Securing effective collaboration across a federation of schools
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Information about the school/provider
The Rainbow Federation is formed of Bryn Hafod and Glan yr Afon primary schools. The federation serves a community in the east of Cardiff with many pupils from low income households. All stakeholders were involved in creating individual vision statements for each school and an overall federation vision, ‘Bringing out the best in each other’. There are currently 575 pupils on roll, 450 pupils in Bryn Hafod and 150 pupils in Glan yr Afon. Around 51% of pupils are eligible for free school meals at Bryn Hafod and 73% at Glan yr Afon.
Context and background to the effective or innovative practice
Bryn Hafod and Glan yr Afon federated in March 2020. The creation of the federation involved the establishment of a new governing body and the appointment of an executive headteacher. To support the work of the federation, governors restructured staffing, appointed a federation business manager, and heads of school for each site. Leaders were committed to ensuring that all pupils, families and staff had the same opportunities and provision across the federation.
Description of nature of strategy or activity
Rationale
Federation leaders wanted to ensure opportunities for pupils, families, governors and staff to collaborate across the federation. This included and aim of sharing expertise and resources, staff development and strengthening leadership, self-evaluation and school improvement.
Making the most of leadership
The executive headteacher and governors carried out a leadership restructure to strengthen the leadership skills of senior and middle leaders and improve the effectiveness of self-evaluation and school improvement. For example, they developed a system of federation leads for each area of learning and experience (AoLE) with a shadow lead in the partner school. The federation’s culture of professional development ensures continuous leadership development and successful succession planning. The federation’s effective strategy for distributed leadership supports all staff to lead on aspects of the federation’s work. Over the last four years, the two schools have evolved their improvement plans into a single federation improvement plan. This approach impacts positively on professional development and increased opportunities for staff in the federation to work together to share good practice, expertise and resources, with the overall aim of securing progress for pupils.
Improving provision for additional learning needs (ALN)
ALN co-ordinators in the federation work closely together to share expertise and experience and to develop a consistent strategic response to the broad range of pupils’ needs. The family engagement officers at each school regularly meet to identify opportunities to work with targeted families and engage them in the learning process. They strengthen links between the school, parents, families and the wider community to reduce the impact of disability and any barriers to learning on pupils’ outcomes. They provide courses for parents and carers that help them to support their child’s education, both at school and at home.
Curriculum
Leaders draw on the strengths and skills of each individual teacher and deploy them to best effect across the federation. All staff across the federation are involved in half termly ‘deep dives’. These focus on areas of learning and experience (AoLEs), additional learning needs (ALN), teaching and learning and overall federation priorities. Staff take part in learning walks, sharing good practice and identifying areas for improvement that focus on provision and pupils’ progress. This approach enables the federation to establish a curriculum tailored specifically to the individual needs of pupils and the federation’s community.
Supporting collaboration
All teaching staff have fortnightly planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time to work with teachers in parallel classes in the partner school. This helps to ensure equity in provision and consistency of opportunity for all pupils. It impacts positively on staff well-being and workload as teachers collaborate efficiently to pool their ideas and expertise when planning lessons and activities and developing resources. It also sustains consistent teaching methods across the federation and shared high expectations of pupils’ engagement and progress in learning. This increased collaboration has helped to raise expectations across the federation.
Enhancing pupils’ involvement
There are a range of pupil leadership groups, such as the Criw Cymraeg, Rights Rangers and Curriculum Council, that work collaboratively across the federation. The pupils in each school have their own priorities, but also meet with their partner pupil leadership groups to share ideas and identify any federation priorities. The Federation Pupil Leadership Team is made up of Year 6 pupils from each pupil leadership group in each school. They meet to plan fundraising events, share any concerns or issues from each school.
What impact has this work had on provision and pupils’ learning and progress?
Teachers plan opportunities for pupils to work collaboratively with their peers in other schools. This has a positive impact on pupils’ social skills and sense of well-being and the transition experience for many pupils as they move from primary school to high school.
Many pupils make better progress in learning and well-being than prior to the creation of the federation. Improved efficiency has enabled both schools to draw upon better resources and a wider pool of expertise. This has led to a broader curriculum offer that is taught in a more engaging way.
All pupils have more opportunities to participate in a range of experiences including visits and hosting visitors linked to their topics to enhance learning. This allows them to learn outside the classroom together and helps to develop their social skills, increase confidence and encourage personal development.
How have you shared your good practice?
The executive headteacher is working with other executive headteachers and the local authority on the Cardiff Federation and Collaboration Strategy.