Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham MULTI-ACADEMY TRUST

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

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.

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.

We use partners who :-

 are recognised as good practitioners and have a demonstrable track record in school improvement  articulate high expectations of teachers and learners  draw upon up to date research of effective school improvement  take into account effective strategies for adult learning and motivational theories  are able to build capacity and inspire confidence in schools

Our Deputy Diocesan Director of Education (Schools), who leads on school effectiveness ensures that we use a Quality Assured Team of education professionals. Where possible we will use direct school to school support. We will draw on :-

 outstanding Headteachers and School Based Practitioners  diocesan NLE’s, LLE’s and SLE’s  outstanding practitioners accessed through our two church school lead teaching alliances  consultants bringing specific areas of expertise

MAT directors monitor and evaluate the performance of support provided by our various partners. Where action plans are put in place these include monitoring arrangements involving diocesan officers to ensure accountability and further monitoring and evaluation by MAT directors. These procedures are designed to ensure progress is regularly checked and to reduce risk of failure. We have experience of working with governing bodies to address emergency situations and supporting them to take necessary actions.

Our school improvement model aims to provide a structure where the responsibility for leading school improvement will be transferred from external expertise to the governors and leadership of the school. As capacity and expertise increases in the governing body of the academy, leadership develops across the staff and confidence of all involved in the school community grows so it will become a self-improving school. A necessary requirement for a school to be outstanding is autonomy and self- management and this is the ultimate benefit of becoming an academy.

8 Key Performance Indicators

The key performance indicators for academies are:-

Leadership

 holds clear strategic vision for the academy based on Christian values which aligns with practice  establishes a culture of high expectations for all  has a shared knowledge of what good and outstanding practice looks like and how to motivate others to achieve it  use rigorous and regular monitoring and evaluation procedures, using a range of methods leading to improvements in the quality of teaching and pupil’s progress  ensure data is used accurately and effectively to understand the performance of all groups of pupils and to inform plans for improvement and a check that they are working

Teaching and Learning

 all teachers demonstrate the hallmarks of good and outstanding teaching  inadequate teaching is eliminated  best practice is celebrated and shared through the use of coaching programmes and C.P.D.

Data Tracking and Assessment

 A standardised assessment package is used across the academy, and understood by all staff  Teacher’s assessment is accurate and rigorous and informs lesson planning and appropriate target-setting  Pupils’ work is levelled and moderated to ensure reliability and accuracy of assessment  Half-termly data reviews are held to monitor pupils’ progress and inform interventions  Data is used to produce regular reports to the local governing body and MAT  Use of data is built into the academy self-evaluation and improvement cycle  High quality marking provides effective pupil feedback to inform next steps in learning

Parents and Community

 Systems are established for ensuring parents are well informed about the academy and as a result they are involved in events and activities  parents have clear information about their child’s progress and how best to support them in their learning  there is regular use of parental feedback to inform the ongoing development of the academy  there is a determination for the academy to be at the heart of the community, demonstrated through strong links with the local community and local church and the extensive use of buildings and facilities used by local groups

9 Curriculum

 a broad and balanced curriculum relevant to the context of the school and community is offered  full entitlement to National curriculum is enhanced by opportunities for vocational learning and an emphasis is placed on R.E.  intentional opportunities are provided for pupils’ personal development, particularly their spiritual and moral development  pupils have opportunities to contribute to the life of the academy community and develop their leadership and organisational skills  extra-curricular programme is developed that generates involvement and engagement of pupils

Interventions

 policies and practices are developed to remove barriers to learning  wider learning opportunities are offered to extend pupils’ experiences and raise aspirations  programmes are put in place to close the gaps between learner groups

Performance Management

 objectives are linked to academy improvement priorities and the needs of pupils  targets are personalised and lead to individual development  policies are clear about the link between pay and performance  arrangements are clear about how under-performance will be managed

10 Terms of Reference

Academy Improvement Monitoring Group (AIMG)

