East Garforth Primary School
Background
East Garforth Primary School is located in the outer east area
of Leeds and caters for 60 children from nursery through to year
six. The schools in the area have always worked together but, with
two secondary schools and 15 primary schools, the group is large.
Garforth itself is rather like a village and its local schools, a
number of which have had ‘outstanding’ Ofsted inspections, form a
smaller group of schools that work collaboratively in achieving
good educational practice. Within this group, East Garforth Primary
School and Garforth Community College are both National Support
Schools, which has given them a high profile locally through their
work with schools in difficulty. By establishing a formal
partnership as a trust in September 2007, having previously been a
pathfinder, this group of local schools is bringing greater benefit
to local children and operating with greater freedom than they
would otherwise have done.
Working together as part of a trust gives the schools an
opportunity to look at a wide range of issues such as considering
the roles and responsibilities of staff, reviewing contracting
arrangements to achieve economies of scale, tackling challenges
together and improving resources including ICT. Schools in the area
are below the national average for parents who are educated to
degree level and so, by partnering with a further education (FE)
college, the trust hopes to develop and broaden as a provider of
training for local people. By involving staff in running courses
for people in the Leeds and Wakefield area, the Trust will be able
to generate additional income and develop those staff.
Vision
The existing informal partnership between schools in the
Garforth area was largely dependent on certain individuals (such as
headteachers and governors). However, when these people leave, the
partnership becomes less stable. By formalising the arrangement
under a Trust, it will continue and prosper despite the departure
of key individuals. The formation of the Trust is about creating a
solid base for collaboration between a group of local schools.
External partners
The Trust is made up of a number of local schools; Garforth
Community College, East Garforth Primary School, Green Lane Primary
School, Ninelands Primary School, Strawberry Fields Primary School,
St Benedicts Roman Catholic Primary School and Micklefield Church
of England Controlled Primary School, the latter two as associate
partners. In addition, there are two external partners at this
stage, Trinity and All Saints College and the local Primary Care
Trust (PCT), both of whom have been carefully selected for the
value they bring to the Trust and the role they can play on helping
us achieve our Trust vision. The involvement of an FE college will
help the schools to extend their training provision, while the PCT
will help them to meet their obligations under the Every Child
Matters agenda by bringing dedicated healthcare professionals to
the Trust. Future partners will only be sought when specific,
additional needs are identified.
The benefits of Trust status
Whilst savings and economies of scale are achievable for schools
in a less formal partnership, it becomes much easier for schools
that are part of a Trust and they are able to negotiate, for
example, better banking terms due to the larger combined
budget.
Being part of a Trust, school staff feel a greater sense of
ownership of their school under the proposed arrangements and this
can only be beneficial for the children. The comparatively weaker
schools in the Trust are benefiting from the help they receive from
those that are already performing well. a situation that enhances
the job satisfaction of all staff involved.
Challenges
There is concern of a potential negative knock-on effect on
local schools that are not part of the Trust, for example, whether
pupils from primary schools outside of the partnership will have
the same opportunity to be admitted to Garforth Community
College.
Primary school governors need convincing that the Trust will not
be run by the secondary school, especially given its larger budget.
However, it is rare to find every school in an area ‘singing from
the same hymn sheet’ on educational issues but, in Garforth, the
schools all want the same for children in the area. Potential
barriers can be overcome by a shared vision for improving
educational outcomes for all pupils. A steering group made up of
all the headteachers in the Trust meets every two weeks to do just
that.
Members of the board of governors were initially sceptical about
the proposed move to Trust status, but are now fully behind it.
‘Having realised how closely the schools already work together
and that Trust status could only enhance and improve this, the
governors were soon keen to be an integral part of something much
bigger’ John North, Headteacher, East Garforth Primary School
Top tips
- Staff need to be informed clearly at every step that becoming a
Trust does not mean taking the school out of mainstream education
in a step towards going independent. It helps to stress that it
means more of the decisions affecting the school will be taken by
local people in the Garforth community
- It is an advantage for schools to be already working
collaboratively before looking at adopting joint Trust status as
respect, trust, openness and a willingness to share are
pre-requisites to making the transition.