Sponsor application form
Application to become an academy sponsor
This application is for all applicants who wish to apply to become an academy sponsor.
Information to help you complete this form can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/sponsor-an-academy
Please note that information provided in this application form, including personal information, may be subject to publication or disclosure in accordance with access to information regimes, particularly the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 1998 Part A: Applicant Details
Date of application: 1st June 2018
Name of sponsor Tees Valley Collaborative Trust organisation:
Company number: 10743632
Applicant contact Joanna Bailey name and role: CEO
Full address: Church walk Guisborough TS14 6BU Telephone number: 01287 280800
Email address: [email protected]
Are you interested in No ☒ Yes ☐ any current Basic Need Projects? If yes please state which local authority (LA) and project you are interested in: More details of the Basic Need programme and its criteria can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/targeted-basic-need-programme
Have you or Please tick all that apply: members of your group ever applied to Free School Studio School UTC X Sponsor set up a free school, studio school, UTC or become a sponsor?
2 If yes, please provide the following: Name of school(s) or organisation: Winstanley College, Wigan to sponsor Abraham Guest School, Orrell
Date of application: January 2011
Please describe the involvement of your group or group’s members in the application? CEO and Principal Joanna Bailey was Principal of Winstanley College at the time. Winstanley was already supporting the school through National Challenge and was asked by the DfE to sponsor the school as an academy. JB left Winstanley College in 2013.
Director of Resources – Lyle Nicholson – was Vice Principal at Discovery School (Free School) in Newcastle upon Tyne and as such was part of the pre-opening team. He helped lead the school through the successful process of application, monitoring and eventual opening in September 2014.
Do you have any plans to apply for to set up a free school, studio school or UTC in the future? Not in the short term.
3 How would you Please tick all that apply: describe your organisation? Primary Special School All through (primary Alternative Provision School and Secondary) Independent Business Voluntary Group Diocese school Group Existing UTC Existing Studio FE College Grammar School Proposer School Proposer TSA Philanthropist Faith Based University Organisation Parent Secondary Residential X 6th Form College Community School Provision Group Free School Other (Please specify)
If you are a school Has your governing body ratified its support for you becoming an academy sponsor: Yes please provide further information: If you are supported by a Church Diocese, have you received formal support to become an academy sponsor? (If relevant): Yes / No
Type of Please tick all that apply: academy/academies you plan to sponsor: X Primary Special School All through Alternative Provision School (primary and Secondary) X Secondary Residential Other (Please School Provision specify)
4 Geographical area(s) Please tick all that apply: where you wish to work: Lancashire and North East London East Midlands and South London West Yorkshire and East Humber and South East
North West X North West Midlands South West London and South Central
National
If you have specific LAs in mind, please provide further information:
Our 16-19 academy has two sites, one in Redcar and Cleveland and one in Stockton on Tees. Initially, for reasons of geographical proximity and knowledge of local networks, we would hope to work in these areas. However, we would be open to work across a wider area, within and beyond the Tees Valley, where there may be a need.
5 Part B: Applicant overview
This section is about the strategic vision of your organisation, and your aspirations for growth. All other parts of the application should support this vision.
(Recommended max 500 words)
An Academy Sponsor works to support an under-performing academy to improve its performance and ensure its funding is spent effectively. A sponsor is responsible for monitoring the academy’s performance and taking appropriate action where necessary. The sponsor selects the governing body and appoints the leadership team and works with parents and the wider community. The sponsoring academy trust is directly accountable to the DfE for the sponsored academy’s performance. We want to become a sponsor because we believe we have a proven track record of improving standards and outcomes, we have grown our capacity to support schools in other educational phases and there is an LA maintained school adjacent to our Guisborough college campus which is starting to fail. Their preferred option is to partner with us and we are already offering them some structured support for Maths.
Our Trust is situated in two boroughs in the Tees Valley: Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton on Tees. Both boroughs contain schools requiring improvement and include communities which suffer from generations of unemployment and low aspirations. The majority of secondary schools in both boroughs have already converted to academy status or have previously been assigned a sponsor. In Stockton the majority of these are improving but in Redcar and Cleveland the outcomes of the two LA maintained secondary schools are worsening and a cause for concern. The geographical proximity of these schools to our Guisborough campus make them natural partners [they are important ‘feeders’ for the college] and we believe we have the knowledge, expertise and capacity to improve the performance of these and other schools.
The key values of our Trust are those of strengthening performance and outcomes through collaboration between schools and colleges and across the educational phases. Our vision is to engender a love of learning which will raise aspirations and improve destinations by recruiting and developing teachers of the highest calibre. We believe in an inclusive provision, providing a caring environment but with the highest expectations, proving a curriculum offer that meets the needs of all young people and enables them to make a positive contribution to their communities and the future of the region. Schools joining our Trust can expect support and challenge of the highest quality, provided by senior leaders with experience of delivering rapid, significant quality improvements and by our Lead Practitioners in English, Maths and Science. We would align our systems and processes in terms of data management, progress monitoring and evaluating the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. However, we would also be mindful of necessary differences between educational phases and not implement change for change’s sake. Schools could expect to retain autonomy over aspects such as school name, uniform. Aspects such as timetable and curriculum would be reviewed and adjusted in order to achieve the best possible outcomes for students but our Trust is mindful that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach may not be applicable, as we learnt through the merger of our two sixth form colleges and subsequent conversion.
We plan to grow our Trust through attracting ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ schools at both secondary and primary level, which will add capacity and strengthen our ability to effectively sponsor schools in difficulty. Over time this will enable us to realise our vision for an all-through ‘family’ of schools ranged across the region.
The governors and staff of an LA maintained primary school in Redcar and Cleveland – Errington Primary School in Marske - have recently submitted an expression of interest to convert to academy status and join our Trust. The school currently has a ‘good’ rating but is demonstrating a very strong trajectory of further improvement in terms of the latest accountability measures. The Head Teacher, who quickly led the school from ‘RI’ to ‘good’, is an NLE with a proven track record of leading improvement in a number of primary schools. As a result of this work often taking the Head Teacher out of school, capacity has been created, through the development of a number of teacher-leaders in the primary school. The Head Teacher’s status as an NLE and the improvements that have been achieved in the school would be an asset to attracting other primary schools to join our Trust.
We are currently offering extensive support to a maintained secondary school in Guisborough with an ‘RI’ judgement, Laurence Jackson School. Should the opportunity arise, we would be very interested in sponsoring this school as we have a long-standing close relationship, the school and college are situated adjacently and we believe the interventions we are making will demonstrate a positive impact on the school’s improvement [see Part C below].
We believe that geographical proximity to a sponsored school will facilitate success, but given that the two sites of our 16-19 academy are 22 miles apart
7 spanning the Tees Valley, we could envisage sponsoring schools further afield e.g. County Durham, North Yorkshire.
At conversion we conducted an audit of our readiness for growth. We have made a series of appointments of both senior leaders, expert teacher practitioners and trust board directors to facilitate planned growth [detailed in Part C and D].
8 Part C: School improvement
This section is to ensure that there is a clear idea of the approach the academy trust will take to school improvement in order to realise its strategic vision. State clearly how School Improvement will be brought into the trust and how it will be undertaken.
(Recommended max 500 words) Tees Valley Collaborative Trust respects the identity and character of individual schools and their existing strengths and so the Trust’s leadership will rapidly assess where improvement is required, respond effectively to the context of each academy and adapt the strategies for intervention accordingly, with short, medium and longer term actions spanning a three year period. Our model of school improvement is characterised by a culture of high expectations in respect of behaviour for learning, student outcomes and progression, relentlessly pursuing excellence and achievement for all. If financial matters are an issue for a sponsored academy Trust leaders will intervene to ensure that financial management is robust and that an appropriate and timely recovery plan is in place. The scheme of delegation will reflect an appropriate level of ‘earned’ autonomy for governors and leaders of any sponsored academy. In the first instance the scheme of delegation will reflect ‘tight’ controls for a sponsored academy, including alignment with the best practice in strong schools in the trust and trust board approval needed for spending above £5000, for example.
The Trust’s leaders have a strong proven track record as excellent teachers and as experienced and effective managers of others’ teaching performance. As such they are well situated to quickly establish a detailed knowledge and understanding of the context and situation of any academy we sponsor, enabling us to scale up and share what has been proven to be effective teaching and learning practice at one or both sites of the college. A consistent and rigorous approach to learning walks, the use of video technology in classroom observations, regular and thorough work scrutinies and the frequent interrogation of data have all contributed to this effectiveness. The significant and rapid improvement in the value added performance across A levels at Stockton Sixth Form College in 2016-17 (52% A*-B grades) is testament to the impact of the rigorous quality assurance process with students, subjects and teachers, invested in by the leaders of the merged college. The senior leaders of the founding academy in the Trust – Prior Pursglove and Stockton Sixth Form College – have a strong record of school improvement including two improved Ofsted ratings and delivering improvements in a significant range of accountability measures (detailed in
9 section F). This proven track record will enable us to achieve the buy-in of teachers and managers in a sponsored academy. The development of a common model for coaching improvement in classroom performance, based on the use of open classroom observation including use of video technology, will be key to driving up of standards of teaching and learning. The further development of enquiry-based learning will link professional development directly to classroom impact through such means as lesson study, action research, joint curriculum and lesson planning.
