7 March 2019

 

Dear Parents/Carers,

 

We are writing to update you on the invitation for Round Hill Primary School to join a new multi-academy trust, which is being created by the White Hills Park Trust.

 

We believe this is a unique opportunity to influence the structure and function of a local MAT, to whom the vast majority of our pupils progress in year 7. It is an invite governors feel needs full investigation.

 

You may recall that Round Hill Governors met on February 12 and after consideration of the offer, correspondence from parents and staff and our own investigations, we decided to continue our investigations and register an interest in the proposal with the Department for Education (DfE).

 

That interest has now been registered and we are entering into discussion with the Local Authority, the DfE and White Hills Park about how best to engage with parents in order to give as many people as possible the opportunity to have a say in the weeks and months ahead.

 

As soon as this process has been finalised, we will write again to explain how you can be involved and we will publicise the plans widely among parents and staff. As part of this process we are planning an event at school – save the date, we are working towards the evening of 2nd April 2019.

 

Just as a reminder, the next steps in the process involve:

 

•    A period of engagement with parents and staff. (This engagement is the part we are currently planning)

•    ongoing investigation into the risks and benefits of joining WHP MAT and the risks and benefits of remaining as an LA maintained school

•    governors decide whether to pass a resolution to convert (By majority vote)

•    If governors pass the resolution a formal consultation with parents and staff and further work on the precise details (Due diligence) of the arrangement are received before governors take a final vote on the proposal. (Only after this third vote to proceed would Round Hill be committed to joining the multi-academy trust)

 

We would like to assure you that governors are absolutely committed to ensuring that parents and staff have the opportunity to assess potential risks and benefits for themselves and give their views to Governors on this complex and difficult decision.

 

In response to a number of requests, we have uploaded almost all of the supporting papers for the meeting to the school website. You can find them in the Governor section under “Minutes of Governor Meetings 2016-19". The remaining supporting papers will be released in time before the meeting on the 2 April - as some of the financial information is commercially sensitive - we want to be sure that we have permission to release the contents.

 

Please bear with us a little longer while we work through the details of the engagement process. Any correspondence on these issues, please email office@roundhill.notts.sch.uk.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Round Hill Governors