CURRENT COLLEGE STRUCTURE: OPERATIONAL PROBLEMS

1. Upon entry to the college, students join either East or West site, where they remain for the first three years. This provides a stable environment for the students, and performance at KS3 is generally good. There are problems in terms of student integration, and common ethos, though views may differ over whether these are important matters, or whether they add to diversity. Visitors to the school comment from time-to-time on the different "atmosphere" on the East and West sites.

KEY STAGE 4 (Years 10-11)

2. Students are based on their original KS3 sites but spend alternate days on the Centre site. This removes the need for student movement between sites during the course of a school day, but it raises other problems. These include registration difficulties, and tutoring. King Alfred’s is one of the few (possibly the only) Oxfordshire secondary schools that does not use a computerised registration system. To do so would require ICT links between the sites to provide a central computerised administration system. This does not exist. At present, registers for KS4 tutor groups are moved between sites each day. Each group has a tutor on each site. This causes confusion for students and parents as well as a lack of continuity in student approach and care. Those students most in need of support suffer at this stage because of the alternate site arrangements.
3. Performance at KS4 is, to a degree, disappointing, below the level that might be reasonably predicted from KS3 results. The site structure does not seem to affect the progress of the able and motivated pupils, but does have a detrimental effect on the performance of children who require nurture or direction.

SIXTH FORM

4. Sixth form students are based on Centre site, and are well served by present arrangements.

STAFF

5. Eliminating student movement during the school day between sites means that staff movement has to take place. On the present timetable (50 hour long lessons over a 10-day cycle) there are 600 staff journeys and of these some 350 occur during breaktime, lunchtime, or non-contact time. There are 250 staff journeys to be made in zero time between lessons 1 or 2, or lessons 3 and 4. The majority of these journeys are between Centre-East, or Centre-West: only a few staff work across the East-West (at the present time, there are only two zero time journeys between East-West sites timetabled).
6. Staff travel between sites raises other problems, including:

• Transfer of books and resources between sites;
• Duplication of resources;
• Lack of a fixed teaching base for any teacher involved;
• Difficulty of organising teamwork, departmental meetings, supervising/mentoring NQTs;
• Suitable staff cover for absent colleagues;
• Availability of transport, and its cost.

7. At the time of the preparation of this paper, the DfES was expected to announce its revised KS4 curriculum requirements/framework. College structures and systems, in common with other secondary schools, will doubtless need modification in the light of these.

TIMETABLE

8. During the preparation of this report, a recently retired Headteacher was asked to look at the school organisation, and to offer advice as to whether there were improvements to present arrangements which could be made either through a revised approach to timetabling, or changes to the balance of accommodation available on the respective sites. This Headteacher reported that:

"It is doubtful if there could be many, if any, improvements to the present timetable to further reduce staff travel between the sites. Every trick known to reduce staff travel to a minimum and to accommodate as much of the necessary travel in non-contact time, breaktime or lunchtime, is used."

9. The Head goes on to offer the following comments: