Bourne Primary School

The governing body of Bourne Primary School are considering joining the Swale Academy Trust (Swale).  Swale is what is called a Multi Academy Trust (MAT). You can find more about Swale at https://www.swale.at/.

In seeking to join the Trust, the governors' priority is to ensure that they continue to provide a high-quality education for the pupils at Bourne and learn from a trust whose ten primary schools are currently graded by OFSTED as “Good”.

The number of schools converting to an Academy has grown under successive governments since 2002 when the first Academy opened. Bourne Primary School is too small to convert to a stand-alone academy, but MATs offer excellent opportunities for collaborative working.

Each school in Swale has its own Local Governing Body with some delegated governance responsibility. Swale employs a team of central staff to support its schools and drive school improvement.

Bourne Primary School will have the opportunity to collaborate and share resources with other schools in Swale. Currently there are four Swale primary schools in Eastbourne: Langney Primary Academy, Parkland Infant School, Parkland Junior School, and Shinewater Primary School. Eastbourne Academy (Secondary) is also a member of Swale – one of their 9 secondary schools.

The local landscape of primary schools in Eastbourne is changing. Other primary schools have joined other multi-academy trusts.  As the role of the Local Authority has decreased it has become difficult to achieve wider collaborative working.  Bourne School's response has been to develop a close relationship with Swale and particularly its Eastbourne Primary Schools. They have proved to be excellent partners.

Questions and Feedback

Governors are now entering into a consultation phase and would like to hear views from all the school’s stakeholders. They realise that the debate around academies has been prominent in recent times and would like to make sure that the entire school community has an opportunity to ask questions about what academy status means for Bourne Primary School. The consultation period will run from 23rd September 2024 to 7th October 2024. The final decision on moving ahead with academy status rests with the Governing Body.

Governors (along with the Senior Leadership Team) will be holding meetings to give you the opportunity to talk about academy status, what it means for the pupils, parents/ carers and staff and to answer any questions that you may have. The meetings will be held at school as follows:

Staff Meeting (including union representatives) - Monday 23rd September 2024 at 3:30pm

Parents and Carers’ Meeting - Tuesday 1st October 2024 at 2:30pm

In order for us to gather as broad and deep a range of opinions as possible, we strongly urge you to participate by attending the meeting above. If you are unable to attend, but would like to express your views please email consultation@bourne.e-sussex.sch.uk

Please find further information below: