Background The secondary schools in Bridgwater have chosen to specialise in certain subject areas. The specialisms are languages and SEN at Haygrove, technology at Chilton Trinity, science and the rural dimension at Robert Blake and performing arts at East Bridgwater. They have built solid alliances with one another over the years and have more recently been working collaboratively on a range of areas. This collaboration entered an exciting new phase with each school radically changing its individual constitution to form one charitable Trust, known as the Bridgwater Education Trust (BET) which came into being in September 2008. The BET is a separate legal entity to Somerset County Council. The Trust The principle of the Trust is that standards will be raised through the development of joint capacity; it will support individual schools and significantly widen opportunities for young people. The Trust Members are the four secondary schools and the two special schools. Bridgwater College, Sedgemoor District Council and Somerset County Council have become partners and are working with the schools to support the delivery of the vision for Bridgwater. The Trust will facilitate, promote collaboration and support the developmental work to further promote school improvement inline with school development plans. This formalised collaborative approach will enable a diverse curriculum to be agreed across the town, resulting in greater opportunities for students to access a wide range of subjects and flexible educational experiences. The Trust aims to promote learning and meet the needs of all young people in the town of Bridgwater. It will be an enabling organisation and will add value beyond that of the individual Governing Bodies. It will facilitate working together with its external partners and schools and develop information, advice and guidance to widen opportunities. Governance Governance is an important role for BET as it promotes its members working together as an inclusive learning campus in the following areas: 1. Hold the legal title of land 2. Appoint and train two foundation governors to each school 3. Ensure all schools are represented and making an active contribution 4. Engage with schools to work as an inclusive campus 5. Monitor quality and quantity of personnel and organisations being represented on the BET 6. Ensure line of influence/communication and reporting are clear between BET, the LEP, LA and schools The Trust is owned by the schools and the Trust will work with its members to enable the schools to achieve their objectives as outlined in the school development plans. The BET Team The BET is steered by a board of trustees composing of a Chair, Finance Trustee, Educational Trustee, Business Trustee and one representative from the Local Education Partnership (LEP) will be appointed. The Board of Trustees have overall responsibility for the governance and strategic direction of BET and are the accountable body. The Trustees of the BET are representatives from education, the community, business and local government. The BET currently has one full time Manager, an office administrator and is supported by an Educationalist as the professional lead. Accountability The Trust will agree aims and objectives through consultation with Heads and Trustees and at Members meetings. These will be shared with its partners through Area Planning meetings. Standards remain a central feature of the Trusts work and as such we will be cognisant of local and national standards and guidelines, linking with school development plans to pinpoint development areas. Where development points are identified the Trust would look to the schools to allocate funding to support any agreed measures.
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