a study of hard federations of small primary schools

Inspiring leaders;improving children’s lives

www.ncsl.org.uk

ReportSCHOOL LEADERS

This report explores the leadershipof hard federations of small primaryschools in the UK and identifies keyimplications and conclusions forpractitioners, policy makers andother stakeholders

A study of hard federations ofsmall primary schools

http://www.ncsl.org.uk

Contents

1 Background

2 Aims of the study

3 Methodology

4 Key findings

5 Case studies

A STUDY OF HARD FEDERATIONS OF SMALL PRIMARY SCHOOLS 1

The issue of headteacher recruitment andretention, along with demographic changes,declining pupil rolls and overall viability areimportant issues facing the future of smallprimary schools (in particular). It is likely thatincreasing numbers of schools will need to lookfor alternative ways to address these problems.One option is to federate, forming a larger unitacross several locations, under the leadership ofone headteacher and with one governing body.

In response to these issues, and to inform futurepractice and policy, this study explores theleadership of hard federations of small primaryschools in the UK and identifies key implicationsand conclusions for practitioners, policy makersand other stakeholders.

Data in relation to federations is limited due tothe uncertainties of the information on which itis based.

Currently, the Department for Education andSkills’ (DfES) database contains:

• 137 groups of institutions, of which 76 are notfully confirmed hard or soft federations

• of the 61 remaining, 15 are hard federationsand 23 are soft federations (majority aresecondary)

• the remaining 23 are collaboratives.

The main rationale for federation in England, asoutlined by the DfES and the Audit Commission(20051), identified the following benefits:

• a stronger senior and middle managementteam

• a stronger teaching team through theappointment of shared staff, includingspecialist teachers, better training and widercareer opportunities

• better support and developmentopportunities for school governors

• economies of scale

• savings in planning and administration time

1. Background

A recent study by the National College for SchoolLeadership (NCSL) investigated the leadership offederations, which have been established forsome years in the Netherlands.

There are considerable and wide-rangingadvantages to federating for both schools andschool leaders in England, according to thestudy. The option to federate could rescueschools otherwise likely to close due to fallingrolls, and provide a positive option to schoolsfacing longstanding headteacher recruitmentissues, reasons that seem particularly pertinentto small and rural schools.

This study identified a number of advantagesassociated with the Dutch federation model:

• principals have more time to lead theirschools

• there is economy of scale and averaging ofcosts (staffing and resources)

• there is mobility of staff and resources

• there is a support and advice network

• there is joint planning and wider thinking

Information on UK federations from localauthority and other sources remains erratic andunreliable in terms of definition.

However, a growing number of local authoritiesare actively promoting federations and theopportunities they offer to small schools throughtheir websites, for example, North Yorkshire andWiltshire.

The North Yorkshire website(http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/m241_0.pdf)states that the local authority is committed tosupporting its schools, and is concerned aboutrecruitment and retention issues which areaffecting small schools in particular. It is notunusual for schools to have only one or twoapplicants for a headship, and many schoolshave to advertise two or three times.

North Yorkshire Local Authority feels that greatercollaborative working between schools, withinconfederated or federated arrangements, willoffer some schools greater opportunities fordevelopment and greater long-term strengthand stability.

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1 DfES and Audit Commission 2005 , Tackling Falling Primary School Rolls: Toolkit

‘Both ways of working have some commonfeatures, namely that by sharing a high qualityhead, schools benefit from sharing that expertiseand leadership. The money saved by notemploying two heads can be ploughed intoadditional teaching support. It depends fromcase to case, but usually this arrangementmeans that the head has more non-teachingtime than the individual previous headshipposts had, which means that they are betterable to do the job and to provide leadership andsupport to the other staff. It also means thatmanagement points can be built in to provideone or more of the other teachers with somecareer progression – something currently lackingin many small schools.’


The intention of this study was to explore whyand how hard federations are established in theUK and to consider the ways in which they havebeen both successful and unsuccessful. Thestudy also aimed to provide practical guidancefor headteachers and governors who might beconsidering federating in the future.

The following research questions were posed:

• What was the rationale/reason for federating?

• How did headteachers go about setting upthe federation?

• What does the leadership structure look like?

• In what ways have the federations been asuccess?

• In what ways have the federations been lesssuccessful and why?

• What messages would you give to otherheads/schools/governors thinking offederating?

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2. Aims of the study

The research was undertaken by an NCSLresearcher who conducted four face-to-facesemi-structured interviews with headteachers ofhard federations of small primary schools. Thefederations were located in Lampeter,Hampshire, Dorset and East Yorkshire. Detailedcase studies are presented in Section 5.

Coedmor, Lampeter, WalesThe Coedmor federation is based on the edge ofLampeter and is made up of three schools:

• Coedmor, Key Stages 1/2: 53 pupils on rollplus an independent nursery.

• Ffarmers, Key Stage 2: 15 pupils on roll plus asecond independent nursery on site(approximately six miles away from Coedmorand one mile away from Llanycrwys).

• Llanycrwys, Key Stage 1: 23 pupils on roll.

The headteacher, Aled Jones Evans, has been inpost for six years.

Western Downland Church of England-aided,HampshireThe Western Downland CE-aided federation is inHampshire and is made up of two schools:

• Damerham, foundation/Key Stage 1: 72 pupilson roll.

• Rockbourne, Key Stage 2: 97 pupils on roll.

The schools are approximately two miles apart.

The headteacher, Mark Saxby, has been in postfor seven years; the federation was establishedin January 1981. This school is now consideredamalgamated, as it formed with one DfESnumber and one budget.

Dunbury, DorsetThe Dunbury School federation is in Dorset andis made up of three bases:

• Winterborne Kingston, reception and a Year1/2 class: 49 pupils on roll.

• Winterborne Stickland, reception and a Year1/2 class: 48 pupils on roll.

• Winterborne Whitechurch, Years 3, 4 and 5:108 pupils on roll.

The sites are approximately three miles apart.

The federation was established in 1992.Headteacher Simon France has been in post fortwo years.

Dunbury is inspected as one school and has oneDfES number. The federation was originally madeup of four primaries, but Milton Bassett closedshortly after Simon France joined the school.

Middleton and Beswick and Watton, EastYorkshireThe Middleton and Beswick and Wattonfederation is in East Yorkshire and is made up oftwo schools:

• Middleton, foundation/Key Stages 1 and 2: 60pupils on roll.

• Beswick and Watton, foundation/Key Stages 1and 2: 35 pupils on roll.

The schools are approximately five miles apart.

The federation was informally established in2005. The headteacher, Christine Bennison, hasbeen in post for approximately one year andnine months.

The schools are funded as two schools, they arerun as separate schools, have two DfES numbersand separate Ofsted inspections, even thoughthey have one headteacher and one governingbody. They are currently waiting to be givenofficial hard federation status (expected 1 March2007). They will continue to operate as twoseparate schools once they receive their officialstatus and have been given assurances from thelocal authority that they will continue to befunded as two schools. The federation is part ofa network of six small rural primary schoolscalled the ‘Wagoners’, a network which has beenin existence for 14 years.

Staff are appointed to one school, but their jobdescriptions specify that they must be preparedto teach across the federation if necessary and touse their specialisms.

A detailed interview schedule was developed forthe study, a shortened version of which was sentout to headteachers prior to the interviewsbeing undertaken.

The study was informed by a previous researchstudy undertaken by NCSL into federations in theNetherlands.


3. Methodology

This section explores the key findings of theresearch study:

• the rationale/reason for federating

• setting up the federation

• key players

• leadership structure

• in what ways the federations have been asuccess

• in what ways the federations have been lesssuccessful and why

• messages for heads and governors

4.1. Rationale/reason for federating

The key rationale for federating for all theschools was the threat of closure, due to fallingnumbers and/or recruitment issues.

