject and pupil group Participants … Continued

Tuesday 10th November, 4-5.15pm, Virtual Session The SEERIH Networks are for Science Subject Leaders looking to build their network, keep up to date with the latest developments and improve their practice and impact. The Autumn term network will take place … Continued

Thursday 2nd April 2020, 2-4pm, Hough End Centre This network has been created by the MSA in partnership with MCC specifically for primary, secondary and special school history subject leaders. Led by Debi Bailey (one of the LA’s quality assurance … Continued

Wednesday 25th March 2020, 6-8pm,  Gorton Monastery, M12 5WF This twilight session will support governors’/trustees’ understanding of their responsibilities for, and role in, keeping children safe. Over the 2 hours, governors will focus on the following key areas: the legal … Continued

Wednesday 12th February 2020, 9am– 12.30pm  Holiday Inn Central Park, M40 2BS This half term, James Clements is returning to Manchester to deliver ‘Curriculum Design for Primary School English’ to MSA member schools. This half-day session will introduce some principles … Continued

We have now finalised our Programme of Events for 2019/20. These include; FREE LGBT+ Inclusion Training FREE ‘Articulating a Good, Well-Centred Curriculum’ Conference FREE ‘Curriculum Design for Primary School English’ Conference FREE ‘FFT for Governors’ session FREE ‘Safeguarding for Governors’ … Continued

We have now finalised our Offer for 2019/20 and shared this with schools. Membership is available to ALL schools in Manchester and benefits of membership include; Full access to your school’s FFT Aspire data dashboard Access to an Employee Assistance … Continued

We have 2 FREE development sessions coming up this term for members. Our Finance for Governors session is on Monday 17th June 2019 and FFT for Primaries on Friday 28th June 2019. For more information, click on the appropriate session.

Our latest newsletter has been published and can be found here.

Wednesday 28th November 2018 6-8pm, Chancellors Hotel, Fallowfield. The FFT Governor Dashboard helps governors hold their school to account, support and challenge the leadership team and make more informed strategic decisions. As all members of the MSA get full access … Continued

Wednesday 7th November 2018 9am – 12.30pm, Woodhouse Park Lifestyle Centre, Wythenshawe. HMI Anne Seneviratne will lead this half-day session which will link in to a number of current topics relevant to Manchester schools. The morning will also provide the … Continued

Wednesday 20th June 2018, 9am – 12pm Irish World Heritage Centre, Irish Town Way, Cheetham Hill, M8 0RY Chairs of finance committees are invited along with headteachers to attend ‘Finance for Governors.’ This session will focus on areas such as … Continued

Saturday 3rd March 2018 9.30am – 12.15pm Chancellors Hotel, Chancellors Way, Fallowfield, M14 6NN The aim of this Saturday morning session is to support governors in their role and help them to understand what they need to know when working … Continued

The FFT Governor Dashboard helps governors hold their school to account, support and challenge the leadership team and make more informed strategic decisions. It provides governors with an analysis of the main school performance indicators including attainment, achievement and a summary … Continued

On Tuesday 28th November the MSA, in partnership with Manchester City Council, ran a ‘Working towards Excellence’ conference attended by 50 senior leaders from primary, secondary and special schools. The conference was led by Allan Torr who was a headteacher … Continued

Tuesday 28th November 2017 9.30am – 3.30pm Chancellors Hotel, Chancellors Way, Fallowfield, M14 6NN Headteachers and senior leaders from Manchester primaries and secondaries are invited to attend this 4-part training which will enable leaders to reflect on best practice and how … Continued

Some of the planned conferences and sessions for MSA member schools have now been published on our website. Please visit whats on for more information.

Our summer 2017 newsletter highlighting upcoming opportunities and an overview of recent activity has been published and can be found here.

