Q&A

These are all fo the questions asked during the consultation.

What is the Multi Academy Trust called?

The Ivy learning Trust – please see https://ivylearningtrust.org/

It consists of the following primary schools:

Brimsdown http://www.brimsdown.enfield.sch.uk/

Churchfield https://churchfield.school

Eastfield http://www.eastfieldprimary.com/

Lavender http://www.lavender.enfield.sch.uk

Larkspur https://www.larkspurprimary.org (formerly The Tower Primary School)

Walker http://www.walker.enfield.sch.uk

CEO is Matthew Kleiner-Mann MKM

Click here for the PowerPoint presentation from our Information Evening

With reference to Teaching School, how can we guarantee we will have more footfall with Ivy?

Ivy carry out a lot of School to School Support plus MKM works in local schools and more work is being generated (related to School to School KPI). Wroxham offers an innovative CPD programme and Ivy will bring more footfall, through own staff and also through connections with Herts For Learning. All income will come into The Wroxham Teaching School. Ivy will not take over the Teaching School but will support the generation of income.

How would the Teaching School generate money?

We would get more people coming to our courses from the schools within Ivy Trust. We would also get administration fees for deployed SLEs. We would also increase our NQT and ITT provision with other schools within the trust.

Regarding the 5% top slice, can you give examples about what that would cover?

That pays for the central team (HR, Finance, premises, health and safety etc.) Example of Asbestos check and Health and Safety audit. School raises purchase order, Headteacher (or deputy) approves the order and then forwards order to Ivy where it is processed. The authority for spending remains with the school.

If we go down this route, can we go back?

Once you are an academy, you are always an academy but you could transfer to another trust.

How big do you envisage the trust becoming?

There is a growth plan on the website but looking at maximum of 10-12 schools in a South Herts Hub and up to 10-12 in the Enfield Hub. The trustees won’t take any school on if it will have a negative impact on the children in the wider trust.

What else do we lose the autonomy on?

If there are services within a school that don’t impinge on Teaching and Learning, where a system works better as a trust, then everyone will be required to do this e.g. the accounting system (Parent Pay). Another example would be payroll where everyone is signed up to Enfield.

We are a tight knit team and there are concerns that our Headteacher and SLEs will be pulled to support other schools. How will this impact on us?

It will be the decision of the Governors’ however some of the team going to support other schools will generate money back into the school, further benefitting Wroxham.

When you have taken on other schools, what has been the consensus of the parents?

It has been mixed. In a recent case, there are a small number of parents who are opposed to the proposal of joining and their views are being considered as part of the consultation. Lots of parents are incredibly supportive of this, looking to the school team for guidance.

Would the consolation go on longer than six weeks?

It is unlikely as we should be able to find the answers and make the decision within that time.

UPDATE - 16/5/19

It was mentioned during the staff consultation meeting that Ivy use Scholarpack as its MIS system instead of SIMS which Wroxham currently uses. What information is recorded on the system? Also, aside from office staff, is there any expectation that teaching staff input information onto the system, e.g.data?

Scholarpack records the same types of information as SIMS about pupils and staff.

Scholarpack is also used for assessment across Ivy’s schools. It will be up to The Wroxham whether they use this system for formative assessment. Our only requirement is for schools to report summative data three times a year on Scholarpack.

What are the expectations regarding assessment across the trust?

All schools will use assessment to inform their planning - it is up to individual schools to decide on how this is achieved. We ask for schools to do a reading and maths test (Rising Stars) in the summer term for years 1,3,4 and 5. Some schools choose to do these tests three times a year - however this is optional. As mentioned above, each school will reports its summative date three times a year via Scholarpack.

Is there a set pro-forma for assessment information across Ivy?

Are there set times when data is uploaded across the trust?

Yes - there is a window of three weeks for schools to upload their summative data.

Is there any expectation that all schools use Rising Stars assessment materials?

See above

If we became part of the MAT and then recruited a new member of staff, would this person also be guaranteed that they will not be asked to move to other schools within the trust?

No, new staff who join after the transfer (if it takes place) could be asked to move to other schools within the trust. This would be a rare occurrence because it makes no sense to move a member of staff between schools against their wishes. The only staff who have moved between schools have done so because of promotion or to be closer to home.

How will the Ivy Trust ensure that as the trust grows or expands pay gaps won’t increase between teachers/leadership?

All decisions on pay would remain with the Heads, as each Head controls their own budget after the top slice. Ivy follows the STPCD/ Burgundy book with regard to teachers’ (including school leaders) pay and conditions. Executive team pay is set in accordance with these documents, the Green book (for support staff) and the ASCL guidance on ethical pay setting. The pay bands for higher paid staff are shown in the annual accounts.

Where does the trust stand on bringing in non teaching professionals directly into teaching/SLT/Head roles? This would disregard many existing teachers within the school.

The headteacher of each school has autonomy over the recruitment of staff in their schools. The Trust is led (through its Heads/ SLTs/ Executive Team) entirely by experienced and qualified teachers. We value the teaching professional qualification and this is reflected in our career pathways.

Will our current contracts/ policies protect us (TUPE)?

Yes - under TUPE regulations, all terms and conditions would remain unchanged. Ivy’s policies relating to staff are based on those of Enfield/ Herts.

