School-led Clusters

Cluster governance and administration

Leadership and meeting structure

Most clusters meet termly and are represented by principal class officers.

Administrative responsibilities including chairing, minutes, agendas, and financial reporting are either shared across the cluster or are the responsibility of a cluster administrator or coordinator. Sometimes, schools agree to pool resources, integrating the administration within position responsibilities of a staff person at one of the participating schools. This is a decision for the cluster. If this is agreed, it’s important to clearly identify who is responsible for performance management of staff, and to consider salary on-costs.

It is recommended that decisions on meeting frequency, responsibilities and actions are agreed and recorded in the Cluster development plan. This can be reviewed annually at an annual general meeting and shared with new principals as part of their integration into the cluster.

Cluster roles and responsibilities

Membership

School-led clustering is a voluntary arrangement between schools and is not bound by specific department-defined geographical areas.

The cluster activities described in this policy are focused on partnerships between government schools of any size.

Schools can work with senior education and improvement leaders (SEIL), their curriculum area leader (CAL) or CEP to identify which schools could be suitable for a cluster arrangement.

When considering making a cluster, it is important to consider the practicalities of active collaboration and engagement with other schools.

Member school roles

To realise the greatest benefits, it is recommended that schools engage in clusters by:

• contributing to development of the Cluster development plan, a memorandum of understanding and/or other strategic or action plan documents
• nominating staff for the cluster’s governance group, which is ideally a principal class officer
• actively engaging in cluster operations, including ensuring lead staff can attend and participate in cluster meetings and activities
• working closely with area SEILs and CALs, to keep them informed and engaged with cluster activities.

Cluster leadership

It is essential that a lead representative from each school is nominated for the cluster, with a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities – outlined in the Cluster development plan.

The recommended range of responsibilities includes:

• cluster operations, such as managing the daily operations of the cluster
• chairing and managing meetings (can rotate responsibility across the cluster)
• implementing student, staff and whole-school initiatives
• stakeholder engagement, such as:
  • acting as the central point of contact with the leadership group and with parents/carers, students and the broader community
  • identifying and developing relationships with new stakeholders that will benefit the cluster’s objectives and goals
• communications and documentation, such as:
  • developing cluster communications products, including promotional and information materials, and managing their dissemination
  • developing and maintaining cluster documentation.

Succession planning

Planning for succession can help ensure clusters continue to flourish through staffing and leadership changes. For example, schools could include information about the cluster in recruitment materials for leadership positions so that potential candidates are aware of the cluster and can ask questions during recruitment. Refer to the Cluster development plan template (DOCX) for more examples of succession planning.

Support for school-led cluster arrangements

SEILs and CALs

The department’s SEILs and CALs provide ongoing support to clusters and can strengthen cluster planning and operations. For new clusters, SEILs and CALs can support the initial development of a shared vision and implementation of structures to support increased collaboration. For long-term clusters, SEILs and CALs can support clusters to deepen the engagement of the cluster from more incidental student focused initiatives to strategic and whole school cluster initiatives.

There are 8 CAL positions located across 7 (of the total 11) department areas in rural and regional Victoria:

• Central Highlands
• Goulburn
• Inner Gippsland
• Loddon Campaspe
• Ovens Murray
• Outer Gippsland
• Wimmera Southwest.

CALs support schools to address challenges associated with curriculum choice and quality in rural and regional schools and facilitate school-led clustering arrangements as a mechanism for strengthening learning and teaching.

CALs can provide support by:

• working with schools to plan and implement collaborative provision models, adopt blended learning approaches and improve use of technologies or virtual learning
• connecting clusters of schools with other DE initiatives and policies relating to curriculum delivery, such as the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0
• identifying teaching capability needs and support through professional development, mentoring and networking opportunities
• supporting cultures of challenge, collaboration and continuous improvement
• drawing on and connecting school-based staff with system resources to support effective practice.

Schools can contact their CAL via their SEIL, who will facilitate a referral to the aligned CAL. Schools can also email rural.regional.reform@education.vic.gov.au to be linked to their aligned CAL.

