Five Acre Wood becomes a Foundation School

At a meeting of the school Governing Body held on 18th July 2016 it was decided to:
•change Five Acre Wood School category from Community to Foundation;

•join other Kent Special Schools in a shared charitable co-operative Trust named The Kent Special Educational Needs Trust (KSENT), with effect from August 1st 2016

•work with KSENT as an equal partner with the other schools, in order to ensure our students benefit from a sustainable educational partnership This follows the recent consultation and published Statutory Proposals.
The decision was taken as the Governing Body believe the Trust will raise standards through the creation of a platform for on-going improvement. The resources and expertise brought to the Trust by the partners will strengthen strategic leadership, increase support and challenge and consolidate effective monitoring, thereby promoting improvement in outcomes for students.

This decision followed a full consultation process during which all relevant parties were consulted and separate consultation meetings were held for staff, parents and carers and the general public. This process indicated very strong levels of support for the proposals.Statutory guidance was followed and the views of those consulted were considered by the Governing Body before deciding to proceed.Very little will change from your point of view.

The school will continue to be run and managed by the Governing Body as before with the additional benefits of Trust partnership and two Foundation Governors to assist us in our future developments. The Governing Body will continue to operate the current admissions arrangements in partnership with the Local Authority. The school’s land and assets will be held in trust on behalf of the Governing Body, by the Trust, but this will not affect the rights and responsibilities of the Governing Body to act in the best interests of our own students in any matters relating to the school premises. The Trust cannot take any actions without our consent or approval.The Governing Body becomes the employer of our staff – all existing contracts will remain in place unchanged and valid as they stand.

There will be no changes to conditions of service, salaries or other matters for our staff team.We look forward to being an active member of this partnership, but want to assure you that we will remain clearly focused at all times on the needs of the learning community we serve: your children and our families and staff.