1. Constitution

1. Core membership of AIMG will be:

 Headteacher  Member of Senior Leadership Team  DDE / Deputy DDE (Schools)  School Improvement Provider / Partner Governor

2. Other members of staff or officers from partner organisations will be called to attend meetings as appropriate.

3. The Chair of AIMG will be the Deputy DDE (Schools)

2. Purpose

The Governors of have a clearly expressed ambition for the academy to become outstanding. As part of their response to this challenge they have agreed to convert to an academy sponsored by the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham. AIMG has been formed to ensure that the additional resources available to the academy have the maximum impact, accelerating the progress of improvement in every aspect of the academy’s provision.

3. Objectives

3.1 To ensure that the Academy Improvement Plan (AIP) is fit for purpose and addresses all identified areas for development

3.2 To monitor progress against identified success indicators

3.3 To support and challenge leaders within the academy responsible for aspects of the AIP

3.4 To ensure that partner organisations and services deliver effective and timely support

3.5 To identify barriers to progress and enable them to be overcome

3.6 To identify additional resource requirements where necessary and challenge those responsible for providing them

3.7 To make alterations to the AIP as appropriate

3.8 To support the Principal in being accountable to governors and the MAT

11 3.9 To build capacity within the Governing Body to carry out their duties in respect of driving improvements and being accountable to Ofsted, The Diocese, DfE, EFA and other governmental bodies as and when necessary

3.10 To make recommendations to the Governing Body regarding aspects of policy as appropriate

4. Reporting

4.1 Notes of decisions made at meetings will be kept and form part of a report to Governors / MAT Directors.

4.2 Progress on the AIP will be evaluated using a Red/Amber/Green (RAG) rating and form part of the termly report.

4.3 Other reports will be produced on specific issues as required.

5. Frequency of Meetings

5.1 Meetings will be planned fortnightly or half termly depending on the category of the school.

12 Roles and Responsibilities

The MAT has 3 members who “own” the company and are responsible for appointing the Directors to the Executive Board to run the academies.

The MAT has 7 directors who have been recruited to ensure we have a balance of the relevant skill sets.

The DDE (Diocesan Director of Education) acts as the Head of the MAT and is supported by the Deputy Director of Education (DDDE) who also leads within the Diocesan Education team on school effectiveness.

A full time Business Director advises the MAT Board directors and leadership in all financial and business operational matters. She is also the Principal Finance Officer (PFO) for the MAT and as such supports the CEO in performing her roles as Accounting Officer, ensuring that the MAT operates good financial governance in line with the requirements of the Academies Financial Handbook manual. She has lead responsibility in the areas of finance, procurement, business development, human resources, legal issues, estates management, health and safety, IT and information management and also acts as Company Secretary.

Our experience of supporting schools in difficulties suggests that some issues will need direct involvement of Directors, certainly in the initial stages. This is reflected in our scheme of delegation.

As our scheme of delegation works on a system of “earned autonomy” the ultimate aim is for all academies to become high performing and the local governing body to take responsibility for the running of the academy.

Academy Improvement The Board of Directors secures the academy improvement resources necessary for each academy, and the Trust acts as the contracting body with the national and /or local partners. The approach used is outlined in our Diocesan Academy Improvement Strategy. The Directors, through the DDE (Claire Meese) and Deputy DDE (Schools) (Samantha Dennis) monitor progress against the academy improvement plan and call leaders and external contractors to account. An Academy Improvement Monitoring group comprising the Headteacher, member of SLT, DDE / Deputy DDE (Schools), academy improvement partner/provider and a governor meets half termly, monitor progress against the academy action plan and report back to the MAT.

Finance and Payroll Services This is provided through the finance and operations department of our secondary academy, Magnus Church of England Academy, under the leadership of their Director of Finance & Development, Nichola Moore. This service includes training for using the PS Financials system used across MAT schools, support in setting up budgets, bank accounts and cash flow reports, access to a finance helpdesk, setting up and co-ordination of payroll, advice on preparing financial reports, DBS completion for governors and new starters and pension administration.