Country Education Partnership

The Country Education Partnership (CEP) is an independent organisation funded by the department to support and facilitate clustering arrangements between small rural schools. CEP supports school-led clustering at all stages – from the early stage of building relationships between schools, to supporting cluster longevity. CEP has a high level of expertise in this area and can provide support by:

• working with clusters to establish appropriate structures, processes and key initiatives
• setting out an agreed approach in a Cluster development plan
• supporting the implementation of cluster initiatives and providing existing examples of effective clusters to inform the approach
• attending, supporting and participating in cluster meetings
• providing administrative support to help run the cluster.

For more information on the role of the CEP in supporting school-led clusters, visit their webpage Clusters – Country Education Partnership.

Cluster success indicators, review and reporting

Discussing and agreeing on review and reporting parameters is important, as is identifying cluster goals and implementing the cluster actions, which can be built into the Cluster development plan.

Depending on the cluster's focus area/s, sharing and understanding baseline data can help the cluster identify success indicators.

Agreeing and maintaining cluster outcomes data can be used to support shared grant applications and can be a helpful tool when communicating with department staff, parents/carers and the broader school community, where appropriate, on cluster outcomes.

Finances

Clusters can establish a financial plan that specifies the funding commitments of each member school to support agreed cluster activities and resources. The financial model may be based, for example, on a user-pays approach for individual activities, or through an annual contribution from each member school to meet the projected needs of the cluster.

Cluster financial arrangements operate within the requirements of the department’s Finance Manual – Financial Management for Schools policy.

When commencing as a cluster, the cluster is strongly recommended to discuss and ensure there is clear agreement on items such as:

• the funding to be contributed, including any agreed affiliation fees or charges, for each school
• expectations of what funds will be spent on
• who has the authorisation for payment of accounts and ordering of supplies.

If there is a host or a base school, the school needs to advise their school council that funds for identified specific purposes will be managed by the school and indicate the sub-program. It is also important to ensure the purpose of the program is documented.

Pooling Student Resource Package to deliver programs

Schools can pool Student Resource Package (SRP) funding, such as Instrumental Music Programs funding, and Schools’ Mental Health Fund and Menu funding, to jointly deliver programs or curriculum. Pooling SRP funds to deliver specialist programs can:

• strengthen workforce retention by increasing hours of employment for specialist teachers, working across multiple schools
• provide students with a broader range of options, such as more musical instruments to choose from
• enhance collaborative experiences for students, such as school performances, shared incursions or excursions
• improve buying power for activities such as Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) or cleaning.

For guidance on setting up split ledgers for shared teaching staff or other SRP lines, contact 1800 641 943 or log a HR service call with the DE Services Portal.

For other financial support, contact schools.finance.support@education.vic.gov.au.

For more information on sharing Mental Health fund across schools, refer to the Mental Health Fund and Menu policy.

CASES21

A host or base school:

• activates a dedicated sub-program
• invoices the participating schools for their payments (if required) using the Sundry Debtors module is the best option for this
• uses Revenue Code – GL73541 – Transfers from other Schools (refer to the Chart of Accounts in the Finance Manual for advice on GST coding).

The cluster ensures that:

• financial reports are tabled, and minutes are reflected correctly at cluster meetings
• any changes to authorising of invoices is documented, and the managing school is aware of the changes
• the school council for the host school receives reporting on the cluster funding
• the Financial Commitments Summary – End of Year represents the funds as a School Shared Arrangements
• the hosting school is aware of fringe benefits tax (FBT) responsibilities and obligations and provides accurate documentation and reports reflecting financial matters.

In line with the Finance Manual, if there is movement of funds or closure of a program, the host school needs to:

• inform their school council that the funds are being moved to another school, or the program is ceasing
• ensure participating schools agree upon distribution of residual funds.

If moving the funds to another school, use the following CASES21 code:

• GL89360 – School to School Transfers.

Sharing information

Sharing activities can lead to sharing student information and schools are recommended to review the requirements of the Privacy and Information Sharing policy.

When schools will be clustering for the upcoming year, they are advised to inform their school community. Schools can use the parent consent for information sharing template to help avoid surprises as part of good privacy practice and privacy compliance.

If opt-in consent is required for specific activities, including those where health information is shared with cluster schools, then schools can use the appropriate section of the template.

Please contact the Privacy Team on 03 8688 7967 or at privacy@education.vic.gov.au for assistance regarding sharing student personal information.