Trust leaders will use well-established, proven and consistent data capture systems used at the college to pinpoint precisely the issues that need to be addressed. The data dashboards for Trust academies will track performance in terms of student progress across years and subjects, as well as attendance (of staff and students), exclusions, safeguarding and child protection, SEN, and applications for admissions. Regular and frequent sharing of this data will drive the agenda, plan the interventions and assess their impact on identified areas for school improvement across the Trust. This approach has been well- tried at both college sites and it is considered to be key to the improvements in performance that have been achieved.
Regular interrogation of data relating to any academy in the Trust by the Trust Board and CEO will provide an early warning of a school starting to fail. Senior Leaders across the Trust will provide a unified approach to lesson observations and learning walks. The establishment of peer and external reviews for each academy in the Trust using a formal model to scrutinise each other, with the engagement of identified HMI or Ofsted inspectors in this process, is fundamental to the pursuit of continuous improvement. We plan that our current LGB Governor, Paul Welford – who is a practising Ofsted inspector of secondary schools – will join the Trust Board where he will be instrumental in scrutinising our plans in this regard. Paul Welford formerly led the school improvement strategy for Maths in Stockton and so has significant experience to inform the Trust’s approach when sponsoring a secondary academy, for example. The Trust is creating capacity to ensure that we can draft staff with appropriate skill sets and experience into ‘danger’ areas. In addition, we have specifically built capacity by employing senior leaders with recent experience and a proven track record in a KS3-4 setting, as well as teachers of the highest calibre in the core subjects of English, Maths and Science who could be deployed at short notice. We have also undertaken significant succession and contingency planning exercises to ensure that the college sites would continue to run effectively if key personnel need to be deployed elsewhere.
10 The Trust’s school improvement model recognises the stimulus and learning that comes from engaging with schools and practice both within and outside the Trust, so we will build on effective existing strategic partnerships with the Campus Stockton Teaching Alliance, Redcar and Cleveland Teacher Training Partnership (R&CTTP) and the recently formed Acklam Grange Teaching School. We deliver one full module on transition from KS4 to KS5 for the trainees of R&CTTP and this partnership goes back many years. Our Trust already collaborates extensively and effectively with other local Trusts e.g. Northern Education Trust and Teesside Learning Trust [see Part F]. The college works closely with a wide range of schools at secondary and primary level and this interaction can be seen to have promoted improvement within both the schools and the college (see below – Laurence Jackson School and The Grangefield Academy). The CEO has formed a link with another post-16 academy who is an approved and active sponsor: Queen Mary’s College, Basingstoke in Hampshire and with the CEO of Tyne Coast College who is assisting us in understanding how we can effectively manage issues relating to sponsorship across educational phases. Lindsey Whiterod has shared many valuable insights regarding the sponsorship of Ridgeway primary school and its school improvement journey which we will seek to learn from and emulate. We plan to continue our association so that we can continue to learn lessons together and share good practice from our work as sponsors.
The curriculum will reflect the needs of the students, the context of the school and the latest accountability measures. Above all, the curriculum will seek to enable the students to optimise their achievements and prepare them to progress effectively to the next stage of their lives – emotionally, economically and into an apprenticeship and employment or further and higher education. The curriculum will be organised to provide breadth and variety to include but also extend beyond the EBacc. Significant attention will be paid to the cost of the curriculum and the viability of the provision. Investment will be made in enabling all students to achieve in English and Maths, including through 1-2- 1 tutoring.
Close monitoring of progress against key benchmark data including GCSE Progress and Attainment scores for schools in similar circumstances, in terms of enrolment bands and proportions of pupils with free school meals entitlement will drive the improvement agenda, as well as local schools with data sharing protocols in place. Prior attainment at KS2 will establish predicted progress paths for students and lead to the establishment of aspirational targets through the application of Fischer Family Trust data. Focus will be placed on the progress of individuals and identified groups, particularly disadvantaged students to assess the impact of pupil premium funding allocations. Teachers will use a common framework of interim assessments
11 to predict outcomes and students will be RAG rated in terms of their levels of progress compared to prior attainment at KS2. Those at risk of under- performance will receive additional targeted interventions in a timely manner, especially in English, Maths and Science, under the direction of the Trust’s Lead Practitioners. Sponsored academies would be expected to improve performance to at least in line with an Ofsted ‘good’ rating within three years.
• Please provide written declaration of links to any school improvement/subsidiary companies you may have; and if any conflicts of interest exist, how they will be managed.
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• Please provide evidence of the support you have offered other schools and how well those schools have done with that support.
The Trust employs a Lead Practitioner in Maths to effect improvements in teaching, learning and assessment strategies and Maths outcomes in Stockton and Redcar & Cleveland secondary schools. The Lead Practitioner demonstrates outstanding pedagogy and management insight in changing learning behaviours, instilling accountability and providing leadership in TL&A. Since September 2017 he has been working with leadership teams, managers and teachers, as well as groups of students such as ‘Boundary Leapers’ – those targeted as capable of improving from grade 3 to 4 and 4 to 5. The four schools currently involved in the initiative – Freebrough, Laurence Jackson, Northfield and Grangefield - are already seeing improvements in the quality of teaching and in-year data.
In Laurence Jackson School in particular the LP is conducting audits, delivering staff training, supporting individual teachers and modelling varied learning strategies that stretch and challenge students at all levels. The school’s Autumn 2017 data uplift predicted 58% would achieve 4+ in Maths and 38% would achieve 5+. In the Spring 2018 data uplift this has increased to 66% 4+ and 41% 5+, demonstrating a measurable positive impact within one term.
In Freebrough Academy, despite internal interventions and pupil performance tracking strategies, the maths outcomes remain to be lower than the borough and national averages sitting at 47% for 4+ compared to the national average of 63%. This level of attainment has not shifted since 2015. This has been static throughout the year and showed a decline in schools’ Spring internal assessment data. Therefore, from March 2018 onwards the LP has been assigned to identify and address stretch and challenge from year 7 and support staff in developing appropriate skills in the application of required
12 standards; the LP intertwines his interventions with the strategies that the academy is putting in place. The work also involves intense, one to one curriculum support for year 11 pupils.
In an extension of the Lead Practitioner scheme we are deploying teachers from the college with recent KS4 experience and a proven track record of delivering excellent outcomes into local schools to make bespoke interventions. At Laurence Jackson school this includes interventions in English, French and Science. Vicci Mills – formerly Second in English at Bishopsgarth school is supporting the most able English students; Simon Laing, fluent in six languages and with extensive experience of supporting students through 1-2-1 tuition in preparing students for their GCSE French oral exams and Paul Bate, teacher of A level Chemistry at SSFC with a progress residual of +0.22 and success in supporting a student to study Chemistry at St Catherine’s College Oxford in 2017, is supporting triple scientists in preparing for their Chemistry exams.
Informal support has been offered to The Grangefield Academy over the last four years through the CEO’s role as a governor at the school, which has included acting as Portfolio Folder for Teaching and Learning – conducting regular visits to the school undertaking learning walks, book scrutinies, receiving feedback from students and speaking with senior leaders about the management of staff under-performance, professional development the quality of teaching and learning. The college provided some support for Maths and Science at KS4 during academic year 2015-16, with Maths and Physics teachers from Stockton Sixth Form working with sub-groups of Y10 and Y11 pupils. The college has also organised school-college educational visits to CERN and to Oxford University which have run for each of the last two years 2016-18. During this time the Academy’s performance has improved from Ofsted grade 4 to grade 2 and student admissions have increased from 67 in 2015 to 210 (equalling PAN) for Sept. 2018. In 2017 the school achieved a progress score of +0.22.
Deputy Principal, Asma Shaffi, is a long-serving governor of Freebrough Academy and became Chair of the LGB in 2017 when the school became part of the Teesside Learning Trust. When last inspected Ofsted commented as follows: “The shrewd leadership of a dedicated and effective governing body ensures that all governors play an active role in the life of the academy. The governors have an accurate and detailed insight of the academy’s performance data and the quality of teaching. They are fully aware of the strengths and areas for improvement. For example, they were uncompromising in their support when resolving underperformance in mathematics. They make certain staff performance management is robust and
13 are aware of what is done to reward good teaching and to tackle underperformance. Their monitoring of pupil premium funding is sharply and effectively focused on the outcomes for students.” And summarised their findings thus: “Governance is strong and very committed to achieving the academy’s high ambitions.”
• Overseas sponsors - we expect overseas-based sponsors to provide additional information on their current footprint at home and in the UK, including schools they may already work with here.
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List the key people you will use to provide school improvement support
For a clear understanding of the capacity you have within your organisation; please state the skills, specialism and any accreditations of the staff who will be driving school improvement.
