THE TRUST SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT MODEL: Ensuring Sustainable Excellence

A key strategic aim of the Trust is to ensure that all schools are delivering sustainably good education. The Trust is set to have grown to double-figures in terms of the number of schools that benefit from being in the trust, and the addition of Holyhead to lead our Northern Hub will ensure the model is even more robust. With this growth, the school improvement model is planned to evolve, with a changed and indeed enhanced relationship with the Trust   commissioned Trust School Improvement Partner service.

School Improvement Strategy

Our Senior Executive Team, led by Executive Principal (CEO), drive school improvement across the trust. The model of school improvement is attached, which is designed to ensure shared expert knowledge.

The Trust Board employ external experts (Trust School Improvement Partners) who are all ex-NLE and/or Ofsted inspectors, all with strong track record of recent executive leadership to provide support and challenge, and provide an independent assessment of risk for leaders, governors and trustees.

The SIPs have been deployed to provide high capacity leadership support/capacity to schools at high risk, for instance ‘special measures’ schools joining the trust.

The key elements of our staffing model include:

The Trust Executive Leadership Team

Responsible for strategy development, implementation and monitoring of impact.

Fortnightly assessment of risk, and oversight of the deployment of below (or additional external resource as required) to ensure sustainable strength across all schools

The Principals Executive (with primary and secondary meetings as appropriate)

Delivery of strategy, where not school based implementation, is delivered through:

• Focus groups (Task and Finish group set up to deal with specific tasks, standardisation requirements, issues that are time limited to enable decision or specific action)

CENTRAL Professional Learning, Research and Development (CPLR&D):

The following trust-wide school improvement structures are key to the school improvement model, and form a core element of CPLR&D, along with CPDL programmes:

• Co-design strategy teams (trust-wide strategy development and implementation teams) which include:
  • Disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils’ strategy
  • Reading strategy
  • Safeguarding co-design strategy team
  • EYFS
  • Assessment

• Subject and phase co-design teams

Our Co-design teams are set up to ensure that colleagues from schools across the Trust are able to develop and share best practice. Where collaborative development leads to a clear ‘best way’ then our Senior Executive Team will, in dialogue with the Principals Executive standardise practice as appropriate.

• School Teaching and Learning Development Teams

In terms of personnel, we have Trust appointments made to the following posts, who can be deployed to any school as required:

• Executive Principal (CEO) – National leader of Education
• Trust Executive Principal – Primary

• School Improvement Leader

• Executive Principal x 3

• Trust Vice-Principal – Secondary
• Trust Vice-Principal – Primary

• Trust SEN Expert

• Trust Lead Practitioners – En, Ma, Sci, GG, Hi, MFL

We have trust leaders for:

• Teaching and Learning Strategy
• Reading
• Safeguarding
• Assessment and Data
• Disadvantaged and vulnerable
• SEN

We have co-design leaders who lead co-design teams (knowledge exchange) for all subjects, primary phases, student support.

List of Specialist Leaders in Education (secondary)

Leadership of KS3 Literacy
English and CPD
T&L leadership, English
Curriculum & Assessment
Geography
Safeguarding x2
Science X4
Drama
Maths and Maths HPA
History
RE x2

T&L leadership x2
KS2 and 3 Maths, Assessment
MFL
SEN
B&A Leadership

PSHE
Leadership of Closing the Gap, ICT

Assessment and leadership

Business and Finance

CPD leadership

ITT and NQT induction