Autonomy
The ethos of the Trust Board is that best results will be achieved when each school’s Local Governing Body receives a level of responsibility and autonomy appropriate to its specific circumstances. When a school is graded as ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’, the level of support through day-to-day supervision by the Trust will be limited to those areas of agreed need and improvement. It would be expected that the LGB will operate with maximum autonomy applied through the Trust’s scheme of Local Governing Body delegation. It will be a requirement that schools graded in a category will be subject to close supervision of all aspects of governance, leadership, financial management and curriculum delivery through the CEO and Head of Finance and Operations. The LGB will have restricted delegated powers. It would be normal practice for members to be appointed by the Trust Board.
School Improvement Strategy
School improvement is never a static concept: it is ever evolving as the drive for higher standards demands creativity and innovation. It requires openness, honesty, transparency, reflection, energy and flexibility. There is a need for the Trust to have an explicit strategy for ensuring that it secures its goal of “excellent outcomes for every child”. This means ensuring that the Trust has an in-depth knowledge of each of its academies and their current performance in order to:
Sustain success where it already exists
Develop strengths where there is a need to improve
Implement rapid improvement strategies where performance is weak
Share strengths through mutual support and challenge
The Trust will deliver school improvement by:
Appointing a School Improvement Partner to provide quality assurance
Carrying out Due Diligence on new schools
Allocating specific funding for this purpose
Providing a core offer for all Trust schools
Providing additional support appropriate to individual school needs
Alignment and standardisation of appropriate processes and systems
Our School Standards KPIs are:
- Parent, staff and pupil survey data illustrates satisfaction
- All schools are fully compliant with health and safety, safeguarding and other statutory requirements
- All schools are at least good and/or improve their Ofsted inspection rating
- The percentage of teaching across the Trust that is good or outstanding is at least 95%
- That the Pupil Premium Grant is used effectively to ensure disadvantaged pupils make accelerated progress
- That the Sports Premium Grant is used effectively to contribute towards the health and wellbeing of our pupils
- School attendance data is improving including the rate of persistent absence
- Support for SEMH within our Trust is decreasing the numbers of suspensions and permanent exclusions.
- That we fully commit to the Essex Inclusion Statement across all our schools and recognise Inclusion in its wider sense
Our Leadership KPIs are:
To ensure that executive leaders and Trust Headteachers provide effective leadership (both rigorous and supportive) and deliver an excellent school experience that is sustainable over time by embedding systems leadership.
- All schools receive Good or Outstanding Ofsted outcomes upon inspection
- Ofsted Reports offer praise for leadership.
- All schools meet/make progress towards Nationally measured statutory outcomes for phonics, MTC and Key Stage 2 SATs.
- SIAMS inspections in Church Schools indicate that our church schools are distinctive and have embedded the Church of England Vision for Education.
- To provide staff with excellent professional learning opportunities to support their career progression as indicated by attendance at courses and qualifications gained.
- The impact of professional learning opportunities are measured through the impact on school development plans and pupil outcomes.
- To attract, develop and retain talented and capable staff to posts in our schools and central team.
- Staff feel well led and well managed, this will demonstrate how the Trust is engendering the culture to thrive and support each other.