New Executive Headteacher Update

On behalf of the governors of the Thames Federation of schools, I am delighted to be able to share with you some very good news. Anne-Maire Strachan has been appointed as our new executive headteacher. Anne-Marie is a very experienced and successful headteacher. She will be taking up post in the early part of the summer term.  She will have a handover from Mr Collins ahead of that date so that he can share with her key information about our schools. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Collins for everything he has done for the Federation over the past two terms. His input and expertise have been invaluable. I would also like to thank the staff of the three schools for working so well with him to drive ongoing improvements. We welcome Mrs Strachan to our family of schools and we look forward to great things being achieved under her leadership. 

You will be aware that an interim executive board of governors (IEB) was set up last term to work with the three schools in the Thames Federation on their ongoing improvement. This board of governors (IEB) is now in a position to hand over the reins of the work to a shadow governing body (SGB). The SGB’s role is to make sure there is a smooth transition from the IEB to the governing body (GB), which should be in place at the beginning of 2022. This is a process set out in law and we need to follow that process faithfully. The IEB and the SGB will work in a parallel fashion for six months and in the case of the IEB the six months ends during the first two weeks of June. At that point, the IEB steps down and the SGB takes the work forward. The SGB will work with the local authority to appoint a GB for the Federation. It may be that some members of the SGB remain as substantive governors, but that is a decision to be made in due course. The SGB will be in touch with relevant contact details. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the chair of the IEB, Helen Jones, or the chair of the SGB, Chris Cosker, via the Melcombe school office 020 8748 7411.