Some Questions and Answers

  What does the partnership arrangement involve?

• Sherington and Emberton First schools have agreed to form a ‘soft partnership’ for an initial interim period of four terms running from the start of the Summer 2008 term to the end of the 2008/9 academic year. A ‘soft’ partnership means the two schools will continue as separate distinct entities but under the leadership of one headteacher. Arlene Bourne will move from her current position as teaching head at Sherington to be the full time headteacher for both Sherington and Emberton. Both schools will retain separate governing bodies and discrete budgets, and remain separate entities for Ofsted review. This ‘soft partnership’ model is already in practice locally in the partnership between North Crawley and Stoke Goldington schools, and Emberton itself has previously been partnered for 2 years with Castlethorpe First. It is also an increasingly common arrangement both nationally and in the MK areas reflecting the benefits that can be driven through collaborative partnerships between schools.

  How Did the Partnership Come About?

• The opportunity for Sherington to consider a partnership with Emberton School arose only recently. Emberton First School has for the past two years been in a successful partnership with Castlethorpe First School. The existing headteacher of Emberton School is moving to a new headship in the Summer Term and the partnership with Castlethorpe has come to a close. The governors of Emberton were very keen to form a new partnership with a similar small school given the benefits they found in the previous arrangement. The Sherington governors had always seen a partnership as a possible development at some stage if the circumstances of the arrangement would benefit the pupils learning and the whole school. The Sherington governors have weighed up this decision very carefully. It is our collective view that this partnership will bring immediate benefits to the learning and social development of current and future pupils, and will help take the school forward in many positive ways.

  Why Is the Partnership for a Period of Four Terms?

• It is general practice for such partnerships to be set up for an initial interim period, allowing for the arrangement to be reviewed as it develops. The opportunity can then be taken to move the partnership on to a longer-term basis following on from a successful initial period.

  What are the benefits of this partnership to Sherington School?

• Sherington School currently enjoys high standards of achievement as evidenced in the excellent published SATs results achieved over many years and the very good Ofsted report it received about 12 months ago. These attributes would undoubtedly continue if Sherington remained in its current status, but the Sherington governors feel that the partnership offers fresh learning opportunities for the pupils and also ensures that the school can move forward as a strong unit with experienced management in place. The arrangement will allow the qualified teaching resource at Sherington to focus squarely on excellent teaching provision for the children, and enable Arlene as headteacher to lead that teaching and focus on the demanding strategic and school improvement issues that modern heads must manage. Sherington will continue with the benefits of small class sizes, and a high qualified teacher to pupil ratio. We believe the arrangement will enrich the social development of the children, who will have new school ‘partners’ to learn about and get to know in a neighbouring community. Each of the schools will have access to the teaching expertise and particular specialist skills of the other school to help create a varied, rich and updated curriculum for the children. There will be the opportunity to bring the children together to share learning experiences eg on a special topic, together on school trips, or other shared activities.
• Some of the benefits mentioned above relating to teaching and the curriculum will be accessed quickly when the partnership commences. Other benefits, such as the opportunity for children at both schools to come together to share learning , will be developed steadily around appropriate events as the partnership is established. Talking to those involved in existing partnerships it is clear that from day one the children are very interested in their new ‘fellow pupils’, and we would plan to develop that interest in various different ways.
• The Governors feel that this range of further learning benefits will be available through the partnership, but would be less readily accessed as a small school standing on our own without such a the partnership.

  How will this affect teaching at Sherington School?

• From the start of the consideration of this partnership the Sherington governors have made it a clear requirement that the quality of the teaching provided to pupils will not be affected, and they fully understand that this is a key issue for parents. The plan is that the teaching time currently provided by Arlene will be fully replaced by the recruitment of an experienced and qualified part-time teacher for the initial 4-term period of the arrangement. That teacher will be dedicated to teaching and will not have all the leadership and management responsibilities that Arlene currently has to balance with her teaching role. This will sustain the situation at Sherington of a beneficially high ratio of qualified teaching resource to pupils and small class sizes. Additionally the partnership with Emberton will immediately give both schools access to the existing teaching expertise and individual teachers’ special skills at both sites. Lastly, and importantly, Arlene will be well-placed to lead the learning at both schools, and focus consistently on maintaining and improving standards in line with the current excellent standards being achieved at both schools.