Split site disadvantages

My goodness I had a browse around and I found LOTS of split site stuff.  There were some schools that had outstanding ratings that had split sites but even they wanted to be on one site.  Lots of schools that were having big difficulties because of a split site and some that were criticised by ofsted because of their inability to handle it.


Teachers suffered most - I suggest that you guys have a discussion on TES and contact your unions for information on their views about split site schools.  I'd love to hear your feedback.


I would be particularly interested if anyone knows or can get in touch personally with anyone who has worked in a split site school for their views.


It does not look that good I'm afraid.


tomlinscote.kings@gmail.com
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I..

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I have taught on a split site school for the past 5 years and the added stress of having to drive to your next lesson on a regular basis is starting to get to me. It means you are usually late for your lesson, the kids are already fighting in the corridor by the time you get to the classroom, you waste alot of time having to get everything set up - which means the class becomes even more unsettled and to make matters worse you lose 5 to 10 mins of your breaktime if you have to go the other campus to teach your next lesson. What makes matters worse at our school is the fact that some teachers don't have to do this at all and are not experiencing half the stress that i am. I think i should be payed more or given an extra PPA for having to do this regularly - do you agree / disagree...?

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I take it that 'Schwarms' you have never worked on a split site school - I am currently at one and it is killing me. The staff are generally less supportive, there is no community or team feel amongst morale, the kids have more ownership of the classrooms than the teachers, you are permanently exhausted from travelling and often your break and/ or PPA will involve travelling. Its not the 'teaching' that is exhausting its the travelling, some days I dont get the chance to have a coffee or a toilet break as I am continually driving between sites, it makes marking difficult and planning non-existent during school time. I am relieved that I have been able to find another school to work at and leave this one behind, but I am fearful of the younger colleagues who will leave teaching as a profession thinking that this is how all schools operate.

I agree we shouldn't be paid more, but a more considerate timetable and supportive attitude from other teachers would help a little in making the workplace one that you want to stay at and develop a career. This is nothing about the stress of teaching but the stress of travelling and I think until people actually experience working on a split site school and travelling between sites at least twice a day they cannot understand the effect that this has on your teaching ability.
http://community.tes.co.uk/forums/p/273396/6658057.aspx

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Head teacher Carolyn Roberts welcomed the news. She said: "It has been a constant drain on resources having two sites because classes have had to be split and teachers spend their lunch hour driving between campuses.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wear/4472005.stm

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Operating the new academy, which is supposed and aims to coalesce two previous schools, is much more difficult on two separate sites that are well over a mile apart. Operating on two sites adds considerably to the costs and management issues and involves the duplication of a whole range of functions that simply would be unnecessary if the school were on a single site. While the site is still split into two halves, it is also difficult for the new management team, educationally I suspect, to build quickly the new ethos and purpose that they seek for a single, all-ability, co-educational school.

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2010-09-09b.571.0

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Looks like schools in Surrey get additional money for being in a federation or having a split site.

http://www.surrey-fire.gov.uk/sccwebsite/sccwspages.nsf/LookupWebPagesByTITLE_RTF/Split+site+factor?opendocument

But in one case in Manchester when the CC dropped this funding it put a school in massive problems.

http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news/43320/head-tightens-belts-to-pay-back-369000

and in further evidence that getting the funding because you need it does not mean it will always be there see this wrangling about split site funding.

http://esi.essexcc.gov.uk/vip8/si/esi/dis/content/index.jsp?&sectionLink=true&sectionOid=308&oid=24360

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Schools on split sites incur additional costs due to the loss of economies of scale...

http://www.deni.gov.uk/april_2001_consultation_split_sites_factor.pdf

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Parents anger forces split-site rethink

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/Parents-anger-forces-academy-split-rethink/article-2736716-detail/article.html

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A school is even more likely to have to close due to snow if there is significant travel between buildings.

http://www.hu17.net/longcroft-school-to-reman-closed-on-friday/

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Salesian (PJ Wilkinson said this was a success) looks like as split site disaster to me.


School Proposal Principal issues Salesian Replace existing split ...

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Split site schools bad for staff

Peter Inson, who is also author of the book Dunno, told the Independent: '[I have] taught in a split-site school, which is what Mr Balls wants to create, and I would not impose this on my staff.

Commenting on reports of Government plans to force state schools into mergers or federations, Martin Johnson, deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: 'Arranged marriage is one thing, shotgun weddings are another.


http://www.atl.org.uk/education-news/default.asp?article=%7B51E95AD5-180D-4C50-A0F6-00C99E7955D3%7D

Peter Inson - lays into Ed Balls on combining schools - bit controversial

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/peter-inson-you-wont-improve-schools-by-mixing-the-bad-with-the-good-1715933.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6557945.ece

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That is the physical position at the lower school, but in addition there are the human dimension and the accompanying practical difficulties arising from the split site. To emphasise these genuine problems, I can do no better than quote from the Office for Standards in Education inspection report of May 1996: The school's split site poses problems for its work. The lower school buildings provide a poor learning environment…The school is part way through a phased development of its accommodation, 262designed to consolidate the school on one site and improve facilities in the future. The quality of some of the new buildings is good, for example the sixth form area and computer rooms at the upper school. However, for pupils currently in the school, the provision and standard of accommodation are unsatisfactory in a number of respects. The school occupies two sites approximately 1 km apart. The unavoidable movement of teachers, and to a lesser extent, pupils, has a negative impact on the quality of education provided. I graduated in geography some 35 years ago—a long time ago—and therefore feel for the subject, although I have forgotten most of what I learned at university.

