School becoming a part of partnership - with shared head. Advice needed

[withaspongeandarustyspanner]

We need your help. Our head is leaving, and the headship has never been advertised. We had a letter this week saying that the Governers are thinking, that instead of appointing a new head, that our school should become part of a partnership with a head a shared with another school, eventually going into a federation.

Does anyone know what this means? Are there benefits? Is there any way we can fight it? It seems the decision will be made early next week - we only got the letter this week.

Thanks in advance

Our school has just become federated. There are many advantages don't take against it without understanding it fully. What are the downsides, why would you fight it? It took 2 years for the whole process to happen at our school. Parents were consulted

We are in a federation. There will be an executive head teacher, but there will still be a head teacher solely for your school. They might be called Head of School. There are lots of advantages. The schools can pool resources, and share staff for instance.

Nobody has given us any information. A letter this week and now we are told the decision will be made on Tuesday. Also, they have not advertised this post at all - so presumably they knew - so why not tell us before now? Our school is at full capacity, over subscribed with a waiting list, not a village school with only 11 pupils like some round here.

It just seems fishy.

I don't understand what it is that is fishy? Why would it be? Do you suspect that in fact they are using this to sneak in an academy?

I don't know if they need to consult on becoming a Federation. The Government is forcing all schools to reconstitute their governing bodies this September. The GB probably just decided to do it now because you have to reconstitute when you hard federate anyway. What this means for you is that they have to hold fresh elections for parent governors. Our school will do this in July. Maybe yours will? If you are concerned, then stand for election as a parent governor.

Also when did your head announce they were leaving? Contractually, heads are not allowed to resign after Easter. So if it was around then, that will be why the school has not advertised yet - no one does at this time of the year. They will leave it until May or June. That's what other schools do. I imagine yours is the same.

I don't know why I think it seems fishy. But I'm not alone. Many other parents seem worried about it. And the reason I posted is because we needed more information about it. Which we've not had.

There is a federation of 3 schools near to us, a 2 form entry primary and 2 smaller village schools. DD's school isn't part of it. My take on it:

Potential benefits?

• £££ money saving, so funds can be used elsewhere
• sharing of learning, expertise and resources across the schools to everyone's benefit

Drawbacks?

• not having head permanently 'onsite' to deal with issues as they arise with children or parents

Presumably you know the school they're thinking of federating with? Can you try to find out what kind of consultation process has been happening there?

No. We have no idea which school it is. As I said, we've had no information and this is why we're twitchy. The decision is going to be made early next week and we know nothing at all so far.

When we federated, we just got a letter saying that we were now in a Federation with X school. That's it. I don't think it is underhand. Just the process.

Oh. Right :(

I don't know the situation, but it could be your governors being forward thinking. If your current head resigned towards the end of last term, then they know that they could struggle to get someone in place for September especially if they want someone with headship experience. Schools are finding it difficult to recruit heads at the moment, so their reasoning maybe let's go into a federation with a head who is a known quantity and then the head of school who is charge of day to day matters could be someone with less experience as they will be supported by the head of federation.
You could try to contact the chair of governors and ask for some clarification, I'm not sure how much information they can give out, but you might get an answer.

So schools don't have an acting head now? They go straight for partnership/federation?

Well I don't know about the other schools mentioned here but as well as the Executive Headteacher the schools have always had a head of school or acting head of school. Has your head left? If so someone HAS to be head of school, even if only temporary. When federated and the other school didn't have a head, the executive head was head teacher on site until the post was filled. If not the EHT then one of the deputy heads must do it.

My child is about to start a federated primary school in September (a different a school to previous poster Nsister but same federation). The federation was one of the main reason we chose it. It had previously been a basket case but the federation had turned it around. I was excited by the cross school opportunities and support for teachers. For example they planned across the five schools for each year which meant that each teacher wasn't responsible for planning each lesson (exhausting I would imagine) as responsibility was shared.

The problem with the local federated school has been parents not knowing which location their child will be allocated to.

There are different models for this kind of process. Sometimes, if a school is without a head, another local head is asked to become the Executive Head of both schools and, usually the deputies then step up to become Associate Heads, or Head of School (same thing). This can just be a temporary arrangement until a new head is found. Another option is for two school to become a 'soft federation' which is a similar model but is likely to last for a bit longer. The third option is for two schools to become a 'hard federation' which is a permanent arrangement. In this case the schools remain different schools within the federation but there is only one governing body. Teachers are employed by the federation, rather than a specific school, and they can be moved around. For a hard federation there is a fairly long consultation process with all stakeholders and it takes a year or two to be out in place. There are lots of advantages to federations, as listed in other posts so it is a positive development.

When a local school failed to appoint a head my head was asked by the LEA to take over the leadership of both until a new head could be appointed so it could be something similar rather than full federation.

We didn't actually see much difference in the day to day running of the school as birth schools have leadership teams who deal with any issues in the heads absence.

So sometimes children are sent to an alternative venue?

It would have been nice if we had been told what it might entail and how it may affect our children and school life. Or maybe it won't, but at the moment, all we can do is imagine what is going to happen.

Depends on whether a hard or soft federation.

A Hard federation shares a Governing Body for example. There will be an Executive Head plus each individual school will have a Headteacher.

Ask the school for more information. If nothing is forthcoming write urgently to the governors and/or local authority. If a hard federation is being proposed there must be a consultation period and transparency.

It can be a very good thing but don't just wait for information to be forthcoming. Be proactive.

OP Our federation doesn't randomly move children about. You apply to the school as you would any school. I don't think that's normal.

In terms of applications you still apply to one school, not the federation.

I do know of one school that has done this but it is actually one school with two sites - same school name. I don't really understand it myself.

A federation means a joining of two or more governing bodies. It is technically the governing bodies that federate, not the schools which remain as legally separate entities. The federated governing body can then decide how they want to head up the schools under the federation. They could decide to appoint a head to each school, or they may (more likely) decide to appoint one (executive) head over all the schools in the federation. There can only be one head teacher of a school. If there is an 'executive' head over a group of schools, then s/he is the HT for each and every school in the federation. In this scenario, the person referred to as 'Head of School' is actually the deputy, but it is up to the school to decide what they are called as far as parents are concerned.

The process of becoming a hard federation can happen relatively quickly. The governing body of each school has to vote yes to consultation. There then follows a minimum of 6 weeks consultation, before the final vote by each GB. The whole process from start to finish can be completed in 8-9 minths, possibly even sooner. Amalgamation of two schools takes considerably longer.

Federation can be very beneficial to the schools involved but should be a decision made by governors after a consultation with stakeholders.

Just a small point. The Head of School or Associate Head is not actually the deputy as specified in the previous post. It's often the case that the deputy is promoted to this post or someone else may be appointed. It is contractually a post in its own right and holds many more responsibilities than the post of a deputy.