BeckfootBeckfoot

ALLERTON AND HEATON

PRIMARY SCHOOLS AND

OAKBANK AND THORNTON

SECONDARY SCHOOLS

A CONSULTATION

This proposal has been established because the Governors at Allerton and Heaton Primary schools and Oakbank and Thornton Grammar Secondary schools have decided it would be a good idea for their schools to join the Beckfoot Trust. After careful consideration, the Directors/Trustees of the Beckfoot Trust agree.

The Government wants schools to improve by collaborating more closely in clusters with a single governance structure called Multi-academy Trusts.

The Beckfoot Trust, located in Bingley, was formed in 2012 and is an example of successful collaboration where two of its three schools are now regarded by Ofsted as ‘Outstanding’.

Establishing a Trust with more schools will enable them all to flourish because there will be more available talent to influence improvement and greater opportunity for financial efficiency.

The larger Trust will include seven schools, three of which Ofsted regard as outstanding; Allerton; Beckfoot and Hazelbeck. This will ensure a core of established ‘best practice’ to blend with the success already developing within the remaining schools.

In the cases of Allerton and Heaton Primary schools, the Local Authority will no longer run the schools and they will become academies. These new academy schools will be governed by the Beckfoot Trust.

In the cases of Oakbank and Thornton Secondary schools, the Foundation Trusts that govern them now will no longer do so and they will also become academies governed by the Beckfoot Trust.

Multi-academy Trusts run academy schools that are still state schools but they are directly responsible to the Government and not to the Local Authority.

Each of the schools will retain its own character and place at the heart of its community. They will all remain as individual schools with the same Headteacher and staff.

The schools will still be called Allerton, Heaton, Thornton and Oakbank but their branding will be adapted to link them to the wider family of Beckfoot schools.

Each of the schools will consider the implications of the revised school branding on uniforms. No decisions on this will be established until the consultation is concluded.

Each of the schools will continue to admit the same students from the same catchment areas in the same way as they have always done.

The purpose of this proposal is to improve the ‘life-chances’ for all the students in the existing Beckfoot Trust schools as well as those in schools joining.

This proposal can only come to fruition after everyone interested has had a chance to comment. We would like to know what you think.

Quick Read Panel - A Consultation

Beckfoot Trust, Wagon Lane, Bingley, West Yorkshire BD16 1EE Tel: 01274 771444 Email: feedback@beckfoot.org www.beckfoot.org

Please CommentThe consultation will be open for four weeks ending on Sunday, 3rd July 2016. There will also be opportunities for parents and others to meet staff from the Beckfoot Trust at consultation meetings. You can also send feedback by email to feedback@beckfoot.org or by post to The Beckfoot Trust, Wagon Lane, Bingley Bradford BD16 1EE.

Timetable for the Consultation MeetingsThis document will be presented at meetings held at the schools as follows:

Consultation Meeting for School Parents, Carers and Location and time Members of the Community

Oakbank Monday, 13th June 2016 Oakbank School 5.00pm

Thornton Wednesday, 15th June 2016 Thornton School 5.00pm

Allerton Thursday, 16th June 2016 Allerton Primary 5.00pm

Heaton Monday, 20th June 2016 Heaton Primary 5.00pm

These proposals have been sent to:

• BradfordLocalAuthority

• TheDepartmentforEducation

• Allthestaffintheschools

• Parent/carersofchildrenwhoattendtheschools

• Professionalassociationsandtradeunionrepresentatives

• Primary,secondary,specialschoolsandcollegesinthearea

• TheLocalAuthorityschooladmissionsdepartment

• BradfordDistrictCareTrust

• BradfordCityClinicalCommissioningGroup

• BradfordTeachingHospitalsNHSFoundationTrust

• Membersofthecommunitylivingincloseproximitytotheschools

Acopyoftheconsultationdocumentwillalsobeavailabletodownloadfromthewebsitesofalltheschoolsinvolved.

FOUR SCHOOLS

PLAN TO JOIN THE

BECKFOOT TRUST

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BackgroundThisproposalhasbeenestablishedbecausetheGovernorsatAllertonandHeatonPrimaryschoolsandOakbankandThorntonGrammarSecondaryschoolshavedecideditwouldbeagoodideafortheirschoolstojointheBeckfootTrust.Aftercarefulconsideration,theDirectors/TrusteesoftheBeckfootTrustagree.

