PLANS FOR a unique education partnership between two Tavistock schools have been given the green light after overwhelming support from parents and the community. The governors of St Rumon's Infants School and St Peter's Junior School have agreed to the ground- breaking educational federation to raise standards and achievement further and boost collaboration. It will be the first federation between an infant and junior school in Devon. In a major consultation exercise last term, there was unanimous support for the plan from parents. The federation will now come into effect for the start of the new academic year in September. The head of St Rumon's, Clare Wesson, will be executive headteacher of both schools and the deputy head of St Peter's, Christiaan Stirling, will be head of learning for the junior school. St Rumon's is also to appoint a head of learning. St Rumon's and St Peter's have both been judged good schools by independent education inspectors and have regularly worked together for the past three years. But they say the federation will formalise that cooperation and enable them to forge even closer ties. The schools will retain their individual identities, budgets and catchment areas but there will now be much closer collaboration between staff on the core purpose of teaching and learning. In a joint statement, Mrs Wesson and the head of St Peter's, John George, who is retiring at the end of this term, said: 'We have been delighted with the interest and enthusiasm from parents. 'They have demonstrated a real commitment to the future of their children's education. 'This is an important first step and we now want the federation to grow at a pace that suits the schools' communities. 'We believe these two good schools will become an outstanding federation in a union underpinned by our common values as Church of England schools. 'This will enable us to streamline our leadership and bring the schools closer together in ethos and vision.' The headteachers said federation would enable the schools to pool resources and expertise for the good of all pupils and it would help to improve the transition of pupils between the two schools. 'It will also enable us to provide our committed staff with greater career development opportunities which will not only benefit them but the children as well,' they said. The federation will allow the schools to use their resources more effectively. Staff will be able to work together to ensure all the pupils have access to a wider and more flexible curriculum. A steering group of governors from both schools has now been set up to oversee the introduction of the federation. The chair of governors at St Peter's, Hilary Johnson, said: 'The purpose of this federation is to ensure the highest quality of teaching and learning for all our children.' The chair of governors at St Rumon's, Tim Jones, said: 'Federation will mean one governing body providing one strategic vision of education for pupils at the two schools. 'Staff at both schools will be able to work closely together to create innovative and exciting ways of approaching teaching and learning and raising standards even higher.'
