Policy

City Council policy is in favour of all-through primary schools, but was modified in October 2004 such that statutory consultation for the amalgamation of existing separate junior and infant schools would only take place if it has the support of parents, staff and governors.

Benefits

The expected benefits for amalgamated schools are the removal of any barriers to continuity in education, e.g. ethos, curriculum, teaching and learning; the enabling of the best use, organisation and management of resources, e.g. money, staff, buildings; and the enhancing of opportunities for staff development and career progression.

Implications

Apart from the educational benefits expected the implications of amalgamation for pupils are possible changes to the school badge and uniform, and changes to and in the organisation of the school.

The implications for staff are that existing schools both close so all jobs finish but

• all jobs (except headteacher and deputy(s)) are ring-fenced to application from existing staff in first instance
• there is no loss of benefits of service

The numbers of teaching staff should remain the same but posts may change under new structure.  Also, only 1 headteacher is required and the post must be advertised nationally; any deputy headteacher post(s) must be nationally advertised.

Non-teaching staff should be slotted across into new structure (but there may be re-structuring).

The implications for the budget of the new school are that the budget of the new school will be the sum of the budgets for the previous schools, including any carried-forward balances, except for the loss of the salary of 1 headteacher (and perhaps a minor amount of fixed clerical costs) and the probable loss of any small school grant(s).

The Temporary Governing Body needs to plan and manage with the Asset Management Section the requirements, funding and implementation of any building or site modifications, such as entrances, car parking, and a combined staff room.

Process and timescales

Amalgamation involves the closure of both previous schools and the re-opening of a new all-through school on the same site - closure is on the last day of one term and the opening is at the first day of the next, this is usually August 31st and September nth but can be December 31st and January nth.

The preferred timescale for the whole process is 1 year and 2 terms (because of notice periods of serving headteachers, etc.) but can be achieved within1 year.

The process consists of a number of stages:

• Consultation of and by both governing bodies.

• Pre-Statutory Consultation.
• Resolution by joint or both governing bodies to amalgamate and Report produced for Cabinet approval by School Support Manager.
• Implementation.

Checklists for the consultation process and for the implementation (for the headteacher designate) are available in the documents linked below.

	Checklist of the Consultation Process Checklist of the processes and timescales involved in Junior/Infant school amalgamations
	Checklist for the Head Teacher Designate Items for consideration and prompts for implementing Junior/Infant school amalgamations.