Corporate Services The diocese has engaged :

Anthony Collins Solicitors to carry out legal work and offer legal advice.

Philip Tillman (ACS) to act as an academies adviser, especially in relation to the Conversion process

Browne Jacobson to act as our provider of HR services

Mazars to act as our financial auditors

Some services will be provided on an “at cost” basis by the Diocesan Education Team. Administrative support and providing administrative support to the DDE and advice on advice on admissions. admission policies, appeals processes etc (Sheila Barker)

Governor support support with process of appointing governors, advice on (Alison Jacobson) procedural matters and issues related to constitution and membership.

Data Manager – support with administrative support with obtaining, and managing data, obtaining and managing preparing tables, charts etc. school performance and Ofsted data. (Ally Horne)

Advice on building develop- support with obtaining grants, setting up projects, monitoring ment / Capital Development finances, making claims etc. projects. (Beryl Freer)

Wider support can be drawn in from the wider diocesan team – for communications / publicity etc. if necessary.

14 Role Description for a Director of the Southwell and Nottingham Multi Academy Trust

Vision Statement

The Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham Academy Trust is committed to securing excellence in learning 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 and academies to enable them to offer high quality education to pupils of all faiths and none.

The main responsibilities of the MAT Directors are:

 to be ultimately responsible for all decisions regarding the strategic running of the MAT as a whole and the individual academies in it.  to be accountable to the Secretary of State for the performance of the academies within the MAT and ensure the quality of educational provision  to set policies for the running of academies within the trust  to challenge and monitor the performance of the academies in the MAT  to ensure good financial health and probity  to be responsible to others for the MAT’s performance as a charity and a company  to be responsible for ensuring that local governing bodies consist of competent and committed individuals who are able to manage the tasks and responsibilities delegated to them in running the academies on a day to day basis

As academies are charitable companies limited by guarantee, the Board of Directors of a MAT must comply with duties under both charity and company law, despite the fact they will be delegating some responsibility to the local governing bodies of academies

Duties as a Company Director:

 duty to act within powers  duty to promote the success of the academy company  duty to exercise independent judgement  duty to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence  duty to avoid conflicts of interest  duty not to accept benefits from third parties

15 Duties as a charity trustee

 Duty of compliance—to ensure that the academy is using its resources to further the academy trust’s objects as set down in its articles and is compliant with the law and regulatory requirements.  Duty of prudence—mainly concerned with financial responsibility and protection of assets  Duty of care—ensuring that you use reasonable care and skill as a director, making use of your skills and experience where relevant but also making use of external advice

MAT directors must ensure that mechanisms are put in place to ensure that delegated duties are properly discharged. These will be set down in a scheme of delegation in the areas of :-

 finance  human resources  education  asset management  strategy

Key requirements

It is an expectation of the Diocesan Board of Education that MAT directors will have

 a commitment to the Vision and Objects of the academy trust  a willingness to devote the necessary time and effort to MAT business  an ability to hold others to account for their professional practice  strategic vision  good independent judgement  an understanding and acceptance of the legal duties, responsibilities and liabilities of trusteeship  experience of at least one of the following broad areas: finance, risk management, business, Human Resource, education/Church Schools, land, trust or building matters, law and effective communication skills.

Chair of MAT Directors—Canon Phil Blinston

Canon Phil Blinston is a Lay Canon of Southwell Minster and a member of the Cathedral Chapter.

Phil was Executive Head of the Minster School, Southwell in Nottinghamshire, an 8 – 18 comprehensive school and Choir School for Southwell Minster until April 2014. He was a National Leader of Education. Under his leadership, over a period of twenty years, the school came to be judged Outstanding by OFSTED and under the SIAMS framework.

