Collegiate High School Raising Aspirations Trust Partners –
Standing from left to right: Ruth Colman (University of Cumbria), Felicity Greeves (Blackpool Sixth Form College), Chair, Margaret Beaumont (Company Secretary), Mark Thomson (Playfootball Ltd)
Seated from left to right: Delyth Baxendale (Blackpool NHS Trust), Gillian Fennel (Collegiate High School) and Pauline Waterhouse (Blackpool and the Fylde College)
What are Trust schools and how do they work?
Trust schools:
- Are Independent state schools, which are funded in the same way as Community schools.
- Manage their own land and buildings, employ their own staff and are responsible for their own admissions.
- Are Foundation schools supported by a charitable trust. The Governing Body continues to run the school and be accountable for its performance.
- Offer a range of exciting opportunities to work with partners to find new ways of delivering the curriculum in order to raise the aspirations and the attainment of all pupils.
How will Collegiate High School Raising Aspirations Trust work?
There are six partners in the Raising Aspirations Trust:
- Blackpool Sixth Form College
- Blackpool and The Fylde College
- Blackpool NHS Trust
- University of Cumbria
- Playfootball Ltd
- The Governing Body of Collegiate High School
Each Trust Partner has nominated a Trustee:
- Felicity Greeves, Principal of Blackpool Sixth Form College (Chair)
- Pauline Waterhouse, Principal of Blackpool and The Fylde College
- Delyth Baxendale, Assistant Director, Blackpool NHS Trust
- Ruth Colman, School Liaison, University of Cumbria
- Mark Thomson, Regional Director of Playfootball Ltd
- Gillian Fennel, Headteacher of Collegiate High School
The Trustees have:
- Nominated two representatives who will join the Governing Body of the school. They are Felicity Greeves and Delyth Baxendale.
- Applied to the Charities Commission to become a Registered Charity.
- Agreed to meet at least three times per year, with additional meetings to take place during their first year.
- Appointed Margaret Beaumont, School Business Manager to be Company Secretary of the Trust.
- Requested that John Lea, Deputy Headteacher attend all meetings of the Trustees.
Each external Trust Partner has a nominated link person in school:
Blackpool Sixth Form College – Caroline Smith, Assistant Headteacher
My Trust Partner is Blackpool Sixth Form College. So far the basis of my work has been around the Specialised Diploma in Sport and Active Leisure and being a part of the consortium taking the application through the gateway process. I have been working in partnership with Rachael Hennigan from the Sixth Form College. The application is being handed in this month (November) and we should be informed by January whether the consortia have been successful. If we are, the next stage will be to start firming up proposals, writing schemes of work and continuing to further develop links with employers. I think links with Blackpool Sixth Form College will consist of progression from Level 2 to Level 3 and in terms of delivery of certain aspects of the diplomas. If our application is not successful we will have to meet again to work on the weak areas in order to improve them.
Other links, which are not specifically through me but as a result of all of us in the School Sport Partnership include a Leadership Academy, run by Blackpool Sixth Form College for students across the authority in Years 10 to 13. This will begin in November 2008 and will replace the Youth Forum with the intention of young leaders gaining accredited qualifications. The sessions will run from 5pm - 7pm and from 7pm - 9pm. Our Young Leaders have been invited to the sessions. Within the next year I would expect to see a number of our Young Leaders moving through the system, gaining qualifications and then putting something back into the system by coaching, etc back here. I would like Collegiate to support the work of Blackpool Sixth Form College by ensuring that we do send sufficient high quality students through to these sessions.
Blackpool and The Fylde College – Patrick Brocklebank, Assistant Headteacher
I have been involved with staff from various curriculum areas of Blackpool and the Fylde College for some time, through our partnership working to deliver a diversity of options at KS4. Further developments over the next two years will see Collegiate working with the College as lead partners in a consortium to deliver the New Diploma in Public Services.
Collegiate has a strong tradition of support for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for all staff and I believe our links with Blackpool and the Fylde College will further enhance our aim to move towards being a truly professional learning community. Over the medium term our partnership could give us the opportunity to fulfil our demand for middle leadership training that currently cannot be fulfilled by the National College for School Leadership (NCSL). There may also be the opportunity for Collegiate to act as a placement training centre for the extended workforce e.g. Teaching Assistants on the Blackpool and the Fylde College Train to Gain scheme.
In the immediate future, a combined training day is being planned for Collegiate staff to visit the College in February 2009. We believe this will help to initiate productive links between school and college staff as well as explore pupil progression and other areas of mutual benefit in 14-19.
Blackpool NHS Trust – Wendy Casson, Assistant Headteacher
Our partnership through the Trust will give us opportunities to take part in:
- “Train to Gain”: 12 adults completing their work placement in Collegiate during the next academic year. We are looking at further extending this programme to include some of our KS4 pupils.
- Sign Language: could Blackpool Sixth Form College provide some leadership and training in this area?
- National Programme for Specialist Leaders in Behaviour and Attendance: Looking at opportunities for the University of Cumbria to support some of our staff and use this course as credits towards further qualifications, for example HLTA status – a stepping stone towards GTC.
University of Cumbria – Charles Pomeroy, Assistant Headteacher
We have had three meetings with our University of Cumbria partners so far this year, during which we have discussed how they can help us improve the aspirations of our pupils. We are in the process of arranging for some of our Year 10 pupils to visit the University in the spring term so that they can experience a short taste of University life. A representative from the University is coming into school to talk to our Year 9 pupils in assembly, to start them thinking about the possibility of going to University. I am visiting the University in January to discuss these proposals further.
We are also investigating how our staff can take advantage of CPD opportunities at this school by gaining accreditation offered by the University of Cumbria.
As a way of us helping them, we have investigated the possibility of taking more students from the University of Cumbria to work with our staff both on teaching practice and also in short term projects.
Playfootball Ltd – David Nicklin, Assistant Headteacher
Playfootball Ltd has been our Public Private Partner for approximately two years and we hope to build on this relationship through the Raising Aspirations Trust. Discussions are currently taking place regarding development of our shared sports facilities, in line with the BSF programme. Hopefully this will lead to additional all weather and covered multi-sports amenities for use by both the school and the wider community. Future collaborative work may include enhancements to the Specialised Diploma in Sport and Active Leisure with the possibility of placements to enable our pupils to gain experience of working in this industry.
“Through the formation of our Trust we aim to support the strategic leadership of the school, improve the life chances and aspirations of our pupils and strengthen our community links.
The Trust’s particular focus will be “Raising Aspirations” through distributive leadership, partnership working, a further improvement in governance and the construction of a Trust body that will allow for collaboration and cooperation and will be welcoming to any schools who wish to join in the future.”
Minutes of the Inaugural Meeting of the Trust Partners 9 September 2008