The report continues: The extent of movements reduced teaching and preparation time; for example there are 31 such breaks in geography in each timetable cycle apart from those coinciding with breaks and lunchtimes…The lower school presents a dispiriting learning environment. This site provides little stimulus to pupils on entry to the school…Some teachers spend a high proportion of their time with only one part of the age range and this on one of the two sites. This hinders the development of consistent practices and communications…Good formal and informal communications seek to overcome the problems of having staff on two sites; the tension between seeking to reduce staff travelling and ensuring full participation in subject teams has not yet been resolved satisfactorily". The situation, then, is that time is wasted in travelling between the sites. There is stress on staff; inefficient use and duplication of equipment and materials; timetabling constraints; under-use of specialist facilities at one site and over-use at the other; and there are revenue funding implications for the local education authority and the school itself. My hon. Friend's Department has allowed £23,000 towards the school budget to try to cover the split site situation. Cornwall makes the figure up to £45,500. The governors' realistic assessment of the cost of the split site is £77,000.

The conclusions reached by the Ofsted inspection team clearly show the need to improve the position as soon as possible. One of the key issues identified by the inspectors was the need for the local education authority and the governors to

continue to seek to overcome the constraints imposed by the split site, and, in the short term, to improve the learning environment in the lower school and to integrate it more fully into the life and work of the school as a whole. The governors and the staff are attempting to do that. Certain improvements and extensions are being undertaken. I must emphasise, however, that, when those improvements are completed, the difficulties associated with a split site will still not be resolved.

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1997/mar/11/liskeard-school-and-community-college

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Well well....as 'any fule know', history teaches us that we don't learn from History.
The old Ryles Park School was split site, with the lower school children educated in an old Victorian building off Byrons Street and the upper school on the Ryles Park site.

The teachers did the commuting between lessons using their own cars: I know as I was one of those teachers, though I used to ride my bike through the park in order to get to lessons.

I then moved to Wilmslow, where a similar split site system was in operation - this time initially a three way split. Again, the staff moved between lessons on a school mini bus. We had to leave our classes before the bell and arrive after the bell in order to meet the school time-table.

Often the materials books and equipment would have been left behind in the stress of this and the pupils were essentially unsupervised. I used to joke that they could play entire football matches in the travelling time, built into the time- table

Has anyone cared to ask any teacher who has operated this system of split site teaching of the benefits to the children? I doubt it.

The poor decision-making about Macclesfield schools, goes back thirty years with the necessity to provide a Grammar School education for boys, when Kings discontinued the offer of 'selling' places to the County. Fallibroome was the school built to fill this gap Its geographical location on the South West side of town, adjacent to Henbury High, was a mistake and at that point, the 'Grammar School boys could have been educated at Ryles Park.

Does this brief history lesson explain the cynicism I feel?

The decision to merge the two schools into one, and to operate a split -site has nothing to do with the desire to provide good, better or best education in Macclesfield.

My own advice? leave the schools as they are. Bring in special measures (and with it extra cash) for Macc High. The parents of children in Sutton, Gawsworth and Langley who currently bus their children to primary schools round the county in order to get them into other schools will want them to go to Macc High.

I am available for consultation, should the various bodies wish to have a first hand account of the experience of split site education

http://menmedia.co.uk/macclesfieldexpress/news/s/1243103_takeover_means_the_end_for_macclesfield_high

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The college is strongly led by the principal, whose vision for, and commitment to, the students is shared by the senior leadership team and the staff, who work purposefully to overcome the difficulties which the college's split site presents.

http://teachweb.co.uk/secondary-schools/East-Sussex-B45/Seaford-Head-Community-College-SC987.html

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I taught at Grove last year and attended many of Ms Johnsons staff planning meetings and she got of to a bad start with many staff members that got progressively worse. For the merger and split site to work it needs the whole staff to pull together to make it workable. Now that she has stepped aside maybe this can happen.

I know that many of my former colleagues were disillusioned with what was happening and the lack of leadership that was being shown. Hopefully some of the 19 teachers that were resigning at xmas can be persuaded to stay on and create the succesful acadamy that the community deserves.
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they should of listened to what everyone wanted ,we didnt want the schools to join,to one big mass school,and certainly not backed by a christan backed charity,the council should of kept the school in their hands,at the end of the day its all about money,when it should be about happy kids and good teachers.
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I think she resigned because of stresses.. but most people would expect to be put under stress when becoming the head teacher of 2 merged schools.
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http://www.thisishampshire.net/archive/2008/11/24/++News+-++Latest+Headlines/3872026.Head_of_troubled_Oasis_academy_quits/

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Often there was insufficient planning and preparation leading to inherently chaotic forms of organisation such as split-site schools. In many areas teachers and pupils found themselves almost overnight in almost unrecognisable institutions with new colleagues new teachers and new classmates.
http://www.campaignforstateeducation.org.uk/Comprehensive%20Success%20Story.pdf 

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will add more as time permits