Congratulations to the Tiverton Rugby Club Under 15's team who won the Devon Plate Final at the weekend. Their 13-3 victory against Plymstock was a fine reward for a game played in wet and windy conditions. Well done to all of the team, and in particular to the following students from Tiverton High School:Adam Howells, Harry Beeson, Sam Anderson, Iain Slevin, Edward Kitchener, Jack Dedames, James Reed, Charles Hunter, Euan Howell, Tom Stoneman, Dan Reed, Oscar Freeman-Davies.

Notice for all parents and staff:

Our governing body, along with the governing bodies of Bolham Primary School, Halberton Primary School, Heathcoat Primary School, The Castle Primary School, Tidcombe Primary School, and Two Moors Primary School is proposing to change our category from community to foundation school, and at the same time acquire charitable status as a shared co-operative Trust, to be known as The Tiverton Co-operative Learning Partnership.

The Partnership will also include Bampton CofE (VA) Primary School, Bickleigh-on-Exe Primary School, St John’s RC (VA) Primary School, Petroc and Rackenford CofE (VA) Primary School.

This is a new type of trust, a mutual schools co-operative membership trust, which is the fastest growing type of trust school nationally.

The proposed implementation date is 1st August 2012, ie, the likely date – if the proposals run their course and are implemented, when the legal changes in school category take effect and the trust would come into existence.

What we would like you to do:
You should have received in the mail a letter inviting you to let us know what you think of our plans. We would hope you would:

• read the leaflet enclosed with that letter. An electronic copy can be downloaded from our website. You may also wish to read Booklet 1 and Booklet 2, which set out the proposal in more detail and provide answers to a number of commonly asked questions. Copies of these will be available at each school. They can also be downloaded from our website.
• Complete the Response Form enclosed with the letter and return it to your school.
• Attend one of the consultation meetings. These will be held at each of the school sites with the THS consultation meeting for parents at 5.15 on 3rd May at Tiverton High School. However, if you are unable to attend this meeting there will also be a public meeting at Tiverton High School at 6.15 on 3rd May.  You are warmly invited to either.

Why are the Governing Bodies considering this?
All our schools share the same vision and values and have long worked together for mutual benefit, within a variety of collaborative partnerships. Headteachers and teachers from our schools meet together regularly to share ideas and to receive training. Learners from our schools often take part in activities organised by the schools working together.

This has helped all of our schools to improve by sharing best practice. In recent years overall attainment in our schools has improved significantly in response to the efforts of teachers and the work of all. We want to build upon this success to sustain continuing improvement. We think it is now a good time to formalise and strengthen these arrangements.

Becoming a shared trust will help us to clarify our vision and aims, continue to raise expectations and standards across the partnership, and make our existing collaboration more sustainable. We believe that to meet the needs of the community we need to work together as a community. As a group of schools we know that we can achieve more by working together than we can by working alone. A shared trust would help to make that belief a reality.

By acquiring a mutual co-operative trust, supported by a range of partners and stakeholders who are united behind our vision, we hope to not only transform the life chances of every learner that passes through our schools, but also to have a lasting positive impact on our wider communities. We aim to provide the best education for all our learners by working together to provide a personalised education for all.

Trust schools are a new kind of school – part of the local authority system, but supported by a charitable co-operative trust that will appoint two or three governors. Each Governing Body will continue to run its own school and be responsible for its performance. Staffing arrangements will not change as a result of these proposals.

Consultation Meetings:
There will be a consultation meeting for parents at 5.15 on 3rd May at Tiverton High School. However, if you are unable to attend this meeting there will also be a public meeting at Tiverton High School at 6.15 on 3rd May.  You are warmly invited to either.

We hope that you will contribute your views to the consultation. Details of how to make comments on the proposals are contained in this booklet along with a Response Form.

Additional Information.
Full details of the implications of the proposals and the reasons for considering them are set out in Booklet One ‘Changing from Community School to Foundation School Category and Acquiring a Charitable Trust'. You may also want to read Booklet Two 'Questions and Answers' which provides a series of commonly asked questions together with answers which have been collated from the Department for Education (DfE) sources.

Copies of the Leaflet, Booklets One and Two and further copies of the Response Form can be obtained from our school office or downloaded from the website using the links below:

Co-op consultation - Booklet 1: http://www.box.com/s/3d2b347b4da5bf6ffb82

Co-op consultation - Booklet 2: http://www.box.com/s/27a31d2be6c0764d695d

Co-op consultation - Leaflet:  http://www.box.com/s/4591d6147f7360de1e1c

Co-op consultation - Response Form: http://www.box.com/s/973b32dd1d1a5960d3b1