Minster School is both a National Support School and National Teaching School. Through arrangements under a National Challenge Trust structure Phil provided the strategic lead for a school in its journey out of Special Measures. Phil has provided school improvement support to a range of schools in all phases of education. He is certain from his own experience that in collaborative arrangements all schools benefit.

He believes the circumstances for sustained improvement in schools are created by building professional trust, making space for innovation and through developing the quality of leadership at all levels. He welcomes the Church of England’s report “The Church School of the Future Review” and the opportunities it emphasises for Church schools to be a very strong players in the re-configuration of the state school system. He believes that the Multi-Academy Trust is an effective response to an evident need in the Diocese.

MAT Director - Hilary Craik

As a Headteacher Hilary led a school from serious weaknesses to outstanding in six years. She then moved on and became a school improvement adviser and a SIP for Nottinghamshire County Council Local Authority. After two years in this post she moved to a newly created post as a workforce development adviser. She enjoyed the challenge of creating a meaningful, new role and supporting leadership development in education.

After thirty-four years of working for the same Local Authority Hilary has recently enjoyed the freedom of being self employed. She has held a short term contract to develop talent management across the East Midlands and she works for schools on school improvement issues, recruitment, training and leadership development.

Hilary has close contact with Nottingham Trent University and one of the first primary Teaching Schools. She is a Lead Facilitator on the new NPQH with the George Spencer Academy, one of the three East Midlands providers of the National College's new Modular Curriculum for leadership. She has recently been appointed as an associate Education Adviser to the DfE to work as part of the Academies team. She enjoys being creative and helping others to find ways forward through research and reflection. Her specialities are Curriculum Development, School Improvement, Leadership Development, Succession Planning and Performance Management

MAT Director – Roger Periam

Roger trained as a science teacher at The Institute of Education in London after gaining his degree. He has extensive governor experience, first as a pupil school governor at his own school in 1974, and for the past twenty years at the South Wilford C of E Primary School, where he has also served as Chair of Governors for ten years. During this period the school has been rated as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted and he has successfully overseen a £1.5 million new school build and later expansion. He was part of the governing body who established the Nottingham Emmanuel School, a secondary school now converted to an academy, which replaced a previously failing school. During his tenure the school moved from an Ofsted rating of satisfactory to good. He has chaired the finance committee for much of the ten years of the school’s life, including the oversight of the £27 million new school build. Roger’s governance experience has involved him in the recruitment of four headteachers and many staff, and he has chaired performance, exclusion and appeals panels. At various times he has been a link governor for science, maths, training, safeguarding and school performance data.

Roger spent thirty-one years in industry, working for large, multi-national corporations in the technology sector (Mitel, GEC Plessey Telecom, Marconi & Ericsson), twenty-eight of these being spent as a manager of people and projects, spread across the UK, Europe and North America. This work involved setting objectives, performing pay and performance reviews, recruitment and development of staff and acting as mentor for graduate trainees. His financial expertise involved setting and managing budgets both locally and globally, the largest being over £100 million, and he has extensive experience of strategic planning, marketing, internal and external communications, public relations and campaign management, and has been involved in many change management, quality improvement and diversity initiatives. Roger has a new perspective on disability, accessibility and inclusions since the onset of his multiple sclerosis and subsequent early retirement.

MAT Director – Ian Griffiths

Ian was Director of Strategic Partnerships and formally Director of Information Systems at Nottingham Trent University. His final primary role until his retirement in April 2015 was Chief Executive of EMMAN Ltd a company limited by guarantee and owned by the 8 Universities of the East Midlands (turnover of £2.5M and provided Network connectivity to Higher Education, Further Education, and Schools). In addition to this, Ian had responsibility for ESCUK Ltd who provide support for Microsoft products for UK Education and overall responsibility for esiss, a government funded shared service for IT Security. Nationally, in 2013 he completed a 10 year period as non- executive Director for JANET(UK) (£60M turnover). He is a Trustee for Papplewick & Linby Village Hall and formerly he was a Director of Accelerate, Nottingham, Chair of Heads Group (Nottingham Trent University) and Chair of Papplewick Parish Council. Ian is a committed Christian and undertakes a number of roles in his local Church.