Wednesday 23rd January 2017, 9am-12.30pm Venue TBC In partnership with Oxford School Improvement, Jean Gross CBE will be delivering ‘Resilient pupils…resilient parents…resilient schools,’ at our spring conference. Jean’s career was as a teacher, an educational psychologist, author and adviser to … Continued

Monday 18th September 2017, 1-3.30pm Chancellors Hotel, Chancellor Way, Fallowfield, M14 6NN Kingsway Community Trust have 3 outstanding primary schools in Manchester. In each inspection report, the EAL practice has been praised. “Pupils who are new to English receive fantastic … Continued

Wednesday 22nd June 2017 1.30-3.30pm, Irish World Heritage Centre There have been two Manchester networks so far this year and the NLT has fedback that they have been the most well attended city-specific networks they have attended! Feedback from both sessions was that it is … Continued

We have finalised and circulated our new Offer for Manchester schools for 2017/18 which can be found here.

Wednesday 14th June 2017, 9am- 3pm Woodhouse Park Lifestyle Centre, Wythenshawe, M22 1QW James Clements is an independent English Advisor supporting schools across the country to develop the teaching of reading, writing and drama. He is leading ‘Teaching Writing: A … Continued

It was raised at the last Safeguarding Strategy Group meeting that some school’s Complaints Procedures needed to be updated as many still referred complaints to the Local Authority. In response to this, we have listed some recommended support on updating/ producing … Continued

There are still some places left on the New Governors ‘Gov Meet’ on Tuesday 25th April 2017, 6-8pm at The Irish World Heritage Centre, Irish Town Way. For more information click here.

Kingsway Trust has 3 outstanding primary schools in Manchester (Ladybarn, Green End & Cringle Brook) During each Ofsted inspection, the effective EAL strategies and practices within the Trust have been commented on. In partnership, we ran a session in March … Continued

In partnership with Oxford University Press, Stephen Anwyll was invited back to Manchester to give an update on assessment at our spring conference back in February. 42 heads and senior leaders attended to hear Stephen address the issue of assessment … Continued

The programme of events for governors, organised in partnership with the Manchester Governors’ Association (MGA) and Manchester City Council, continues in 16/17. There are a number of sessions available to governors of Manchester schools that are members of the MSA. … Continued

Manchester is lucky to have several National Leaders of Governance already working within our schools. NLGs are highly effective chairs of governors who can support chairs in other schools. This can include coaching and mentoring, reviewing the responsibilities of the … Continued

We have now finalised our programme of events and conferences for 2016/17. This is programme is constantly developing in response to member needs and so additional sessions and events will be added throughout the year. Click on the below for further … Continued

Wednesday 29th June 2016, 6-8pm Chorlton High School, Nell Lane, M21 7SL This ‘Gov Meet’ will provide governors with an opportunity to discuss how they quality assure and monitor outcomes to ensure that all pupils are making good progress. This will include … Continued

54 headteachers, senior leaders and governors attended the Irish World Heritage Centre to hear the Regional Schools Commissioner, Vicky Beer, present ‘The Road Ahead: Academies and the School-Led System’ followed by Director of Education & Skills, John Edwards, discussing what the content … Continued

In partnership with Oxford University Press, we have secured James Clements to present ‘Building an Outstanding Reading School: Meeting the Challenges of the 2014 National Curriculum’ at our Summer Conference in June 2016. For ten years, James worked as a senior leader … Continued

In a white paper launched on the 17th of March 2016, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has set out radical new proposals and changes for schools. Click here to view the full White Paper.

The Manchester Governors’ Annual Conference took place on Saturday 6th February at The Irish World Heritage Centre in Cheetham Hill. 53 governors attended the event at which HMI Julie Yarwood presented ‘Effective Governance and the Ofsted framework: being ready and … Continued

The first Safeguarding Strategy Group took place on Monday 18th January 2016 at St Peter’s RC High School. The meeting was attended by 9 DPs and headteachers from across the city. There was discussion around Prevent Duty and CSE resources … Continued

65 school leaders attended the MSA Spring 2016 conference on ‘Assessment Beyond Levels and Whole School Accountability’ presented by Stephen Anwyll at the Irish World Heritage Centre. During the session, Stephen took the delegates through  the implications of accountability measures, how new test … Continued

The ‘Working Successfully with your Governing Body’ event took place on 13th January 2016 at Beswick Library. Ariana Yakas, Chair of Kingsway Community Trust and NLG, gave some valuable insight through her experience as a chair working with her headteacher and … Continued

Attached is the latest Manchester Schools’ Alliance (MSA) Newsletter detailing information about recent events and upcoming training & professional development opportunities available to MSA members. MSA Newsletter December 2015 If you would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