In three of the schools the suggestion to federatecame from the local authority, while at Berwickand Watton the suggestion came from thegoverning body.

One of the headteachers commented that forthe local authority:

‘It was a win-win situation – if the federationsucceeded, good, if not, then they would simplyclose the schools anyway.’

For the headteachers involved in this study, thekey reason for federating was to improve pupillearning and to increase the range of learningopportunities they could provide. Additionally,each felt a strong personal commitment to therole of the small school within the communityand the threat posed to those communitieswhen the school was threatened with closure.The head of Beswick and Watton had researchedtwo examples where this had happened andfound the consequences had been devastatingfor the villages concerned. The threat of schoolclosure, alongside that of falling rolls andbudgets, plus recruitment issues convinced herthat this was the perfect opportunity to rolemodel an alternative to these scenarios. Shedetermined to keep the school open byfederating; to increase pupil numbers by

bringing people back to the community; andsubsequently to increase the budget. In just over18 months she has achieved all of these goals.

4.2. Setting up the federation

TimescalesTypical timescales for establishing thefederations varied between two terms and 18months. The timescale for setting up thefederation at Coedmor, including the planningand preparation, can be seen below:

Timeline:

• July 1998Initial discussion with local authority

• Spring 1998Decision made to federate

• Summer 1998New name established for the federation

• October 1999Headteacher post advertised

• December 1999New headteacher appointed

• Spring term 2000Headteacher released two days per week towork within the federation, gatheringinformation and data

• May 2000New headteacher takes up post

• Summer termFurther analysis and small but significantchanges made. This term was also used tobring parents on board, mainly through thepositive messages taken home by the childrenthemselves

• September 2000Key Stage units introduced across the sites

PlanningIt is clear from these case studies that the moretime given to preparation and planning beforesetting up the federation, the more likely thefederation would be to succeed and be adoptedand accepted by parents. At Coedmor, theheadteacher was released for two days a weekfrom his deputy headship to work within and

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4. Key findings

across the federation. This enabled the head togather and analyse information and agree plansfor the future direction of the schools beforetaking up the post. At Beswick and Watton,similar opportunities were provided when theretiring head agreed to stay on for an extra term.

The establishment of joint governing bodiesOnce the suggestion to federate had been made,initial discussions took place between heads andgovernors and heads, governors and localauthorities.

The establishment of joint governing bodies wasthe next step for three of the schools. In thefourth school, Coedmor, there was already anexisting joint governing body, as the schoolswere part of an informal cluster – a commonpractice in Wales. At Beswick and Watton thisprocess was made easier due to the fact that theschools were part of a network of six schools,which involved collective network governormeetings.

Consultation with parents, pupils and staffFollowing the establishment of joint governingbodies came further and frequent consultationwith staff, parents and pupils. Consultation withparents varied from school to school andincluded public meetings, attended by localauthority personnel, surveys and open meetingsin school.

Two of the schools faced strong parentalopposition to the idea of federating, whichincluded marches, petitions and threats toremove their children from the school. The othertwo schools were more fortunate in that parentswere in favour of the federation as analternative to closure of the school.

Parents’ concerns in relation to federatingincluded:

• the fear that the larger, more financiallystable schools would be subsidising thesmaller and less financially stable schools –‘one school gaining at the expense of another’

• ‘hidden agendas’ from the local authority,ultimately to close one or other of the schoolsanyway

• parents possibly having to fund the travellingnecessary for children to move between sites

• the issue of siblings being collected fromdifferent sites (staggered start and finish timessolved this problem)

• uniform

• parents ‘losing’ their headteachers as a resultof having to be in more than one school

• the school losing its ‘identity’

All the heads said (not unsurprisingly) that theprocess of bringing parents on board was crucialto the federation becoming quickly andsuccessfully established. The case studies suggestthat clear and frequent communication, goodorganisation and careful ‘branding’ or marketingwere key to this process.

Strategies included regular meetings and/orletters to parents detailing the changes thatwould be taking place, before they happened,for example, class sizes, arrangements fortransportation and deployment of staff and thereasons for those changes. Other strategiesincluded creating a new prospectus,competitions to design new logos for the schooluniform, establishing friends of the schoolassociations, public relations (PR) work byparents, publicity in the local press and presenceat local events. Presenting the option to federateas a great opportunity for the children and thecommunity and constantly focusing on thepositives rather than the negatives also seems tohave been an effective way of changing minds.Convincing parents that the sense of traditionwould continue – even when the two schoolswere effectively merging into one – was equallyimportant, as was the reassurance that therewould always be a sense of parity between theschools.

In more than one of the schools it was theparents themselves who acted as advocates forthe federation and the idea of ‘talking the schoolup’ by parents, pupils, governors, local authoritypersonnel and school staff was seen to be animportant factor in the federation’s success andacceptance.

These activities and actions were carefully anddeliberately planned by headteachers to havemaximum impact and to encourage parents tofeel positive towards the federation. At Coedmor,


the headteacher’s strategy for bringing parentson board involved many of the actions listedabove; but it also featured a number of otherdeliberate strategies to encourage parents andchildren to come together, including:

• using the children themselves to take themessages home to parents regarding the newopportunities available to them, such asplaying rugby with their own peer groups forthe first time, and engaging in after-schoolsports clubs

• actively bridging the gaps between parentsfrom different schools by providing frequentopportunities for them to come together. Forexample, the local swimming pool allowedthe school to use the pool free after schoolbut parents had to bring their children and indoing so they met and got to know eachother

• setting up an after-school and breakfast club

• ensuring a regular presence at localagricultural shows and events

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4.3. Key players

HeadteachersIt is very clear from the case studies that each ofthe headteachers played a fundamental role inthe successful establishment of the federation.All the heads interviewed expressed anoverriding moral imperative that federating wasthe right thing to do, both for the children andfor the community. This commitment to thepupils and the community undoubtedly playedan important part in motivating the heads andsignificantly contributing to their vision for thefederation.

These heads were certainly not ‘hero’ or‘heroine’-style characters, but each had verysimilar characteristics. They all had an extremelypositive outlook; they looked for creativesolutions to issues by regularly thinking ‘outsidethe box’. They carefully, constantly anddeliberately analysed their contexts and werecomfortable and confident about ‘letting go’ oftheir leadership.

Local authority Local authority support was also seen as crucialto the success of the federation and ranged fromattendance at public meetings to the offer of an‘A’ team – made up of a solicitor, admissionsexpert, human resources (HR) expert and otherkey local authority personnel.

Two of the heads mentioned the importance forthem, personally as well as professionally, ofknowing that they had the ‘backing’ of the localauthority and appropriate support, should it beneeded.

GovernorsGovernors played a key role supporting theheadteacher in the early stages of the federationand in being prepared to work collaboratively –even those governing bodies that had previouslybeen in competition with each other.

OthersAt Western Downland the diocese played asupportive role in the federation process bybringing the two schools, which were initially intwo separate dioceses, together as a benefice.The diocese also offers additional financialsupport whenever it can.

Two of the heads mentioned the support of staffas being important to them.


4.4. Leadership structure

Key featuresThe leadership structures of the federations wereinevitably all different, but did have a number ofsimilar key features. It was clear that federatinghad offered a range of leadership opportunities– especially in relation to site leaders – and hadenabled the headteachers to distributeleadership within and across their organisations.This, in turn, had a cascade effect by opening upleadership opportunities for middle leaders aswell as enabling headteachers to focus muchmore on the strategic leadership of the schools.In one of the federations three of the deputieshad gone on to take up headship elsewhere. Allthe headteachers interviewed mentioned thefact that, by not being available on each site allthe time, staff had had to take on moreresponsibility and decision making and, as aresult, had become more independent leaders.The appointment of key senior staff had meantthat, for the first time, they had a seniorleadership team. As a result they felt lessisolated and had someone else to ‘share thingswith’.

