Welland Park Community College Academy Trust
(A company limited by guarantee)ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
for the year ended
31 August 2016
Company Registration No. 07675238
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Welland Park Community College Academy Trust
REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS
Members D Hedley (Chairman)#
D Smith#
I Merriman (Vice Chairman) #
Governors (Trustees) / C M S BakerD Campos #
D Cawthrow #
F Lagarde
J A McBrearty (Principal and Accounting Officer)#
J R Oakland(Staff Trustee)#
J Oakley(Staff Trustee)#
J Rutherford-Bate
M L Wike
A Van Wilsem (appointed 1 December 2014)
John Hill (appointed 23 April 2015)#
Claire Parry (appointed 10 Sept 2015)#
S Peverett (appointed 15 April 2016)#
# members of the Operations Committee
Company Secretary / J Oakley
Senior Leadership Team:
Principal
Vice Principal
Vice Principal
Vice Principal / J A McBrearty
M Jerred (appointed 24 August 16)
K Cottrell (retired 31st August 16)
A C Turner (Assistant Principal from 24 August 2016)
Vice Principal Director of Services
Assistant Principal
Assistant Principal / J Oakley
C M Williams
C Gerald
Principal and Registered Office / Welland Park Road
Market Harborough
Leicestershire
LE16 9DR
Company Registration Number / 07675238 (England and Wales)
Independent Auditor / RSM UK Audit LLP
St Philips Point
Temple Row
Birmingham
B2 5AF
Bankers / Lloyds TSB Plc
Market Harborough
Solicitors / Browne Jacobson LLP
44 Castle Gate
Nottingham
Nottinghamshire
NG1 7BJ
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Welland Park Community College Academy Trust
GOVERNORS’ REPORT
The governors present their annual report together with the financial statements and auditors’ report of the charitable company for the period 1 September 2015 to 31 August 2016. The annual report serves the purposes of both trustees’ report, and a directors’ report under company law.
The academy completed an age range change for thestart of the 2016/17 Academic Year, the trust now operates an academy for pupils aged 11 to 16 serving a catchment area in Market Harborough, Leicestershire. It has a pupil admissions number of 850 and had on roll 844 pupils as recorded in the school census dated October 2016.
Structure, Governance and Management
Constitution
The Academy Trust is a company limited by guarantee and an exempt charity. The Charitable Company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association are the primary governing documents of the Academy Trust.
The governors act as trustees for charitable activities of Welland Park Community College Academy Trust and are also the directors of the Charitable Company for the purposes of company law. The Charitable Company is known as Welland Park Academy.
Details of the Governors who served throughout the period except as noted are included in the Reference and Administrative Details on page 1.
Members’ liability
Each member of the Charitable Company undertakes to contribute to the assets of the Charitable Company in the event of it being wound up while they are a member, or within one year after they cease to be a member, such amount as may be required, not exceeding £10, for the debts and liabilities contracted before they ceased to be a member.
Governors’ indemnities
In accordance with normal commercial practice the school has purchased insurance to protect governors from claims arising from negligent acts, errors or omissions whilst on school business. The insurance provides cover up to £3,000,000 and the cost for the year ended 31 August 2016 was £924 (2015: £1,243).
Method of recruitment and appointment or election of Governors
Any new governors will be appointed in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Funding Agreement. Parent Governors shall be elected by parents of registered pupils at the School. A Parent Governor must be a parent of a pupil at the Academy at the time when he/she is elected. The Governing Body shall make all necessary arrangements for an election of Parent Governors. The Members of the Academy Trust shall comprise:
- the signatories to the Memorandum;
- 1 person appointed by the Secretary of State, in the event that the Secretary of State appoints a person for this purpose;
- the chairman of the Governors; and
- any additional person agreed unanimously in writing by the members
Governors
As detailed in the Memorandum and Articles, the Academy Trust should have the following Governors:
- 5 Parent Governors
- Up to 3 Staff Governors
- Up to 6 Community Governors
- The Principal
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Welland Park Community College Academy Trust
GOVERNORS’ REPORT
Structure, Governance and Management (continued)
Appointment of Governors
The Members may appoint up to 7 Governors save that no more than one third of the total number of individuals appointed as Governors shall be employees of the Academy Trust (including the Principal). The Principal shall be treated for all purposes as being an ex officio Governor. The Parent Governors shall be elected by parents of registered pupils at the Academy.
Policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of governors
There is a commitment by the Governors to ensure that new Governors are given the necessary information and support to fulfil their role with confidence. The process is seen as an investment, leading to more effective governance and retention of Governors. A Governors’ Handbook is made available for new Governors which provides a comprehensive guide to the school and its governance.
The “Training and Development” governor, together with the Principal, Chair and Clerk provides the initial induction, which includes a tour of the school to meet staff and students, establishing any training needs and initiating a link with a member of the Senior Leadership Team who in turn links the Governor with specific department heads and operational roles within the school.