How will we as a school keep our individuality? I know of two MAT who have internally employed heads from the original school and within 1 year the head has changed to a businessman/woman. All original promises were broken.

One of Ivy’s fundamental principles is that local leaders know best. This means that Heads have the autonomy to run their schools, with the support and oversight of their local governing body, in the best interests of their children and their local communities.

All the Heads of the schools which converted to join Ivy are still in post.

UPDATE after Parent Meeting 15th May 2019

Questions for Ivy Learning Trust from parents at Wroxham

Referring to money being short across the school and sharing functions, have done some research and Ivy Trust has £239,000 of Executive Management costs. Why would Wroxham as a school want to part funds with that amount of money?

The top slice is one eighteenth of the other schools coming in. The audit report shows a central team (CEO, COO and part of Exec Head pay) being paid this amount. The school needs to decide whether the Exec team and Central team are worth it. There is also funding that CEO generates which comes back into the Trust, and therefore is shared across the schools. The top slice could potentially reduce. We raised approx. £560,000 of capital funding for the schools. With numbers of chn going over 3,000 the capital funding will increase to potentially £1,000,000. Regarding the 5%, it is taken from the budget not money raised from trips and WSFA. We are estimating the Wroxham’s top slice to be approx. £45,000

Is the £1,000,000 capital funding per year?

It is reserved for the schools who are in the trust at the time of receiving the funding. The worst buildings gets priority. In terms of Wroxham’s building, Ivy need to look at it as part of Due Diligence. Wroxham currently budget £8,000 for capital works. Ivy use a company who can write Capital funding bids which will potentially benefit Wroxham.

It is difficult as a small school to access grants, can you give us examples of funding applications, made by Wroxham, over the last 3 years?

CIF funding has been applied for twice. One of those was for electrical work. We employed someone to look at funding and grants but we have only been able to apply for things like Tesco grants successfully. It is difficult to access funding due to low numbers of Pupil Premium and EAL numbers. One of our Governors has spent over a year looking to source Early Years Funding. Within the central team at Ivy, there are people who can fundraise for Wroxham.

Are we going to get the top slice amount back?

Yes we probably will. We need to look at this as part of due diligence e.g. finance system, HR.

Is it about money or is it about learning?

From what we can see so far, we are at risk if we don’t do this, or something else (unkown). We are considering this because of the similarities in our teaching and learning approaches. Roger gave examples of costs: £12,000 to Herts which we wouldn’t pay if we joined. Also, we have had to reduce the staff who have been insured to bare minimum staff. We wouldn’t have the need to replace a member of our finance team, who is retiring. Roger mentioned that pension and NI costs have dramatically increased recently which has added to costs.

Going back to Teaching and Learning, all schools are autonomous and the teaching and learning will remain the same. Ivy do not interfere in how schools are run. Matthew talked about the importance of having passionate staff.

Who teaches the class when our teachers are out at other schools?

Teachers who provide support already have planned time out and they use these days to deliver school to school support.

Would it help to describe the finances as they are now compared to how they would be with Ivy?

Roger explained about the Teaching School grant and how it funds two staff to run it. We currently bring in £15,000 from income. Joining the trust would mean that more people would come to courses and also bring in more money for school to school support. The Teaching School wouldn’t change it’s entity but it would reach out further with a larger footfall.

Does Wroxham feel that it needs to join a multi academy trust?

If we get to the end of this and decide not to join the trust, then we need to look at other opportunities. Roger talked about the possibility of setting up a local MAT but this is a very long process and we would probably have lost the Teaching School during the time involved in the process.

If results weren’t good, how would you intervene?

It would be similar to the way that the DfE would step in if we didn’t join the Trust. If a school is in difficulty, we would go in and support. If that support didn’t work, we would withdraw the autonomy. It is very unlikely at Wroxham that this would happen. Matthew gave an example of a failing school and how they stepped in to develop. They put in staff from Ivy and they did not have autonomy.

If the school did need support, who would that support come from?

It would come from the Executive team and external school improvement consultant who would help too. This person would visit as part of joining the trust to review practice.

Would Wroxham staff be moved to support a failing school?

Staff would only move through choice and if it was part of their professional development. Wroxham staff would only be deployed if it didn’t impinge on the welfare of Wroxham children.

If we joined the Ivy trust and it didn’t work, how would we exit?

You could join another trust (this is a convoluted process but can be done). If the Ivy Trust fails, then all schools in the trust would be re-brokered, not necessarily together.

How often is the top slice reviewed and adjusted?

This is done annually as part of budget setting, looking at income and the schools GAG funding.

Is it likely to go up?

The Ivy CEO believes that it is likely to go down. A small school, like Wroxham, gets more value out of the services than a bigger school. Every school coming on board has a thorough due diligence and trustees are cautious about growth and changing the ethos of the Trust.

Is there going to be long term pressure to grow at Wroxham?

Roger talked about the school becoming two form entry in the future due to local housing increases. Ivy can’t decide to make Wroxham bigger; it is the local authority’s decision.

There is no contractual limit to the top slice, how do we know that this won’t increase in the future?

