Summary - This is the story of an Excellence Cluster on its journey towards evolution to an Education Improvement Partnership. A useful thought piece for those in a similar position.      

Introduction

Plymouth Excellence Cluster is a collaborative of 26 inner-city schools and is funded through Excellence in Cities. The schools involved in this collaborative break down into:

• 3 secondary schools
• 2 special schools
• 1 nursery unit
• 20 primary or junior/infant schools

The cluster was formerly an EAZ, which transformed in January 2004; taking on an additional five schools. All the schools involved have individual strengths and were all keen to share as well as to learn.

The Plymouth Excellence Cluster aims to:

“Enable Schools to significantly raise achievement, lift aspirations, improve life chances, develop positive attitudes and widen participation for those pupils who attend the Schools of the Excellence Cluster.”

There is a strong belief that the benefits of collaboration exceed the capital that is invested in it. Plymouth Excellence Cluster has defined a clear collaborative principle that any available funding should be allocated according to need and not an equitable distribution of wealth.
 
The partnership recognises that together they are more able to find solutions to complex challenges and barriers to learning. They meet regularly to make decisions that affect the project as a whole. To ensure that collaboration is affected at a whole school level, and not just between head teachers, the partnership has invested in a teacher co-ordinator role within each Primary and Secondary school. This has had a significant impact on levels of engagement within the cluster and a real sense of shared vision to achieve the desirable outcomes. Co-ordinators reflect on the progress of various elements of the collaborative plan and adapt strategies and systems to promote increased effectiveness.. The shared audit outcomes allow the partnership to identify common areas of challenge and the potential for sharing good practice.

The cluster has developed around the three key areas;

• Gifted & Talented Support
• Learning Support
• Enrichment Support for schools

More recently the cluster has received funding for a Wave 4 Behaviour Improvement Programme.

The Enrichment Strand

Although initially a vehicle for continuing out-of hour’s programme developed through the EAZ, the partnership wishes to see this now expanding to include additional curriculum opportunities. It provides an opportunity for “at risk” pupils who may benefit from a more personalised curriculum.

The Gifted & Talented Strand

The strand has been organised around key themes with increasing emphasis this year on issues surrounding transition, parental support and increased opportunities for collaborative activities for pupils from different schools – with built-in time for effective follow up activities to extend and embed the pupils’ knowledge.
The G&T school co-ordinators have worked together to look closely at the needs of the more able disaffected child which it is hoped will link into the support given by key workers to “at risk” pupils under the BIP.

The Learning Support Strand

Learning Mentors and school counsellors work very much as a team and have a central base but also, importantly, a co-ordinator link within school. The shared management of the centrally employed staff has been highly effective and will continue to be fundamental to future collaborative developments within the partnership.

The Behaviour Improvement Programme

The Behaviour Improvement Programme will enable the cluster to develop in four main areas:

• An expansion of the good practice already in place through the Learning Support Strand i.e. increasing numbers of Learning Mentors and Counsellors
• The provision of a MAST (Multi Agency Support Team) which will not only support “at risk” pupils, but also work with their families
• The integration of Full Service Extended School provision through BIP within the Integrated Neighbourhood Plan for Plymouth (The Extended Schools launch for the city is in June ’05).
• To increase the links with LEA services such as the Educational Psychology Service, the BST and the Attendance & Behaviour Team, and to become a vehicle for trialling new and innovative ways of supporting young people for the city as a whole.

Importantly, this additional funding and associated interventions are managed effectively by the Partnership board to ensure cohesion at an individual school level.

The Future

The creation of an Education Improvement Partnership would enable the cluster to improve the services and opportunities it provides for its learners, and further address the five key areas within “Every Child Matters”.

Its key developmental aims would be:-

• To support and develop cohesion between the strands to maximise impact of projects
• To support the development of personalised learning
• To encourage more schools to take the lead where there are identified curricular or operational strengths
• To develop the systemic changes needed to support some of the more challenging aspects of BIP
• To create shared provision for disruptive and excluded pupils
• To provide a wider range of enrichment activities – with increased opportunities for pupils to work together
• To develop a rigorous system of identification and early intervention
• To support the secondary schools in addressing some of the challenges presented in the 14-19 curriculum reform
• To develop a system of shared evidence and a database to inform EIP priorities

Conclusion

The Excellence Cluster has a proven track record of effective collaboration at all levels of function and an established culture of sharing. The 26 schools have an open policy of response to need; with an inherent acknowledgment that funding will be prioritised

accordingly. Within the city of Plymouth the BIP has enabled us to expand existing links with the Department of Lifelong Learning, and cluster staff regularly deliver training on behalf of, and in partnership with, the LEA. Our LIG collaborative is recognised as being particularly effective as a result of its collaborative practice and a summary of its work is to be found on the DfES good practice website.  On a regional and national level the cluster has been externally recognised as effective through vehicles such as the Self-evaluation and Peer Review and from visits by DfES advisers.

Most importantly, the partnership is developing the appropriate culture and skills necessary for effective collaboration in order to facilitate school improvement. This has brought about systemic and sustainable change and Plymouth Excellence Cluster is committed to a future of partnership planning and working in order to meet the challenges ahead. The EIP prospectus offers an integrated model of such collaboration that also, importantly, includes the extended school agenda. In summary, Education Improvement Partnerships represent the ideal vehicle for partnership development and there is a strong corporate desire to be engaged in their inception and design.

Lisa Hartley
Rona Smith
(Co-Directors of Plymouth Excellence Cluster)