Building a new learning community for Cambridgeshire Consultation on Establishing the Anglian Learning Trust

The Vision

The Anglian Learning Trust will be a multi-academy trust formed through the partnership of four Cambridgeshire secondary schools:

 Bassingbourn Village College  Bottisham Village College  The Netherhall School & Sixth Form Centre  Sawston Village College

The purpose of the Anglian Learning Trust is to create a community of schools able to strengthen and sustain the quality of education we provide for our students through effective collaboration while retaining our individual ethos and approach.

The new Trust will be formed through the integration of the Bassingbourn and Sawston academy trusts into the existing multi-academy trust of Bottisham and Netherhall. It will bring together three existing academy trusts, each already successful in its own right and which have demonstrated a highly effective and long standing commitment to working collaboratively with a wide-range of local secondary and primary schools. These partnerships, based on trust and mutual respect, have had a positive impact on all schools involved, and ultimately, and most importantly, on the education of all of the young people in our care.

However, in an increasingly challenging educational landscape we recognise that maintaining and improving the performance of our schools, staff and students needs a more robust and sustainable plan.

Governors of the four schools believe The Anglian Learning Trust will enable member schools together to strengthen and flourish for the benefit of all our students, staff and the communities we each serve.

The Benefits

Forming the Anglian Learning Trust will have a number of clear benefits for our four member schools:

 protect and develop each school’s unique ethos, values and culture,  embed the sharing of excellent practice in teaching and learning,  enhance the professional development of teaching and support staff,  help attract and retain the most capable staff,  broaden and deepen the curriculum through staff working together and sharing of resources,  increase the range of learning opportunities and enrichment activities for students,  enhance provision for students with special needs through sharing of best practice and resources,  secure cost and resource efficiencies through joint commissioning of services,  increase support, accountability and mutual challenge for Governors, Principals and school leaders, and  respond to Government changes in policy more proactively.

Page 1 of 3 In time other schools that can help the Trust develop could join, extending the impact of the Anglian Learning Trust on opportunities for local young people.

Trust Vision and Values

We are committed to providing outstanding educational opportunities for all young people in our care, so that we can be confident that they leave our community of schools having:

 achieved their full potential, both academically and socially,  developed a passion for life-long learning, and  developed the skills and attributes that will enable them to live successful and fulfilled lives, making a valuable contribution to our wider society, as global citizens.

The following core values will underpin all our work:

 Pursuit of excellence – raising the aspirations and achievement of all students.  Outstanding care and support for all – ensuring all children and young people are able to thrive.  Inclusion - a commitment to meeting the needs of all students.  Relationship driven approach to learning – establishing trusting learning communities.  Collaboration - ensuring that best practice is identified and shared across the family of schools.  Balanced autonomy – institutions will retain their own identity, underpinned by common trust-wide values.

The Member Schools Bassingbourn Bottisham The Netherhall Sawston Village College Village College School & Sixth Village College Form Centre Age Range 11-16 11-16 11-18 11-16 No. of students 593 1,081 1,078 1,041 Principal Mr Duncan Mrs Kate Mr Chris Mr Jonathan Cooper Evans Tooley Culpin Most recent Good Outstanding Requires Good Ofsted Improvement (Feb 2013) (June 2012) (June 2014) (Nov 2013)

The New Organisation

The Anglian Learning Trust will be governed by a single Board of Trustees including governors from the three trusts with the range of important knowledge, skills and expertise needed to oversee an organisation of 3,800 students, 500+ staff and nearly £20m of public funding. Each school would continue to have a Local Governing Body with representation for parents, staff and the wider school community as now.

The Anglian Learning Trust member schools would still be active members of teaching school alliances and local school partnership and keep their links with employers.

The Trust would continue to be accountable to the Department for Education and each school would be subject to individual Ofsted inspection.

Page 2 of 3 Kate Evans, currently Executive Principal of Bottisham Multi Academy Trust will take on this role across the new trust, relinquishing her role as Principal of Bottisham Village College. She will work alongside Jonathan Culpin and Duncan Cooper, who will both have significant Trust-wide executive roles, in addition to continuing to be Principal of their respective schools. Chris Tooley, Principal of Netherhall will join this trust leadership group, together with the new Principal of Bottisham Village College when appointed in due course. We are confident that this will be a strong team, with a wealth of experience, who will work in partnership to implement our exciting and ambitious vision.

The funding will still be generated and allocated on a school-by-school basis. The Trust’s finances will still be subject to close scrutiny by the Education Funding Agency and independently audited accounts will be published.

The Anglian Learning Trust will be the employer of staff in all four schools.

Continuation of School Life

In each school students will be wearing the same uniform as they do now, having lessons in the same classrooms with the same teaching staff. Over time they will notice changes and improvements in the way that they learn, resulting from the greater professional development and support for teaching staff and Trust-wide initiatives to wider learning opportunities and enrich the curriculum.

All our staff will continue to work in their current schools with the same responsibilities and terms and conditions as now. There will be opportunities for staff to take on wider responsibilities across schools to enable the Trust to function effectively and efficiently. Staff will also have access enhanced professional development and support. There are no plans to make redundancies as a result of the four schools forming the Anglian Learning Trust.

Next Steps

The goal is for Anglian Learning Trust to be established on 1 September 2016, ready for the start of the new academic year. There are a number of legal, regulatory and operational tasks to be completed and the plan is subject to final DfE approval.

The Governors have carefully considered the plan’s challenges and have put in place appropriate steps to ensure the formation of the Trust is as smooth as possible and that the member schools benefit from day one.

These proposals are being shared with the communities of each school and a period of consultation will run from Monday, 7 March until Thursday, 24 March 2016. The three Trusts will each then consider the outcome of the consultation and, if Trustees are satisfied, business cases will be submitted to the Department for Education for approval.

Parents, carers, staff, students and the wider community of each school will be kept fully informed throughout the process.

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