St Oswald’s CofE Primary School is currently consulting on a proposal to convert to academy status and join the Collaborative Learning Trust, a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT). The Collaborative Learning Trust is a local Trust, founded by Prince Henry’s Grammar School.
Background
Governors and senior leaders have been considering the future plans for our school in a fast changing and increasingly challenging educational landscape. We have also considered national policy and structures and how to best prepare our school for continued success in the future. Governors have spent time investigating joining the Collaborative Learning Trust (CLT), seeking a partnership solution that would support staff to provide an excellent education for children while protecting the school’s role at the heart of its community and retaining its unique qualities and strengths. The DfE have given permission for our school to join CLT and so we are now entering this period of consultation with staff and parents to gather their views to inform our final decision.
Proposal
We believe that the best way forward is to join the Collaborative Learning Trust, which will require St Oswald’s CofE School to convert to academy status. We believe pupils and staff at St Oswald’s CofE Primary will benefit from the greater opportunities that a formal partnership with Prince Henry’s and the other Collaborative Learning Trust schools will bring.
These include:
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- strengthening the curriculum through partnership networks
- increasing the sharing of excellent practice in teaching and learning and pupil support
- enhancing the professional development of teaching and support staff securing cost and resource efficiencies through joint commissioning of services; this will help headteachers, especially in these more austere times, to re-direct funds to teaching and learning;
- creating opportunities to secure investment in school buildings and educational facilities for the benefit of current and future students, extending learning opportunities and activities for students e.g. by sharing specialist facilities and resources
- further strengthening the positive impact of the school’s Christian vision on pupils and staff, working in partnership with Leeds Diocese.
Parents/carers and children are unlikely to notice any difference to the day-to-day experience of school life (apart from the anticipated benefits above). For example, staff, school uniforms, term dates, timings of the day etc. will not change as a result of assuming academy status or joining the Trust. The school would retain its current name and much of its independence, whilst benefiting from being part of the Trust. St Oswald’s will remain a Church school and will continue to be supported by the Diocese of Leeds.
Collaborative Learning Trust is a Church MAT that works in close partnership with Diocese Advisors to support each of the Church schools in their Trust. Further information about the Collaborative Learning Trust is available on their website: www.collaborativelearningtrust.com
We are very excited about the prospect of joining the Collaborative Learning Trust, a Trust which places children at the very centre of everything that it does. Leaders will consult with staff, alongside the consultation process with parents.
Consultation
The consultation period will run between Thursday 20th March and Thursday 1st May.
What is an Academy?
Academies are state schools, funded directly from central government, no longer under the control of the Local Authority. Academy status gives schools more freedom to be innovative and creative with the curriculum, timetabling, staffing and governance. The school will still be a Church of England School under the authority of the Diocese of Leeds and its religious designation will not change.
All academies continue to be inspected by Ofsted and comply with the same rules as other schools on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), exclusions and admissions. Church Schools will continue to be inspected under the Statutory Inspection for Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) framework.There are now thousands of academies in the country, including many schools that have converted in the Diocese of Leeds and in the local authority.
An academy is part of a charitable trust (the MAT) run by a board of trustees. Trusts and their academies are rightly expected to work with and support other schools, including vulnerable schools. Should you wish to know more about the Government’s policy, the Department for Education has its own academies bookmark.
What is a Multi Academy Trust (MAT)?
A Multi Academy Trust is a charitable company and is responsible for overseeing the running of a number of schools. It has three layers of governance: the Members; the Directors; and the Local Academy Councils (similar to school governing bodies).
A MAT is formed when its articles (legal document) are approved by the DfE and it is registered at Companies House as a company. The Church of England has specific articles approved by the central church and the DfE for the creation of Church MATs. A Church School can only convert into a MAT that uses these articles. MATs are made up of a number of academy schools – some are just primary school MATs, others will have secondary schools in them and some will include Special Schools too. It is usual for MATs to have periods of growth, when a number of schools might join and then some period of consolidation. There isn’t a set number of schools that makes a MAT. In the Church MATs in the diocese it is most usual for converting schools to keep their own name; if the school wants to change its name it can do. The partnership established between all schools in the MAT ensures that the schools can share skills and best practice and make optimum use of resources ensuring best value for money for each school.
In many ways the children will not notice any difference – they will be in the same uniform, in the same classrooms with the same staff. However, in time the children may perhaps notice some changes and improvements in the way that they learn for example and have greater links with each school within the Trust.
What additional responsibilities will Academy status bring?
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- Currently the school’s Governing Body employs our staff – going forward the Multi Academy Trust would be the employer.
- The Academy Trust would be responsible for admissions rather than the Governing Body.
- The Academy Trust would enter into a 125-year lease for the land. We already have responsibility for the cost of maintaining the land and buildings.
Will any changes to the school be made as a result of conversion?
Please be assured that the name, character, ethos and values of St Oswald’s would remain unchanged should the proposals be agreed.
We do not intend to make any changes to the day-to-day work of the school following conversion, other than to adjust the governance arrangements and accountability that comes with working within a Multi Academy Trust and to bring closer working practices between the schools in the Trust.