Headteacher roleAll the heads spent a large part of their weekworking across the schools and had specifictimetables detailing where they would be andwhen. These were made available to both staffand parents. Where possible, heads made fulluse of electronic communications, includingnetworked communication systems across allsites and links via a ‘Blackberry’ to the bursarand school secretary. At Beswick and Watton theheadteacher has one day a week dedicatedheadship time, which is classroom-focused andincludes monitoring and lesson observations.

For all four headteachers leading a federationhas provided them with challenge, variety andmotivation and for three of them this hasproved to be an incentive not to leave and lookfor another headship. The benefits of havingmore time to think and act strategically, havinga senior leadership team (SLT), a non- teachingcommitment and flexibility of staffing andeffective organisational systems are clearly seenas advantages to federating and incentives forstaying in post.

Senior staffThe federations had a variety of combinations ofsenior staff, including base leaders who wereeither deputy heads/assistant heads or seniormembers of staff. Headteachers were very clearthat these roles had been made possible byfederating. At Coedmor, the leadership structureincluded two of the previous heads who werenow deputy heads on protected salaries, plus athird senior member of staff. In an ideal world,despite the fact that the deputies had been verysupportive following the federation, from afinancial point of view the head would opt forhimself and three ‘senior’ members of staff. InHampshire the structure was made up of thehead and two assistant heads. In Dorset thestructure comprised the head, deputy head andthree base leaders, while at Beswick and Wattonthe headteacher appointed a business manager,rather than a deputy or assistant head. Thebusiness manager is part of the seniormanagement team, along with the head andtwo senior teachers, and has, among otherthings, responsibility for in-house training,premises staff, bids and the Learning Supportassistants team. In the words of the headteacher,the business manager has “transformed myrole”.

Building capacityOpportunities to share practice, work in acollegiate way and more opportunities forprofessional development – most significantlyleadership opportunities – were seen asimportant advantages to federating. All of thefederations had established ‘leaders’ at each site,which had provided opportunities for leadershipposts which otherwise would not have beenavailable.

Teamwork, and the opportunities to developteams, including collaborative working andaccountability, was a key feature of thefederations. The pooling of expertise andknowledge and the flexibility of staffingcontributed to the motivation and stability ofstaffing across all four federations.

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Succession planning opportunitiesOpportunities to consider succession planningwere mentioned by at least three of the heads.The head at Western Downland CE-aidedfederation believed that the broader, moredistributed leadership structure he had put inplace provided “brilliant training for headship”,with three of the deputies from the federationgoing on to headship.

At Beswick and Watton the head was alreadythinking creatively about this issue. Shesuggested that, should the federation take onanother school, this would offer the opportunityto either develop a future head or if there was ahead already in place, to co-lead the federationand effectively have a successor in place.Equally, if there was a deputy head within thefederation who was not sure about headship,this could provide the chance to have a ‘taste’ ofheadship while working alongside anexperienced head. It was also suggested thatheads could work collaboratively as joint headsover a larger cluster of schools.


4.5. In what ways have the federationsbeen a success?

The ultimate goal for these headteachers wasfirst, improving pupil learning and second,keeping the school open. They have allsuccessfully achieved both goals and more.

Budgets are healthy and there is far moreflexibility in terms of resources and staffing,resulting in improved curriculum provision andlearning and teaching. Classes are small but it isstill possible, in most cases, to maintain singleage Year groups. For some schools staffing levelshave increased.

A comment made by all the heads that wereinterviewed was that the federations would notsucceed without the goodwill of staff, especiallyin relation to staff travelling from site to site.Staff were usually allowed additional travellingtime, for example, an extra 10–15 minutes atlunch time. Heads were appreciative of the wayin which staff willingly undertook this elementof their role.

Pupil learning and achievementIn all four federations standards have risen andpupil numbers have increased.

All the heads felt that increased staffing levelsand the flexibility of staffing had significantlyhelped to improve learning and teaching byproviding more opportunities for staff to engagein focused and collaborative planning, to bereleased to observe colleagues and to sharesubject responsibility and draw on a widerknowledge base.

At Dunbury, the appointment of two assistantheads in place of a deputy head, who bothoversee the quality of the curriculum, has madea big difference to the school and has led toimproved consistency of approach in deliveringthe curriculum. Flexibility of staffing in morethan one of the schools has offered theopportunity for specialist teaching. In all theschools it was felt that there were greateropportunities to draw on and utilise subjectspecialisms. This approach at Beswick andWatton, where the subject specialist for sciencehas had the opportunity to teach across bothschools, has resulted in improved science resultsfor the past two years.

All the schools felt they were now able to offer awider range of learning opportunities for theirchildren, especially in the areas of sport andmusic, while improved resources and moreeffective use of resources was seen as anotherpositive element of federating.

From an organisational point of view, it was feltthat only having to complete one self-evaluationform (SEF)/school improvement plan(SIP)/headteacher’s report and managing onebudget made life much easier for heads, as didonly having one governing body.

A phrase which came up a number of times wasthat by federating, the schools were able tomaintain a ‘small school feel, but with bigschool resources’. As another head put it: “I havemanaged to keep the rural ethos of the existingschools, but mixed it with the advantages of alarge town school and all that can offer”.

FinancesThree of the four schools commented that, as aresult of federating, they were financially betteroff. In many ways this appeared to be the resultof careful and thorough auditing/financialmanagement by the headteachers. They had allmeticulously gone through the budgets andanalysed where savings and more effectivespending could be employed – for example atDunbury the head dramatically reducedtransport costs. Three of the heads hadsuccessfully negotiated funding from their localauthority before establishing the federation,while Beswick and Watton agreed a differentapproach to funding. Interestingly, however, it isan approach which two of the other headsrecommended in hindsight. At Beswick andWatton the authority agreed to fund thefederation as two separate schools. On this basisthe headteacher has had an excellent start andis confident and happy that, should she have tomake financial reductions in the future, shewould be able to do so and still maintain theappropriate level of provision.

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4.6. In what ways have the federationsbeen less successful?

When asked what some of the disadvantages offederating might be, three of the heads werehard pressed to think of anything. They dideventually come up with the following: potentialjealousy from other heads; initial work–lifebalance due to the speed of changes anddevelopments; and the difficulties of not beingable to pop in and observe each other’sclassrooms, due to the schools being on differentsites, leading to a lack of consistency.

The fourth head felt that there were a numberof funding issues which needed to be addressedincluding, building maintenance – “buildings aredouble everything, utilities/caretaking and soon” – as well as additional costs for twoadministrative staff and occasional transportcosts which prevented the two teams of stafffrom coming together as often as the headwould have liked.

The duplication of resources was also an issuefor this head, as was the lack of shared serversand broadband, which hinderedcommunication.

Travelling between the schools was alsosometimes difficult for two of the headsinterviewed. At Coedmor, despite getting to allthree sites on a regular basis, the head felt thatparents would like to see more of him, and eventhough there were base ‘leaders’ in the twoHampshire schools, it was felt parents stillwanted to see the ‘head’. All the headsinterviewed made sure that they were out andabout in the playgrounds or at the school gateson a regular basis.

The head at Coedmor had spent the first twoyears of his federation headship with a full-timeteaching commitment and looked back now andwondered “how I did it”.

Being able to read three local contexts asopposed to just one was mentioned by one ofthe heads. The financial implications of runningtwo or three schools while, in effect, beingfunded for one school was an issue for the headswho had not agreed formula funding with theirlocal authority before federating. Interestingly,however, all the heads felt that in terms ofstaffing they were financially better off – theareas where funding proved to be more of anissue were in relation to maintaining buildings,resources and transport costs.


4.7. Key messages for heads andgovernors

The overwhelming messages from thoseinterviewed were as follows.

Management and organisation

• Get the community on side: make them part of it.

• Ensure parity across the sites: even withsmaller things such as meetings and events.

• Re-brand the school: give it a new name anda new logo and uniform. These can also beseen as ‘quick wins’.