There is no guarantee - Wroxham needs to test the values of Ivy by thorough due diligence e.g. ‘to create a broad and just society.’ Our governors will be going to trustee board meetings, Roger will be visiting all of the schools and our teachers will be visiting a number of the schools. We need to see that what we have heard is true. If you do join or merge, you will be ‘part of it.’ Ivy is the schools, not the central team. We would be in the 3,000 children- part of the family.

Why did you choose Ivy?

Because of the shared values and the children we have met at the schools, are like our children at Wroxham.

What are the trusts ambitions in terms of growth?

We don’t want to get over 20/24 schools and we don’t want to expand geographically. We want to keep that family feel where everyone joins together. The growth plan says 10 schools in Enfield and 10 schools in South Herts in 5 years. Always mitigate against risks to the current children. The growth document will be put on the Wroxham website.

If it is not Ivy, is something likely to happen?

Something will happen. Two form entry will not happen for a while and we would need to look at other options. There aren’t many options although possibly looking at a local MAT.

Why do you need a MAT to have relationships with other schools?

Why do we need to pay to have access to these services? Roger referred to efforts made regarding working with other local schools and how he is making efforts to build relationships. It is a very slow process to do this. Herts is also a difficult place for Teaching Schools to meet Key Performance Indicators.

Going back to writing bids and the funding that has been won, does it go straight to Wroxham?

There are grants for the whole trust to be given out accordingly e.g. the capital grant which is allocated by Ivy. Ivy offers support to write bids for individual school and the money stays with the school. Also discussed Teaching School funding and that is allocated according the schools who are working on the project. In terms of the trustees, having a Teaching School trustee, they are not representing Wroxham. None of the trustees represent a school. The Teaching School trustee needs to have a skill set for the trust board.

There are only one set of accounts for Ivy accounts, have Wroxham looked at other trusts/trust accounts as part of due diligence?

We are at the start of the process and we will look at finances and track records both for Ivy and also other trusts. There is only one set of published accounts but Wroxham will be given access to the financial package to be able to check it out. In terms of track record, Matthew has been head of Lavender for over 13 years and there is a record of school improvement.

What is your background Matthew?

Teacher, Headteacher, worked as an NLE, then became an Executive Head. Then formed a MAT. The Chief Operations Officer (COO) is an accountant, trained as a teacher, then assistant head, business manager then started the role of COO.

What are the financial risks to a trust? Do you invest money?

No there are no investments and we do not sponsor anyone. The main risk is that the school will not have full classes. Wroxham is full for September 2019 as are the other schools in the trust, apart from Larkspur.

As a member of the trust, a school that isn’t full is a liability for us?

Yes but the chn from a not full school cannot join Wroxham.

The costs payable by Ivy for due diligence will come out of Ivy’s funds?

Wroxham pays for Wroxham due diligence and Ivy will pay for theirs. Ivy have contingency plans for paying for due diligence. The costs won’t occur until both trust boards have agreed.

If we say no to Ivy, is there a likelihood of talking to another trust in 12 months time?

It is more likely that we would be looking at setting up our own trust.

Have any schools not joined after due diligence?

No.

Have you refused other schools based on due diligence?

No.

Have all the other schools been in special measures?

No, most are good or outstanding (based on data and self evaluation). Larkspur was in special measures. There have been no Ofsted reports since setting up the trust. We have to wait three years before Ofsted visit.

Will it affect the way that children are accepted into Wroxham?

No. We will continue to follow Herts admission procedures.

How different is the new staff joining Wroxham after the merger?

New staff will have the same contract except they can be moved. Ivy haven’t done this yet as it is not good for moral. It would be the local head’s decision.

What influence would you have in the recruitment process?

None – local staff would deal with this but the school can use Ivy’s HR services. Ivy have done lots of work around workload which has helped recruitment and retention.

How do our teachers feel about this?

Mixed – staff have done lots of research. Jo talked about the values and ethos and how we have looked at this. Staff have looked at how autonomous we will be, what it will look like in our classrooms, looking at policies etc. Many teachers have been given the opportunity to visit some of the schools in Trust, to speak with other staff.

What are the other solutions to this issue?

School expansion is not currently an option as County are not considering land use until next year. It would take six years to fill once it did start.

What is the hurry?

We would be in the realms of redundancies within the next year if we don’t do this or something else.

How does teaching school income work when Ivy staff attend Wroxham courses?

There would be internal accounting to ensure no extra costs are incurred to the Teaching School. Delegates won’t always be from Ivy schools. Seconded work will also bring in some income.

So we have a six week period of consultation and due diligence, then what happens?

The Governors will make a decision based on evidence gathered. After that the Ivy Trust board, considers their due diligence and makes a decision. It will then go to the Regional Schools Commissioner and DfE for a final decision.

How about timings? Is it September?

We don’t want to rush the process but that is our aim.

With regards to school to school support, is it who needs it gets it?

No, it will be mostly schools not within the trust who will need support.

When you first got involved in Ivy, how did it start?

It started when Enfield Local Authority was struggling and services weren’t as good as they had been. We thought about setting up a trust to ensure continuity for the children and staff.

UPDATE 21/05/19 - emailed questions

Whilst the Ivy Learning Trust's teaching and learning policy is currently aligned to our own policy, what would happen with respect to school autonomy, if your policies were to change in the future, such that they were no longer similar to ours?

The Ivy teaching and learning policy is intentionally generic to cover the broad principles of how children learn best. This enables each school to have their own teaching and learning expectations and curriculum vision statements. The Wroxham will therefore be able to control teaching, learning and curriculum provision as their leaders see fit.

This will not change in the future as one of the fundamental principles of the Trust is that local leaders know best.

Joining a multi-academy trust would create a new level of senior management, who need to be paid for out of school(s) budgets. What are the current salaries of the MAT leadership team?

The salaries for 2017-18 totalling £239k are reported on p.27 of the Ivy accounts (Governance tab of www.ivylearningtrust.org). This figure includes the salaries (including on-costs) of the Senior Management Team who were covering 5 schools, which equates to £24k per form of entry.

We cannot make public unaudited figures, however we are happy to share the current salaries of the Central Team confidentially with the governors of The Wroxham.

What are the risks if Wroxham does not join the Ivy Learning Trust?

This question is best answered by The Wroxham.

On average, how often would Matthew the CEO, spend in each school?

As CEO, Matthew’s role is to continually consider the needs of all the schools in the Trust. This may be through visits to the schools, phone conversations, meetings with Heads, external meetings and fundraising. His time spent in each school will necessarily vary and therefore it is difficult to provide an average.

At the meeting for staff last week it was mentioned that all schools will now be asked to use CPOMS. What other systems are the IVY Trust Schools expected to use?

Operational systems (non-teaching and learning) have been standardised: Scholarpack (MIS), HCSS/ Parentpay (finance), CPOMS (safeguarding), Lloyds Commercial (banking) and Google Drive (communication).

UPDATE 3rd June 2019

Has there been any written submissions by Wroxham parents or anyone in the local community informally directly to the headteacher/chair of governors?

All written questions have been received through the website or at our Information Evenings - they are either on here, or are currently with Ivy awaiting an answer - more to come by the end of tomorrow.

Have all questions raised via meetings or the website been put up on the FAQ page?

All questions have been put on this site, unless they are repeats of ones already asked and answered - or are awaiting an answer from the Ivy Trust.

UPDATE 7th June 2019

You say that only new staff employed after wroxham have joined the trust will have contracts that allow them to be moved around to work at other schools within the trust. Don’t Wroxham contracts of employment have a clause to say the “employer” can move them to work in another reasonable location (a mobility clause)? If so, the employer will no longer be Wroxham but the Ivy Trust and so the trust could make existing Wroxham employees move to other schools in the trust. Is that correct?

There is no mobility clause currently in our contracts, so this should not cause any issues.

What does Wroxham get in return for paying a % of the Ivy CEO's salary? Unless he is doing something like providing staff cover (which it's clear he wouldn't), I'm struggling to understand what tangible benefit we'd receive given we already have a local headteacher….

As CEO, Matthew’s role is to ensure that Ivy enables all its schools to deliver the very best education to all their children. It is a strategic one which includes:

setting the vision/ principles of the Trust and ensuring these are adhered to;
leading an outstanding school improvement service;
leading and managing the Executive Team and the Headship Team;
generating income for all schools within the Trust;
enabling individual schools to benefit from providing school to school support work, both within Ivy and externally;
managing relationships with the DfE/ local authorities/ other relevant bodies to ensure all Ivy’s schools benefit from funding opportunities available.

Furthermore, The Wroxham, due to its SLE capacity, would also benefit financially through Matthew’s work as an NLE, since he could broker consultancy work to be carried out (and in fact has already done so).

Given its size (one form of entry out of a total of 15 forms of entry across the Trust), The Wroxham would pay only 1/15th of his salary, which would decrease if further schools were to join.

It's been stated that historically Wroxham has struggled to secure capital funding due to the low % of pupil premium. What overall % pupil premium will Ivy have before and after Wroxham joining, and does the overall Ivy % get taken into consideration when Wroxham applies for capital grants in its own right?

Pupil Premium children as a % of all Ivy children is 31.2% for 2018-19. This would decrease to 29.3% if The Wroxham was to join.

Currently, the main source of capital funding for Ivy is CIF funding, which is allocated annually by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (‘ESFA’) on the basis of premises needs rather than because of the Pupil Premium %. Ivy was awarded almost £600k in CIF bids for 2019-20 and will be submitting up to two bids per school in the next round (in December 2019 for 2020-21).

Once there are 3000 pupils within Ivy, the Trust will become eligible for funding through the School Condition Allocation, which the Trust Board will allocate to schools based on capital priorities.

Churchfield and Eastfield received allocations under the Healthy Pupils Capital Fund in 2018-19, but this was a one-year only allowance.

What is Ivy's 3 year budget plan?

The 3 year budget plan is still being worked on as it needs to be agreed by the Trust Board in early July before its submission to the ESFA at the end of the month. Unfortunately, it is therefore not possible to share this publicly, although Ivy will be sharing indicative headline figures with The Wroxham’s governing body as part of the due diligence process. The Trust Board ensures that the budget each year is set in accordance with the Ivy Reserves policy, which is available on our website (www.ivylearningtrust.org/governance).

Which sources of income are included and excluded from the top-slice?

