Welcome to The Education Partnership. Please take a look around our website and see what we can offer you.

Bill Brown is chairman of The Education Partnership, which for the past twenty-five years has provided a comprehensive range of governance and compliance expertise to schools, colleges, and outdoor education activity centres. Since the introduction of the Education Act 2002, he has prepared schools for and/or followed up on about 2,000 inspections. He was previously a headteacher of all-age boarding and day schools in the maintained and independent sectors, including those for children with complex learning and behavioural needs, as well spending a period leading initial and in-service postgraduate teacher training in special education in a college of higher education.

Bill works with colleagues, employers (proprietors, trustees, and governors), headteachers, chief executive officers, chief operating officers (COOs) and bursars, preparing for and following up inspections by Ofsted (education and social care) and the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI). His expertise in this area covers implementation and compliance with the Independent School Standards (ISS) as well as the National Minimum Standards (NMS) for boarding schools and Residential Special Schools (RSS). This includes:

• guiding proprietors in applying to the DfE for a material changes to their schools;
• preparing and implementing policies, procedures and day-to-day working-practises, to comply with the ISS, NMS and RSS standards;
• on behalf of proprietors, preparing the pre-registration inspection of new schools, followed by its standard inspection within one year of opening;
• preparing action plans for schools which have received a warning notice and enforcement letter from the DfE or an unannounced/emergency inspection;
• guiding proprietors in applying to the DfE for a material change to their schools.

Bill is currently undertaking a longitudinal study examining how the proprietors of schools can best navigate the external inspection process and compliance with the Independent School Standards (ISS), the National Minimum Standards (NMS) for boarding and residential special schools (RSS). The research aims to determine how they might avoid receiving warning notices and enforcement letters from the DfE, and ensure the fulfilment of their responsibilities while strengthening governance, leadership and management. The conclusions of this research will undoubtably be useful for our client schools.

To this end, he is looking for schools inspected in accordance with the ISS Regulations in England for whom he would undertake a pro bono one-day compliance health check in return for participating in a confidential semi-structured interview on this subject at the end of the day. If you would be interested in taking up this offer, please contact [email protected].

Bill is approached by an increasing number of proprietors, chairs of trustees, governors, headteachers, chief operating officers (COOs) and bursars, who find themselves in challenging circumstances. This includes schools that have received a warning notice and enforcement letter from the Department for Education (DfE) due to their failure to meet the Independent School Standards (ISS) and/or the NMS for boarding and residential special schools (RSS). Following guidance and advice, these schools are consistently judged to be compliant upon inspection.

In addition, Bill works with staff in schools to

• manage their schools and outdoor education/activity centres more effectively and efficiently;
• advise on learning outside the classroom (LOtC) including the responsibilities of providers, employees and employers;
• carry out special educational needs audits, advising on specific learning difficulties (especially dyslexia), and the role of the SENCO;
• draw up personnel specifications and effective interview strategies, along with the recruitment and management of principals, headteachers, senior leadership teams (SLT) and SENCOs;
• act as a critical friend and school improvement partner by holding proprietors, chief executive officers, headteachers, COOs and SLT to account for the implementation of the ISS procedures.

Bill is a Vice President of the Hampshire Scout Association, a supporter of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, the senior education advisor to the Society of Educational Consultants, a member of both the Magic Circle and the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Bill’s personal interests include music, magic and mountains frequently interspersed with visits to tea shops. 

Many of the illustrations on this website reflect Bill’s enduring love of mountains and crags, along with the fulfilment enjoyed by children and young people in realising their dreams; embarking on their own adventure towards becoming as personally adequate, socially competent, and independent as their potential will allow.