• Avoid the ‘us and them’ mentality at all costs.

• Do things only once: for example one SEF,one admin basket, one headteacher’s report,even if the schools maintain their individualidentities.

• Be thorough: consider the context of all theschools within the federation and analysetheir needs thoroughly.

Financial suggestions

• Make sure you agree the formula fundingbefore you set up the federation or agree torun the federation for a term and then agreethe funding or suggest the local authorityfund you as two or more schools with oneheadteacher and then work out with the localauthority where you can make savings.

• Think through the financial implicationscarefully and consider everything – fromphotocopiers to transport costs.

Communication

• Think carefully about communication andmake sure there is a robust approach andstrategy for communicating.

• Consult widely and value others’ views.

• Be prepared to change – listen to staff inparticular.

• Create a joint ethos and vision.

Staffing

• Look after your staff – without them anarrangement like this will not work.

• Make sure you have key members of staff oneach site.

• Make time for staff to come together – chit-chat is important.

• Remember that rivalry and a slight edge ofcompetitiveness can be healthy – alongsidecollective accountability.

Other

• Be strong and stick with it in terms of whatyou believe is right.

• Look for the opportunities in everything youdo.

• Remember the situation is always fragile.

• Be flexible.

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4.8. Implications and conclusions

ImplicationsThis study would suggest that, for headteachersconsidering federating, there are clearly moreadvantages than disadvantages. However, headswill need to consider the potential changes intheir role, for example, from being a teachinghead to non- teaching head, having an SLT andpotentially having many more leaders to‘manage’ in and across the federation. It couldbe argued that many of the attributes andcharacteristics needed to successfully lead anyschool, especially those with split sites, are thesame as those needed to lead a federation, forexample, an ability to distribute leadership, goodcommunication skills, budgeting skills, an abilityto set the direction of the school and create acollegiate vision and ethos. However, thoseheads interviewed felt that their situations wereunique in many ways and that the bringingtogether of two separate communities bringswith it its own challenges, especially in terms ofparents, governing bodies and, in particular, aneed to read and analyse multiple and differentcontexts. The heads felt that the leadershipcourses currently available did not alwayssupport them in addressing the specific issuesthey faced or their personal and professionaldevelopment needs. It would seem appropriatethen for heads of small schools consideringfederating to be offered the opportunities toexplore in more detail some of the leadershipconcepts and organisational strategies that theymight need, for example, distributed leadership,communication, consultation, facilitation andnegotiation skills.

From a local authority perspective, federationsoffer a positive alternative to school closure, anincentive for retaining heads and an opportunityto improve standards. A number of localauthorities have begun discussions aroundconfederations/co-federations and have anumber of them in existence already; but fewhave taken the step of encouraging heads andgovernors to establish hard federations, whichthis study would suggest offer a number ofadvantages. It could be argued that by keepingthe schools separate there are financial gains tobe made, for example in terms of maintainingbuildings. However, the schools are also

inspected separately, have separate governingbodies, budgets and potentially less flexibility interms of staffing and leadership opportunities.The heads in this study were certainly in favourof hard federations as opposed to soft or chewyfederations as they offered a much moresimplified way of working.

Despite the excellent resources available on theDfES Innovations Unit website, there is still a lackof consistency in the wide range of terms anddefinitions of ‘federations’ across localauthorities. To a certain extent this is inevitable,and right, as different contexts will needdifferent solutions. However, it would seem tobe an appropriate time, in view of the increasingnumbers of schools coming together, for localauthorities to begin to evaluate and share witheach other the different models which arecurrently running. They should also ascertainwhich are the most successful, in terms of pupilachievement and standards, recruitment andretention, financial implications and leadershipopportunities. It is clear from this study thatthere are headteachers running very successfulfederations and thinking creatively about futurevariations of federations and successionplanning issues, who could be used to help drivethese consultations and explorations.Interestingly, only two of the heads in the studyhad been used by their local authority in thisway. The head at Dunbury is currently workingwith Dorset Local Authority on federations andpotential routes for schools where this is anoption as well as presenting at conferences andhosting groups of visiting local authoritycolleagues interested in this work.

It may also be wise for authorities to take a long-term strategic view of federating and considerpossible clusters of schools, which couldgradually be brought under the leadership ofone headteacher. In East Yorkshire, theopportunity for this to happen already exists asthe two federated schools sit within a network offour other schools. It would seem logical, andpotentially financially advantageous, for theother schools to consider becoming part of thefederation as and when the headship positionsbecome vacant.


ConclusionsIt would appear from this study that for smallschools facing recruitment and retention issues,the option to federate offers a viable solutionwith a number of significant benefits.

The most significant benefit for the schools inthis study was the improvement in standards. Allfour schools have seen standards rise sincefederating. At the same time, they have achievedtheir aim of keeping the school open andmaintaining and developing the role of theschools within the community. Increased staffinglevels, flexibility of staffing and the opportunityto work and plan collaboratively, plus thechance to make better use of subject specialismwere all felt to have contributed to improvedpupil performance.

It became apparent while interviewing theheads that federating had necessitated the needfor distributed leadership, which increasedleadership capacity and flexibility within andacross the federations. The role of site or baseleaders offered senior leadership positions,which in turn opened up opportunities formiddle leadership within the federations.Equally, the absence of the headteacher on sitemade it necessary for others, who would notnormally have done so, to undertake decision-making and leadership activities. Federationsalso offered heads the opportunity to consider,and in some instances put in place, succession-planning strategies. Teamwork and theopportunities to develop teams was also a keyfeature of the federations studied.

In terms of retention, three of the four headsinterviewed said that the opportunity tostrategically lead a federation had providedthem with the challenge, variety and motivationthey needed to remain in post, despite beingapproached by their local authority to take upthe headship of a larger primary school. Nothaving a teaching commitment also provided anadditional incentive not to look elsewhere.

Financially, the federations had healthy budgetswith three of them regarding themselves asfinancially better off than previously.

This is a small-scale study and the need forfurther research in this area remains. Acomparative study of co-federations would offerthe opportunity to analyse and evaluate thedifferences between the two models in moredetail. Equally, an exploration of the localauthority’s perspective on federations and co-federations and how they support heads offederations/co-federations would provide avaluable complement to this initial study.

This study has looked at only four schools. Butthe clear messages it provides strongly suggestthat federations are an effective and powerfulway of addressing falling rolls, school closureand recruitment and retention issues, whilesimultaneously improving pupil learning andachievement. It should also provide a‘springboard’ for more detailed consideration ofthis crucial area of educational research.

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5.1 Case study: Coedmor federation

ContextThe Coedmor federation is based on the edge ofLampeter and is made up of three schools:

• Coedmor, Key Stages 1/2: 88 pupils on rollplus an independent nursery

• Ffarmers, Key Stage 2: 15 pupils on roll plus asecond independent nursery on site(approximately six miles away from Coedmorand one mile away from Llanycrwys)

• Llanycrwys, Key Stage 1: 14 pupils on roll

The headteacher, Aled Jones Evans, has been inpost for six years.

Rationale/reason for federatingThe key reason for federating was the threatenedclosure of Ffarmers and Llanycrwys, due tofalling numbers.

The local authority had looked to federate theschools in 1998 but due to strong parentalopposition the decision was not taken. In 1999the local authority made the decision to goahead and federate the three schoolsirrespective of parental opposition. As Ffarmersand Llanycrwys were only one mile apart,competition for the few pupils that existed wasstrong. Unsurprisingly, the strongest oppositionto the federation came from these two schools.

Setting up the federation

Timeline:

• July 1998Initial discussion with local authority

• Spring 1998Decision made to federate

• Summer 1998New name established for the federation

• October 1999Headteacher post advertised

• December 1999New headteacher appointed

• Spring term 2000Headteacher released two days per week towork within the federation, gatheringinformation and data

• May 2000New headteacher takes up post

• Summer termFurther analysis and small but significantchanges made. This term was also used tobring parents on board, mainly through thepositive messages taken home by the childrenthemselves

• September 2000Key Stage units introduced across the sites

There was already an existing joint governingbody as the schools were part of an informalcluster. (It is common practice for schools inWales to have joint governing bodies.)

Two of the existing headteachers applied for theposition of headteacher of the federation butwere unsuccessful. They both stayed on asdeputies and have protected salaries. One isbased at Coedmor with the headteacher, whilethe second is based at Llanycrwys. Both haveproved to be extremely supportive of the newhead, which has made a big difference to thesuccess of the federation. Once the appointmenthad been made it was more or less left up to theheadteacher to decide how the federation wouldbe set up. An initial meeting was held with staffand governors in order to get them on side –especially the staff. During the spring term theheadteacher was released from his deputyheadship to work within the federation,collecting information, analysing data andconsidering future options. The issuesconsidered by the headteacher during this timeincluded:

• best value for money

• budget and staffing

• staff expertise across the schools

• nursery provision and predicted numbers

• special educational needs (SEN) provision

• resources


5. Case studies

• recent inspections

• location, in terms of distribution of pupils,was a key driver, Lampeter being nearer forparents to drop off

• transportation costs – singing, educationalvisits, sport, extra-curricular activitiespreviously ran at separate times

• use made of the buildings during out ofschool hours – use made by local community

• long-term strategy and statement of purpose

Many of the parents threatened to take theirchildren away from the schools. Meetings werearranged with parents, at which governors andlocal authority representatives were present. Thefirst meeting did not go particularly well.

Parental issues/fears which needed to beaddressed

• Parents at the larger of the two schools wereafraid they would be subsidising the othertwo smaller schools and their children wouldsuffer.

• Parents thought the local authority had a‘hidden agenda’ to close one of the schools.

• Children would have to move for lessons (thiswas not the case, as they only moved forsport/music/educational visits).

• Parents were concerned they would have tofund the travelling necessary for children tomove between the sites.

• Issue of siblings in different schools – resolvedby staggered start and finish times.

• Uniform and logo (solved by children).

A further meeting with parents followed atwhich the following information was shared:

• Details were given of the forthcomingchanges – Key Stage units across the sites.

• Details of class sizes.

• Advantages from a resource point of view.

• An explanation of how staff would bedeployed and use made of their expertise –Key Stage 2 teachers would teach their ownsubjects and travel from one school toanother during lunch times.

• Arrangements for transportation –sports/concerts to be rotated around theschools. Coedmor has large grounds so sportsday happens here. One of the schools has achurch close by so thanksgiving/harvest takesplace there and the third school has a smallhall used for the local Eisteddfod.

• Details of after-school activities.

• Maintenance of the buildings and howmoney and maintenance would be fairlydistributed across the three sites.

Over the summer term the headteacher workedhard to bring parents on board. He deliberatelyplanned how he would deliver positive messagesabout the federation to parents, predominantlythrough the children. He looked foropportunities to bring parents together andenable them to see the benefits of thefederation. He adopted a specific focus on sport,which he knew was valued highly by parents.Children were constantly taking positivemessages home, for example saying how ‘great’it was they had been able to play rugby withchildren of their own age. Other examples of theactivities and events used by the headteacher tobring parents on board included:

• hosting a school sports day for all threeschools

• engineering opportunities to bring parentstogether, which in turn enabled them to getto know each other. An example of this wasthe after-school swimming club in Lampeter.The school negotiated free use of the pool,but parents had to bring their children andstay with them. They therefore met and got toknow each other

• sports club one evening a night – again sameprocess of socialising

• Key Stage 2 residential visit

• a questionnaire to pupils to decide colours fornew uniform

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• a competition to design the new school logo

• a school prospectus was developed, withbusinesses brought in to sponsor it

• the new school was publicised and marketed

• there was a joint summer fayre/Parents’ andTeachers’ Association (PTA)

• an after-school care club

• a breakfast club

Interestingly, within the first year three of theboys were chosen to represent the county atrugby that the headteacher felt could not havehappened prior to the federation.

Key playersThe headteacher himself was clearly the drivingforce behind the federation, with active supportfrom the local authority and board of governors.The head had a very clear moral purpose tomake a difference, improve pupil learning andmaintain the role of the small school within thecommunity. He was very much a creativesolutions person, as well as an analyser, plannerand evaluator. He held an overriding belief thatthis was the right thing to do and relished thechallenges and opportunities it offered. He hadthe full support of the governors and staff in allthree schools.

Leadership structureThe SLT at Coedmor comprises the headteacher,two deputy heads and one senior teacher. Theheadteacher and one of the deputies is based atCoedmor, while the second deputy is based atLlanycrwys and a senior member of staff isbased at Ffarmers.

In 2003 the headteacher carried out a staffsurvey to gain views about his leadership of thefederation. It appeared he was not delegating‘enough’ and since then has actively distributedleadership far more. Interestingly, the headpointed out that teachers within the federationtend to have more responsibility anyway, due toworking across all three sites and having tomake decisions in the head’s absence.

In what ways has the federation been a success?Academic standards have improved in all threeof the core subjects. The rural ethos of theexisting schools has been maintained but,according to the headteacher, “it has beenmixed with the advantages of a large townschool and all that can offer”.

The classes had remained small and were notmixed age groups. The opportunity to make useof specialist teaching had made a significantdifference to learning and teaching in theschool. Resources had greatly improved andopportunities for additional learningexperiences, especially in areas of music andsport, had multiplied.

Teamwork across the schools has improved andstaff are more motivated by being able to focuson their subjects. Opportunities for staff to focuson their subject specialism, to workcollaboratively and ‘pool expertise’ havecontributed to staff motivation and staff stabilityacross the federation.

In what ways has the federation been lesssuccessful?Initially the headteacher was teaching full time,which was extremely difficult, especially as, inother counties within Wales, all federal schoolshave non-teaching headships.

Parents in the two smaller units would like tosee more of the head, but this is not alwayspossible. Travelling between the sites issometimes difficult. Financially the federationsuffers due to the fact that the NationalAssembly only provides one grant, for examplefor buildings, because they are classed as oneschool, but they have three buildings tomaintain. The same issue arises when newinitiatives like whiteboards are introduced.

Distance is crucial – only having one milebetween the two smaller schools makes it work.Any further and the headteacher felt that theseparation of Key Stage units would not work aswell. Ofsted only raised one issue regarding thefederation and that was a lack of consistency inreligious education (RE). Staff were not able tosee each other’s assemblies and theopportunities to observe each other’s teaching ofRE had been limited due to being on three sites.


This has been effectively addressed bycollaborative planning and increased lessonobservations of RE.

Messages for heads and governors thinking offederating

• Be thorough – consider the context of all theschools and analyse thoroughly.

• Be strong and stick with it.

• Be flexible – especially at the start, forexample with timetabling.

• Be prepared to change – listen to staff. Youdepend on them enormously.

• Look after your staff – without them anarrangement like this would not work.

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5.2 Case study: Western DownlandCE-aided federation

ContextThe Western Downland CE-aided federation is inHampshire and is made up of two schools:

• Damerham, foundation/Key Stage 1: 72 pupilson roll

• Rockbourne, Key Stage2: 97 pupils on roll

The schools are approximately two miles apart.

The headteacher, Mark Saxby, has been in postfor seven years and the federation wasestablished in January 1981.

The interview for this case study involved boththe current headteacher and the secondheadteacher appointed to the federation.Following the interview it came to light that thisschool is now technically considered‘amalgamated’ with one DfES number and onebudget.