The MSA, Manchester Governors’ Association and MCC School Governance Unit Partnership Programme of Events are well underway with four taking place during autumn term. The ‘Vulnerable Learners’ governors session took place on Monday 12th October and 25 governors attended. The session ran … Continued

The MSA Autumn Conference took place on the 30th September 2015 at Beswick library. Chris Beswick, a highly regarded education consultant, presented ‘Ofsted Changes September 2015 – The Future of Inspection.’ Chris’ presentation looked at what the new framework is designed to … Continued

The MSA, Manchester Governors’ Association (MGA) and Manchester City Council are continuing to work in partnership to bring a range of events and an annual conference to the city for governors. Last year 116 (67%) governing bodies were represented at … Continued

The Manchester governors’ annual conference will take place on Saturday 6th February 2016, 9.30am-2pm at the Irish Heritage Centre. The conference provides governors with the chance to network and debate current issues. A detailed programme will be provided nearer the … Continued

The MSA joined forces with the Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre – a network of hospitals and universities in Manchester which carries out health research – to promote their free health research conference which took place on the 17th November. … Continued

  Lunar Mission One is the first global crowd funded mission to the Moon. It is a new exploratory robotic mission that will use pioneering drilling technology to deliver extraordinary new insights into the origins of the Moon and Earth, … Continued

4-5 February 2015, Telford International Centre The Youth Sport Trust 2015 Conference is the essential learning and networking event for PE and school sport professionals.  To mark the 20th anniversary of the Youth Sport Trust, the conference will examine the … Continued

On 27 January, the world marks Holocaust Memorial Day and the theme for 2015, set by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, is Keep the Memory Alive. This day gives us the opportunity to learn lessons from the Holocaust, Nazi persecution … Continued

It is with regret that we have to inform you that the decision has been made to cancel the North of England Education Conference in Manchester in January. We were confident that working with the City Council we had put … Continued

The DfE is consulting (until 14 March) on proposed changes to the regulations and guidance on the constitution of governing bodies in maintained schools and federations of maintained schools in England (Academies are not affected). The main aim is to … Continued

A brief summary of the recent education related headlines:   Revealed: cash bonanza for academy firms Taxpayer-funded academy chains have paid millions of pounds into the private businesses of directors, trustees and their relatives, documents obtained by the Guardian show. … Continued

A round-up of the past few days education related headlines Tempers flare as pushy parents turn school run into a rat race Three out of four parents have witnessed aggressive or reckless behaviour from drivers competing for a spot, a … Continued

The millennium babies ‘failed by education policies’ One in five children born at the turn of the millennium faces leaving school without a job or university place because of “flawed” education policies, according to research from Impetus – The Private … Continued

Labour sets sights on universal pre-school childcare Labour is to pursue the policy of universal childcare for all pre-school children in the run-up to the General Election, the Shadow Childcare Minister Lucy Powell has told the Guardian. She also praised … Continued

A round-up of the schools related headlines from over the weekend and this morning Immigrant influx ‘will put a strain on schools’ Sir Michael Wilshaw, the Chief Inspector of Schools, has warned that large numbers of migrants from Romania and … Continued

A round-up of education headlines from the days papers…. ‘Million more places needed as rising birth rate and migrants fill classrooms‘    The number of pupils in state schools is to grow by a million over the next decade, expected to … Continued

Ofsted’s annual report is now available online at: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/about-us/annual-report A more detailed look at the report from the MSA perspective to follow.

The MSA has arranged the first two in what will become a series of engagement and development sessions for Governors. The ‘Gov Meets’ will provide Governors across the City with the opportunity to network, discuss issues and increase their understanding of particular … Continued

The Manchester Schools’ Alliance presents the first in a series of opportunities for teachers from across the City to come together, share ideas and discuss topics of interest…

  With the school year rapidly coming to a close and a well-deserved break in the offing there are just a few things we wanted to highlight with you all:-   Manchester Schools Alliance Autumn Term Conference – 25th September … Continued

A brand new Manchester Schools’ Alliance and a Strategic Education Partnership are to be set up to help further improve education and skills in the city, and as a response to the nationally changing educational landscape. Plans to set up … Continued