Trust Update

Dear Parents & Carers,

Welcome to the summer term.  As the weather improves and we start our journey towards the end of the academic year, it provides opportunity for even more outdoor learning, educational visits, rehearsals for performances and honing skills in readiness for sports day.

I of course should acknowledge and wish all good luck to our Year 6 cohort that will be starting their SATS this week. 

The summer term is usually packed full of opportunities for our pupils and students, and I look forward to joining as many of these as I can in the coming weeks.

Parental engagement:  As a Trust we acknowledge and promote the provision of strong parental engagement, our schools are your schools, and you should feel welcome.  We are also always trying to further improve home -school communication, we continue to roll out Learning Pi and are particularly focussing on the use of the snap and share function, developing parents’ awareness of what their child is doing at school.

We are also committed to the concept of community engagement in the management of our schools.  It is increasingly difficult to find volunteers to join your school locality committees (forums that meet with the Academy Head and Trust leaders) to share what’s going well and to challenge for further improvement.  We are seeking volunteers to join these committees across the Trust, it is a rewarding way to contribute to your child’s education.  If you would like to know more, please contact Penny Folkard our Governance Manager at p.folkard@consortiumtrust.org.uk

Attendance

Promoting stronger attendance at school is essential to ensure the best possible outcomes for children and young people.  The Trust has a legal duty to challenge poor attendance, but will always endeavour to do this in the spirit of partnership with parents and children.  As part of ensuring that parents have up to date information on your child’s attendance data, from around the 2^nd June we will be ‘switching on’ visibility on Arbor for parents.  The hope is that this increased transparency will improve the accuracy of the data and ultimately improve attendance at school.

Ofsted

 When I last wrote to you, Glebeland Primary School had just had their Ofsted inspection, but the report hadn’t been published.  I am delighted to advise you that Glebeland maintained a good quality of education.

The inspectors have more recently (last week) visit Middleton Primary School, I am pleased with the feedback that I have heard from that inspection and look forward to sharing the outcome with you as soon as possible.

Special School Expansion

I wrote to all parents earlier to announce that Suffolk County Council had awarded Consortium Trust the opportunity to open two new Special School sites, one in Bury St Edmunds and one in Beccles.  Since the announcement the central team along with special school Academy Heads have started the process of drawing up draft plans.

We are keen to hear your views on the expansion plan, all parents of children at Riverwalk, including Greene Road and Warren, including The Burrow will receive an initial consultation survey soon and I hope that you will complete and return it.  In addition to the online survey, I will be hosting a number of parent and public meetings to engage with all stakeholders.

Winterton Field Study Centre

Did you know we have a 24-bed field study centre based at Winterton Primary School.  The facility includes dormitory style bedrooms, toilet and showers, living space including lounge area and kitchenette.  We will be developing a courtyard garden with BBQ soon to add to the facilities.  With the beautiful sandy beach just a short walk away, excellent pub, fish and chip shop and village amenities it is a great place to visit.  For those that like the hustle and bustle,  Great Yarmouth is a bus trip, with The Broads National Park, City of Norwich and host of tourist attractions all within easy reach.

We will soon be launching the accommodation on Airbnb, but it is available for family breaks at weekends and during school holidays at very reasonable rates.  More information to be circulated soon, view our website and social media.