Rationale/reason for federatingHampshire local authority was closing a numberof small schools due to falling numbers, and wasproposing to bus children from Damerham andRockbourne to nearby Fordingbridge. Parentswho had previously competed came togetherfrom both schools to form a protest group.Twenty years previously another local school,Martin School, had been closed under similarcircumstances. The effects on the village ofMartin were still strongly felt. Parents believedthey had lost the ‘heart’ of the village and didnot want the same thing to happen toDamerham or Rockbourne.

Since the Education Act 2003, Western Downlandhas changed from being a federated school to anamalgamated school. This is because at itsinception, in 1981, the two schools closed and re-opened as one school with one budget and DfESnumber. The school is federated in spirit.

Setting up the federationA public meeting was called, attended by theSouth West Hampshire area education officer,who suggested federation as an option to closureand gave it full backing. The authority felt it wasa win-win situation for them. If it succeeded,‘good’, if not, then they would simply close theschools anyway.

The fact that parents were in favour of federatingas an alternative to closing the village schoolsmade a big difference to the successfulestablishment of the federation. The initialheadteacher stayed for three years and wasfollowed by a second head, who remained inpost for 17 years. The initial headteacher foughthard for non-teaching time and for appropriateformula funding.

The initial head also worked very hard to bringpeople on board, setting up the friends of theschool association and encouraging parents tobecome involved in PR work. The federation wasgiven a new name, logo and uniform.

The second headteacher fostered and developedrelationships with the community and, as aresult, increased pupil numbers, increased thebudget and reorganised staffing. The federationwas presented as a great opportunity for thecommunity and for pupils and the focus wasstrongly placed on the positives rather than anynegatives. Everyone was encouraged to ‘talk up’the federation, including governors, staff andparents. The headteacher worked hard tomaintain a sense of parity, while making sure thetwo sites were always thought of as ‘one school’.

The diocese also supported the federation bybringing all four local parishes, of which the twoschools were part, together as one benefice,enabling ease of funding and organisation.

Initially the school had ‘changeover’ days whenthe junior children came together and theinfants came together. Concerns were raised byparents about children moving from very smallclass sizes in Year 6 to large classes at secondaryschool. As the school expanded options werediscussed with parents. The introduction of thenational curriculum led to more consultationwith parents and the final decision to create aninfant and junior site.

Key players The first two headteachers were clearly thedriving force behind the federation, with supportfrom parents, the local community and the localauthority. Support also came from the jointgoverning body and the diocese. The local rectorplayed a big part in boosting pupil numbers byvisiting each family in the parish and invitingthem to look around the school.


Leadership structure The headteacher has an SLT, which comprisesthe headteacher and two assistant heads. Theassistant heads, who replaced the deputy headposition, are the key members of staff on eachsite. Their responsibilities include being the keypoint of contact as well as the day-to-dayrunning of the site and the overview of thequality of the curriculum. The head believes theassistant head role has more responsibility thanthat of a conventional deputy, in that they areresponsible for their site for 50% of the time.However, the new Pay and Conditions indicatesthat they will have to be made up to deputyheadteacher; this is because they must be ableto deputise in the absence of the headteacher.

The headteacher is responsible for the quality oflearning and teaching. This arrangementenables the headteacher to focus far more onthe strategic leadership of the school. Theheadteacher does not have a set pattern withinthe week, other than that he is at Damerham(Key Stage 1) at the start of the day and atRockbourne at the end of the day. He often goesfrom school to school twice a day and bothassistant heads are released on Fridays to meetthe headteacher and discuss key issues, forexample, strategy and curriculum matters.

All other teachers are Year leaders and haveresponsibility for the entire curriculum for theirown Year group. The school does not havesubject coordinators but rather subjectspecialists.

Working parties are pulled together in responseto areas of priority. This broader, moredistributed structure has ‘empowered’ the staff,especially the two assistant heads. In the wordsof the headteacher this has provided “brillianttraining for headship”, with three of thedeputies from the federation going on toheadship.

It was also very clear that the level of challengeand motivation the federation creates for theheadteacher is the main reason he remains inpost, despite being approached by the localauthority to take up the headship of a largerprimary.

In what ways has the federation been a success?When asked this question the headteacher saidthat the federation had achieved “all thebenefits of a small school but with a non-teaching headteacher and single age groups”.

These benefits are reflected in the schools’results and in the emotional well-being of thechildren. Resources have improved as has thequality of focused and collaborative planningand the quality of curriculum provision is nowoverseen by the two assistant headteachers,which has improved consistency.

Being a non-teaching head enables theheadteacher to engage in strategic leadershipwith much more time to stand back anddevelop a vision for the school.

The federation has offered more opportunitiesfor staff to work collaboratively, althoughinterestingly, a competitive element hasdeveloped between the Key Stages and theresults they achieve. Staff see this as a form ofcollective accountability and “not wanting to letthe school down”. Ofsted have corroborated thisby highlighting a sense of cohesiveness acrossthe federation. The headteacher said that thegoodwill of staff had played a key part in thesuccess of the federation, especially theirwillingness to travel from site to site and notexpect travel expenses and their flexibility toteach across sites where needed.

In what ways has the federation been lesssuccessful?The headteacher pointed out that there werefew disadvantages to federating and that mostof them were not insurmountable. Tensionsbetween staff could not always be dealt with aseffectively as possible due to the headteachernot being there to mediate. Transport costsoccasionally prohibited the infant and juniorchildren coming together as often as theheadteacher would have liked. Other fundingissues included the need to fund twoadministrative staff and the two assistantheadteachers.

The most problematic area for the headappeared to be maintaining buildings,“buildings are double everything –utilities/caretaking hours – everything”.

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Although the diocese provides some funding forbuildings maintenance, the school is stillrequired to provide a percentage of the costsfrom its own budget. The lack of a shared serverand broadband also makes life “morecomplicated” and hinders communication.

The headteacher also mentioned the travel costsincurred by staff and himself while travellingbetween sites. Despite the fact that staff couldclaim for travel costs, they do not and theheadteacher has to use his car on a daily basisto transport resources.

Messages for heads and governors thinking of federating

• Make ‘absolutely sure’ you get the formulafunding agreed before setting up thefederation – or – agree to run the federationfor a term and then agree the funding – or –ask the local authority to fund the federationas two schools with one headteacher – thenagree with the local authority where you canmake savings.

• Consider the pros and cons betweenfederation and amalgamation. Federationprovides the financial security that comeswith two budgets. Amalgamation providesrefined budget management andaccountability to one governing body and oneOfsted inspection.

• Think the financial implications throughcarefully and consider everything includingphotocopiers/doubling up of resources etc.

• Focus on the positive qualities that thefederation brings.

• Promote the school and make it unique.

• Get the community on side and make thempart of it.

• Make sure you have key members of staff oneach site.

• Ensure parity across the sites – even withsmaller things like meetings and events.

• Remember the situation is always fragile –demographics/falling rolls.

• Re-brand the school – give it a newname/logo/uniform.

• Create a joint ethos/vision.

• Avoid the ‘us and them’ mentality.

• Make time for staff to come together – ‘chit-chat’ is important.

• Rivalry and a slight edge of competitivenesscan be healthy – alongside collectiveaccountability.

• Keep communication open – make surecolleagues know what you are doing.

• Value the staff because without their goodwillthe good things will not be achieved.

• Consult widely and value others’ views.

• ‘Give a bit more’.


5.3 Case study: Dunbury federation

ContextThe Dunbury School federation is in Dorsetand is made up of three bases:

• Winterborne Kingston, reception and a Year1/2 class: 49 pupils on roll

• Winterborne Stickland, reception and a Year1/2 class: 48 pupils on roll

• Winterborne Whitechurch, Years 3, 4 and5:108 pupils on roll

The sites are approximately three miles apart.

The federation was established in 1992. It wasoriginally made up of four primaries, but MiltonBassett closed shortly after Simon France joinedthe school as headteacher. He has been in postfor two years. Dunbury is inspected as oneschool and has one DfES number.