The CEO of the Trust, Joanna Bailey, has a long established record of delivering high levels of educational performance, both as a teacher, manager and, since 2009, as a sixth form college Principal. Current Principal and CEO for Prior Pursglove and Stockton Sixth Form College since Aug. 2013. Previously Principal and CEO of Winstanley College, Wigan from 2009 to 2013, during which time acted as Strategic Director at Abraham Guest Academy, Orrell – an 11-16 academy sponsored by the college. Over 25 years teaching experience, with management experience at all levels. Assistant Principal for Quality when Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, Darlington achieved Ofsted Outstanding (2007). Winstanley College top of DfE Performance Tables 2011 and named as Sixth Form College of the Year by the Sunday Times in 2012. Interventions at Abraham Guest saw an improvement in outcomes above then floor standard in 2011. At Stockton SFC improved Ofsted grade to Good (2014). Merged college due to return to Good financial health in 2017 after recurrent efficiencies achieved in excess of £750,000.
Through the Trust Board which will drive positive changes, the CEO will oversee the implementation of the school improvement model with a particular focus on teaching and learning, managing staff performance and relationships with parents and stakeholders. The CEO will exercise a crucial role in working with the Trust Board to move a sponsored academy forward.
Curriculum, outcomes and data will be overseen by Asma Shaffi, Deputy Principal and Head of Centre for Prior Pursglove College who is an experienced Ofsted nominee and has extensive experience of curriculum management and 14 utilising data to effect quality improvements. Having worked at Prior Pursglove College since 2003 in various roles, in 2014 she was promoted from within the organisation to put in place a change management programme and structural modification to teaching, learning and assessment with strong interventions. As a consequence of these actions, students’ outcomes improved for 2014, with significant improvement on almost all of the key success indicators and with many above the Sixth Form Colleges’ national averages. On all level 3 success rates the college increased from being 92nd out of 94 Sixth Form Colleges to 12th (Sixth Form Colleges Association 2014). As Chair of Governors of a local 11-16 academy and the Chair of R&C’s 14-19 Partnership she is also extremely well-sighted on these issues in a KS3 and 4 setting.
The Trust’s school improvement strategy for a sponsored secondary school will be led by Neil Skerry, Vice Principal & Head of Centre for Stockton Sixth Form College. He has extensive senior leadership experience in secondary schools and was part of a leadership team providing interventions to a number of schools through the Stockton school to school support scheme to raise standards in schools in difficult circumstances. Neil’s direct involvement included developing the revised GCSE English curriculum at Bishopsgarth School leading to an overall improvement in 5A*-CEM from 27% in 2014 to 40% in 2015. As part of the review of teaching and learning across all subjects at Ian Ramsey School, he assisted in the raising of standards, producing improved GCSE (5A*-CEM 2013 – 61%, 2014 66%). Working alongside Stockton School Improvement Advisors as part of the Raising Achievement Partnership, he has an in depth understanding of the drivers of teaching and learning and data benchmarks for secondary school improvement. He has also had specific responsibility for leading on behaviour issues in an 11-18 setting, spear-heading a review of the rewards and sanctions policy, with the introduction of an isolation unit to tackle the most challenging student behaviour. In the last Ofsted inspection at Conyers School, behaviour was deemed to be “exemplary” both in lessons and around the school.
Neil’s key responsibilities as the Director of Progress & Standards at Conyers School were the drive to improve GCSE results across the school, with particular focus on the raising of achievement for disadvantaged and more able students. The appointment and leadership of a team of teaching staff with responsibility for academic progress across individual year groups and the disadvantaged cohort enabled close tracking of progress and targeted intervention to be enacted to bring rapid improvements. In 2017 GCSE results, the achievement gap between the disadvantaged cohort and their non- disadvantaged peers was closed. The challenge to improve the performance of boys and highly able students in English was a key school improvement performance focus under Neil’s leadership. This encompassed the 15 development of an improvement partnership with LA advisers & the adoption of best practice from school observation visits to engender changes of approach to monitoring & intervention by subject leaders, alongside a full review of schemes of work, marking & feedback & classroom delivery across Key Stages 3 & 4. In 2017 results, 69% of students achieved Grade 5+ (LA ave 61.5%, National ave 60.5%)
Lead Practitioner for Maths, Paul Bracchi, will play a key role in leading improvements in Maths. Paul was an outstanding teacher of Maths at Redcar Academy until recruited by our Trust in 2017. He will be assisted by Vicci Mills, an experienced and highly-regarded English specialist and previously second in department at Bishopsgarth in Stockton, and by David Drumm, an outstanding teacher of Physics formerly of Stokesley School, recruited to the college in 2017. Further support will come from middle leaders on both sites of the college, themselves outstanding teachers with a proven track record in improving outcomes within their curriculum areas.
It is envisaged that the school improvement strategy for a sponsored primary school would be led by Sharon Robertson, Head Teacher of Errington primary school, Marske. A Primary headteacher for over six years, during her first headship managed an enhanced mainstream speech and language unit, amalgamated an infant and junior school and moved the schools from requiring improvement to good in less than one year. At Errington she has been involved with other alliance groups and worked as part of their School 2 School support team, supporting, coaching and developing schools. Moved Errington from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’ in 10 months. In 2017 achieved NLE status for Errington and NSS, a vital role in continuing to support schools in challenging circumstances. Leadership development and skills evidenced through Ofsted, local authority work, brokered support and student training, delivering positive impacts for schools. Errington has also built capacity and invested in CPD in such a way that they will make a significant contribution to school improvement at primary level. An Assistant headteacher who has recently completed a NPQSL – National Qualification in Senior Leadership and has visited and completed project work with other schools to support school development. She has led the maths hub group in the local alliance for the past year and organises training, moderation and aspects of development.
The school is strong in reading and middle leadership with a member of staff who has completed a reading lead course and development of reading programs in school. She has trained SCITT students for phonic development and is able to support the development of phonics in school and EYFS leadership and develop reading for impact. SLE national training completed
16 and supporting students, SCITT and other schools to show impact. Asked to support RWI programs and training due to expertise and outstanding teaching of phonics. Chosen to be the lead of Reading Plus in the area as a hub and to develop and lead project work in other schools.
EYFS leader with development of maths in EYFS and is completing project work for the authority to support maths schemes of work. Research work is a strong focus to develop and support others in developing and moving forward. Strong capacity for training for impact. SLE trained and developing EYFS assessment, provision, planning and teaching and learning for impact to support other schools and EYFS settings. Leading a project to develop family participation to develop progress and learning with PEEP. Chosen to be the lead project developer for PEEP due to the impact of development.
Strong middle leader who has supported moderation of writing in the local authority and alliance and has developed and supported development of literacy and writing through school to have impact on standards of attainment and progress and has supported other schools to develop as part of the NLE work.
PLT –lead teacher has completed a national lead for PE and is developing skills to support and train others. He has a strong focus on PE development and training. He is a part of the sports partnership and developing progression with the subject and participation across schools. He has recently become a magistrate and completed his training and is enabling school to visit and develop skills with strong community links.
Strength and capacity to support others and develop moderation with a middle leader who has worked with the local alliance to lead, develop and support moderation as an alliance. Working with schools as part of the NLE to develop teaching and learning and show significant impact. Leading ICT in other schools to support the curriculum and coverage of primary skills through ICT and outdoor learning. Mentoring and supporting students is a skill all staff have developed and is having impact on students’ success. Three members of staff have excellent skills and training to apply and develop students with mentor training to support progress. Strong middle leadership in science and global awareness to support other schools and lead small hub and project work with STEM. Two members of staff on middle leadership national qualifications with a strong capacity to support others. Three member of staff have a national qualification in SLE work. All staff have received outstanding teacher training from Carmel and have used this effectively to support and develop teaching and learning and support other schools and colleagues.
17 In addition, the School Business Manager at Errington is supporting staff and developing training to show impact in NLE schools and development. Part of the senior management team and a strategic lead of finance in school. Significant training on safeguarding and GDPR and able to support other schools in the alliance and developing office staff in roles over the past two years as a mentor and manager.
Financial matters will be overseen by Chief Finance Officer Sarah Langstaff. Sarah is an experienced chartered accountant who has overseen all financial issues at the college since 2015 including the college merger and conversion to academy status. She was formerly Finance Manager at Thornaby Academy, Stockton and performs the role of auditor at Kiltonthorpe Academy in Redcar & Cleveland and as such is well-sighted on financial management in a range of educational settings. Sarah has recently applied to become a Schools Resource Management Advisor and this accreditation will assist the Trust in offering services to schools which may join us as converters or sponsored projects.
Lyle Nicholson – our Director of Resources - has extensive previous experience of working in a secondary context and has had direct responsibility for managing issues of falling rolls at Monkseaton High School where strong links were established with local feeder middle schools. Activities hosted at the High School allowed middle school students access to curriculum areas not available in their own school, and also helped to dispel negative perceptions of the school in some of the local community. A strong working relationship was created with Whitley Bay High School – sharing teachers, training days, and executive headteacher – to improve Teaching and Learning (and results). The impact of these initiatives (and other measures) were seen in the move from Requires Improvement (2011) to Outstanding (2016). The school now has no issues with student recruitment. At Discovery [free] School one of the contributing factors to low numbers was the intake age of 14 - a hangover from the original intention to open as a UTC. The intake age meant that students in the first, middle, and high school systems (North Tyneside, Northumberland) had only just joined High School when deciding to join. We negotiated with EFA/DFE to change our intake age from 14 to 13. This enabled the school to have a intake class of Year 9 students (coming directly from middle school) and improved student numbers. Lyle will assist with school improvement where appropriate.