A skills audit has been conducted and is updated as appropriate. An on-going in house training programme has been assembled to address needs identified in order of priority. This is in addition to the individual training events for governors with the Governor Development Service and other outside agencies as appropriate.
Setting pay and remuneration of Key Management Personnel
The Governors’ Pay committee determine the key management personnel pay scales by using the STPCD pay determination calculations. The calculation uses number of pupils on roll and key stage details to determine an Individual School Range (ISR) on the leadership scale of pay points for key management personnel.
The Governors’ Pay Committee have discretion to award one progression point within the assigned scales for successful completion of performance management review in any one year. The pay committee seeks the advice and recommendations of external advisors and the Principal to inform their decisions.
For key management personnel, the yearly pay review will be applied from September of each year, based on the individual’s previous academic year’s performance review.
Organisational structure
Welland Park Academy has a simple and unified management structure to ensure efficiency. The structure consists of three levels: the Governors, the Senior Leadership Team (“SLT”) and the Middle Leadership Team. The aim of the management structure is to devolve responsibility, encourage involvement in decision-making at all levels and maximise opportunities for succession planning.
The Governors fulfil a largely strategic role. They adopt the School Development / Improvement Plan, approve the annual budget, monitor the school's performance and, on advice, make decisions about the strategic direction of Welland Park Academy, its capital expenditure and senior staff appointments.
The SLT consisted of the Principal, two teaching Vice Principals, one non-teaching Vice Principal – Director of Services and two Assistant Principals in 2015 /16. However, in preparation for the Academy’s 11 – 16 age range in September 2016 and the retirement of one of the Vice Principals in August 2016 a review was undertaken of the Senior Leadership structure. The SLT structure from August 2016 consists of the Principal, one teaching Vice Principal, one non-teaching Vice Principal – Director of Services and three Assistant Principals. These managers control the academy at an executive level implementing the policies laid down by the Governors and reporting back to them. As a group, the senior leaders are responsible for the authorisation of spending within agreed budgets and the appointment of staff, other than specific senior staff appointments for which the Governing Body is responsible (having regard to the Principal’s advice).
The middle leadership consists of the Heads of Departments. As a group the middle leaders have financial responsibility for their set budgets. The Principal is the Accounting Officer.The Director of Services is the Chief Financial Officer.
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Welland Park Community College Academy Trust
GOVERNORS’ REPORT
Structure, Governance and Management (continued)
Connected Organisations including Related Party Relationships
Welland Park Academy are not connected to any organisations which impacts on operational policies or have any active relationships with related parties.
Objectives and Activities
Welland Park Academy regards education as a lifelong process and aims to provide the highest quality education for all its students regardless of age, ability, gender or ethnic background. It expects high standards of achievement and behaviour in a positive, caring environment in which there exists a mutual respect between students, staff and parents. The school regards its staff as its most important resource and is committed to their professional development to achieve its aims.
Objectivess and aims
- To provide high quality teaching and outstanding learning outcomes for all our students.
- To provide a safe, caring and structured environment where students feel valued.
- To provide a broad and balanced curriculum in an atmosphere conducive to effective learning.
- To encourage students to work co-operatively, respecting each other, adults and their environment, to become confident, happy and successful individuals.
- To facilitate lifelong learning by providing opportunities and resources for community learning.
- To create an effective partnership with parents, governors and the wider community.
- To establish professional working relationships and to facilitate the professional development of staff to achieve the school aims.
- To work within a framework of equal opportunities and to encourage an awareness and appreciation of cultural and religious diversity, in accordance with British values.
- To challenge all students to achieve their potential and develop the academic, social and cultural skills to contribute to modern society.
Objectives, strategies and activities
The school’s objectives are expressed in its mission statement - We aim to work together to provide the highest quality education for each student through our commitment to continuous improvement. This is underpinned by the published aims of the school and our motto - Learning for Life. The main objectives initially for 2015 – 16 were expressed within our annual school integrated development plan. These included:-
Student achievement
An aim for all students to make better than expected progression and more able youngsters to achieve outstanding progress for Maths and English between KS2 – 4. In light of analysis of our reading ages and concerns raised about extended writing, we have a greater drive to improve literacy across the curriculum. As a staff we continue to build on the differentiation of tasks and literature and provide challenge within levels of all academic ability. Additionally, a thorough tracking of students in the following educational groups across the curriculum with the aim to narrow the gap in terms of average point score for attainment and progress between these groups and standard members of the cohort: Pupil Premium, Catch Up premium, Pupil Premium plus, looked after children (LAC) and SEN.
We worked to ensure that students commenced their GCSE courses in the core subjects in preparation for the new more rigorous, linear GCSEs.
Structure, Governance and Management (continued)
Teaching, Learning and Assessment.
In line with the new OfSTED inspection framework criteria, we continue to aim for 100% of our teaching, learning and assessment to be at least good over time. This was judged to be the case in the Pupil Premium Review undertaken in September 2015:
‘Summative assessment is systematic and regular and as a result there is robust monitoring of pupil progress including for disadvantaged pupils.’