BeckfootSchoolsitsasthefoundingschoolintheBeckfootTrust.Beckfoothasnotalwaysbeenan‘Outstanding’schoolandthejourneyhasnotbeeneasy,butithastakencarefulnoteofthestepsalongthewayandtheyarenowembeddedaspartofitsculture.Insimpleterms,Beckfoothasnowbeenchallengedtoseeifitcanshapeacollectionofschoolsthatshareanambitiontobecome‘great’schoolsandtodothisbyputtingstudentsfirstandbybelievingthattheycanachievegreatthingsifweletthem.TheBeckfootTrust’svisionistodevelopacollectionofprimary,secondaryandspecialschoolsthatarecloselygroupedandsharethesamedeterminationtoseeBradford’syoungpeoplethrive.

TheDirectorsoftheBeckfootTrusthaveworkedwithstaffandGovernorsateachschooltoestablishifworkingmorecloselywillbegoodforthestudentsofalltheschoolsinvolved.Wealreadyknowwesharemanyvaluesandaspirations.Alltheschoolsareinclusiveandcommunitycentredschools.WeallhavegoodrelationshipswiththeLocalAuthorityandotherschoolsthroughoutthecity.Thereisagreatdealwealreadyhaveincommon.

TheenlargedTrustwillincludeprimaryaswellassecondaryandspecialschools,thebenefitsofcross-phasecollaborationhavealreadyledtonewthinkingatBeckfootandtherewillbemanymoreinitiativesthatflowinalldirections.

AllertonPrimaryschoolisan‘Outstanding’schoolalreadyanditwillhavemuchtocontributetotheTrustwhilstbenefittingfromthechallengeofjoiningawidercollectionofsuccessfulschools.Heaton,OakbankandThorntonshareadeterminedambitiontodevelopgreatschoolsandtheywillcontributemuchtotheTrustastheypursuetheirownindividualjourneys.

Inpractice,eachschoolwillchangeitsstatusandbecomeanacademyschool.TheywillallremainasindividualschoolswiththesameHeadteacherandstaff.Anychangesyounoticeshouldbetheresultofourcollectivedeterminationtoimprovetheoutcomesforyoungpeople.Therewillbenochangetoadmissionarrangements.CatchmentareaswillremaintheresponsibilityoftheLocalAuthority.

AcademiesthatjoinaMulti-academyTrust,liketheBeckfootTrust,areallgovernedbytheTrust’ssingleBoardofDirectors/Trustees.TheexistingGoverningBodieswillthereforetransferlegalresponsibilityfortheschoolstotheBeckfootTrust.Atthesametime,thestaffatAllertonandHeatonwilltransferfromLocalAuthorityemploymenttotheemploymentoftheBeckfootTrust.InthecaseofOakbankandThornton,staffwilltransfertheiremploymentfromtheexistingFoundationTrusttotheBeckfootTrust.

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THE PROPOSAL

YOU CAN SEND FEEDBACK BY EMAIL, BY POST OR BY PHONE TO ALLERTON, HEATON, OAKBANK AND THORNTON SCHOOLS.OR BY CONTACTING THE BECKFOOT TRUST DIRECTLY:

Email: feedback@beckfoot.org

Post to: The Beckfoot Trust, Wagon Lane, Bingley Bradford BD16 1EE

This document launches four separate consultations that are linked because they all have an interest in each other. The proposals are, that it would be in the interest of Allerton and Heaton Primary schools and Oakbank and Thornton Grammar Secondary schools, to convert to become academy schools and to join the Beckfoot Trust.

Theschoolswillretaintheirnames;Allerton;Heaton;OakbankandThorntonandtheBeckfootnamewillbeintroducedtomakeclearweareallpartofthesamefamilyofschools.Theremaybesomeconsequentialchangesforsignsanduniformsbutnothingwillneedtobedoneinahurryandthesedecisionswillfollowtheconsultationprocess.

Itisimportantthateachschoolplaysaleadingroleinitsowncommunity.TheBeckfootTrustbelievesinBradfordandintheimportanceofgreateducationinanchoringthesocialandeconomicwellbeingoftheCity.

ThisconsultationwillremainopenuntilSunday,3rdJuly2016.TheresultswillbediscussedwiththeDepartmentforEducationwhoareresponsibleforagreeingthattheproposalsareineveryone’sbestinterest.

YoucanfindfurtherinformationaboutBeckfoot,includingitsOfstedreport,byvisitingitswebsiteatwww.beckfoot.org

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How will I benefit from this Proposal?Students will benefit by:

•Havingasharedsetofvaluesthatweknowcreatehappy andambitiousschoolsinwhichtolearn.

•Beingataschoolthatvaluestheiropinionandactively involvestheminshapingtheimprovementstrategiesforthe qualityofteaching,behaviourandachievement.

•Havingaccesstoacurriculumthatisrelevant,excitingand appropriateforthem.Acurriculumthatallowsthemtosucceed.

•Havinganassuranceofhighqualityteachingandsupport dayindayout.