As a recently formed academy we are exploring the potential for key senior staff and outstanding teachers, including Lead Practitioners, to achieve SLE accreditation.
18 • Please confirm whether individuals or organisations have been approached and formally agreed to provide support. If formal agreements are in place, please provide a brief summary of individuals /organisations’ record of achievements including evidence of impact they have previously made to school improvement.
The governors and staff of Errington Primary School in Marske have resolved to convert to an academy and join our Trust. Under the leadership of Sharon Robertson, the Head Teacher, the school quickly improved from ‘RI’ to ‘good’. Errington Primary’s Ofsted Report of May 2016 stated, ‘The new headteacher is passionate for the pursuit of excellence for her pupils and staff. She gives an extremely clear lead on school improvement. Since taking up her post, the headteacher has worked tirelessly to bring about improvements. Leaders share her aspirational vision of how good they want the school to be and this, coupled with more effective governance, has resulted in improvements in all areas.’
The most recent data shows significantly above average progress being made by the majority of pupils, with the differences between the progress and attainment of different groups of learners being significantly diminished.
In her first headship in Northallerton 2010-15 she managed an enhanced mainstream speech and language unit, amalgamated an infant and junior school and moved the schools from requiring improvement to good in less than one year.
As an NLE, Sharon Robertson has experience of supporting a number of primary schools in difficulty with a discernible positive impact in all cases.
Saltergate Primary School (North Yorkshire School);
• October 2016 to July 2017 • Amalgamation plans and consultation • Transition plan • T Ongoing – systems and procedures in place to begin consultation of amalgamation and transition work in January 2017. • All deadlines met teaching and Learning and moderation
The result of a review and analysis of data and finance North Yorkshire County Council brokered support from YCAT who then brokered support from Sharon Robertson to support the development of two schools amalgamating from January 2017. Sharon Robertson was brokered to support senior leaders developing clear systems and procedures initially to amalgamate and use skills used during her headship in September 2014, amalgamating my own infant
19 with a junior school. The capacity to model and share all practises and procedures to ensure that all aspects are securely in place is strong, allowing processes to be achieved. Sharon Robertson has ensured that leadership at all levels were prepared, had specific skills and could discuss and elaborate on impact while developing school improvement and raising standards and attainment. The process has involved strong people management and restructure of roles and procedures, managing to keep moral and engagement high and focus on need and clear vision for development. The strategic development has provided significant evidence for NLE work and support to improve all aspects of a school from leadership, teaching and learning, monitoring and assessment, response to marking and target setting, transitioning schools and ethos, standards and ensuring consistency and clarity on the key aspects of improvement.
Action plans have been written and developed to ensure impact is identified and have clear outcomes for the school. Closing the gap (Diminishing the Difference) training has been identified for staff to ensure the correct training, at the correct level is provided to ensure outcomes are achieved. Staff have clear targets of how to improve teaching and learning which has been modelled by staff and the capacity at Errington and lead teachers to move teaching and learning to good and outstanding. Hawes Primary School (North Yorkshire School – YCAT):
Summer Term (June 2016) to date
• Leadership of EYFS • Provision and standards in EYFS • Improved aspects of coverage for all children indoors and outdoors. • Teaching and Learning to move to good. • EYFS leadership effective and stronger development of needs • Increased expected steps of progress during the Autumn Term – 100% children making 2+ steps in Reception and Nursery • Impact of outdoor provision and quality of observation to ensure that gaps are closing • Presently working with Year 1 and 2 to develop leadership, teaching/learning and outcomes • Improved aspects of expected age related curriculum and coverage, pace and rigour to sessions to make session improve from RI to good • Developing assessment to improved attainment and outcomes • Phonic development and supporting coverage, teaching and outcomes • Developing learning environment
20 • Supporting and mentoring NQT in the year group and other members of teaching staff
Sharon Robertson was approached by YCAT to provide support with leadership and aspects of school improvement to develop accelerated progress and impact. The school had recently applied for academy status due to requiring improvements, had a new headteacher from post in September 2016 and required change and strong school development processes for impact. All strands were considered in the due diligence activities; leadership, teaching and learning for impact, curriculum design, provision, monitoring, intervention and assessment, alongside systems and policies. The initial stage of support has been to focus on leadership and management in EYFS and KS1, develop EYFS provision, develop assessment and outcomes using on entry data and analysis of progress and attainment for challenge and skills. The support has involved using lead teachers for school, to collaborate, share planning, assessment procedures, teaching and learning styles to ensure progress and increased levels of progress and attainment in a term, since September 2016 to date. The work is ongoing but is demonstrating clear, measurable impact and vision for further improvement and next steps as we move through the key stages. The capacity of the work is strong and is developing lead teachers, middle leaders and future leaders at Errington and Hawes. Saltburn Primary School
September 2017 to date;
• Leadership of EYFS • Provision and standards in EYFS • Improved aspects of coverage for all children indoors and outdoors. • Teaching and Learning to move to good. • EYFS leadership effective and stronger development of needs • Increased expected steps of progress during the Autumn Term – 100% children making 2+ steps in Reception and Nursery • Impact of outdoor provision and quality of observation to ensure that gaps are closing • Presently working with Year Reception and Year 1 to develop leadership, teaching/learning and outcomes • Improved aspects of expected age related curriculum and coverage, pace and rigour to sessions to make session improve from RI to good • To develop performance management of staff and skills to demonstrate impact and outcome • Developing assessment to improved attainment and outcomes • Phonic development and supporting coverage, teaching and outcomes 21 • Developing learning environment • Supporting and mentoring NQT in the year group and other members of teaching staff
Sharon Robertson was approached by Saltburn to provide support with leadership and aspects of school improvement to develop accelerated progress and impact. The initial stage of support has been to focus on leadership and management in EYFS, develop EYFS provision, develop assessment and outcomes using on entry data and analysis of progress and attainment for challenge and skills. The support has involved using lead teachers for school, to collaborate, share planning, assessment procedures, teaching and learning styles to ensure progress and increased levels of progress and attainment in a term. The work is ongoing but is demonstrating clear, measurable impact and vision for further improvement and next steps as we move through further leadership development of Reception. The capacity of the work is strong.
Leyburn Primary School
January 2018 to date;
• Coaching staff and leaders • Supporting development of deployment • Coaching for capacity and impact
Sharon Robertson was approached by Leyburn Primary school to work as an NLE to support coaching in school and develop middle and senior leaders for impact and outcomes. The coaching was specific to develop sustainability skills, helping to choose better practice and adapt for higher outcomes. The work has significantly developed resilience, positive energy and allowed staff to make better decisions to demonstrate impact and outcome.
Further developments and work supported to demonstrate the strength and capacity are as follows;
Student support with various universities, SCITT programs
Leadership development – coaching and mentoring
Leading EYFS hub for child minders with Redcar and Cleveland Council
Leading Maths hub for Land Mark Alliance
Working collaboratively with HART alliance to develop SCITT training, leadership training, strategic development
22 Sharon sees the NLE as a vital role in continuing to support schools in challenging circumstances. Her leadership development and skills have been evidenced through Ofsted, local authority work, brokered support and student training. She has collaborated effectively and developed essential training to ensure that leadership at all levels has the capacity to provide and experience support to schools at greater depth, so that skills can be shared, so that Errington Primary can support an effective and sustainable NLE and develop succession planning. Leadership development is starting to become a self- generating enterprise and Sharon strongly believes in and feels passionately about system leadership to strengthen educational provision for the future.
• You may also wish to include detail of any Teaching School Alliance or other support network the trust is part of.
In addition to being strategic partners in two Teaching Schools [see Part B above] and we have excellent links with Secondary Head Teachers in both Stockton and Redcar & Cleveland. For example, four leaders and managers are governors at local primary or secondary schools – 5 schools in all. We offer a nurturing environment to these students that helps them to re-engage in education, develop strategies to manage behavioural issues and progress to positive post 16 destinations including at the college. At the request of Head Teachers the college accommodates a small number of pre-16 students on both sites who are at risk of permanent exclusion. Typically these students are retained, achieve and go on to a positive post-16 destination – which is a considerable achievement given their imminent permanent exclusion when we began working with them. Further, the college offers a myriad opportunities to local partner schools to engage in schemes designed to raise aspirations and achievement. A Physics teacher at the college leads a twilight course in GCSE Astronomy which is accessed by the most able scientists from Ian Ramsey and Our Lady and St Bede schools; A Crime Scene simulation at the college was attended by the most able students from schools with high levels of disadvantaged pupils including, Outwood Bishopsgarth, St. Patrick’s Thornaby and Thornaby Academy; an A level Maths teacher from the college delivered a Maths Headstart preparation for A level course over half a term at St. Michael’s Billingham to name but a few. All these initiatives are provided free of charge to the school as demonstrable evidence of our commitment to collaborative working.
