FAQ

25. Parents are disappointed with mixed messages received, Paul Wood communicated that the school was doing well – what happened?

Answer:

Rapid progress was made in the autumn term. Behaviour had improved notably and teaching became more effective. This was recognised by Ofsted at a monitoring visit in December and further improvements have been made since. However, from the start the IEB was clear that even if the school improved significantly, its future would still be at risk.

This is because the school's long-term decline had resulted in a continually decreasing number of pupils on roll. (Currently there are 372 students in Years 7 to 11, making the school less than half full). This in turn had led to the school being in considerable and increasing debt.

26. Has the Executive Headteacher been brought in to close the school?

Answer:: No. The LA approached the leadership team at Oaklands after Mr Paul Woods indicated he wanted to return to Sir John Cass to provide the required leadership for the school. Raine’s needed a school improvement partner and as a high performing local school, Oaklands was well placed to support. Mr Paul Woods left in Easter and Patrice Canavan became Executive from the first day of the summer term as a direct replacement with same brief.

27. Who put the IEB in place?

Answer:: The LA applied to the Secretary of State to put an IEB in place to improve the governance of the school following the correct statutory procedure. The DfE agreed the members suggested by the LA, but not the nomination made by the Foundation Trust. The IEB was established on 29 October 2018.

28. What has the school done to prevent the school's closure?

Answer:: See question 13 and question 23.

30. Why was the option of Academisation of Raines initially explored in 2015 not taken forwards?

Answer:: The previous governing body had considered academisation however this was not taken forward. An application to convert to an academy must be made by a school’s governing body; but the final decision is in the hands of the DfE

29. Why are there no options to send Raine's Pupils to faith schools

Answer:

There are several other faith schools in LBTH and neighbouring boroughs and parents are at liberty to seek a place at any of these schools. If a place is initially refused they have a statutory right to ask an independent appeal committee to grant a place on the grounds that it is justified by the special circumstances even if the school is technically full.

The LDBS has made arrangements with The Urswick School in Hackney that any pupil at Raine’s who meets the Church admissions requirements for the Urswick School will go to the top of the waiting list.

31. Parents are very concerned about the approach of the LA in terms of communicating plans to parents i.e. parents found out about the plans leaked on social media – can you explain this?

Answer:

This was unfortunate. LA officers did work on carefully managing the communications so that the school community would be the first to be informed of proposals. The council’s Cabinet decision making process and work plan is agreed well in advance.

Following on from the feasibility study and proposed recommendation the Cabinet’s work plan had to be updated to include a possible decision on Raine’s closure in the future. This was an administrative process. The work plan was available on Tower Hamlet’s website and was subsequently leaked on social media.

32. Why is the Trust not involved in the IEB?

Answer:: The IEB is established in conjunction with the Regional Schools Commissioner and with the permission of the Secretary of State for Education. Members of the IEB have to be approved by the Secretary of State. The LA had asked the Raine’s Foundation Trust to nominate a Trustee to join the IEB, however the nomination provided was rejected by the Secretary of State. The letter from the Regional Schools Commissioner rejecting the nomination was forwarded to the Foundation Trust. There was no further nomination received from the Trust.

Why is the Trust not involved in the Joint Steering Group?

Answer:: The Steering Group is a joint steering group with representatives from both schools including parents, governors and staff. The Steering Group is not a decision making body and is a useful forum to have open discussion affecting pupils, parents and staff. The Trust has been kept informed directly.

34. Why have 3 different Headteachers been in place over a period of 3 years?

Answer:

There was a need to strengthen the leadership of the school following the outcome of the Ofsted Inspection (second ‘Requires Improvement’ Judgement).

Paul Woods was brought in on an interim basis as an Executive Headteacher to increase the leadership capacity.
Rob Hullet (Headteacher) left the school in December 2018.

Paul Woods left the school at the end of the spring term (Easter) and Patrice Canavan was then brought in by the LA as the Executive Headteacher to continue to provide the leadership the school required.

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