Rationale/reasons for federatingThe key reasons for federating were recruitmentissues plus a significant risk of closure for one ofthe four schools. There was strong parentalopposition to federating, in the form of marchesand petitions. The school, which was most at riskof closing, did ultimately close – a decisionwhich is still having negative repercussionswithin the federation today. The school wasreorganised into three bases, enabling single agegroups rather than mixed age groups.

Setting up the federationThe decision to federate came from the localauthority. A joint governing body was createdand the post of headteacher was taken on byone of the existing four headteachers. The otherthree heads did not want the headship.Numerous parents meetings took place. Thehead held open meetings, with one-to-onequestions only, as it was felt that open forumswould have been too vociferous.

All staff had to re-apply for their posts. Staffwere appointed to the federation rather than toan individual school.

Parents were brought on board fairly quickly asa result of good organisation andcommunication. A marketing campaign includednew branding for the federation, includingschool uniform and school logo and as much

positive press coverage as possible. The schoolswere organised and managed as one schoolrather than separate schools, from thebeginning. Regular linking up of children eachweek and staff mobility across the sitesreinforced this way of working and thinking. Akey phrase “the roads are our corridors”, whichwas used by the headteacher at the time, alsohelped to strengthen this view.

Parents were concerned that the schools wouldlose their identity, but quickly realised theywould not. The caring, pastoral, village ethoswas maintained in all the schools.

Key playersThe headteacher was clearly the driving forcebehind the federation, a view that wasconfirmed by staff who were present when thefederation was established, and by the currentheadteacher. There was also strong support fromgovernors and the local authority. The localauthority made an agreement, before theschools federated, that the school would not loseout financially.

Leadership structure The current headteacher inherited four baseleaders. He spent the first term of his headshipgathering information and analysing thecontexts of the four sites. He decided to runeach event as it had been run before to see howeverything worked.

At the end of his first year he decided that thebase leaders were not working. The headteacherwas the only one who had the whole schooloverview.

Each of the base leaders also had a differentleadership style and would handle issues in verydifferent ways. This led to a lack of consistencyof approach and the headteacher engaging innumerous low order leadership tasks. He beganto take on the mantle of the hero head withinthe school, leaving little time for strategicleadership.

The structure was changed to three base leadersplus a deputy head. The introduction ofteaching and learning responsibilities (TLRs)proved a timely opportunity for thisreorganisation to take place. This enabled thehead to be more strategic in approach and also

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lessened his isolation, as he now had someoneto liaise with and share things. The base leadersare 2.2 TLR and are responsible for the day-to-day running and organisation of the bases. Thesenior management team comprises theheadteacher, deputy head and the three baseleaders.

The federation is now actively developing itsmiddle leaders with a view to buildingleadership capacity and creating succession-planning strategies.

The headteacher makes full use of electroniccommunications and has strengthened inter-communications by installing networking ineach base.

In what ways has the federation been a success? Pupil numbers are rising, standards haveimproved and staffing levels have increased. Thefederation has recently taken seven pupils froma local private school. The budget is reasonablyhealthy and the federation has been able to payoff its deficit budget due in part to reducedtransport costs and the original agreement madewith the local authority.

The federation has been able to successfullymaintain the ‘small school–big school’ resourcesfeel. Class sizes are small but single age groupsand resources include additional sport andmusic activities, as well as numerous after-schoolclubs. The federation is also able to make moreflexible and effective use of the individual sites.

Interestingly, information technology (IT) linksand video conferencing facilities are not used asmuch as expected. Emails and broad areanetwork facilities, however, are used constantlyas an effective means of communication acrossthe three sites.

The federation has provided more leadershipopportunities for staff, especially for base leadersand middle leaders. Base leaders particularlyenjoy their role and view it as having theleadership opportunities and responsibilitieswithout the accompanying pressures.

The headteacher also felt that his confidencehad increased considerably since taking over thefederation and having a non-teaching headshipwas seen as a huge advantage of federating.

In what ways has been the federation been lesssuccessful?The pressure of time for the headteacherremains an issue, in particular being able to getaround all three sites on a regular and equalbasis. This head felt that any more than threesites would be very difficult. Parents still want tosee the ‘head’, even though there are baseleaders in each unit. The head makes sure he ison the playground and at the school gatesregularly. Weekly open assemblies are held ineach base unit and the whole school comestogether once a term.

The ability to read and analyse three separatecontexts as opposed to just one is sometimesproblematic and there is still a tension betweenthe idea of being ‘one big school’ and ‘threesmall schools’. Transport can still be an issuesometimes and jealousy from other heads in thearea was also mentioned by the headteacher.

Messages for heads and governors thinking offederating

• Go for it!

• Be strong and stick to your guns in terms ofwhat you believe is right – keep on track.

• Listen to staff.

• Consider how you are going to make thispopular in the short term.

• Be brave and ask for money and appropriatefunding from your local authority.

• Go for quick wins – for example, whole-schooluniform/corporate image/identity.


5.4 Case study: Middleton and Beswickand Watton federation

ContextThe Middleton and Beswick and Wattonfederation is in East Yorkshire and is made up oftwo schools:

• Middleton, foundation/Key Stages 1 and 2: 60pupils on roll

• Beswick and Watton, foundation/Key Stages 1and 2: 35 pupils on roll

The schools are approximately five miles apart.

The federation was informally established in2005. The headteacher, Christine Bennison, hasbeen in post for approximately one year andnine months. The schools are funded as twoschools, run separately, they have two DfESnumbers and separate Ofsted inspections, eventhough they have one headteacher and onegoverning body.

They are currently waiting to be given officialhard federation status (expected 1 March 2007).They will continue to operate as two separateschools once they receive their official status andhave been given assurances from the localauthority that they will continue to be funded astwo schools.

The federation is part of a network of six smallrural primary schools called the ‘Wagoners’, anetwork which has been in existence for 14years. Staff are appointed to one school, buttheir job descriptions specify that they must beprepared to teach across the federation ifnecessary and use their specialisms.

Rationale/reason for federatingThere were several reasons including theretirement of the headteacher of Beswick andWatton school, which had been under threat ofclosure for 26 years, and the length of time theheadteacher had been in post. This triggered thegoverning body’s awareness of recruitmentissues. The school had also experienced fallingrolls in recent years.

The governors knew the headteacher ofMiddleton school as she had previously led thetwo schools for a term when the head of Wattonand Beswick had been absent due to ill health.

This had proved successful for the school, buthad come at a personal cost to the head. It did,however, help her to appreciate how good andstrong the staff at Middleton were and equallygave her a taste of what the federation might belike. And more importantly, what would need tobe different next time. The governors ofMiddleton school were very open to thesuggestion of federating as a means ofaddressing budgetary issues that were affectingthe school.

The key drivers for the headteacher herself werefirstly, improved pupil learning and secondly, theimpact that not doing it might have on thecommunity. She researched and looked at twoexamples of where schools had been closed andfound that the consequences had beendevastating for the villages concerned.

The head also considered the local authorityperspective and realised that falling numberswould add to the already low funding within theauthority. Equally, she was aware of recruitmentissues and felt that this opportunity would offerher the chance to role model an alternative tothese issues, as well as increasing pupil numbersby bringing people back into the community.

Setting up the federationThe head researched and talked to other headsthat had already co-federated and federated andthought through her vision for the school. Mostimportantly she asked the question, “why do Iwant to do it?”.

Once the decision was made to federate thehead made some time to think. “I took myselfoff for the day, to my favourite hill, to think itthrough.” Previous experience of managing bothschools highlighted the need to avoid firefighting and instead, establish organisationaland management structures and systems.Having key staff in place was also a priorityalongside a careful and detailed analysis of bothschool budgets. Undertaking these activitiesenabled the head to see that the schools wouldbe financially better off by federating. Thefederation would offer opportunities to putstructures and systems in place to supportworkforce remodelling, the sharing of goodpractice and more effective and flexible use ofstaff and staff expertise.