23 Part D: Governance structure and key people
This section is to ensure that there will be a clear governance structure for the academy trust and that the individuals within it will have the knowledge, skills and experience, as well as the capacity and commitment deliver effective governance. Information regarding this requirement is defined in the Governance Handbook and Competency framework for governance https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/governance-handbook
This section should also demonstrate compliance with the Academies Financial Handbook – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-financial-handbook
Effective Governance is based on 6 key features:
• Strategic Leadership that sets and champions vision, ethos and strategy • Accountability that drives up educational standards and financial performance • People with the right skills, experience, qualities and capacity • Structures that reinforce clearly defined roles and responsibilities • Compliance with statutory and contractual requirements • Evaluation to monitor and improve the quality and impact of governance
Key points to consider: • Ensure LA-associated persons1 (as stated in the Governance Handbook) make up no more than 19.9% of the:
o the board of trustees o the trust members • Employees of the proposed or existing academy trust cannot be members of the trust.
• For Further Education Colleges it is good practice for the chair of the board of trustees to be someone external to the college rather than the chair of the college board.
• The board of trustees should not be formed entirely from employees of the Diocese or the academy trust. The Governance Handbook sets an expectation that the CEO/Principal is the only trust employee on the board.
• Ensuring a significant degree of distinction between the individuals who are members and those who are trustees provides for more robust oversight of the board. The Governance Handbook sets a strong preference that the majority of trust members are independent of the board of trustees.
1 Paragraph 16 of the Governance Handbook 24
• The Good Practice Guidance and Expectations for Growth https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/multi-academy-trusts- establishing-and-developing-your-trust recommends at least 3 members, although the department’s strong preference is for at least 5 members. This provides for a diverse range of perspectives, robust decision making and reduces the risks of concentrating power. It also ensures that members can take decisions via special resolution without requiring unanimity.The trust board should have the necessary expertise and capacity to undertake its three core functions of ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction; holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff; and overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent.
• Where there is a gap in the required skills, the board should ensure that this is addressed through recruitment, induction or training.
• The board of trustees should aim to have members with a business or commercial background. Where this expertise is not currently present the applicant should state how it will be sourced e.g. through Academy Ambassadors and/or Inspiring Governance or how expertise will be developed in the current trustees.
• The trust must appoint a named individual who is both the senior executive leader and Accounting Officer (this may be the CEO).
• Overseas sponsors - The total number of Trustees and members shall comprise of a majority of UK based individuals who shall have relevant UK educational expertise including experience of school improvement.
Please attach an A4 diagram showing the proposed structure of your academy trust or explain how you will ensure that your existing governance structure will be fit for purpose as a sponsor. This diagram must clearly show the lines of accountability between the trust and the academies that would join the trust to show how the trust will hold each academy to account. Use accompanying text where necessary to explain the detail.
Guidance on MAT structures is set out in the Governance Handbook and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/governance-handbook and examples of structures in The Good Practice Guidance and Expectations for Growth https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/multi-academy-trusts- establishing-and-developing-your-trust
25
Please provide a brief biography for each of the persons fulfilling the specific roles outlined below, to demonstrate relevant experience in the key areas of: leadership; education improvement; finance; business; HR and data handling. If any of these people have previously been a head teacher, please give the name of their most recent school, the dates of their headship and add their school performance data to Section F.
• The senior executive leader/CEO of the trust, including their qualifications and experience for that role. • The Finance Director, including their qualifications and experience for that role and how much time they expect to be able to give initially. • The Members of the trust who are signatories to the articles of association and who have a similar role to shareholders in a company limited by shares. • The board of trustees who manage the business of the academy trust. • Other key partner organisations and individuals with whom the trust would work.
CEO and Accounting Officer; Principal of Prior Pursglove and Stockton Sixth Form College – Joanna Bailey
• BA Hons English Studies, Class I • Current Principal and CEO for Prior Pursglove and Stockton Sixth Form College since Aug. 2013. Previously Principal and CEO of Winstanley College, Wigan from 2009 to 2013, during which time acted as Strategic
26 Director at Abraham Guest Academy, Orrell – an 11-16 academy sponsored by the college. Over 25 years teaching experience, with management experience at all levels. • Assistant Principal for Quality when Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, Darlington achieved Ofsted Outstanding (2007). Winstanley College top of DfE Performance Tables 2011 and named as Sixth Form College of the Year by the Sunday Times in 2012. Interventions at Abraham Guest saw an improvement in outcomes above then floor standard in 2011. At Stockton SFC improved Ofsted grade to Good (2014). Merged college due to return to Good financial health in 2017 after recurrent efficiencies achieved in excess of £750,000. • Experience as a college governor since 2009 through my role as Principal. Governor at Thornaby Academy 2013-16. Governor and Portfolio holder for Teaching & Learning at The Grangefield Academy 2013-present and, since 2016, Vice-Chair of NET’s Stockton Secondary Combined Academy Council. Governor at Errington primary school from 2017 to present. Over this period The Grangefield Academy has improved its Ofsted grade from 4 to 2, improved good or better teaching, increased pupil first preferences and improved financial health.
Chief Financial Officer and Finance Manager - Sarah Langstaff
• BSc (Hons), Associate Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. • Current Finance Manager for Prior Pursglove and Stockton Sixth Form College since November 2014. Previously Finance Manager at Thornaby Academy from 2011. • Completed ACA training with Keith Robinson and Co, before becoming part of the specialist education team at Evolution LLP in 2009. • Experience of: Management and Statutory Accounts, Audit in both education and commercial sectors, and Responsible Officer reviews for Academies. • Impact: Key role in the merger of Prior Pursglove College and Stockton Sixth Form College, the first type A merger of two sixth form colleges in over 18 years, achieving savings of £250k. The merged college is due to return Good financial health in the year ended July 2017, after a period of deficits returned by the predecessor colleges.
Members of the Academy Trust
Ian K Alexander
Married with 2 children, both educated in Guisborough before university. After graduation, I worked for ICI in commercial departments, travelling extensively. Had 2 plants built in the USA. Left ICI in 1991, setting up Hutton
27 Chemicals Ltd which negotiated to buy detergent plants at Billingham. The company, now based in Guisborough, is involved in trade throughout Europe and beyond.
Chairman of the Prior Pursglove College Corporation for 10 years from 2002, during a period of great expansion. Currently Chairman of the Charitable Foundation which owns land on the college site and exists to preserve the original Elizabethan Charter ‘to educate the poor boys of Guisborough’.
Locally I am a director of the Bow Street Centre Ltd, for start-up businesses, a director of Guisborough Museum Ltd which I set up in 1989 when Mayor of Guisborough, and a trustee of Guisborough Town Pride.
Val Bailey
Val originally trained as a teacher / lecturer of mathematics prior to joining the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) on incorporation. Her responsibilities at the FEFC were both regionally and nationally based. She was then appointed senior manager then Deputy Principal at Stockton & Billingham College.
She was Principal & Chief Executive of Furness College from 2001 to 2003 then Principal & Chief Executive of Sandwell College from 2003 to 2013. During her time at Sandwell College she led and managed the £77m ‘new build’ that was delivered within budget and on time. Both colleges were deemed to have been ‘failing’ colleges when she became Principal and both were returned to full health by her departure.
She has been a Parish Councillor since 2014, initially co-opted but later elected during the 2015 elections. Val also serves as an independent member of a local authority school admissions appeals panel.
She has been a governor at Darlington College since July 2015, and has acted as the link governor for curriculum and quality.
Since January 2016 she has served as the North East regional governor representative on the AoC National Council of Governors
In addition between 2016 and 2017 she operated as the ‘interim principal’ at a college in the North West that had been graded as inadequate at inspection and where the college had been placed into Administrative Status by the FE Commissioner, resulting in Val overseeing a necessary merger.
28 Mike Loftus
Mike is a qualified Management Accountant and has over twenty years’ experience working at a senior level in the FE sector, including fifteen years as Assistant Principal (Finance and Information) at Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College. Prior to this, Mike has fourteen years’ experience in a range of businesses ranging from engineering, to retail/wholesale and ship management.
Since leaving QE, Mike has worked with a number of colleges on an interim or consultancy basis.
In addition to his paid work, Mike is Treasurer for Esk Energy (Yorkshire) Ltd which operates a community-owned 50kW hydro-electric turbine on the River Esk at Ruswarp, near Whitby. Mike is also a director of Moor Sustainable, a Community Interest Company which aims to improve the sustainability of the communities and environment of north east Yorkshire.
Margaret Hirst
In a career spanning over thirty five years with ICI PLC, Margaret Hirst has held a number of senior financial and commercial roles including UK Legacy Director, leading a multi-disciplinary business created to manage the significant consequences of ICI’s large Industrial Chemicals divestment programme, and with responsibility for legal issues resolution; finance; purchasing; knowledge management; HR; and estates management. A Director and Company Secretary of many ICI businesses, Margaret is an accountant with broad management experience including as lead negotiator in the sale of various estates properties including land, mineral rights and mines valued in excess of £30m plus royalties.
Following retirement, Margaret continues to work as a consultant and engages in community activity as a Magistrate, a volunteer with the Prince’s Trust, a governor at a primary school, and is Vice Chair of the Tees Valley Collaborative Trust Board.
Felix O’Hare
Felix O'Hare has worked in industry for almost forty years as a manager in several ICI businesses as well as Croda International, px limited and Agility Chemicals. His roles have included overall accountability for large manufacturing facilities with turnover in excess of £100m per annum and over 200 employees. He has overseen the implementation of a diverse range of capital projects as well as complex restructuring activities and has led strategic improvement projects across Europe with ICI and Croda and in 29 China with Agility. He was also a director of Uniqema Limited, a subsidiary of ICI.
Felix is a Chemical Engineer with broad management experience in research and development, engineering, operations, project implementation, manufacturing and business strategy, people and HR issues.
Felix continues to work in industry as a senior consultant in the North East Process Industry Cluster. In this role, he has used his experience and expertise to assist the development of the chemical process industry across the North East of England and nationally. He also led a highly successful project to grow over 400 SME businesses across the supply chain for the sector. His network is extensive and covers business contacts in local and national government, other business clusters and associations, universities and further education colleges.
Board of Trustees Chair of Trust Board – Paul Gavens (Business)
• Managing Director and Executive Vice-President at Sembcorp Utilities UK until 2012, reporting directly to the Group President and CEO of Sembcorp in Singapore. • Major investments including the £60 million Wilton 10 biomass power station. Significant restructuring of the business following new investments by customers and some closures of customer plants at Wilton. • Career started in research with ICI, following a PhD in organometallic chemistry at Cambridge. • Chair of Prior Pursglove and Stockton Sixth Form College Corporation, having previously chaired Prior Pursglove SFC during the period of discussions with Stockton SFC which started before the announcement of Area Reviews and led to the merger of the two colleges in May 2016.
Vice Chair of Trust Board – Margaret Hirst (Financial & Legal)
In a career spanning over thirty five years with ICI PLC, Margaret Hirst has held a number of senior financial and commercial roles including UK Legacy Director, leading a multi-disciplinary business created to manage the significant consequences of ICI’s large Industrial Chemicals divestment programme, and with responsibility for legal issues resolution; finance; purchasing; knowledge management; HR; and estates management. A Director and Company Secretary of many ICI businesses with broad management experience including as lead negotiator in the sale of various estates properties including land, mineral rights and mines valued in excess of £30m plus royalties.
• Chartered accountant
30 • Justice of the Peace • Volunteer mentor with the Prince’s Trust • Governor at St John’s C of E primary school in Ragworth, Stockton.
Trust Board – James Beighton (Arts)
• MA in English Literature and Cultural Theory • Worked professionally within the arts for twenty years • Strong international network within the arts that encompasses curatorial practice, museum management, public funding and philanthropy. • Founding curator and senior curator at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA) • Executive Director within the Middlesbrough based Arts Development Charity ‘Tees Valley Arts’ • Strong skill sets in strategic and financial planning, staff management, relationship management, monitoring and evaluation and change management.
Trust Board - Marilyn Collins (Education – Secondary)
• A qualified secondary teacher with wide experience of teaching to GCSE and ‘A’ level at Woodham School, County Durham. Appointed to Northfield School, Billingham (Stockton LA) as a curriculum head of department and co- ordinator for gifted and talented education. Subject achieved highest GCSE pass rate in school during this time. • Promoted to Assistant Head teacher with responsibility for teaching and learning (school improvement), whole school planning and evaluation (SEF) and initial teacher training. Strategies implemented were instrumental in gaining an outstanding grading for the school. • Promoted to Associate Head teacher to assist with the takeover of a local inadequate graded school, with particular reference to uniform strategic planning to bring about whole school improvement, moving the school to good at the next inspection. • Other roles have included Partnership Development School Co-ordinator and Director of the Training School based at Northfield. • Work with Stockton Teacher Training Partnership has continued as a consultant trainer/assessor since retirement, currently working in local secondary schools together with governorship for 3 years at Prior Pursglove and Stockton Sixth Form College.
31 Trust Board - Chris Groves (HR)
• BA Hons in Public Administration; MBA, DMS & DPM • Chartered Member of the CIPD and also of the British Psychological Society • HR professional for over 32 years, recently transferred from industry into the third sector. Involved in all aspects of HR from policy making and procedures to practitioner. Most recent achievement/impact steering my new employer through ISO 9001 & 14001. • Key skills are reward, employee relations, recruitment, and job evaluation. Also significant experience of employment law, training and management development. • A governor since 2005, including three years as Vice Chair at Prior Pursglove College, prior to merger with Stockton Sixth Form College.
Trust Board – Keith Hurst (Education – HE)
• PhD in Psychology from the Institute of Psychological Sciences at the University of Leeds • Involved in education at a leadership level for more than ten years • Lecturing career at Hull and Sheffield Hallam Universities (1999-2010). At Sheffield, Programme Director for MSc Health Psychology and Principal Lecturer Business development for Psychology. • 2010 Appointed as Associate Dean at Teesside University to provide a strategic lead for the Marketing portfolio in Social Sciences and Law. From 2014 led on Portfolio Development with a focus on the merger with Teesside University Business School. • Currently Associate Dean (Learning and Teaching) in Social Sciences, Humanities and Law, working across four academic departments.
Trust Board – Elaine McLaine Wood (Legal)
• BA Honours Social Science at Sunderland University 2:1 1993-1997 • Diploma in Law at the College of Law : distinction 1998-2000 • Legal practice course at the College of Law : distinction 2000-2002 • Associate at Archers law 2006 – 2010, Associate at BHP law 2010 – 2011 • Partner at Thorpe Parker solicitors 2011 – 2013 • Partner and subsequently managing partner at Punch Robson solicitors 2013 – to date • Past president of the Tees Valley Law Society, serving as president 2016- 2017.
32 • Legal specialism is company and commercial including commercial property. Acted for a number of schools which subsequently converted to academies.
Trust Board – Sharon Robertson (Education – Primary)
• Primary headteacher for over six years. • During first headship managed an enhanced mainstream speech and language unit, amalgamated an infant and junior school and moved the schools from requiring improvement to good in less than one year. • At Errington involved with other alliance groups and worked as part of their School 2 School support team, supporting, coaching and developing schools. Moved Errington from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’ in 10 months. • In 2017 achieved NLE status for Errington and NSS, a vital role in continuing to support schools in challenging circumstances. • Leadership development and skills evidenced through Ofsted, local authority work, brokered support and student training, delivering positive impacts for schools. If Errington successfully joins our Trust this will create one vacancy on the Trust Board. We plan to fill this vacancy with an educational practitioner with school improvement and/or Ofsted experience at secondary level. The Trust is committed to recruiting to vacancies on a skills basis to ensure the appropriate level of challenge, the strongest possible governance and to maintaining separation between the tiers of governance.
33 Part E (a): Finance
This section is about the financial performance of your existing organisation(s) (see Part E (b) which relates to the financial operations of the proposed or existing trust).
You are required to: • Provide your most recent annual accounts and audit management letter;
• Complete the table below to show the projected financial performance of your existing organisation(s) for the latest and the next three financial years; and
• Provide a short commentary to explain the reason for any deficits and the action you will take to avoid a continual deterioration in your reserves (if applicable).
Year Balance Income Expenditure Balance Surplus or brought carried deficit (if forward forward applicable) 2017 £8,879,000 £10,483,000 £8,900,000 £10,462,000 £1,583,000 2018 £10,462,000 £8,875,000 £8,645,000 £10,692,000 £230,000 2019 £10,692,000 £8,656,000 £8,501,000 £10,847,000 £155,000 2020 £10,847,000 £8,767,000 £8,601,000 £11,022,000 £175,000
Commentary:
Figures to the year ended 31st July 2017 are in accordance with the audited year end account to July 2017. The surplus figure includes year-end adjustments in accordance with FRS102, including a large actuarial gain in respect of the Local Government Pension Scheme. If these adjustments in relation to FRS102 are removed the surplus would be reduced to £61,000.
The surplus figures in 2018 – 2020 assume that there will be no further actuarial gains and so the expected surpluses appear reduced compared to the surplus returned to July 2017. However, if the adjustments relating to FRS102 are ignored, then the underlying position shows an increased in year surplus from £61,000 in July 2017 to over £155,000 in the each of the next 3 years.
The figures provided are for the College as an empty MAT and do not include any increased income or savings that could be achieved as other Academies join the MAT.
Income estimates are based on current student numbers and application information, with pay expenditure expected to move in line with student numbers. The Trust plans to grow reserves by returning a small surplus in each financial year.
34 Part E (b): Finance
This section is about the proposed or existing trust’s approach to financial planning
Please provide information on:
• Your proposed or existing internal and external financial scrutiny/audit mechanisms; • How your governance structure will/does ensure accountability throughout the trust and of your finance director; and • How the trust will/does actively manages risks around finance and delivery.
