THE BOARD of governors at a Warwick special school has been disbanded following concerns over the way it was being run.
Parents and carers of pupils at Round Oak School received a letter at the start of term saying there had been ‘many months of concern’ about the board which oversaw the operation of the secondary school on Brittain Lane.
Warwickshire County Council made the ‘extremely difficult decision’ to disband the governors and replace them with a Interim Executive Board (IEB).
The new board is described as ‘smaller than a full governing body, appointed by the local authority to turn around a school that is judged to be in urgent need of improvement.’
It is the second school in the district to have its board replaced with an IEB in recent years, with Trinity School also undergoing the same change last September.
A Warwickshire County Council spokeswoman told the Observer: “After many months of concern about aspects of governance and financial management at Round Oak School, the county council felt it necessary to make the difficult decision to disband the school’s governing board.
“The sole purpose of the IEB is to improve the quality of education and support that the school provides. This decision was approved by the regional schools commissioner.
“The day to day management of teaching and learning will not be affected and will continue to be led by the head teacher, Kate Stevens and her senior team.”
The new IEB chair Ian Pavey currently heads up the board of governors at Ridgeway Infant School – where most pupils study before moving to Round Oak, which currently has 140 pupils.
In a letter to parents he said his new colleagues had ‘significant experience of working with and teaching children and young adults with learning needs, and also of school improvement and governance.’
Those on the IEB include a member of the school improvement team at the county council, chair of governors at Blue Coat School in Coventry, a finance director and former chief executive of a charity which ran school for children with severe learning disabilities.
In the letter Mr Pavey said: “The IEB will need to spend some time getting to understand the issues that need to be addressed and developing a plan for our proposed way forward.
“I would like to thank the teachers and support team at the school. I am confident with their continued commitment and your support as parents, grandparents and carers, we can make the make the measures we need to improve the provision of education and learning for current and future pupils.”