Included:

GAG

Teach First/ Schools Direct/ PGCE funding

Sports Premium

Universal Infant FSM

Sponsorship funding

LA funding (including Early Years/ SEN)

Other income (e.g. lettings/ clubs/ catering/ uniforms/ courses/ staff consultancy)

Excluded:

Rates

Pupil Premium

Trips

Insurance claims

Fundraising/ donations

Grants held by schools for delivering services to other schools e.g. DSPL/ STEM/ Teaching School grant

Does Matthew's NLE status have to be reapplied for annually, or once you've been awarded it, you keep it for life?

The status is renewed on an annual basis, following the completion of a return to show that sufficient NLE support has been provided during the preceding year. Matthew has been an NLE for 7 years.

What happens with Matthew eventually leaves the trust and is replaced by a new CEO without NLE status?

The Trust Board would be responsible for selecting the new CEO and could specify that this person should be an NLE, if they felt this was an essential prerequisite.

How will Ivy decide which school becomes the Ivy Hertfordshire Hub school, and what would being a hub school involve?

Ivy doesn’t run a hub school model – if two hubs were created, they would simply involve two groups of schools working together within the Trust for practical reasons.

What will the voting process look like for governors? Other schools have used a secret ballot system - this seems sensible given the number of staff members on the governing board who might feel more comfortable with a secret ballot. What needs to happen logistically to get this set up?

The Wroxham to answer

Does the governing board decision need to be a majority or unanimous vote? As there are 10 governors, what happens if there is an even 50/50 split? Is a simple majority even the right benchmark for such a significant irreversible decision?

The Wroxham to answer

Ivy's response to the auditor's comments of "We plan to set budgets, increase income and control costs going forward to continue to build our reserves to 5 - 6% of GAG by the end of 2019/20." is interesting. Please can we have detail of how they expect to increase income and control costs over the next year”

One of the areas where we expect to increase income is through extra school improvement work, generated by leaders across the Trust through Executive Head secondments, courses, conferences and additional NLE work. We have recently employed a new Head of School Improvement and Standards who has proven expertise in income generation and has already been commissioned to carry out significant school improvement work for schools across London. Furthermore, she is a Lead Ofsted inspector and would look to carry out a minimum of four inspections per annum, generating further income for the Trust.

Some schools are also considering increasing the income generated by their extended school provision arrangements e.g. by taking out of school hours clubs in-house.

Costs will continue to be tightly controlled and driven down through financial efficiencies, always ensuring that provision does not suffer. For example, Ivy is currently undergoing a tendering exercise for its schools’ catering requirements.

Please can we see Ivy's auditors management letter from 2018, along with their Integrated Curriculum and Financial Planning review document

Provided for Governors

How will the CEO, COO etc. salaries change as the trust grows? Surely they'll want to be paid more when they oversee 24 schools rather than fewer than 10.

All decisions will be made by the Trust Board in accordance with Ivy’s CEO appraisal policy (see attached for governors) and the ASCL Ethical CEO Pay Guidance Paper

(https://www.ascl.org.uk/download.AB9B8856-1A62-4BEC-B018E3D527A7DE96.html)

24 schools appears to be a very large MAT - if I'm reading it correctly, according to the DfE website there's only 6 other KS2 MATs containing more than 24 schools (out of 240 KS2 MATs listed on their website)

All expansion will be carefully managed to consider the risk:reward relationship. Our growth strategy is reviewed annually by the Trust Board and the DfE to ensure it is still appropriate.

The Government's MAT performance table appears to suggest that the biggest KS2 MAT by pupil numbers currently only has 1998 children. Is it right that at 3000+ children we'd be the biggest KS2 MAT by 50%?

No, this is not correct. The largest KS2 MAT by pupil numbers is REAch2 Academy Trust, which has more than 21,340 children (www.reach2.org) in its 55 schools.

The FAQ doc says that the trust won't take on any schools if it's deemed it would be detrimental to the others. Isn't it possible that the DfE forces a failing school onto the Trust though? What would make a school detrimental to the trust?

No, the Trust Board will always be able to decide whether a school joins or not. They will not take on a ‘failing school’ until thorough due diligence has been carried out, including any possible positive or negative effects on other schools. This is detailed further in our growth strategy.

UPDATE after Parent Meeting 12th June

With regards to the teachers; present teachers will be contracted to the current school, could new teachers be moved?

All staff will be under Ivy however current staff will have a letter guaranteeing them being based at Wroxham. It will be hard to move a class teacher as we don’t have any ‘spare’ teachers and we would need a replacement causing a detrimental effect to our school. It would also not necessarily be the best thing for that employee.

If a school is weaker, would Ivy then switch some of our stronger teachers to support that school, importing weaker teachers into Wroxham?

No, we run our own recruitment. However, if an individual teacher chooses to apply for a job at another trust school then we couldn’t prevent this happening.

As a Headteacher, it appears that you don’t have the final say in moving someone to another school.

We would have a say and it is likely to have a detrimental effect to our school. This goes against the ethos of Ivy.

What negative impact have we had from teachers?

Jo shared a visit to the Eastfield and the early part of the journey. Eastfield were the first ‘alien’ school from outside the original three school trust. There was a lot discussion and adaptation on both sides, as everyone had to get used to different ways of working. Eastfield also talked about how they are still having to restructure. This is not related to joining the trust but some parents have found this tricky to understand.

If things don’t work out, what happens next for the school?