•Havinggenuineleadershipopportunitiesthatseethemgrow asindividualsandflourishasconfidentyoungpeopleready tomakeadifferencetothesocietytheywilljoinasadults.

•Havingaccesstoawidersetofstaffexpertiseandawider rangeofteachingandlearningstylesfromacrosstheTrust.

•Havingincreasedopportunitiesforlearningandcollaboration withstudentsacrosstheTrust.

Parents and carers will benefit by:

•Knowingthattheirchildrenwillhaveaccesstoagreater rangeofteachingexpertisedrawnfromawidercollection ofschoolsthatwillenhancetheirlearning.

•Havingaschoolwithaclearethosandacommonsetof valuesthatareinclusiveandstudent-centred.

•Havingseniorleadershipstrategies,basedon‘bestpractice’ experience,thatprovideastrongoverviewandaclearvision fortheschool’sfuture.

•Knowingthatresourcesandfacilitieswillbedevelopedand managedtogivericherprovisionfortheirchildren.

•Knowingthattheirchildrenwillbeinaschoolstrivingto becomeagreatexampleofcomprehensiveeducation.

Staff will benefit through:

•Beinginanambitiousschoolthatispartofanambitious groupofschools.

•Havingincreasedopportunitiestoworkwithothercolleagues inotherschools.Thismeansenhancedopportunitiesfor teachingandprofessionaldevelopment.

•Sharingspecialistknowledge,experienceandfacilitiese.g. sharingmusical,danceanddramaprojects,andsports.

•Beingpartofahighlymotivatedandexperiencedworkforce, whichbelievesinprovidinginclusiveeducationthatwillbring considerablebenefitstoallstudents.

•HavinganactiveCPDandleadershipdevelopment programmesuitedtotheirindividualcircumstances.

We will all benefit if:

•Thestudents,staff,parentsandcarersofalltheschoolsin theBeckfootTrustcommittomakingarealdifferenceforthe outcomesofyoungpeople.Wewillsetambitioustargets andchallengeeachothertoachievethingsothersmay believetobebeyondus.

When will all this happen?Atpresent,weareworkingtowards1stSeptember2016asthedatetheschoolswillbecomeacademiesandjointheBeckfootTrust.However,thisdateissubjecttousbeingabletocompletequitealongscheduleofadministrativeandlegalworkandsothedatewillneedtobeconfirmedclosertothetime.

Why does the school need to become an Academy?BecominganacademywithinaMulti-academyTrustisthebestwayofcombiningthestrengthsofalltheschoolsintoasingleorganisationaimedatsecuringrapidandsustainedimprovementintheoutcomesforstudents.OtherformsofformalcollaborationbetweenschoolsexistbuttheyarenotthefavouredsolutionoftheDepartmentforEducationandarethereforelesspopular.AnAcademyisessentiallyanindependentstateschool.Itisfundeddirectlybycentralgovernment,isaccountabletothemandisindependentoftheLocalAuthority.AcademiesarestillsubjecttothesameOfstedinspectionarrangementsasLocalAuthorityschools.

Why alter the School’s Name?Theschoolswillretaintheirnames;Allerton;Heaton;OakbankandThornton.WewillseektointroducetheBeckfootnamesoitisclearthattheschoolsarepartofoneorganisationandbecauseitmakesclearthattheBeckfootTrustisaccountablefortheschools’success.

What will happen to the existing Governors?TheexistingGoverningBodyoftheschoolswillberesponsibleforthemuntiltheyconverttobecomeanacademyaspartoftheBeckfootTrust.Atpresentweareworkingtowardsaconversiondateof1stSeptember2016.Onthe1stSeptemberthenewacademywillbegovernedbytheBeckfootTrust.InaMulti-academyTrust,liketheBeckfootTrust,thereisonlyonegoverningbodyorboardofdirectors/trusteesforalltheschoolsinthegroup.TheBeckfootTrustwillformalocalstakeholderengagementgrouptoensureeachschoolretainsaclearunderstandingofthespecificrequirementsofthecommunityitserves.

What about Staff Conditions of Employment?StaffwilltransferfrombeingemployedbytheLocalAuthorityortheFoundationTrusttobeingemployedbytheBeckfootTrust.TheprocessfordoingthisisregulatedbytheTUPE(TransferofUndertakingsProtectionofEmploymentRegulations2006)legislationandthisprotectstherightsofstaffandensuresastructureforconsultation.

What will happen to school uniforms?Schooluniformswillnotchangebuttheremaybesomechangestoschoollogosthatwillbeintroducedovertime.Wedon’twanttocreateanyunnecessaryexpenseforparentsandcarers.Wewillmakeourproposalsclearassoonaspossible.

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