Pupil Premium Review Sept 2015.
We have continued to work on the development points raised from this review particularly regarding metacognition and language for success at GCSE
We have successfully embedded a new assessment system in line with the 1 – 9 for GCSEs for year groups 7 – 10 as referred to in our SDP. This will support our continued drive for clarity with regard to aspirational target setting and ensuring all students make very good progress each academic year.
We used our own monitoring and evaluating schedule in addition to an externally commissioned Pupil Premium Review to secure judgements of at least good for all teaching in the academic year 2015 – 16.
Personal development, Behaviour and Safety:
We have undertaken a review of the safeguarding procedures at the Family Learning Centre, (FLC) on our campus in line with the new OfSTED framework; we are delighted to report that they secured an OfSTED judgement of outstanding in this last academic year (April 2016).
We have secured the Leicestershire e – safety award and the Anti – Bullying award. We continue to work towards the Dyslexia friendly kite-mark from the British Dyslexia Association.
We have developed enhanced specialist provision for GCSE with new accommodation in PE and Performing Arts.
Leadership and Management:
The previous Leicestershire wide system of secondary education was one of high schools (11 to 14) and of upper schools (14 to 18). This changed in September 2016 when we welcomed our first cohort of Key Stage 4 students.
We are working together with a governors’ working party, Local Authority and colleagues from other local academies to implement the requisite plans for age range change. A strategic decision was made to invest funds in terms of staffing, curriculum and facilities in order to provide,in the first instance,the best possible platform for age range change and then continue that investment to meet the ongoing needs.
We secured an excellent teaching body to deliver a Key Stage 4 curriculum commensurate with our aspirational aims for progress 8 measures and undertook a restructure of both the Pastoral team and Senior Leadership team in readiness for being an 11 – 16 school.
A number of the aims and objectives require more than one academic year but we have certainly made significant progress with student achievement, our premises work and our on-going work to complete age range change successfully.
Public benefit
The trustees confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the school’s objectives and aims and in planning future activities for the year. The trustees consider that the school’s aims are demonstrably to the public benefit.
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Welland Park Community College Academy Trust
GOVERNORS’ REPORT
Strategic Report
Achievements and Performance
The period 1 September 2015 to 31 August 2016 was the school’s fifth period of operation with Academy status and the 2014 teacher assessments continue to reflect high levels of achievement and progress in all core subjects.
In May 2012 Ofsted judged Welland Park Academy to be an outstanding school where “students’ achievement is excellent. Attainment in English, Mathematics and Science is consistently well above that attained nationally. This picture has been maintained over recent years and improved year-on-year. This represents sustained, outstanding achievement.
The academy has commissioned an OfSTED based review annually since our last OfSTED in addition to our own monitoring and evaluation procedures. We have increased our numbers of youngsters securing L7 and 8 in the core subjects over the last 3 years and secured GCSE success for a small cohort in 2015.
And again our end of Key Stage 3 results for Summer 2015 show very high achievements;
Curriculum area / %L5+ Nat / LA / %L5+ WPA / %L6+ Nat / LA / %L6+ WPA / %L7+ Nat / LA / %L7+ WPAEnglish / (86) 95 / 96 / (55) 75 / 78 / (17) 30 / 45
Maths / (84) 94 / 92 / (62) 77 / 80 / (32) 44 / 54
Science / (85) 96 / 98 / (56) 77 / 79 / (20) 37 / 48
National data, for core subjects only, is in brackets and is for 2013, the 2014 and 2015 national data is not available, and the LA data is for 2015. The demise of NC levels in 2016 has diminished the capacity of schools to compare performance locally at the end of Key Stage 3. We have reported to governors key stage 3 performance to encompass studies over Year 7 and 8. With regard to the Year 9 cohort 56% of those students are in their Key Stage 4 programmes currently at Welland Park academy; the outcomes for this cohort will be reported using Key Stage 4 accountability measures in 2018.
We commenced GCSE studies in Year 9 for the core subjects in 2016,in line with many schools we did not report a robust set of NC levels for core subjects as the majority of students had made the transition to grades 1 – 9 for assessed work.
We continue to hold accreditation of a number of national awards or accolades which includes: Enhanced Healthy Schools, Aktiv Sport Mark, Arts Mark, Career Mark. We were delighted to secure the full international school award from the British council for 2015 – 18. Additionally we have three Specialist Leaders of Education (SLEs) in Science, English and Performing Arts.
Key financial performance indicators
Welland Park Academy benchmarks income against curriculum and staffing needs. Key financial indicators are used to drive the type and appropriateness of the curriculum offered. Development planning activities are cross-referenced to relevant cost centres and success criteria monitor the efficiency and effectiveness with which resources are deployed. Different curriculum models are explored each year and decisions made, based on financial information available, cost effectiveness and likely student outcomes.
Going concern
After making appropriate enquiries, the Governing Body has a reasonable expectation that the Academy Trust has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, it continues to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.
Further details regarding the adoption of the going concern basis can be found in the Statement of Accounting Policies.