As a Trust, our ambition for all young people in our schools is driven by our aims of Equity, Well-being and Excellence. Our work school improvement framework is designed to meet the needs of each of our schools on their own journey of improvement.  Our task is to meet them there and support them to move forward, with the ultimate aim of ensuring that all our schools provide an excellent education for all children.

Our Deputy CEO works with the School Improvement Team, alongside our Headteachers and Trust Lead Professionals to ensure we make the best provision possible for all our schools. 

The School Improvement Team is made up of three Area Directors of Schools, our Safeguarding Strategic Lead, our EYFS Strategic Lead, our SEND Strategic Lead and our Institute of Education Director.

 

Steve Roddy: Deputy CEO

Sarah Sadler: Area Director

Steve Snelson: Area Director

Liz Martin: Safeguarding Strategic Lead

Alex Oldham: EYFS Strategic Lead

Nadine Weedall: SEND Strategic Lead

Alan Eathorne: Institute of Education Director

This team provides professional challenge and support to our schools, helping leadership to effectively evaluate performance, identify priorities for improvement and plan effective change. Each school has an allocated Area Director of Schools. They support school leaders and take each school through the improvement and assurance work.

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In addition, there are network leaders and a group of Trust Lead Professionals who are appointed as expert practitioners from across our schools.

Trust Lead Professionals are deployed under the direction of the DCEO or ADSs to work in schools alongside individual teachers or leaders for an agreed period to support them in developing their practice. We also view our Headteachers to be a key part of the School Improvement Team and will utilise their skills in several ways, such as mentoring newly appointed Heads or those new to the Trust, specific pieces of improvement work in other schools, working alongside leaders in schools that need to improve rapidly to support leadership capacity.

Leaders are invited to work alongside colleagues from the central education team to carry out peer reviews in other schools; the purpose of this is to share their expertise as well as contribute to their professional learning.

The School Improvement Team are accountable to the Trust Board and report termly to the Trust School Improvement Committee. The focus of these meetings is on the flourishing of all children, especially those who are vulnerable in terms of attainment and progress, as well as ethos, safeguarding, attendance, behaviour and the impact of prioritised school improvement work.

The ADSs are line managers for our Headteachers, and are responsible for ensuring their annual appraisal is carried out with appropriate rigour and challenge. This includes the setting of aspirational attainment targets on an annual basis which are reviewed throughout the year within each area grouping.

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The most important part of our School Improvement Framework is ensuring each school can effectively self-evaluate and develop personalised, ambitious improvement plans that bring about rapid improvement where necessary. 

The School Improvement Framework is founded on a number of principles:

• The prime responsibility for school improvement remains with the Headteacher.
• Schools are encouraged to have an autonomous vision, reflecting either Church or community school foundation, aligned to Learn Academies Trust values.
• A key aim is to support schools to develop effective procedures for accurate self-evaluation and improvement planning, and the ability to identify and commission additional support effectively for themselves.
• The expectations of contribution and involvement in assurance activities are clearly identified and understood.
• Capacity and expertise for system-led improvement will be supported and developed.
• The professional partnership and communication between the Headteacher and Area Director are critical, but schools will benefit from the expertise of the school improvement team.
• The amount of support provided to schools depends on their needs, as identified through an effective self-evaluation and assurance process.
• Processes are designed to be positive, focusing on strengths as well as identifying areas for development.

Headteachers evaluate their school against the OFSTED inspection framework, using the trust’s standard template. Any areas for improvement are included in the school development plans, informing both activity within the school, but also the support provided by professional learning communities. Self-evaluation forms and improvement plans are submitted to the CEO in September each year.

Peer Networks

The leadership of different aspects of school improvement is supported across our Trust through professional learning communities. These networks, led by an appointed School Improvement Lead, support headteachers and leaders to evaluate and strengthen practice in that particular domain.

	Lead	Regularity	Assurance activities
Designated Safeguarding Leads	Safeguarding Strategic Lead	Six times a year	Safeguarding peer review completed bi-annually with each school
SENCo Network	SEND Strategic Lead	Six times a year	SEND peer review completed bi-annually with each school
Equity Leaders Network	Director of Education	Six times a year	Review of Pupil Premium strategy Review of disadvantaged pupils outcomes termly
EYFS Leaders Network	EYFS Strategic Lead	Three times a year	Termly moderation meetings
Church School Leaders Network	Church School Lead	Three times a year	SIAMS peer review completed every three years with each Church school