The Decision:

At the Governing Body meeting on 8^th December 2009 – following the end of the Statutory Notice period – governors decided to proceed with this change, which will take effect from 1^st January 2010. The Trust will be known as the Trust for Innovative Learning and Teaching.

As a Foundation/Trust school we will continue to be a part of the Local Authority system of maintained schools. However, there will be a number of changes that will affect the way that the School is governed.

These include: -

Admissions: From the 1^st of January 2010 the Governing Body will become the Admissions Authority and will be responsible for admissions to the School from September 2011.

We will be making our draft Admissions Policy available for all interested parties on the school website by the end of December.

This is part of the consultation process and we would welcome your comments and/or observations on the draft policy.  Any comments you wish to make should be addressed to Mr S Barlow, Chair of Governors at the school and should arrive by 1^st March 2010 at the latest.

Send comments via emaill to the school/governors.

[Please see further information on the Admissions process elsewhere in the Newsletter]

Staffing: The employment of all School staff will transfer from the Local Authority to the Governing Body as of 1^st January 2010.

The Trust that will be set up will enhance the educational development of the School, its students and the community.

The decision was based on the merits of the proposal to:

• Develop an organisational structure and expertise that supports personalisation: focusing on leadership, learning pathways and progression, transition, and parental engagement to raise achievement.

• Establish a co-operative membership model trust that will be a Charitable Trust. It will seek to transform expectations by its members and the community it serves, so that excellence is the expected outcome at all times of the education promoted by the Trust. It will achieve this by creating, communicating and sustaining a culture of personalisation and aspiration within members that is adopted and contributed to by both students and staff. This culture will develop creative, enterprising and innovative thinkers of all ages who are empowered and compassionate citizens of their local and global communities.

• Raise the aspirations and opportunities of the local community by their participation in the School and its culture.

• Engage and empower local stakeholders, parents, staff, students and community organisations in a learning community through membership and democratic involvement in a co-operative trust model.

• Give the community as a whole, a greater sense of investment in the School via inclusive democratic structures that are more responsive to local needs and will increase participation and a sense of ownership.

• Promote the globally shared co-operative values of self-help, self responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and mutual prosperity via co-operation and membership of the co-operative network.

The Trust will be made up of a group of partners based on a co-operative model that will give additional voice to all those with an interest in the School. It must be stressed that the Trust will not own the School. The leadership and management of the School will continue to be the responsibility of Karen Healey the Head teacher and the Governing Body, on which, parents will have a majority.

On behalf of the School and the Governing Body I would like to thank you for the comments and support so far as we look forward to the exciting and beneficial developments that lie ahead.

Should you wish to know more about what Foundation/Trust school status means, please contact the School and we will be more than happy to pass information to you.

Yours sincerely,

Steve Barlow

Chair of Governors

Click here to see the Public Notice