Hailsham Partnership

How Hailsham Partnership is bringing coherence to extended services in East Sussex.

Summary

This case study outlines the leadership arrangements for the Hailsham Partnership in East Sussex. The partnership is designing whole-town, full service provision for a range of services including education.

Key outcomes

The executive board involves every headteacher in the town, together with other major providers of children’s services. It is therefore beginning to improve connections between different parts of the system.

The partnership has been able to improve its offer to children and their families, especially the most vulnerable, measured by referral rates and waiting times.

Governing bodies are now represented on all Hailsham Partnership groups where initially they had no involvement.
Collaboration in the Hailsham Partnership is becoming increasingly sophisticated and interdependent as relationships between the different partners grow and deepen.

Joint work has resulted, for instance, in the development of a common assessment framework (CAF) of special educational needs, used by the SENCOs in all five schools. There is also a town-wide database of children’s needs and the resources allocated to meet them. The database works in parallel with the Children’s Index.

Two other significant projects focus on student voice, and on developing the role of parents and the community in schools, including offering parenting support workshops and courses.
Based on this case study, leaders of partnerships could usefully consider the following questions:
- What are the benefits and risks associated with broad and early distribution of leadership in a partnership of schools?
- How can leaders in a school that was initially perceived as the ‘lead’ organisation encourage leadership contributions from all the partners?
- What activities can be put in place to secure frequent and meaningful communications between partner organisations?
- How quickly can and should serious joint work begin? Is trust an outcome of effective collaboration or a precondition for it?
- How important is it to a partnership of schools to secure strategic and operational support from the local authority?
- How can school partnerships and local authorities work together to add value for local children and their families?

Background

Hailsham Partnership comprises one secondary school and four primaries. The secondary school, Hailsham Community College, is already established as a full service extended school. The partnership has been building on that experience to offer whole-town provision of a range of services including education.

Hailsham is a stable and insular community in East Sussex with a population of 25,000. The schools in the partnership are: Hailsham Community College, Whitehouse Primary School, Marshlands Primary School, Hawks Farm Primary School and Grovelands Primary School.

Challenges and issues

Perception of a secondary-led initiative

Because of Hailsham Community College’s experience as a full service extended school, there was a danger that the five primary schools would see the partnership as a secondary-led, top-down initiative.

Wariness from governing bodies

Existing governing bodies were wary about buying in to the partnership. They feared relinquishing control while they remained accountable for their schools’ success.

Tension between partnership and local authority

While Hailsham Partnership was developing its own local innovation to address the needs of children and families, the local authority was itself creating a structure of formal strategic partnerships for children. Having two innovations in development was a source of some conflict.

The Hailsham Partnership approach

Leadership and governance arrangements

Hailsham Partnership is led by an executive board, chaired by an executive headteacher. It comprises the headteachers from all five schools and representatives from a range of agencies that provide services for children and their families. Each of the five schools currently has its own governing body.

Six operational groups support development and delivery of provision across the town, including a multi-agency group serviced by 36 agencies. The aim is to benefit from economies of scale.

Distributing leadership

Extensive and early distribution of leadership has helped to achieve swift and significant progress because it has led to a high level of participation and buy-in.

Ensuring all partners are involved

The five headteachers have built a strong and effective partnership over 18 months. The primary heads, who might initially have felt the partnership was a secondary initiative, are now active partners. There is a full commitment from all to a whole-town Every Child Matters agenda.

Members of the executive board have supported stakeholders and each other in developing their understanding of the partnership’s vision and goals. Through an explicit process of identifying priorities and building on these to offer practical responses – quick wins – the full potential of the project has gradually emerged.

Appointing an ECM development manager

A deputy headteacher from one of the schools is seconded to the role of Every Child Matters development manager. Her job is to connect the different parts of the system to develop operational plans, secure support from stakeholders and monitor progress.

Involving stakeholders

Hailsham Partnership has organised events for young people, parents and representatives from all the services. These events have led to widespread support for the aims of the partnership and have helped to identify priorities for development. Projects are then carried forward by separate, focused partnership groups such as for student voice and multi-agency approaches to inclusion.

Initial difficulties with the local authority were resolved over time as the partnership’s live and dynamic relationships drove forward the Every Child Matters agenda.

Involving governing bodies

Governors are kept involved and up to date, and are becoming increasingly involved in partnership meetings and events.

Next steps

Apply for Power to Innovate in order to move to a soft federation of schools. This would bring shared governance and a formally constituted strategic committee to reflect broadly the membership of the existing executive board.
Over time, Hailsham Partnership aims to use its collaborative capacity and target its provision to:
- raise achievement and attainment of vulnerable learners
- improve levels of development at the end of the foundation stage
- improve student attainment by a range of measures
- increase participation and retention post-16
- increase the numbers of parents and families accessing children’s services
- improve attendance and reduce exclusion
- reduce youth crime and the numbers of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET)