Biddenham Queens Park (system leadership)

How the Biddenham Queens Park system leadership brings coherence to provision in Bedfordshire.

Summary

This case study concerns Biddenham Queens Park in Bedfordshire, an informal all-through collaboration of three schools. The partnership oversees projects that bring coherence to 0-19 experiences and help overcome barriers to achievement.

Key outcomes

Based on this case study, leaders of partnerships could usefully consider the following questions:

How can governors become involved in piloting new leadership and governance models?
What skills are required to include vulnerable schools in discussions and arrangements that may make their problems worse? How can such conflicts of interest be resolved?
What models of leadership can inspire confidence in a diverse group of stakeholders? What skills and attributes does a project leader need?
How might you use futures-oriented collaborative processes and high profile events to help your partnership keep going through difficult times?
What could trust status offer your partnership?

Background

Biddenham Queens Park (BQP) is an informal collaboration of three schools – lower, middle and upper – and a children’s centre. It forms Bedfordshire’s first full service extended school provision. It is part of a wider learning network of 23 schools that have applied for the Supported Schools Programme from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) in order to become a trust.

BQP serves a multicultural and relatively deprived community on the outskirts of Bedford. Its vision is for coherence in 0-19 provision to fulfil the Every Child Matters agenda. In particular, it has been working to help families overcome significant barriers to student achievement.

The schools in the partnership are: Queens Park Lower School, Westfield Middle School and Biddenham Upper School.

Challenges and issues

Being a trailblazer

Biddenham Queens Park is the first group of schools in the area to attempt a radical overhaul of provision and the leadership and governance arrangements to support it.

The alliance has needed to secure the commitment of school leaders, local authority officers and other stakeholders to partnership working and learning practices.

Politically volatile environment

BQP has had to work with uncertainty and political turbulence. For example, Bedfordshire carried out a strategic review which led to a decision to retain the three-tier system (lower, middle and upper schools). A later decision was made to pass control of children’s services to a unitary authority. Partners have required absolute commitment to the vision and to one another to remain resilient.

A need to rebuild trust

The initial proposal for the strategic review was to restructure to a two-tier system, which marked the middle school in BQP for closure. It was already the least involved of the three schools and was led into ‘campaign’ mode to protect places and jobs. This brought a conflict of interest between the needs of the alliance and the needs of the school.

The two-tier proposal was rejected and the middle school was reprieved, but relationships were damaged and BQP’s plans jeopardised. Careful work has rebuilt trust but has required a determination to see the bigger picture.

The Biddenham Queens Park approach

Establishing a governor alliance group

Biddenham Queens Park is led by a governor alliance group with an independent honorary chair, Jim Gunther. The alliance comprises the leader of the children’s centre and 10 governors: three each from the upper and middle schools and four from the lower school. Three are governors across two of the schools.

The role of the alliance group is to oversee nine collaborative development projects through to the stage where they are adopted by the individual school governing bodies. One of these projects explores the possibility of developing a trust with the Bedford Learning Community.

Putting governors at the heart of innovation

The governor alliance group is seen as a prototype for a steering group to lead a possible trust in future. This puts governors at the heart of innovation from the outset. It tackles head-on the issue of new models for governance, which can be a sensitive issue.

Appointing a primary head as lead

The lower school headteacher, Anne McCormick, provides professional leadership and support to the alliance group. This has helped to challenge preconceptions about a secondary takeover and about secondary schools dominating cross-phase collaborations.

Because there are good communications between the lower school, the children’s centre and the community, projects reflect a wide constituency.

Using Innovation Unit processes

BQP has made good use of techniques such as process mapping and the Bridge Change Leadership Framework. These have supported headteachers, the alliance group and other stakeholders, particularly during periods of political instability and uncertainty.

Agreeing timescales and terms of reference

The governor alliance group was commissioned for one year in the first instance and given a clear remit and terms of reference. This helped to ensure the model could be adapted and refined as plans moved forward, and that it did not become set as an organisational structure.

Agreeing common approaches

Nine collaborative projects cover common approaches across each of the schools. In addition to the project to explore trust status, these include assessment for learning, healthy schools, a virtual learning environment, a common curriculum for PSHE, and improving transition for English and maths.

There are also projects to develop common policies for attendance, anti-bullying and behaviour, and to develop inclusive practice by reviewing special educational needs procedures and policies. Further projects explore common contractual arrangements, such as for grounds maintenance.

Next steps

Apply for trust status on BQP’s own behalf if the single Bedford-wide trust or pyramid trusts are not successful.