Dee Partnership: an informal collaboration of five schools with other service providers

Dee Partnership is a group of five schools in an informal arrangement with other local service providers. The partnership itself has no formal constitution or powers.

Key learning and outcomes

There are improved outcomes for pupils. The 2007 Key Stage 2 results were higher in all four primary schools than in the previous two years. Dee College’s GCSE results are its best ever.
Particpants report that the partnership makes their work more interesting and enjoyable and that the current arrangements are more efficient and effective.
The partnership has had a positive impact on leadership capacity. Senior leadership posts at Dee College have been redesigned to match current priorities and work arrangements. In the primary schools, the operational groups provide more opportunities for staff of all backgrounds to develop and to step into leadership roles for their school.
There is emerging evidence about improved behaviour in both phases and better outcomes for pupils post-16.
Dee College had already established a level of trust and confidence with the primary schools through its specialist role in PE and sport. This made it easier when it came to building a more demanding partnership that includes other agencies.

Background

Dee Partnership is a network of service providers built around a secondary school, Dee College, and four primaries. The schools had previously worked separately with a variety of support services in a chaotic way that caused misunderstandings, poor response rates and uneconomical working practices.

Drawing on connections created by Dee College’s role as a specialist sports college and full service extended school, a partnership was formed. It has no statutory powers. It is designed to provide governance for the operational groups that support the development and delivery of provision across the town. This includes a multi-agency operational group, serviced by 36 agencies.

Solution or approach

Executive board

The Dee Partnership is led by an executive board, comprising headteachers from the five schools and representatives from a range of agencies that provide services for children and their families. The board has no statutory constitution or powers and each of the five schools retains its autonomy and independent governance.

The board works closely with the local authority. It is chaired by the principal of the secondary school and its programme is facilitated and administered by a full-time Every Child Matters (ECM) development manager for the town. She holds a post as assistant principal at Dee College and her role is to work with the executive board and representatives from other agencies to develop operational plans, secure stakeholder support and monitor progress.

The board’s operational groups

The board meets monthly and carries out its work through operational groups, each of which meets about six times a year. There are currently nine operational groups and each has representatives from the five schools and whichever other agencies are relevant to its focus.

Role of the secondary principal

The headteacher at Dee College has been redesignated as principal and takes a strategic role, supporting the vision, building connections, removing barriers and chasing progress. She no longer observes every teacher or meets parents and students every day.

The principal is supported by a senior leadership team. The head of school provides leadership and management for the day-to-day operation and ensures that the core business of teaching and learning is under constant scrutiny. The ECM manager provides leadership and management for Every Child Matters outcomes, extended services and the executive board’s activities.

Gaining acceptance

The partnership organised large stakeholder events in order to create a wide base of local support from pupils, parents and the community. These involved representatives from all the services.

The principal of Dee College and the ECM manager have supported the primary school headteachers in increasing the interest and commitment from their governing bodies. All the governing bodies support the partnership arrangement and are committed to its sustainability.

ECM

The partnership uses a comprehensive range of data to inform its understanding of the local ECM context. It commissions surveys of pupils and parents and there are effective connections between providers to share information. The subsequent analysis and interpretation is shared with the board and the relevant operational groups.

Next steps

Although signs of improvement are good, there is not yet any direct evidence of the impact of the partnership on outcomes for pupils. The partnership would like to explore some of the underlying trends, looking more intensively at pupils’ experience of Year 6 and Year 7 or the experience of vulnerable groups.
The partnership needs to ensure sustainability and faces difficult decisions. Broadly, the options are to continue the partnership informally as at present or to establish a more formal, legal relationship.
The current preferred option is to make a legal arrangement in the form of a trust, with the five schools becoming trust schools.