Please note that it is good practice for FE colleges to have separate audit arrangements for any academy trust they establish.
Overseas sponsors
Overseas sponsors can submit the same version of the audited financial accounts themselves, which they have filed with their regulatory body, only in instances where the DfE is unable to access this information at the right level from the company register.You should consider including:
• How your governance arrangements and reporting plans will/already ensure the Accounting Officer has sufficient oversight of finances throughout the trust; • How financial and related risks will be identified, monitored, mitigated and escalated at both school and trust level; • What types of risk will be managed at each level; • What contingency plans are in place and what the triggers will be/are and • What assessment you have made of how resilient your trust will be to changes in income, such as varying pupil numbers or demographics. The Trust has an established internal audit procedure, which will be extended to any schools joining the trust, engaging with a firm of auditors to carry out a programme of internal audit reviews, covering Finance, Risk Management, IT Systems, Student Records, HR, Payroll and Governance. The work of the internal auditors is directed by the Finance and Audit Committee, and all reports and recommendations of the internal auditors are an agenda item at Finance and Audit Committee meetings. A report detailing progress on any outstanding recommendations is prepared by the trust management team and considered at every meeting of the Committee. The recruitment procedure for the Trust
35 Board ensures that Committee members have sufficient variety of skills and experience to hold management, including the finance director to account.
Both internal and external auditors are invited to attend all meetings of the Finance and Audit Committee and are given the opportunity to speak to the Committee without the presence of trust management. The minutes of Committee meetings are discussed by the Trust board and the Chair of the Audit Committee is given the opportunity to feed back any significant issues arising from and audit visits to the Board.
The Trust's external Auditors are Anderson Barrowcliff LLP, a firm of auditors based in Teesside with significant experience in the education sector. Anderson Barrowcliff perform statutory audit work in line with DfE guidance and the Academies Financial Handbook.
Financial statement and regularity auditors are appointed to give assurance on the adequacy of financial controls and the accuracy of the statutory accounts.
Auditors are appointed via a rigorous and transparent tender process, involving evaluation of tenders by both management and trustees and the performance of auditors is reviewed regularly.
The CEO has ultimate responsibility for ensuring the effectiveness of the systems of internal control. This work is informed by the work of the internal auditors, as well as the reports and management letter produced by the financial statement and regularity auditors and the information provided by trust managers, who oversee the development and implementation of the systems of internal control.
The trust manages financial risks as part of the Trust Risk Management Strategy and through careful financial monitoring. Detailed management accounts, including Income and Expense, Balance Sheet, Rolling Cash Flow and Commentary are produced monthly and reviewed by SLT, with the latest set of account going to the Finance and Audit Committee and the Trust Board. Monthly management accounts will be produced for every Academy within the trust and will be review by the relevant SLT and Local Governing Body.
The finance and audit committee receive regular and timely information regarding the overall financial performance of the trust, including details of capital projects and reports against funding targets.
36 How will the trust be financed and how do you intend to finance the growth of the trust over the next 3 years (if applicable):
Growth will in part be financed by the VAT rebate that is available to the trust year on year as a result of academisation. The trust has already begun to utilise the VAT rebate to grow capacity within the trust via the appointment of Lead Practitioners for Maths, English, Science and Careers Co-ordinators, who will be deployed trust-wide to raise standards and aspirations. This will be sustained over time through the 4% top slice and efficiencies gained as a result of merging support functions across schools in the Trust.
For each school that joins the trust there will be saving achieved through joint procurement of supplies and services, in addition to savings achieved through shared back office functions. These savings will be utilised to further support the growth of the trust. The proposed top slice of 4% will be reviewed as efficiency gains are achieved as the trust grows.
What will be your approach to managing any schools you are intending to take on which currently have deficits (if applicable):
The trust has sufficient cash reserves to cover a school deficit in the short term, if necessary. The trust intends that every member academy will be self- sustaining and should break even from year to year. The trust management team has recent and significant experience of turning around the financial position of Prior Pursglove and Stockton Sixth Form College. In the year ended July 2017 the College returned to Good financial health and is forecast to achieve Outstanding financial health in the coming years. This was achieved through a process of integrated curriculum and financial planning, including staffing restructures to realign staffing costs with student numbers and associated income. This follows multiple years of deficits incurred by the predecessor Colleges.
This was realised in part through the savings that were achieved through the merger of Prior Pursglove College and Stockton Sixth Form College. We believe that saving will be available to a school joining our MAT in a similar way, through joint procurement and shared back office functions.
The other significant factor to achieving Good financial health was setting realistic and proportionate budgets based on student numbers and funding. We believe that we can apply the same principles to schools joining the MAT to support those schools out of deficit. The Trust would perform a rigorous due diligence exercise in the event of a possible sponsored project.
37 What steps will you take to ensure your financial model is sustainable and in-line with the growth plans you set out above – in particular, where income is dependent on external factors, please show that you have received demonstrable assurances that these factors will remain constant:
You should consider including:
• How you intend to modify your financial processes and reporting arrangements to withstand the increased responsibility of growth; • How you will grow financial expertise and capacity to oversee financial operations across the trust. The trust will consistently apply its financial regulations and procedures, which are in line with the requirements of the Academies Financial Handbook, across every academy in the trust. Financial processes will be modified to increasing utilise cloud based technology to allow financial information to be accessed from multiple sites. Income and expenditure will be budgeted for and monitored at Academy level before being consolidated at trust level, so that the sustainability and contribution of each academy can be monitored. Income is dependent on student numbers and nationally funding formulae. The lagged funding method and the trust’s detailed budget setting process allows time to plan for changes in funding due to student numbers. At College level, the trust management has a proven track record of adjusting staffing and non- pay expenditure to align with the needs of students and current funding levels. Risks associated with a reduction of funding due to a change of funding policy or a reduction in student numbers feature in the College and Trust Risk Register and are monitored and considered regularly by management and the Finance and Audit Committee. The Tees Valley is emerging from a demographic dip and an increase in student numbers can now be seen in primary schools throughout the region. In the coming years this increase in student numbers will work its way up to secondary and sixth form providers in the region. As the Trust grows, the finance team will develop, with recruitment of additional staffing giving capacity to support schools. The growth of the Trust will offer development and progression opportunities for existing members of the finance team, one of whom – in addition to the CFO – is a chartered accountant. The use of cloud based technology will allow easy access to financial information across multiple sites.
38 Prospective sponsors of special and alternative provision academies should outline any agreement with a Local Authority or other bodies regarding the provision of High Needs funding and the likely continuing need for those places in the future:
N/A
Summarise your proposed full policy on charges made to schools, including level of top-slice and/or charging policy and what this will fund;
A top-slice of 4% of GAG funding will be contributed by each member academy to fund the central services provided by the trust. This will fund the Finance function, HR services, payroll and IT support.
This level of top-slice will be reviewed annually and adjusted accordingly for any academy that required additional or tailored support from the trust.
39 Part F: Capacity and capability
This section is about your ability to deliver high performing academies. If you are a Higher Education Institution, Independent School or Selective School, you may wish to contact the relevant regional office https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/schools-commissioners-group who can provide further advice and support.
• If your organisation is a school, Higher Education Institute, general FE or Sixth Form College the Department will draw on information it holds in relation to academic performance data. Please provide the following:
URN: 145227 Postcode: TS14 6BU
For all schools, please indicate if the current headteacher in post at the time of the most recent Ofsted inspection: Yes
• If your organisation is a general FE or Sixth-Form College the Department will draw on information it holds in relation to key indicators; such as level 3 average points scores, valued-added measures and overall retention rates as measured against averages nationally and for colleges. The Department will use this data to help determine the overall suitability of a college to become a sponsor. The college’s latest Ofsted rating will also be taken into consideration. • If you have supported any schools, the Department will draw on information it holds in relation to academic performance data for those schools. Please provide the following information for any schools you have supported:
- Freebrough URN 136139, Laurence Jackson URN 111724 and The Grangefield Academy 139673 - When this support started (and ended if applicable) Freebrough: 2014- present; Laurence Jackson: September 2017-present; Grangefield: 2014- present - For each school please explain any significant dips or increases over the period you have supported them. Steady trajectory of improvement at Freebrough (improved to ‘good’ Jan. 2015) and Grangefield (moved to ‘good’ Jan 2017). Laurence Jackson – some in-year improvement (Part C p.12) but too early to gauge fully. - For each school please indicate if the current headteacher in post at the time of the most recent Ofsted inspection: Yes / No Freebrough & Laurence Jackson: No; Grangefield: Yes For all organisations (whether your own or one you have supported), please give a brief explanation of the impact your school/schools you have supported have had on closing the gap between disadvantaged and other students:
40 Prior Pursglove College and Stockton Sixth Form College initially collaborated from 2015 and then formally merged in May 2016. Both colleges experienced a brief decline in learner outcomes and inadequate progress made by its students. The current Principal, Deputy Principal and Finance Manager are the personnel who individually have been instrumental in instituting a robust improvement model with clear advancements and this work has been supplemented by the contributions of the Vice Principal and Director of Resources from 2017. The progress score for A levels has maintained at zero or above (top 40% of sixth form colleges) and for vocational programmes around an average of +0.50 over the last three years. The disadvantaged progress score is +0.08 for academic qualifications and +0.7 for vocational programmes for 2017 outcomes.
