A DALE headteacher has brought forward her retirement to safeguard the future of the school she has led for the past 13 years.
Dr Rebecca Jellis will stand down as head at Cotherstone Primary School at the end of the school year next month.
From September, Cotherstone will enter into a head sharing arrangement with Bowes Hutchinson’s CE Primary’s Chris Matthewman.
Dr Jellis said her decision to retire a year earlier than planned had been made due to the school’s financial difficulties which left governors facing a deficit of £4,570 and unable to set a budget.
Bowes Hutchinson’s governors were approached in May about the possibility of a shared headship, and after much discussion, voted unanimously to go ahead.
Parents of pupils at both schools were told of the arrangements last week.
Mrs Matthewman said: “The shared headship model exists across the county and works well for small schools. It is the best financial option for both schools.
“The financial funding formula has hit smaller schools – it is much more dependant on ‘price per head’ so larger schools win out. Funding will go down again next year.”
Dr Jellis said: “The number of schools that have had financial difficulties this year has been unprecedented.”
Cotherstone has 50 pupils and is expecting 52 on the roll in September. Bowes has 55, rising to 60 when the new school year starts.
The shared headship is initially for a year after which the arrangements will be reviewed to ensure it is working well.
Dr Jellis said: “I think it will be a long-term solution. It is not our intention to do it for just a year and then stop.”
Both schools were rated outstanding in their most recent Ofsted reports. Mrs Matthewman said that although in an ideal world individual heads would be the preferred option, the schools were a good fit for the new arrangement.
“I will be in both locations and it will be 50/50,” she said.
This will be based on logistical and operational needs rather than set times and days, she added.
“I am hoping to carry on the good work at Cotherstone,” said Mrs Matthewman. “This is something new to me. I have done some support work for other schools before in a management role, but this will be the first shared headship.
“If push comes to shove, the schools are only 15 minutes apart – so if I am needed for a meeting at one in the morning and the other in the afternoon it’s quite close.”
Dr Jellis, 59, has worked at Cotherstone Primary after being appointed deputy head in September 2001, taking over as head in April 2006.
She began her career as a midwife – “I delivered some of the children I ended up teaching,” she said – before qualifying for the classroom in 1992.
Starting off in Lincolnshire and Humberside, Dr Jellis taught in Richmond before moving to Cotherstone.
Mrs Matthewman worked in mobile communications for BT and raised three children before turning to teaching at 40.
She taught at Hinkley and Leicester before moving to Bowes in the summer of 2013 when she was appointed head after the retirement of Sue Griffiths.
In their letter to parents, Rachel Atkinson and Alison Lamb, chairwoman and vice-chairwoman of governors at Cotherstone Primary, thanked Dr Jellis for taking “a difficult personal decision for the sake of both children and staff at the school” .
Peter Nichols, chairman of governors at Bowes Hutchinson’s, said: “Not only is Cotherstone close to us geographically, but the school’s staff, governors, families and community also share the same ethos and values as Bowes. Both headteachers are passionate about small schools and ensuring that children in rural communities have access to the highest teaching standards and range of opportunities that both schools currently provide.”
