Education Improvement Partnership
Lincolnshire Excellence Clusters were established in 2003 as
part of the extension of the government's Excellence in Cities
initiative. Excellence Clusters have been identified as
schools that serve "small pockets of deprivation". In April
2005 the DfES launched the
Education Improvement Partnership (EIP) Prospectus and in
response to this it was agreed that the clusters move to an
EIP. The concept of the EIP is to give greater unity and
sharper purpose to collaborative working and to stimulate:
- the expansion of high quality collaboration;
- the rationalisation of partnership activity where
appropriate;
- the devolution of responsibilities and resources from local
authorities to groups of schools and other partners.
There are three clusters within the EIP in Lincolnshire,
these are in Boston, Grantham and Spalding and involves a total of
45 schools. From the outset it was agreed that the majority
of funding should be passed to schools, this has been achieved by
having a small central team that provides support and challenge to
each of the strands across each one of the clusters. This has
encouraged and enabled the sharing of good practice through
networking and a centrall organised and delivered workforce
development programme. It has also enabled networking to take
place across the clusters rather than just within them, this has
proved to be of value given the size of the authority. The
EIP operates within the national framework of objectives, which
are:
- raising attainment and improving behaviour and attendance in
all schools within the partnership;
- personalisation of provision for children and young
people;
- delivering on the outcomes of Every Child Matters in all
schools and through childcare and extended services.
The Lincolnshire EIP benefits from extra
resources as a consequence of Excellence Cluster and BIP funding
being extended to March 2008.