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The headteacher at Beswick and Watton agreedto stay on an extra term, which enabled thehead to use that time to “pull everythingtogether”. This included further analysis ofbudgets, staffing structures and organisationalsystems and structures. Parents were consultedvia a survey and open sessions were held forboth sets of parents.

There were no objections from parents and theonly queries were concerning transport, childrenmoving from site to site and the worry thatMiddleton parents were going to ‘lose’ theirheadteacher. The fact that the schools had beenworking collaboratively as part of the Wagonersnetwork for 14 years, including networkedgovernors’ meetings, undoubtedly helped thisprocess and alleviated many of the parents’anxieties. The speed of messages from theheadteacher, informing parents of developmentsand changes before they happened, alsocontributed to the successful and relatively quickestablishment of the federation.

During the spring term, the headteacherconsidered the staffing structures across bothschools and took advantage of the retirement ofthe existing administrative officer by appointinga business manager. When questioned about thebusiness manager, the head made it very clearthat this was a role she would “not get rid of atany cost”. She would, however, be prepared toshare it across the network if necessary.Administrative assistants were placed in bothschools to support the business manager.

The senior management team was establishedand funding levels were agreed with the localauthority. Initially the schools were going forconfederation rather than hard federation andthe local authority agreed they would be fundedas two schools; this is still the case. Theapproach was very much “fund us as two schoolsand then let’s see how we can pare it down at alater stage, if necessary”.

The local authority also offered the school theuse of an ‘A team‘ to support them through theprocess of federating. The team comprised 12local authority personnel, including a solicitor,personnel officer, a member of the governingbody association, an admissions officer and thedirector. The ‘A team’ attended the initial

governors meeting. Unfortunately it proved toomuch for the governors, who decided theywould go it alone.

Key playersThe headteacher herself was clearly the drivingforce behind the federation, once the decision tofederate had been made, with support from thelocal authority and governors. In particular, thesupport of the director of education was felt tohave made a big difference to the successfulestablishment of the federation.

The head had a very clear moral purpose toimprove pupil learning and to ensure theschools stayed open, and as a result thecommunity continued to thrive. The schools arenow the key focal point in both villages and thecommunities are growing in numbers. Theheadteacher now chairs the steering group ofthe parish plan and everything now happensthrough the school.

Leadership structure The headteacher has an SLT, which comprisesthe headteacher, the senior members of staff(who act as points of contact when the head isoff-site) and the business manager. Theheadteacher did not feel the need to appointeither a deputy head or assistant head and washappy with members of staff on both sites whoacted as points of reference in her absence.

The head posts up her colour-coded timetable,which varies each week and which responds toand reflects the federations’ priorities. She does,however, make sure she is based at Beswick andWatton on Monday mornings for assembly andat Middleton on Monday afternoons. She alsohas one day a week dedicated headship time ineach school and uses this time for formal andinformal monitoring of learning and teaching,research and reflection time.

The head was quite clear that she now had farmore time to think and lead strategically andthat this was mainly due to the appointment ofthe business manager. The head was also clearthat leading the federation provides her withchallenge and motivation and has proved anincentive not to leave the school and look foranother post. The federation has also broughtadditional leadership benefits, for example for


middle leaders who now have less to coordinateand can therefore progress their roles moreeffectively. The fact that there are also more staffprovides opportunities to work in larger teams,to develop improved subject knowledge. Thefederation has provided ‘real’ leadershipopportunities for middle leaders and in-houseand localised training.

The new leadership structure and the leadershipopportunities presented through federating haveenabled the head to think creatively about theissue of succession planning. She suggested that,should the federation take on another school,this would offer the opportunity to eitherdevelop a future head or, if there was a headalready in place, to co-lead the federation andeffectively have a successor in place. Equally, ifthere was a deputy head within the federationwho was not sure about headship, this couldprovide the chance to have a ‘taste’ of headshipwhile working alongside an experienced head. Itwas also suggested that heads could workcollaboratively as joint heads over a largercluster of schools.

In what ways has the federation been a success?Pupil numbers are rising and young families arereturning to the village of Beswick because theyknow the school is secure again and has justreceived a good Ofsted report. Indeed,Middleton school has had a maximum intake ofreception pupils for the past two years and willdo so again in the coming academic year.Beswick and Watton have admitted 10 pupilsthis year as opposed to the usual two or three.Budgets in both schools are healthy.

In the 18 months since the schools have beenfederated standards have risen and there hasbeen more flexibility of staffing and use ofsubject specialisms. A good example of this is inscience, where the subject specialist has beenteaching across the schools while simultaneouslyimproving staff knowledge and using resourcesmore effectively.

Improved opportunities have seen boosterclasses running across both schools alongsidebook clubs and the use of music specialists. Thehead feels that continuity and consistency hasbeen maintained by keeping Key Stages 1 and 2children in both schools rather than byestablishing separate Key Stages on each site.This also enables older pupils to take on theresponsibility for younger pupils.

Staff were very positive about the federation. Formany of them this was a way of keeping theirjobs. The federation had also lessened isolationfor staff and offered more opportunities forprofessional development and for leadership.The headteacher had recently taken the staff toa local spa hotel for the day to say thank you fortheir goodwill, commitment and hard work.

Staff have also become more independent andadopted leadership opportunities, as a result ofthe headteacher not always being on site. As aresult of this, staff have had to ‘think forthemselves’ and make decisions by themselves.The appointment of a business manager hashad a major impact on the federation and inparticular on the role of the headteacher. Thebusiness manager, who is a member of thesenior management team, has freed up theheadteacher from much of the previous workshe was undertaking and allowed her toconcentrate on the learning and teaching andstrategic development of the school. She hasalso developed specific structures and systems toimprove the effectiveness of administration andpaperwork and has taken on the extendedschooling issues, the breakfast club and thefunding bids. She also takes on environmentalissues, manages the team of Learning SupportAssistants and premises manager and helps torun the craft club.

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In what ways has the federation been lesssuccessful?When setting up the federation the headregretted not creating a federation ‘committee’or group, made up of a core group of governors,which would monitor and take forward anydecisions that needed to be made on behalf ofthe governing body. Consequently, each timesomething needed progressing a full governingbody had to come together which oftenprevented them from getting things donequickly and effectively.

Communication in the early stages could havebeen more effective by having robust strategiesin place. The initial speed of change anddevelopments within the federation meant thatsometimes people were left behind.

It is still relatively difficult to get the staff tothink of themselves as a united team acrossboth schools as only a percentage of them workacross the two schools.

Joint staff meetings take place on a regularbasis; but when meetings are cancelled thismakes a big difference to staff resulting in themfeeling as if they do not know what ishappening. Despite these issues there is stillmore collaboration than competition.

Parents’ associations have also provedproblematic as a result of them being organisedseparately. The groups recently trialled a jointfashion show event that unfortunately did notwork. The parents from Beswick brought indesigner fashions which the parents ofMiddleton school could not afford whichresulted in them personally not attending theevent, despite selling a great number of tickets.There was a further issue about how they wouldspend the money. Currently the groups are stillseparate but are looking to collaborate in thefuture.

The need to wait before making key decisionsproved frustrating at times. For example, whenthe caretaker at Middleton retired and thecaretaker at Beswick was ready to leave, theheadteacher had to wait until both caretakershad retired before she could appoint a premisesmanager, which meant the school managingwithout a caretaker for a term.

Initial work–life balance was a problem for twoof the heads due to the speed of changes anddevelopments.

Messages for heads and governors thinking of federating

• Do things only once – for example dualSEF/one admin basket/one headteacher’sreport.

• Look for the opportunities in everything you do.

• Revisit everything regularly.

• Be creative – “look up and don’t just use yourown school. See others within yourcommunity as well”.


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a study of hard federations of small primary schools

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