download

System leadership
Being supported and achieving
success
In our last issue, Alun Williams, Headteacher of
Norton Hill and Somervale Schools, described how
a hard Federation brought benefits to the Midsomer
Norton Schools Partnership. Here, Mark Kenny,
Deputy Head at Somervale School, explains how his
school responded
It was a dark winter evening in December 2008 when we finally
acceded to the inevitable. The Somervale Headteacher and I
were staring at financial balance sheets, primary demographic
projections and achievement trend data. It was clear to both that
our dearly held autonomy as leaders of a school painfully had
to give way to the more urgent need of continuing to provide a
high class education for our students. The school could no longer
succeed alone and needed help.
It would be wrong to suggest the two converter academies
started with the end in mind. The academy converter
opportunity only presented itself the year after Federation and
was only allowable due to the ‘outstanding designation’ of our
sister school, Norton Hill. The Midsomer Norton Sixth Form
only came about two years later when it became apparent that
Somervale was now too small to function as a separate 16/18
entity. What did happen, however, from the outset, was a shared
belief from Peter Beaven, the designate Headteacher, and from
Michael Gorman, the former Headteacher of Somervale School,
and the two governing bodies. It was in the best interests of the
whole local community to have two successful schools, one big,
one small, operating with one Headteacher and one governing
body in a shared enterprise of raising educational standards
across the partnership.
What surprised me most from the outset was how quickly the
Somervale school community came to recognise the potential
benefits of Federation with an ‘outstanding’ school. Parents
had a strong affiliation with the old school but understood
that partnership had the potential to widen the curriculum for
their children. The extension of the option choices post-14 was
achieved through shared blocking between the two schools
allowing students from both schools to travel between sites for
two of their option choices, enabling such subjects as dance,
drama, media, 3D design, graphics and textiles to continue
despite small numbers opting at Somervale. The Federation
was also attractive to parents as it enabled extended enrichment
opportunities for children, for example Duke of Edinburgh’s and
Ten Tors, which were real strengths at Norton Hill. In 2014 25%
of our Y10s are now engaged in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Bronze
Award with an outdoor pursuits co-ordinator appointed across
both schools to manage this.
Staff recognised the professional opportunities that working
in a dynamic Federation offered them in career development and
professional training. School leaders knew the growing budget
deficit had been an albatross around the neck of Somervale,
holding back innovation and intervention. The opportunity to
share services such as premises management, IT, finance and
school leadership made it possible to establish immediately a
Summer 2014 | 25