Anyone know about the legal situation re: federations?

[SE13Mummy]

In my LA it is policy to encourage GBs to federate with other schools when a Head resigns. This policy is available online but isn't widely known about and so only the most suspicious of staff/parents are aware of it. As our Head is leaving in the summer I am concerned that the policy to encourage federations will be forced upon the school and have reason to believe that the LA has already started this process. Unfortunately I also have reason to believe that the LA have an Executive Head (of a local federation) in mind for this role and are unlikely to take 'no' without a fight as this Head has already 'got' two primaries and is on the GB of another primary opening soon and of the secondary school - there will be no local schools not governed by this individual which feels uncomfortable at best.

My question is this, assuming that this process has already started, is there anything to prevent the GB from discussing with the staff and parents the possibility of being federated? It seems unreasonable to expect a GB to make a decision for/against federation without knowing the feeling of the school community.

The LA aren't proving to be terribly trustworthy at present so contacting their legal department (who have a history of getting the law rather wrong) isn't really an option but the Governors meetings that are happening are all confidential so 'no-one' knows about them.

How can we object to a federation if it's not common knowledge that it's being considered as an option? Is there a legal consultation process that needs to be adhered to prior to any firm decision being taken?

Help!

2007 article, but may give you the answers to some of your questions.

www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/school-federations-the-law-on-how-to-set-them-up-2101

School federation regulations 2010.
www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/partnershipsandcollaborativenetworks/workingwithotherschools/a0010063/school-federations-regulations

IME of our local secondaries federating, parents weren't made aware until the process had been agreed in principle with the Secretary of State and the LA, by the time parents were informed it was pretty much a given that the federation was going ahead. The same applies now they are applying for academy status.

I think that as so few parents turn up to these meetings it is taken as meeting parental approval.

Become an academy - it's the only way to protect yourself from the LEA

It is for the Gb to make any decisions regarding federation. The LA cannot force the school into a federation only "suggest" so I would suggest that you start asking the GB what is going on.
The normal federation is that there is one executive head and one governing body across a number of schools, though there are other variations that are possible. So one question has to be who is on the Gb and are they on other GBs in the federation that you seem to think they are going to join.
Any decision to federate the school should be taken after appropriate consultation which would be with pupils, parents and the local community but i would have to say that once the ball is rolling and the Gb seem to be moving towards making such a decision it is a difficult ball to stop!

Thanks Admission... I have spoken to our CoG but very much along the lines of, "I found this policy online and want you to know I'm very unhappy about the idea of federation, especially if it is to join the existing local federation, not least because it gives parents in the area no real choice of school". The Governors aren't talking about it with anyone because there is a belief that it is all highly confidential and they don't want to get into trouble.

It's all rather tricky - I am of the opinion that a large and active proportion of the staff and parents will oppose federation (the school has been on the receiving end of long-term unpleasantness at the hands of the EH of the federation) but don't know where to start. Should I direct people to the online policy and let them know how to contact the CoG or is there a more appropriate channel by which to go about this?

I would get as many parents etc to write to the CoG expressing their concern + ensure that the staff know so that they can get their union to ask the questions as well.