Kevin Manley, BSF Project Director

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Setting up a Trust with a Fresh Start School

• Kevin Manley, BSF Project Director
• Cambridgeshire County Council

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Covering.......

• CCC experience
• Lessons learned
• What wed do differently
• What we think went well
• Possibly useful hints

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The Fenland context

• Fenland District Council area
• 4 large secondary schools (1200 to 1900 NOR)
• 1 special school and1 PRU
• Scattered rural populations with high levels of
  rural deprivation
• Very low aspirations
• Lowest performing district in Cambridgeshire
• 1 secondary school in special measures in 2006

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The Fenland context 2

• Smallest district area in terms of schools and
  population
• No real opportunity for rationalisation
• Social stress from Eastern European migration
• A sense of Fenland last
• But..
• Good collaboration between schools, but
• Good relations with CCC
• Enthusiastic heads and governors

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The local context

• CCC view formally expressed
• Schools best placed to make decisions about
  governance
• Encourages Governing Bodies to explore solutions
  that meet local needs
• Recognises that some schools will benefit from
  the right sort of external support

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The local context 2

• The Queens School (11-16, 1500 on roll) in
  Wisbech
• A School of Concern to the LA for some time
• Leadership and Management
• Attainment
• Relations with community,
• Governance

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The local context 3

• Early 2006 - formal LA warning and possible need
  for IEB recognised
• May 2006 OfSTED - special measures
• LA response included need to address Leadership
  and Governance as a matter of urgency
• Consultation with parents reveals widespread
  unhappiness with Headteacher and Governing Body

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The local context 4

• September 2006
• Headteacher leaves
• Executive Headteacher appointed
• IEB takes over governance
• LA and IEB recognised need to work hard to regain
  trust and confidence of parents
• December 2006 Fenland confirmed as CCC wave 4
  BSF area

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The local context 5

• Former GM school
• Many parents viewed governance as
  inadequate/unresponsive
• Did not want an Academy solution
• Wanted a broader based accountability
• Wanted a school for the community

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The local context 6

• Trust raised through IEB as option to explore
• Trust model fitted the bill
• Parental support for trust model
• Issues to address through trust
• Expertise
• Accountability
• Parental confidence

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Making it happen.

• TCCC early adopter not a pathfinder
• Achieved DCSF permission to proceed without
  competition
• DCSF closely involved in Fresh Start and Trust
  discussions
• Early days for OSC
• September 2007 opens as Thomas Clarkson
  Community College

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Making it happen. 2

• CCC heavily engaged..eg
• Executive Headteacher
• School effectiveness teams
• Consultants
• Support for IEB
• Financial
• Legals eg Draft Toolkit through this period

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Making it happen. 3

• Not simply a self-improvement model
• Lack of capacity
• Many competing priorities
• BSF part of solution, but potentially also a
  distraction
• Lack of clarity over IEB gt Gov Body transition

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Practical Issues

• Trust Governing Body must comprise community,
  parent, LA, staff and Trust appointed governors
• The Trust can appoint a majority of governors
  will it?
• If it does, a Parent Council is mandatory and
  GB must have regard to its views and advice
• In what circumstances would a majority of Trust
  appointed governors be appropriate?

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Practical Issues 2

• What will Trust bring to the party?
• Memorandum and articles highly legalistic
• A separate commitment shared with stakeholders
  set out the aspirations and contributions of each
  partner

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Practical Issues 3

• Deputy Chief Executive engaged/recruited
  potential partners
• Anglia Ruskin University (ITT, CPD, summer
  schools, Estates and ICT expertise c)
• College of West Anglia (Outstanding OfSTED,
  locality focus, education/skills focus, support
  for community focus, strong 16 focus and
  experience)

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Practical Issues 4

• Fenland District Council (Excellent CPA rating
  regeneration focus, work placement, community
  cohesion, positive activities for young people,
  environmental challenges, youth participation)
• LSC (Training/PCDL/vocational focus, work-based
  learning, 14-19 expertise)
• County Council (statutory LA, full range of
  support, multi-agency support, cohesion and
  regeneration)

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Lessons learned

• LA likely to need to invest heavily in a range of
  resources
• Unlikely to emerge spontaneously in difficult
  circumstances
• It all takes longer than you expect
• Governing Body in driving seat..

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Lessons learned 2

• Enthusiasm, stamina and commitment are not
  synonymous
• Chairing skills for IEB, Shadow GB and Initial GB
  are vital
• It helps if your Fresh Start school is not 41
  miles from Shire Hall!
• It helps if you have credit with partners

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Lessons learned 3

• Local partnership working is key to successful
  14-19 partnership working
• Significant LA investment in Fresh Start school
• Capital
• Funded secondments
• Support for Trust
• Significant suspicion (rewarding failure?) from
  other schools needs to be managed

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What wed do differently.

• How far back do you want to go!?
• Pacing the process
• Recognise there are many parallel change
  management programmes to run
• Invest more time in understanding local town
  politics

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What went well?

• Early days!
• Await HMI visit
• But improving parental engagement
• Balancing LA responsibility/accountability with
  local ownership
• LA as commissioner sometimes needs to be
  generously interpreted

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What went well 2

• Model of effective consultation at both Fresh
  Start and Trust proposal stage
• Interesting change in numbers attending meetings
• Fostering and promoting Trust partner role
• Recruitment of governors although still issues
  with parent governor role

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Useful hints.?

• What can you do to prevent partner
  fatigue/overload?
• How do you support a school with ten top
  priorities? (OfSTED, parental confidence,
  recruitment, BSF planning, behaviour, attainment,
  negative press, internal governor issues,
  strategic weaknesses, interface issues.)