Ian is a long-serving school governor at Linby cum Papplewick Church of England Primary School and Chair of the Finance and Property Committee for the school. He has previous experience as a Chair of Governors for The National School (Secondary); now The National Church of England Academy (mid 1980s-mid1990s) which was rated as ‘good’ by Ofsted during his tenure, and is an experienced Admissions appeals panel member and frequently chairs the panels. He is also a member of the Diocesan Board of Education and is a Director of the Southwell and Nottingham Diocesan Educational Trust.

Ian is educated to degree level and has generic experience and skills in Information Systems, Finance, HR, Governance, Procurement, Strategy and Education.

MAT Director - Angela Pae

Angela worked as a senior local authority officer within Education and Children’s Services for over 20 years. She specialised in the strategic planning of school provision across Nottinghamshire and management of the education capital programme. Her roles included Head of Service for Planning and Provision (Schools) and Group Manager for Strategic Place Planning and Admissions. She has an excellent knowledge and understanding of Nottinghamshire schools and a long-standing relationship with the diocese.

Angela has extensive experience of delivering major capital projects eg school reorganisations, establishing new schools. She is experienced in all aspects of school organisation at primary and secondary levels – especially the impact of curriculum delivery on space and school environments. Throughout her career, Angela has worked closely with head teachers, governing bodies, government officials, parents and communities. She believes that building relationships and establishing high quality education partnerships is the key to delivering the best for children. Since leaving local government, Angela has started her own company as an education consultant working with schools and local authorities.

MAT Director - Diane Ward

Diane has worked in a range of roles that have developed her school improvement and leadership skills. After establishing herself as an effective practitioner working across three different LAs, Diane’s first school improvement role was as a School Improvement Consultant for CFBT in Lincolnshire and later as a freelance consultant delivering high quality training in the teaching of literacy across Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. She went on to provide strategic leadership for the Primary National Literacy Programme as Senior Adviser for three years, supporting and challenging LA school improvement teams to improve outcomes for children in literacy and developing effective teaching approaches with a range of other professionals.

Later, as a School Improvement Adviser for Leicester City LA, Diane worked across inner-city schools to support them to raise standards in their own unique context as well as encouraging them to take the opportunities to collaborate and develop through joint working. She later returned to school leadership, joining a multi cultural Leicester school that had been placed in Special Measures, and was a part of the leadership team that ensured the school was successfully removed from Special Measures within three terms. Diane took on the leadership of two Church of England Primary Schools in April 2014 as Executive Head Teacher. Her vision for both schools combines high quality academic provision with strong opportunities for personal development reflecting Christian values. She has led the schools towards an effective, formal partnership and this has created a strong community with staff, governors and children working together. This joint sharing and developing of skills and resources has increased capacity in each school and improved outcomes for children. Both schools were inspected by OFSTED in June 2015 and the overall effectiveness of both was judged to have improved.

MAT Director - Claire Meese (Diocesan Director of Education)

Claire has a wide range of experience in education and extensive experience of leading and managing schools in the primary phase. She has taught in seven schools across six different Local Authorities. She has been part of the senior leadership team in five of those schools including two as headteacher and one as an interim headteacher. She has worked in schools in a wide-range of socio-economic contexts with children from very diverse backgrounds. She has firsthand experience of effecting school improvement and has been involved in successfully leading two schools out of Special Measures – one as a Deputy Headteacher and one as a Headteacher. As Headteacher she took a school from special measures to good in a period of two years. Before taking up the post of DDE she worked as an accredited Ofsted Additional Inspector with Tribal Education and was part of more than forty inspection teams. She has also led Ofsted PIE inspections across a range of Early Years settings.