If things don’t work out with Ivy, we would have to join another trust. We couldn’t go back to being a single school trust. This would be in discussion with the Regional Schools Commissioner.

Is the top slice always going to be 5% or will it increase?

We can’t absolutely guarantee but it is more likely to go down. They are a 'not a profit organisation' like us.

We are going to pay 5% to Ivy. Where does this come from? How does it work?

It would appear that, if we stayed as we are, we would have to think about restructuring. Roger discussed central services that we wouldn’t have to pay e.g. HR, SIMS, financial returns etc.

Why are we not making more of our well respected name?

When Hertfordshire County Council Education authority was devolved, Herts for Learning was created. Most schools then send their staff to training, if they have any budget. Most schools don’t have the money to pay for a member of staff to attend a course plus their supply cover.

Would there be schools in other trusts who would want to join a Wroxham trust?

It would be very difficult for a school to leave a trust. A lot of schools in other Herts schools have a lot of failing schools which impacts on the wider trust.

Does Ivy trust have failing schools?

There is one school within in the trust that was failing and is now being supported. All others are good or outstanding.

How was Wroxham approached about joining the trust?

Roger met Matthew (CEO Ivy) at a Teaching School meeting. Matthew is a National Leader of Education (NLE). He asked to meet with Roger regarding some Teaching School support. Roger went to meet with Matthew prior to attending a course at Churchfield. He made a proposal about Wroxham and the Teaching School joining the Trust.

Jo made the point that, prior to the approach from Ivy, Wroxham Leadership were already looking closely at budgets and staffing for the next academic year, with a view to having to make some difficult decisions.

How do Best Practise groups work? Does everyone have to do the same?

No. Jo gave the example of some schools using one scheme, another uses something else. That is okay. There is no expectation to use a set programme or way of teaching, just to share.

Running a deficit, it is getting harder every year. If you were not running a deficit, would you be looking at this opportunity?

Yes we would.

You will have to continue with fundraising, is this shared?

No. It stays within school.

Would you have to rely so heavily on fundraising if we join the trust?

It would appear that, from what we know so far, we may not need to look at restructuring. We can then also maintain what we are doing. Fundraising is vital still. As a result of being part of the trust, it will enable us to have access to other sources of funding, including potentially some capital funding.

If it does go ahead, when would it happen?

On paper, it would make sense for September 2019 but it could be any time in the Autumn term. This would be dependent on the legal teams.

On governance, would the local governing body be specific to Wroxham?

Yes.

Would there be trustees from Wroxham on the trustee board?

They don’t usually take someone from a school’s Local Governing Body however Ivy invited one of our governors to represent the Teaching School.

Is there any benefit for the children in terms of music, drama etc?

It’s early days in terms of sharing music teachers as this would be difficult currently but there is an Ivy choir.

What is Rising Stars, how is this used?

Different schools use these assessments systems differently. Eastfield use it in year 3,4 and 5 and only to assess reading in the summer term. We would look at it but only use it if we thought it would work for our children.

Would we have to change catering company or cleaning provision if Ivy wanted to change the provision?

No we don’t have to take part in any tenders for services. If we did to choose to take up any options, current staff would be TUPED across.

If a child doesn’t get a place at Wroxham, would they get moved to another Ivy trust school?

No, we will still follow Herts Admissions procedures.

Can Ivy determine term dates?

Can Ivy determine our homework policy?

No – Ivy believe local leaders know best.

How is the decision made?

There will be an interim governors’ meeting tomorrow so that we can look at information gathered so far and see if there is further information needed, prior to the end of the consultation.

Have there been any objections or concerns?

The main concern has been that the CEO is paid £120,000. It is how the school system currently works. The amount of top slice has been concerning people.

UPDATE - emailed questions

No mention was made of any secondary school becoming part of the MAT. What plans are there to do this and provide a route to secondary school for all pupils? If there are no such plans how will this affect the finances of the Trust?

There are no such plans – the route to secondary school for The Wroxham pupils will remain unchanged. As a primary only MAT, we have not planned for any secondary schools joining. All financial forecasts are based on primary schools only.

Ivy's business plan appears to be reliant on growth. What are the implications for the schools within the mat if this growth is not realised?

Ivy’s growth strategy is built upon ensuring that growth is managed effectively and does not impact adversely on the existing schools within the trust. Our financial position is stable without any future growth as we are already realising tangible financial efficiency savings through the work of our Central Team.

What will The Wroxham bring to the Ivy Learning Trust apart from the Teaching School element?

Working in collaboration with a forward thinking school will increase the professional development of teachers and leaders in Ivy schools.

Why would we be better off joining this Trust than staying a single Academy or joining another MAT?

Working in collaboration with a strong group of like-minded schools has been shown to have educational benefits for all children within a trust. Financially, the school would benefit from efficiency savings arising from economies of scale e.g. currently £10,000 is spent on the annual audit; instead The Wroxham would contribute 1/15th of Ivy’s audit fee (equivalent to £770). There would be similar financial benefits in joining another trust, dependent upon the level of their top slice.

Is finance or education driving this decision?

Finance is a consideration, however, the main reason for investigating this is as a result of what we feel it will bring to the education of our children at Wroxham.

How does the trust determine the funding allocations individual schools?

