School Improvement

Being part of our Trust offers schools the opportunity to grow and develop as unique institutions, within a framework of collaboration, challenge and support.

Central to the model is ensuring appropriate levels of:

Continuous improvement through self-evaluation
Monitoring and challenge – offering incisive evaluation and challenge by credible leaders
Support, capacity and system leadership – providing appropriate and timely intervention where needed

Our ultimate aim is to work with schools to ensure they provide an excellent education for all children and young people. Central to our school improvement model are well researched procedures and systems and excellent, experienced staff who have a track record of school improvement. The model contains both proactive and reactive elements to effectively support the needs of individual schools.

Where a school is demonstrating a high level of success and strong capacity for further improvement, it is important that they can operate in conditions that enable them to sustain their momentum. There is also a moral imperative for such schools to share their expertise for the good of the wider Trust and the education system as a whole. We also recognise that timely intervention and bespoke support may be of benefit to sustain and strengthen performance, even in high-performing schools.

Some schools will be in more challenging positions upon joining the Trust, or circumstances may lead to a school being in a more vulnerable position. Where this is the case, the Trust can work more intensively with the school to support in strengthening their capacity and providing rapid improvement.

The central staff and school staff work together to build an understanding of a school’s capacity to improve through Education Reviews, Partnership Visits and Collaborative Reviews. Strengths and priorities are shared with the Trust Board and Local Governing Bodies, as well as staff, so that there is a shared awareness and understanding.

School improvement underpins our Trust and is focused on our mission, vision and values. We believe school improvement adds real value to a school and work on the philosophy of ‘improve and not prove’. Capacity for support is identified across the Trust. The diagnosis and prioritisation of need ensures a focus on classroom practice and improving standards and using capacity to improve and develop, not just monitor.

Our School Improvement Framework

All schools are entitled to and access a core School Improvement Offer. Our framework sets out what all of our schools contribute to and participate in as we strive collectively for educational excellence. The core offer is the minimum entitlement for all schools. The activities undertaken in the core offer are tailored to the needs and school improvement priorities of the individual school and are carried out in partnership with the school SLT and other relevant colleagues. Schools that are deemed, through dynamic, evaluative activity, to need an enhanced model of support will receive this in addition to the Core Offer.

School classification tiers

Each school is assigned a support level by the Trustees and CEO, determining their entitlement for support in consultation with each school. This is communicated annually to the school and is a best-fit approach considering the level of risk. All schools are entitled to our core support offer. Enhanced and bespoke support schools will receive the core support plus the additional support.

Core offer

Education Reviews	Each school receives two Education Reviews. This is an opportunity for schools to share their successes and strengths and for the Trust to evaluate the impact of school improvement activities. It is also an opportunity to ensure the Trust and School evaluations are aligned and to see the progress of the school improvement plan.
Partnership Visits	Each school receives Partnership Visits each academic year. During these visits, the focus is on the school improvement cycle to align the mission, vision, and values, diagnosing needs, and planning the school improvement work for the coming term. Partnership Visits also provide an opportunity for alignment between the executive team, school leaders and local governors.
Collaborative Visits	All schools take part in Collaborative Visits. They provide the opportunity for leaders to work collaboratively to review the effectiveness of provision and the impact of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment in specific subjects. In each, leaders have the chance to evaluate an agreed focus and work with the host school to identify the next steps and draw together shared learning.
School Effectiveness Visits	School Effectiveness visits take place to ensure statutory obligations are being met by the school and the Trust. They are usually carried out by internal Trust employees but at times, external partners are utilised for verification. These visits provide both the host school and the Trust with the next steps required in order generate any specific support necessary.
SIAMS and Christian Distinctiveness development	Each of our church schools receives three Christian Distinctiveness visits from our Christian Distinctiveness Lead. As the Trust is part of the Church Schools Flourishing programme, schools also receive support in RE, Collective Worship, preparation for SIAMS, Leadership and Foundation Governance. There are specialists for each of these areas within the Trust.
Headteacher Appraisals	Personal and professional growth is central to our mission. Headteachers are provided with professional appraisals in partnership with their governors.
Headteacher Coaching	Leading a school is a challenging and complex task. To help navigate the complexity, all Headteachers are provided with six coaching sessions per year from one of our trained coaches.
Governance support and development	Local voice is vital to a school belonging to its community. We provide three trust development sessions each year to maximize impact on school improvement. We also provide twenty training courses that are bespoke to the needs of local governors within our Trust.
Networks	Trust Network Groups are each facilitated by either a member of the Executive Team or Specialist Lead within our Trust. They bring together school leaders from all schools to focus on an area of responsibility. These regular meetings are a combination of CPD, information sharing, and networks.
Joint Inset and Training Days	Each school receives three days teaching and learning champion days each year. Schools can select from a range of excellent practitioners from across our schools to support an area of identified need.
Headteacher mentoring	New Headteachers and Executive Headteachers are provided with a mentor for the first two years of service.
CPD	CPD takes a range of forms, from whole Trust INSET provision, through to individual developmental work. Some CPD is statutory for all staff whilst some programmes are optional. Most recently the Trust has been accredited by the Church of England to deliver NPQ programmes through the NPQ Flex award.
Subject Specialist Support	A team of class-based subject specialists lead CPD for other leaders or give bespoke support to schools in their area of expertise. They also run networks for subject leaders to share new learning and best practice.
Ofsted preparation	All schools are supported in their preparations for inspection.
Leadership development	Headteachers receive half-term update meetings and collective Headteacher meetings.

Enhanced offer

Our enhanced offer provides additional support for schools, adding additional capacity to ensure everyone succeeds. If a school is receiving the Enhanced offer, they also have the Core Offer.

CEO or Deputy CEO School Visits	Termly visits from either our CEO or Deputy CEO support the Headteacher and their senior team in their improvement drive.
Collaborative Visits	Two additional Collaborative Visits from our school improvement leads provide training and support to leaders within the school.
Headteacher Coaching	Leading a school is a challenging and complex task. To help navigate the complexity all Headteachers are provided coaching sessions, however, this access is increased for those Headteachers leading in challenging circumstances.
INSET and Training Days	To aid school improvement, additional time during INSET Days may be utilised by the Executive team to provide training for school staff.
Grant funding review	As part of the identification of need, a review of targeted funding will be carried out focusing on PP, sports premium and catch up and SEN funding.

Bespoke offer

Our Bespoke offer provides further additional support. This could be in place for a range of reasons; it could be to support schools with a specific element of practice, support a good school moving to outstanding or a vulnerable school that requires some precise support.

CEO or Deputy CEO school visits	Additional visits from either our CEO or Deputy CEO support the Headteacher and their senior team in their improvement drive.
Additional Capacity	If the capacity for improvement within the school does not meet the needs required, additional capacity from within the Central Executive Team may be required.
Collaborative Visits	Additional support and development days from our school improvement leads are available. These can be used for bespoke training and support for all leaders within a school.
Partnership Visits	Additional Partnership Visits are available. During these visits, the focus is on the school improvement cycle to align the mission, vision, and values, diagnosing needs, and planning the school improvement work. Partnership Visits also provide an opportunity for alignment between the Executive Team, school leaders and local governors
Headteacher Coaching	Leading a school is a challenging and complex task. To help navigate the complexity all Headteachers are provided coaching sessions. However, this access is increased for those Headteachers leading in challenging circumstances