Current SLT structure: CEO/Executive Principal - formerly Principal of Stockton Sixth Form College and in place at the time of last Ofsted inspection in 2014.
Deputy Principal/Head of Centre: Prior Pursglove College - formerly Vice Principal of Prior Pursglove College and in situ at the time of last Ofsted inspection in 2015.
Vice Principal/Head of Centre: Stockton Sixth Form College - appointment made in March 2017 from a successful local secondary school’s senior leadership team.
Director of Resources – appointment made in September 2017 from an academy’s senior leadership team.
CFO/Finance Manager – extensive experience in managing capacity during and after merger and academisation. Been instrumental in handing all structural changes in the organisation.
The current CEO/Principal of the merged college/16-19 academy was originally Principal of Stockton Sixth Form College, joining it in 2013 when the college was facing enormous financial challenges and had been achieving below average outcomes. The Ofsted grade then was 3 (RI). Within eight months of the new Principal taking up post the college achieved a ‘good’ Ofsted grade, as a result of rigorous performance management and student progress tracking. Similarly, Prior Pursglove College faced a significant decline in its AS results, leading to a grade 4 (inadequate) in all areas in December 2013. The current Deputy Principal and Head of Centre for Prior Pursglove was then appointed from the organisation to put in place a change management programme and structural modification to teaching, learning and assessment with strong interventions. As a consequence of these actions, students’ outcomes improved in 2013/14, with significant improvement on almost all of the key success indicators and with many above the Sixth Form Colleges’ national averages. On all level 3 success rates the
41 college increased from being 92nd out of 94 Sixth Form Colleges to 12th (Sixth Form Colleges Association 2014).
The merger presented both sites with financial stability and a cross-deployment of human resource in leadership and management to improve standards and sustainability of sixth form education for young people in Tees Valley.
The experience and capacity developed to improve standards rapidly was achieved by concentrating on re-establishing the confidence of staff, setting demanding targets, instilling a fair but rigorous approach to accountability, meticulous planning and establishing a convincing and meaningful self- assessment of our provision. Most of all, the key focus has been on offering a high quality teaching and learning experience in classrooms that stretches and challenges both students and staff. The leaders of change at both sites achieved the required standards by giving clear direction, target setting and promoting a strong work ethic.
Over the last four years, the focus at both sites and now in the merged college is in instilling the understanding of accountability and target setting. A majority of staff who had worked at the college for a number of years, had not fully caught up with the national accountability measures and outcome targets. Although the college always had highly conscientious staff with sound pedagogical skills, they chiefly believed in the intrinsic value of learning. The balance was not quite right between holding such principles yet being thoroughly accountable if students were not making sufficient progress; the very practice that led to the college obtaining a poor Ofsted grade previously. The staff who couldn’t improve no longer work for the college; such movement was put in place within the first 3 months of change management process at both sites.
The SLT and middle managers have invested hugely in mentoring, coaching and providing a training programme for staff to sign up to and understand the process of setting and meeting challenging targets. This started from nurturing the right culture among all middle managers through challenging and eliminating under- performance. The culture of continuous improvement now prevails to the extent that teachers, support staff and managers engage in the managing of any risk to learner achievement and themselves initiate such dialogue as part of their appraisals/reviews. This has not been achieved at the expense of staff welfare; staff retention is high and sick leave remains lower than the national average for sixth form colleges. The following priorities have become the cornerstone in the strategic development of the merged college/academy: • In-year assessment and tracking of students’ performance implemented rigorously so that support for students at risk of underachieving can be offered quickly. • A very high priority placed on improving the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. Robust performance management linked closely to the 42 outcomes of individual observations and considerable investment in professional development have resulted in significant improvement in the proportion of teaching, learning and assessment that is now good or better. • Governors receive all interim outcome-related reports, challenging the college’s managers in ensuring success for all learners. • Greater use of student and stakeholder focus groups to inform practice. • A cultural overhaul to ensure that everyone focused on raising the expectations of students so that they could achieve their best.
Learner outcomes in key areas 2016/17
A levels
Progress score Average +0.04 Disadvantaged +0.08
Average Result Point score per A level
2016/17 2015/16
College C+ 33.23 C 32.17
College C+ 32.18 C 32.00 disadvantaged
Regional average C 31.00 C 31.00
England Average C+ 31.79 C+ 31.79
BTECs Progress score Average 0.58 Disadvantaged 0.69
Average Result Point Score per BTEC
2016/17 2016/17 2015/16 2015/16
College Dist*- 44.49 Dist * 45.67
College disadvantaged Dist*- 45.48 Dist * 45.80
Regional average Dist 35.81 35.81
England average Dist 34.70 34.70
43 Part G: Risk management
This section asks your organisation to articulate how you will manage risks according to required standards as defined in the Competency Framework for Governance.
(Recommended max 500 words)
Please give details of your risk management strategy, that bears in mind that:
• The trust must establish a control framework that recognises public expectations about governance, standards and openness; • The trust should make a considered choice about its desired risk profile, taking account of its legal obligations, business objectives and public expectations; • The trust must recognise and manage present and future risks to ensure its effective and continued operation; • The trust should maintain a risk register; and • The trust’s management of risks must include contingency and business continuity planning.
The Trust established its Risk Management Strategy at conversion in November 2017 with due regard to public expectations about governance, standards and openness. It is the role of the Trustees to set the tone and culture of risk management within the trust and determine major decisions affecting the trusts risk profile and exposure. The Trust Board annually reviews the Trust’s approach to risk management, following consideration by the Finance and Audit Committee and approve changes or improvements to key elements of it’s processes and procedures.
The Finance and Audit Committee monitor the management of significant risks to reduce the likelihood and impact of unwelcome surprises. The Committee reviews termly reports on the Risk Register and makes any necessary recommendations to the Trust Board. The Committee also has the responsibility to satisfy itself that the less significant risks are being actively managed and that the appropriate controls are in place and working effectively.
The trust’s risk management strategy recognises that risk management should be embedded within the daily operation of all trust activities. Through understanding risks, managers are more able to evaluate the impact of a particular decision or action on the achievement of the trust’s objectives. The trust’s risk management strategy does not focus on risk avoidance, but on the identification and management of an acceptable level of risk.
The risk register is the main reporting document used to inform trustees, management, staff and other stakeholders of the risks faced by the trust. A risk register is maintained for each Academy within the trust, detailing the risks 44 specific to that Academy, as well as a risk register at trust level. The risk register shows the likelihood and impact risks (scored using a consistent scoring system), control procedures, the senior manager responsible for the risk, monitoring procedure, action required, financial impact/contingency plan and developments. Risk registers are reviewed monthly by SLT to accommodate new risks and changes in assessment. The registers are monitored by the Finance and Audit Committee and approved annually by the Trust Board.
A comprehensive disaster recovery plan is maintained and updated annually. The plan includes contingency and business continuity plans and is tested regularly.
45 Part H: Declarations
This section asks your organisation to confirm that you understand and agree to the Department for Education’s policies and principles, which are stated below.
Please read the following information regarding the Department’s not-for- profit policy and confirm that you understand, and agree to abide by the principles of the policy, as set out in the Academies Financial Handbook https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-financial- handbook (sections 2.6.2 to 2.6.8)
It is the policy of the Department that no individual or organisation should make a profit from any academy they have a ‘governing relationship’ with. In applying to become an academy sponsor you are confirming that you understand, and will abide by, this policy. The details of the policy are explained in full in the academies financial handbook.
In brief, the sponsor agrees to: • ensure all members, directors, those named in the articles as able to appoint members and directors, and any DfE recognised academy sponsor – and any individuals or organisations closely related to these persons – deliver services to their academies at cost, with no element of profit; • support the academy in ensuring a fair and open procurement process can take place whenever the Academy wishes to source goods or services externally; and • bid for any of these contracts at cost; and to carefully manage any conflicts of interest.
The Academies Financial Handbook is available on our website.
Please indicate that you understand, and agree to abide by the principles of the policy by ticking this box: ☐
Please read the following information regarding the principles that the Secretary of State will consider an organisation’s or individual’s adherence in deciding whether to approve their sponsor application.
The Secretary of State will reject applications put forward by organisations that advocate violence or other illegal activities, or by individuals associated with such organisations. The Department regularly reviews approved sponsor status. If the Secretary of State no longer considers that a sponsor meets the required standards, they may remove their approved sponsor status. The sponsor will ensure that it, as well as other individual members and trustees of
46 the academy trust, promotes principles which support fundamental British values, including:
• respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England; • respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes; • support for equality of opportunity for all; • support and respect for the liberties of all within the law; and respect for and tolerance of different faiths, religious and other beliefs.
Please tick this box to confirm that you agree to abide by and will ensure that these principles are adhered to: ☐
I/we, sponsor applicant, agree to provide to the Department any additional information it requests to assess our application. ☐
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Reference: DFE-00147-2017
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