Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham MULTI-ACADEMY TRUST
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Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham MULTI-ACADEMY TRUST Contents Page No. Vision Statement 3—4 main aims Christian ethos key relationships aspirational and measurable outcomes How our Multi-academy Trust Works 5-7 School Improvement Model 8 9-10 Key Performance Indicators Terms of Reference for a School Improvement Monitoring Group 11-12 Roles and Responsibilities 13-14 Role Description for a MAT Director 15-16 Pen Portraits of MAT Directors and Key Staff 17-20 2 Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham Multi-academy trust vision statement Vision Statement The Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham Academy Trust is committed to securing excellence in its schools and academies by supporting them as they develop an ethos and learning environment based on Christian values and principles. It works with its schools to enable them to offer high quality education to pupils of all faiths and none. Main Aims To express, both explicitly and implicitly, core Christian values such as responsibility, acceptance, truth and justice throughout our schools and academies and for these to be reflected in all aspects of the curriculum offered. To focus on the academic development of pupils with particular reference to Communication, Literacy, Numeracy and ICT skills within a curriculum framework that also pays close attention to the personal development of pupils, their leadership and organisational skills, their understanding of citizenship, community involvement and forming a constructive relationship with the world of work. To develop pupil’s abilities to make informed choices, solve problems and make decisions. To encourage a holistic approach to the development of pupils believing that each person is an individual made in the image of God and should therefore be supported to reach their full potential by receiving the very best education possible. To ensure that all pupils succeed and thrive in school by raising aspirations and tackling disadvantage. To provide strong support for operational needs to enable headteachers and their staff to focus on teaching and learning. 3 Our Christian Ethos It is our experience that developing a strong Christian ethos is a positive enabling factor in the development of young people as active participants in the learning and wider community. We aim for this distinctive Christian ethos in our schools and academies to be demonstrated by: serving the needs of whole communities the promotion of spiritual and moral values placing high value on individuals and the development of their self- esteem placing a high value on collaboration and community offering a high standard of care and guidance to ensure the physical and spiritual health of students and staff. Key Relationships building positive relationships and working with parents, carers and whole families to involve them in the education of their children and enabling them to play an active part in the structures that will shape their offspring’s future is seen as a priority in our schools. building strong links with local churches, building strong links with the local community. We seek to promote these types of local partnerships and through them draw on local resources, facilities, expertise and energy to provide high quality learning experiences and placing our schools at the heart of the community. Aspirational and Measurable Outcomes:- for all pupils to make consistently good or better progress across all year groups so that most pupils are at age-related expectations and many exceed for all lessons to show a strong context for learning (i.e. graded good or outstanding) that ensures all pupils are fully engaged and are applying basic skills appropriately for all academies to be well-led and governed for all academies to become self-improving organisations that can drive their own continual improvement all academies to be judged good or better in both Ofsted Section 5 or Section 8 inspections and SIAMS Section 48 inspections 4 How our Multi Academy Trust Works Our MAT is run by an Executive Board and who are accountable to the Department for Education (‘the DfE’) and run according to a scheme of delegation. Each Academy has its own Local Governing Body. The Governors who serve on the Local Governing Body are appointed by the Executive Board. Local governing bodies include both parent and staff representatives. The MAT serves three types of Academy within the Church family, namely: Sponsored Academies (fully sponsored) Supported Academies (requires improvement) Supporting Academies (good/outstanding) The Executive Board has overall legal responsibility for the operation of the MAT and the Academies within it. However, the Executive Board works in partnership with its family of Academies. This Scheme of Delegation therefore provides for certain functions to be carried out by one or more of the following: the Executive Board; the Diocesan Director of Education (the ‘DDE’) who is currently the Acting Chief Executive the Headteacher / Principal of the Academy; and the Local Governing Body of the Academy. The Executive Board The Executive Board also has a finance committee and may in the future decide to form other Committees to carry out certain of its functions. The term ‘Executive Board’ therefore includes any such Committees that may be formed from time to time. The DDE A significant number of responsibilities under the Scheme of Delegation lie with the DDE. The term ‘DDE’ includes the Diocesan Director of Education and the staff, appointed agents and nominees of the Diocesan Board of Education (DBE). Academy Categories When a school converts and joins the MAT it is allocated to the appropriate Academy category based on: its latest Ofsted Inspection Report and the Executive Board’s own assessment of its historical performance (based on additional information held by the DBE and LA) and its future prospects. The category allocation is very important because it dictates the following: the ‘make-up’ of the Local Governing Body; the extent to which responsibilities are delegated to the Academy; and the funding arrangements. 5 Reviewing the Allocation The category allocation is linked to the performance of the Academy in relation to: the quality of teaching and learning finance and buildings. The allocation will be reviewed at least once a year. Depending on the outcome of the review an Academy may either stay in its allotted category or be moved to another. The Executive Board reserves the right to change the category at any time if it believes this to be appropriate in the interests of both the Academy concerned and the wider MAT family. Governor appointments The ‘make-up’ of the Local Governing Body follows the category allocated to the Academy: Sponsored Academies - the Executive Board appoints all the Governors, other than parent and staff representatives; Supported Academies - the majority of the Governors are appointed by the Executive Board; Supporting Academies - the Local Governing Body is appointed on an ‘as is’ basis to reflect the arrangements in place immediately prior to joining the MAT. If an Academy improves and is moved to a higher category then it will have more say in the ‘make -up’ of its Governing Body. Conversely, if an Academy’s performance deteriorates then it may be moved to a lower category with a consequent adjustment to its Governing Body. Delegated functions The Scheme of Delegation covers five areas: Finance Human Resources Education Asset Management Strategy The MAT has direct legal responsibility to the DfE. It is therefore expected to exercise a tight rein over Sponsored Academies in order to secure the required school improvement, and this is reflected in the Scheme of Delegation. More responsibility will be passed to Supported Academies to reflect their higher performance. For Supporting Academies it is very much a light-touch approach. Funding The funding apportioned to an Academy also reflects the category to which it is allocated. A higher level of funding is ‘held back’ by the trust for schools requiring the highest levels of support. For a Sponsored Academy, part of its budget is set aside each year for investment in school improvements. These funds are used to provide appropriate support and resources for it. 6 The specific sum ear-marked for school improvements is determined each year as part of the process for agreeing the Business Plan and budget for the Academy. This is done on a case by case basis by the Executive Board to enable funds to be stewarded effectively within the MAT family. Similar principles apply to Supported Academies, though the amount set aside for school improvements will usually be lower. Supporting Academies will be free to spend their budget as they see fit. In addition, they will also be given the opportunity to take on school improvement projects to help Academies in the two other categories. They will be paid for this from the school improvement fund. Working together as a family All Academies within the MAT family will be expected to contribute to one or more of the following: development and maintenance of school policies sharing of best practice provision of emergency cover mentoring and coaching of staff 7 School Improvement Model Our MAT will commission a coherent package for school improvement which is tailored to each individual school, and is in response to a ‘rich’ contextual understanding of the challenges faced. Our approach takes into account an understanding of the journey for a school from consistent under performance to outstanding. The initial stages are very directed and driven by strong leadership with a clear sense of purpose and determination to succeed. It will bring about rapid improvement and build capacity and make extensive use of external providers and support. It will be managed by an experienced consultant employed and monitored by the MAT. In addition to this capacity, use will be made of the expertise within our high performing schools and academies in the diocese as outlined in our Diocesan School Improvement Strategy that covers all our schools.