The DFE decides the GAG funding allocation for each school plus the allocations for other government funding e.g. Pupil Premium, UISFM and Sports Premium. Each local authority is responsible for the allocation of High Needs, Exceptional Needs and Early Years funding. Ivy take 5% of income (with some exclusions e.g. donations, Pupil Premium) to pay for the Trust’s Central Services.

Would a capital grant be divided equally between schools or only schools that need it?

All schools within Ivy continue to receive capital funding through their GAG and decide how this should be spent. For larger projects, currently, Condition Improvement Fund bids are made (maximum of two per school) in December of each year. In 2019, Ivy was awarded £580,000 for capital projects within its schools. Once Ivy reaches 3000 pupils, it will automatically be awarded a Schools Condition Allowance for the Trust as a whole: the spending of this would be allocated based on the condition and needs of each school.

Who directly would our Headteacher be accountable to, our Local Governing Body, MAT board or the CEO?

The performance management of each Head is carried out by the CEO, in conjunction with the Chair of the school’s LGB.

If our Headteacher was to leave, would the Trust appoint a new head or the schools Local Governing Body?

There would be a panel which would include a trustee, a member of the LGB and the CEO.

If a Local Governor was to leave, would the Trust appoint a new Governor or the schools Local Governing Body?

Each Ivy school’s LGB includes two parent governors and one staff governor who are elected. The LGB would be involved in finding new Trust-appointed members of their LGB, supported by the Central Team. Any proposed new member would also be interviewed by the Chair of Trustees and/ or Governance Adviser before their appointment is formally approved by the Trust Board.

Would Wroxham still recruit its own staff or would the Ivy Trust have a say in recruitment?

The decision about who to appoint is down to the Head/ SLT of each school.The Ivy Central Team supports with the recruitment process (advertising, collating responses, arranging interviews etc).

What implications will joining the Ivy Trust have on staff, job security, pensions and benefits?

The TUPE Requirements ensure that all pay and conditions are kept the same.

If restructuring/ redundancies were to happen in the future, would it be down to The Ivy Trust to complete the process or Wroxham Head/LGB?

Decisions around restructuring/ redundancies are at the Head’s discretion.

Have there been redundancies since a school has joined the Ivy Trust?

Currently one school within Ivy is going through a redundancy process.

What will happen to our Hertfordshire pensions? Will we go in to the Enfield LGPS? What are the % contributions that staff pay and also the school?

All will stay the same under TUPE.

How will the MAT keep track of pupil data effectively across all schools and ensure all schools are working in the same way?

All Ivy assessment data is input on Scholarpack (an MIS system). The Trust requires all schools to carry out an annual age standardised test, in addition to SATs tests to allow for effective allocation of resources and support.

What is the voting process? Is there a majority or unanimous vote? Does there have to be so many 'staff and 'non staff' for the vote to be deemed fair?

The Wroxham Governors will agree on this.

Would we adopt the Ivy's policies? If so what sort of policies would they be?

Yes. All common policies (apart from those relating to HR which are on a shared drive) are available on the Ivy website. Each school will decide its own procedures for specific policies (e.g. teaching and learning, behaviour, curriculum, accessibility).

If one of the other schools in the Ivy Trust are under performing, will this drag down the reputation of us of the other schools? How will you ensure this doesn't happen?

A rigorous quality assurance and school improvement review process ensures that all schools are regularly reviewed and any improvements needed highlighted. Currently Ivy schools are all performing well.

What is the procurement procedure and do the schools with the Trust get a say or are the decisions all made by the Ivy Trust?

Ivy is currently carrying out tender processes for a range of services provided to all schools within the Trust with the aim of improving each service whilst saving money. Each school has a choice of whether to benefit from these savings.

Over the next academic year 2020-2021, what is the maximum number of schools you will take on? Have you ever turned away a school that wanted to join, if so why?

We do not set short-term targets like this, preferring to take a measured approach over a five year period, as described in our Growth Strategy. Each school asking to join us will be subject to due diligence by the Trust Board to ensure that its vision and values are a good fit with ours. We will not take on a school that will adversely affect the educational or financial outcomes of our current schools.

We have not turned away a school that has wanted to join.

As some HR, Finance & Site services will be centralised, do you plan to do the same for any other services in the future e.g. admissions, censuses?

If there is an opportunity to save schools money through the efficiency savings of centralised services in the future, we will explore these options closely with headteachers.

If we join the Ivy Trust, why will Wroxham still have to pay insurance on the building, when it will not be owned by us anymore?

All schools within Ivy pay their own insurance premiums, since this insurance also covers employer liability, third party public liability and professional indemnity insurance.

If one of the school within the Trust had an Ofsted inspection, would this prompt one for the other schools?

Would each school still record their own Single Central Record or would this now be done by The Ivy Central Team?

Each school would still hold and maintain their own SCR.

Will the Ivy Trust guarantee in writing that a percentage of all staff from within the other 6 schools will attend Wroxham's training courses to ensure the support and increase revenue?

No. The decision for whether Ivy staff attend such training will be up to each Head, in line with our commitment to schools’ autonomy.

Have any Headteachers or SLT left their school since joining Ivy; if so, what was the reason?

There has been very little movement of Headteachers or SLT. One Deputy Head left to join another school (September 2018).

Would our Head or SLT have their future roles changed by joining the Ivy Trust; if yes - will there be any future financial gain as a result?

