Significant changes ahead for the future of Peterhouse

Tuesday 18th September 2012

Dear Parents/Carers,

Most of you will now know me very well, having been your headteacher for four years. You will also, I hope, have realised that I am fully committed to Peterhouse and to ensuring the very best quality of education for your children. I am sure that you will also be aware that we have, consistently over the last two years, achieved the very best results for all age groups. in fact this year we are the top performing school in Norfolk.

Many of you will have realised that education in the UK is undergoing a radical shake-up under the Coalition Government which, in many cases will change schools in ways that challenge both teachers and parents understanding of what a school actually is. Traditional ways of thinking  about how schools deliver education will be significantly challenged and ultimately changed without any meaningful consultation.

I am sure you will agree with me that we have actually reached a stage where our ethos and values match what you, the parents, want of your school and what the children actually love. Being what is called a Community School we are very closely linked with the Local Authority and hence government change. In addition to this the ethos and values of a Community school can easily be changed, especially in turbulent times. The current Government is moving rapidly to convert schools to Academies which are directly under Department of Education control. As a school the Governors have looked closely at this option but being part of a chain of schools linked to businesses means that our ethos and values would change dramatically. Hence becoming an academy at this time is not an option we would wish to pursue.

We do, however, need to find a mechanism to protect what you have in the form of Peterhouse and its ethos/values. We need to do this in order to make sure all children in our community have access to quality education in a format you like and support. To do this we have two options - remain as we are and leave ourselves open to the possibility of enforced change, or convert to a school that is protected from external influence. The Governors have decided that we must act to protect what we have and the only way to do this is to convert our school to a Voluntary Aided school, sponsored by the Church of England.

I can imagine some of you raising an eyebrow or two when the Church is mentioned but I wish to assure you that as far as the Church is concerned we already do more than most Church schools in terms of our links with Church and community and our ethos. Being a Church school does not mean that religion is 'forced' upon children. You will see nothing change in terms of our curriculum, ethos or how we teach Religious Education. (Teaching of RE is compulsory in all schools and Peterhouse follows the Norfolk Agreed Syllabus).

The only changes which are significant are that there are more Governors representing the community and the Governors are the employers of the staff, not the Local Authority. This means no change for you or the children.

Being a Church sponsored school means that we have two bodies who oversee our activities, the Church who would have the majority say and the Local Authority. Should we ever need to become an academy, we would be able to become a Church sponsored academy, thereby retaining our independence from the Department of Education, but more importantly making sure that our ethos and values do not change. In addition to this, in a period of reducing funding for schools, we are able to bid to the Church for extra money and as a school which is recognised as having a high level of professional skills, we would be able to support other less well developed schools. This increases our teacher expertise and meets the Governments requirements to share expertise across schools.

I am sharing all this information with you as the elected members at Norfolk County Council have agreed to this change but there must also be a consultation exercise with the school community. Shortly you will receive this consultation document but I feel it is important for you to understand the reasons for this change so that you can support us.

The timeline for this change would mean the school would become a Church school on 1st April 2013. Peterhouse Primary School would close and Peterhouse VA CE Primary School would open. We would take the opportunity to re-badge at that time and to introduce a new uniform, as we all feel that the red uniform does not match with our ethos, red being related to anger. We have designed a new badge which I have fixed to the top of this page (missing in blog version). The new uniform will be explained later but we appreciate uniforms cost parents considerable amounts of money so we will initially subsidise an allocation of uniform in the first year as a new school.

I hope that you will support us in this new venture and understand that the changes we intend to make are for the benefit of your child and our community. If anyone would like to talk to me about this you are welcome to make a Wednesday morning appointment. There will also be a public presentation later in the term.

Regards
Martin Scott