Management Information Sheet
Cluster Consultation - Presentation and Questions for Clusters to Consider
Thank you to everyone who has attended the recent county wide consultation meetings on Cluster Reorganisation.
The powerpoint presentation from the meeting is now available to view on the Norfolk School's site.
Thank you to those who have already responded in writing. Some cluster chairs have asked for further guidance to inform their response.
Here are a set of questions that you might find useful to explore to help shape your response to the consultation based on what I said at each consultation meeting:
A - It would be helpful to have the clusters' views on issues like:
1 - Did the set of expectations about an effective cluster capture all the most important features - do you have a view as to how they should be prioritised - were there any important expectations of cluster activity missing?
2 - Do the features of effective clusters provide a reasonable basis for us to create a specification for clusters?
3 - Are all the schools satisfied that they are in the right cluster - do any individual schools want to make suggestions that they should be in a different cluster?
4 - Are there any schools in federations/partnerships where the heads want us to clarify with them which cluster they should be in?
5 - Do you consider your existing cluster to be strong enough, including being committed to strengthening governance, in line with the description in the discussion paper, so that the existing cluster can operate effectively.
6 - If the responsibilities placed on clusters were to grow - e.g. relating to school improvement, joint purchasing of services etc does the cluster feel it has the potential to take on more responsibility?
7 - Do you have any advice/suggestions to make about how clusters can be organised to ensure workloads are shared, effective admin is carried out etc?
B - If clusters are to take on additional responsibilities such as SEN
8 - Do your current arrangements seem strong enough to take this responsibility on?
9 - If the answer to 8 is NO - what would need to be done to enable your cluster to do so?
10 - Is there another cluster you would a) like to b) be OK with if required - to amalgamate with or work in partnership with if required especially to deal with the SEN delegation of resource and responsibility?
C - Are there any other comments you would like to make?
I look forward to receiving responses by the end of term. * Please note this is a change from MI 224/11
The powerpoint presentation from the meeting is now available to view on the Norfolk School's site.
Thank you to those who have already responded in writing. Some cluster chairs have asked for further guidance to inform their response.
Here are a set of questions that you might find useful to explore to help shape your response to the consultation based on what I said at each consultation meeting:
A - It would be helpful to have the clusters' views on issues like:
1 - Did the set of expectations about an effective cluster capture all the most important features - do you have a view as to how they should be prioritised - were there any important expectations of cluster activity missing?
2 - Do the features of effective clusters provide a reasonable basis for us to create a specification for clusters?
3 - Are all the schools satisfied that they are in the right cluster - do any individual schools want to make suggestions that they should be in a different cluster?
4 - Are there any schools in federations/partnerships where the heads want us to clarify with them which cluster they should be in?
5 - Do you consider your existing cluster to be strong enough, including being committed to strengthening governance, in line with the description in the discussion paper, so that the existing cluster can operate effectively.
6 - If the responsibilities placed on clusters were to grow - e.g. relating to school improvement, joint purchasing of services etc does the cluster feel it has the potential to take on more responsibility?
7 - Do you have any advice/suggestions to make about how clusters can be organised to ensure workloads are shared, effective admin is carried out etc?
B - If clusters are to take on additional responsibilities such as SEN
8 - Do your current arrangements seem strong enough to take this responsibility on?
9 - If the answer to 8 is NO - what would need to be done to enable your cluster to do so?
10 - Is there another cluster you would a) like to b) be OK with if required - to amalgamate with or work in partnership with if required especially to deal with the SEN delegation of resource and responsibility?
C - Are there any other comments you would like to make?
I look forward to receiving responses by the end of term. * Please note this is a change from MI 224/11