There are no plans to change the roles of the Head or SLT of The Wroxham were the school to join Ivy.

UPDATE 21st June - written questions handed in to school

Why haven't any of the other Potters Bar Schools joined Multi-Academy Trusts? Even those which are already academies? They are holding back for good reasons, maybe we should ask them?

There are no other primary academies in Potters Bar and many of the Headteachers are not considering even becoming an academy, as it is either not something that they are interested in, or they don't like the concept of academies. We have spoken about this a number of times, but there appears to be no 'specific' reason as to why they are not interested in becoming and academy or part of a group of academies.

It does appear to be more common practice to become MATs that the schools are geographically close to one another; for example AAT - Alban Academies Trust - although they have one school in WGC. So do you foresee the fact that Wroxham being a bit further away as an issue? I worry that we are not forging more local links in our own immediate community.

The schools within the Ivy Trust are geographically close to each other, with the furthest away from Wroxham being around a 30 minute drive. The intention of the trust is to have schools in the Enfield area, along with schools in south Hertfordshire. Our local links would continue, with Wroxham having recently arranged a meeting of all local heads, to discuss how we can work together - which is something that we would expect to continue, regardless of the decision made about joining the Ivy Trust. It makes logical sense to work with our most local schools, but it could also be seen as advantageous to work with schools outside of Herts, to take a different view on the education world.

We hear about gain/financial gain and sharing best practice as being the reasoning behind the move. As a school community I think it is very important that full transparency is shown. Exactly how much money will be saved and how will this be apportioned? S o far the only saving talked about is office administration - personally I find having someone on site to deal with these issues far better. Sometimes it is unwise to value economy over better service.

The merger is likely to be cost neutral - which means that we are able to pay the 5% top slice, yet we will get back services, including finance, purchasing, HR, auditing and school improvement - equating to a greater saving than outlay. However, finance is only one small part of the consideration. By joining the Ivy we will be able to maintain our current staffing for longer, but it is more about what we can learn professionally and academically - from working with other professionals who are keen to develop and improve practice across the trust. The opportunities for professional development appear to be substantial, which also allows the school to keep hold of valued staff for a longer period of time.

Ensuring that our students have support staff in class, who will be able to give individual attention and interventions, is far more important that people higher up the ranks being given pay rises - I am suspicious that those at the top will gain financially by cutting back on lower paid staff and there is no democracy or discussion around this. TAs and ordinary teachers are the ones who work the hardest and make the real difference to children's lives; their rights need protecting. As for sharing best practice, there are so many ways of doing this already, without being a MAT. As an individual school, we make our decisions locally which is a strength in any institution - freedom. This will change.

The school, if it were to join, would control 95% of the budget. The school will decide what staff it needs and will work with the budget accordingly, as we do currently. By the introduction of centralised services, it appears that the school would be able to maintain the current staffing arrangement for a longer period of time, which would not be the case if we were to stay a stand alone academy. It is very likely, if we are not to merge with the Ivy Trust, that school would have to consider staffing reductions from Autumn 2019. In regards to sharing practice - we do currently work with others to develop areas of teaching and learning, however, from visits and conversations with staff - the opportunities would be even greater within the trust.

I hear that Teaching School will benefit from opening up courses to a wider client base in the Trust.... I don't understand, we used to have people from all over the world attending Wroxham courses...surely the issue is that of an oversaturated market and less disposable income from schools? Maybe the ewra of running endless courses and trainers earning lots of money has passed? Certain core training will always be paid for such as maths, IT, English and assessment so quality rather than quantity. Why will schools in the Trust want to attend courses at Wroxham if we cannot get others to come in the first place?

The main way that the Teaching School will increase business is through the School to School work that Ivy are already working on. There is a strong link between Ivy and Herts for Learning, who are sub-contracted any the County to manage school improvement. The Teaching School would support this process, with our SLEs and other staff being able to work on school improvement and curriculum development. In addition, the Teaching School would then be able to meet the Key Performance Indicators, which are currently difficult to reach as a one form entry primary. One other possibility is that there is a greater need outside of Hertfordshire for high quality CPD, so the links that Ivy have would support our numbers on our key courses, focussing on the main subject areas.

This cycle of under-funding in school will pass by and will be addressed - that's economics. Joining a MAT is a 'forever step' and perhaps it will be a very good thing; equally is could be a poor decision and the trouble is, unlike other agreements there isn't a 'cooling off' period. Once the document is signed, that's it - the legacy of Wroxham, a fantastic story of success is just like all the other schools. Privatisation is a slippery slope and some things are sacred, such as the NHS and Education for All; not everything should be run for profit - just a thought!

The underfunding will most likely be addressed, but when is the unknown. In the meantime schools are making significant redundancies, which is something we want to keep away from, for as long as possible. In addition, this is more about education than it is about money. The main reason that we are consulting about joining the Ivy Trust is due to the fact that all of the schools have kept their own identity; which is something that is very important to the school. We have to be very mindful that we are already a Trust, even though we are only made up of one school. Sometimes we need to try out new things, a bit like we did when we decided to become an academy back in 2012. It was an unusual thing then, but it has turned out well. We cannot predict the future, but we have asked a lot of valuable questions and we now need to consider the answers carefully.