Trust schools SecEd article : June 2009
It’s not a club, it’s not a society, it’s not a single
organisation and it’s certainly not a clique. Yet, over the
last two years I’ve been meeting more and more like minded people
who have been making me feel I belong to something special.
People who are confident, people with vision, people who are
prepared to take risks and people who aren’t afraid of doing
something different. School leaders, governors, leaders of
industry, leaders of charitable organisations, university leaders
and many more exceptional representatives of the many organisations
who have engaged in the process of forming school trusts.
Three years ago, when we first began to explore the possibility
of forming a trust, it was a step into the unknown. The
concept seemed right – form an educational organisation with robust
external partners to bring fresh ideas and support, acquire the
land and assets, become the employer of staff directly and enjoy
the freedom of being able to innovate and create new structures and
systems. The concept was also so easy to link with our core
business of making learning as effective and fulfilling as
possible.
However, first steps were met with concern by many. ‘Why
would you want to do that?’ ‘Couldn’t you do that without
being a trust?’ ‘Is this the same as being an academy?’
‘Is it just a way of cutting jobs and saving money?’ In fact,
those who had previous knowledge of public organisations being
recreated as trusts started off with a very negative view of the
concept and cited horror stories of the deterioration of those
organisations. But we were creating something new, something
different and something very much under our own control.
Three years later there are 176 operational trust schools and
377 in the process of acquiring trusts. Scores of external
partners have come on board to energise, challenge, support and
stimulate schools into creating better provision and widening the
opportunities of learners. We haven’t yet completed the
second full year of being trusts yet there are many, many stories
of the impact and success of trusts around the country.
Mike Billington is the Chair of Governors of South Dartmoor
Community College whose trust partners include Exeter University
and CAPITA Children’s Services. He sees already that
being part of a trust has had an impact on his school: “The
Trust has instigated various pieces of work that are making a
direct and positive contribution to school life. The process
of becoming a trust school caused the governing body to better
consider its own way of operating. Being in a trust has
given us a greater degree of autonomy that allows us to consider
being even more innovative in our approaches.”
Ian Robertson is Head of The Hermitage School, which is part of
the Chester le Street Learning Community Trust. Their
partners are diverse, including Durham County Council, Sunderland
University, Laing O’Rourke construction company, Northumbrian
Water, Acumen Development Trust and FE provider, New College,
Durham. The initial vision of their trust was to create
increased opportunities for pupils in the 14-19 range, increasing
their vocational and employment chances. The vision now is
much wider and is about raising the aspirations of families and the
wider community across the full age range: “Trust status has
allowed us to strengthen an already committed governing body with
an opportunity to think more widely in terms of life chances for
young people.”
In my current role as Strategic Head of the Ashington Learning
Partnership Trust, I coordinate the activities of five schools with
a pupil population of over 3,000. We formed a trust in 2007
with a view to creating an all-age learning organisation.
This also includes 500 adult learners and a Masters Degree course
for staff supported by Northumbria University. Since we
formed the trust we have reached many milestones such as forming a
skills based curriculum matrix, running our Deep Learning Days when
staff and students move between schools to create all-age working
groups from 5 to 18, working towards a common assessment and
tracking system, appointing staff across schools and exploring new
models for transition. As well as the exciting educational
developments, we’ve also benefited by making considerable cost
savings through more effective delivery of services and streamlined
models of school leadership. Our governance model is
particularly effective with a new concept of small and efficient
School Advisory Groups supported by a main governing body.
Chairs of Governors, Chris Smith, feels: “The Trust has been
the catalyst that transformed the way our schools work
together. We are now truly an all age education resource that
benefits our whole community.”
On 17 June we held our 3rd annual Trust Schools Conference at
The Emirates Stadium in London. Around 300 delegates were
addressed by David Bell, Permanent Secretary at the Department for
Children Schools and Families, and Professor Yong Zhao from the
University of Michigan. Every year I look forward to it as it
provides an opportunity, once again, to rub shoulders with some of
the most creative and determined people in education in this
country, people who make a difference. It’s not a club, but
it’s good to be part of it whatever it is!
_________________________
Ken Tonge
Ken Tonge is Chair of the National Trust and Foundation Schools
Partnership's (TFSP) Practitioner Steering Group.
The TFSP comprises the Foundation and Aided Schools National
Association, the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, and the
Youth Sport Trust.
Until 2007, Ken was a Headteacher for 16 years, the last 11 of
those at Ashington High School, in Northumberland.
He is now the Strategic Head of the Ashington Learning
Partnership. His role is to work closely with the
headteachers of the schools to provide strategic direction and
develop a coordinated, innovative approach to a virtual all-through
school.