As DDE she heads up the Diocesan Education Team and works with the Diocesan Board of Education. She is responsible for the strategic direction and development of education policy in the diocese ( currently seventy one church schools) and promoting education and the role of the church as a provider. She works closely with a range of strategic partners including senior officers in two local authorities and regional consultants from the National College. She is a member of the strategic leadership team of the Transform Teaching School Alliance and a member of the Nottinghamshire Local Authority Schools Forum.

MAT Chief Executive - Chris Moodie

Chris has taught in secondary and primary schools in London, Manchester and Nottinghamshire and has experience of teaching in Key Stages 1-5. He was the headteacher of a successful and popular primary school in Nottingham from 2001-8. Chris then joined Ofsted, initially as a Senior Managing Inspector for Serco Inspections where he managed the delivery of all Section 5 inspections across the midlands. He was a national inspection trainer and provided guidance for the inspection workforce. In 2012, Chris was appointed as one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI). In this role Chris has continued to lead and quality assure inspections and has supported schools in their improvement work. Chris leads on school improvement training and works with groups of headteachers (in both primary and secondary phases) to develop their skills of self-evaluation and quality assurance. In addition, he is part of Ofsted’s Early Years team, participating in survey and research work and providing guidance for local authority EY groups. Chris has worked also within Ofsted’s policy team.

Chris has a life-long passion for education, and believes strongly in the right of every child to attend a good quality school. He is committed to ensuring that teachers have access to a network of professional support that enables them to develop their skills so that all teachers are contributing to making things better for our children. Chris’ time as an inspector has taken him to schools all over the country; some have been exceptionally successful and some have been in great need of support. In all cases, Chris has acknowledged and valued the unique nature of every school within their particular community; this is something that Chris is determined to retain with the Multi-Academy Trust.

20 MAT School Effectiveness Lead Officer - Sam Dennis

Sam has extensive experience of leadership and management in primary schools within the church school sector. She has a great track record of school improvement and has first-hand experience of prioritising and implementing actions that have accelerated pupils’ progress. Her leadership of teaching has been identified as strong. She is skilled in using information from checks on teaching to improve the quality of teaching further. As a headteacher she took her school through a successful Ofsted inspection and improved all key judgements. She has experience of meeting the professional needs of a range of staff within an academy trust setting and matching training to the development needs of different schools. She is also experienced in working across a group of schools to ensure that experience and best practice is shared and all staff skills are fully utilised in order to bring about sustained school improvement.

In the past Sam has served on a Local Authority Schools’ Forum and as a Director and governor of two different Multi Academy Trusts. As a Director of a newly formed Multi Academy Trust, she was involved in establishing the ethos and vision of the Trust, developing systems for monitoring performance and policy setting. She has developed a thorough understanding of the academy conversion process and academy governance structures, and has a good working knowledge of EFA statutory requirements.

As Deputy Diocesan Director of Education (Schools) her role is to support the director in the development of policy and strategy for promoting high quality education in schools and academies in the diocese, with specific responsibility for school improvement, monitoring standards and performance. She develops and oversees the services offered to schools. She also has responsibility for leadership development and succession planning. She works with a range of strategic partners including officers in two local authorities and leaders of local teaching school alliances.

MAT Business Director - Sarah Perry

Sarah holds qualifications in Education Management and Accountancy and has in excess of 15 years experience of supporting and delivering schools’ business operations and strategy. Until recently she was Finance Director for a Multi Academy Trust comprising both secondary and primary academies in Lincolnshire.

Her role as Business Director for the Multi Academy Trust is to advise the MAT Board directors and leadership in all financial and business operational matters. She is also the Principal Finance Officer (PFO) for the MAT and as such supports the CEO in performing her role as Accounting Officer, ensuring that the MAT operates good financial governance in line with the requirements of the Academies Financial Handbook.

Sarah also has lead responsibility in the areas of finance, procurement, business development, human resources, legal issues, estates management, health and safety, IT and information management and also acts as Company Secretary.