Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Dr Melvyn Kershaw, Head Teacher Haybridge High School and Sixth
Form
COMMENTS ON
TRUST STATUS
FOLLOWING THE
SELECT COMMITTEE
MEETING
It may help for me to say that as a practising
head teacher I understand the thoughts and rationale that I guess
was behind many of the questions. I hope your report can recommend
ways of negating unhelpful divisions within the system, whether
between faith schools and non-faith schools, schools in challenging
environments and those in middle class areas or between pupils
who are disadvantaged and those who have favoured circumstances.
Trust status will in my opinion unleash energy
and initiative from schools, their governors and head teachers
in the same way that the introduction of school based financial
management did some years ago. I believe that the majority of
schools will wish to work in partnership with their LAs and surrounding
schools for the benefit of all pupils and I am sure you can enshrine
in legislation, protection against the very few who may have an
exclusive and selective agenda.
I see Trust status as a way of reinforcing collaboration,
not reducing it. I use, as an example, my position as a leading
school in two contexts :
(a) as a member of a "soft" collaborative
of six other secondary schools, two special schools and an FE
College wishing to use the Trust school mechanism to move us forward.
We have embraced the collaborative agenda of the 14-19 White Paper
and hope that this White Paper will support us taking the next
step, and
(b) as the secondary school in a semi-rural
locality that is the major destination of six feeder primary schools.
We would see the Trust status as providing a convenient mechanism
for us to collaborate in a more structured way bringing more efficiency
and co-operation to our work, helping children to make the transition
more easily and successfully.
December 2005
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