Soft Federation with Rotherfield Primary School

Newington Green, and Rotherfield Primary Schools.  London Borough of Islington.

A Soft Federation Partnership has been established between Newington Green Primary School and Rotherfield Primary School for a period of two years from February 2017.

Both Newington Green and Rotherfield Primary School will retain their own individual identify, ethos and uniqueness.

Abi, our Headteacher, has been supporting Rotherfield Primary School since September 2016 for approximately one day per week, at the request of Islington Council.  Governors entered into this arrangement because we wanted to assist another local school, and develop Abi’s professional skills.

Following further discussions with Islington and the Governing Bodies of both schools, we have decided to extend this arrangement on a more formal basis for a fixed period of the next two years.  During this period, Abi will serve as Executive Headteacher across both schools.  This agreement will be reviewed every six months by the Governing Bodies of both schools, to see how things are progressing.

Abi will be based at Newington Green for 50% of her time and for the other 50% she will be based at Rotherfield. Abi will be at Newington Green on Mondays, Wednesdays and alternate Fridays. Her role will change slightly, and will be to support the strategic direction of the school, support the leadership team in improving the school, and evidence improvements to the Governors and Islington Council.  Mairead, our current Associate Head, will take on the role of Head of School and be responsible for the daily running of the school.

Governors have decided to proceed with this arrangement for the following reasons:

*Governors see this as an opportunity to retain the current leadership team at Newington Green through new professional challenges

*Governors see this as a way to ensure stability of the leadership team as funding reduces, as our leadership cost would reduce whilst maintaining expertise

*Governors see a partnership such as this assisting in securing economies of scale in contracts for school improvement, school resources, or office/administration functions

*Governors see this partnership as an opportunity for professional development for staff in sharing expertise across settings.

Click link to download Federation model