Report of Chief Executive to the Board

June 2016

Introduction This is the first formal written report from the CEO to the Board and I would welcome comments and suggestions regarding form and content. I have used headings which seem appropriate for the responsibilities and projects currently underway and tried to steer away from simply creating another Head teachers report, therefore where items are covered in individual Head reports to local governing bodies I have not covered them again here.

Trust Development. As Directors will be aware the Trust is currently small containing just the two academies and the wholly owned commercial entity. In line with our development plan I have been seeking to develop our Trust through expansion, most notably the acquisition of further Academies. Directors are reminded that this strategy is seen as the key to ensuring longer term financial stability for the Trust, especially in light of the volatility of the alternative provision market.

Current expansion projects are:

Lowestoft SEMH Academy: this is a tendering exercise from Suffolk County Council. We are currently in the final two to be chosen for the preferred sponsor. We know that the preferred sponsor has been chosen and the name submitted to the Regional Schools Commissioner for his approval. We await confirmation of whether that preferred sponsor is us or our competitor.

West Suffolk Free School application: We are awaiting confirmation of whether we will be invited to attend an interview at DFE which is the second (and final) stage of the Free School process. In preparation we recently took part in a Mock Interview process run by the New Schools Network. This was a very helpful exercise which highlighted where the weaknesses are in our application and will help to inform our approach should we be invited to interview.

Further Free School Applications As you will recall the Regional Schools Commissioner provided a letter of recommendation for up to three Free School applications. We are currently in the early stages of preparing a Free School application for the Great Yarmouth area.

Key Stage 1 and 2 provision in Suffolk Suffolk recently published an invitation to tender for its specialist KS1/2 provision which is currently operated under contract by Catch 22. The contract is for three settings in Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich for 20 young people in each. The initial tender was entirely unrealistic as it posited that the successful bidder would take the provision over from September 2016. I fed back to

CEO Report to Board – June 2016 1 Suffolk that we would not be bidding as we felt this was an unachievable timeline. Interestingly they withdrew the tender and replied to my email to say that they would be releasing a new tender for a January 2017 start. When this tender is released we will need to reassess whether to bid. However if we are successful with either of our other Suffolk projects then this may provide a useful continuum of service.

Suffolk Pupil Referral Units Having previously corresponded with all Suffolk PRU’s and attended meetings at two, there has been no further correspondence from these settings and voluntary interaction now seems unlikely.

Norfolk Complex Needs Schools We have been approached by two of the Norfolk Complex Needs schools who are considering which Academy MAT to join. I have met informally with both schools but as yet neither seems ready to progress the matter further.

Independent BESD provision We have discussed with one Norfolk based Independent BESD school the possibility of them converting to a Free School under our Trust. Whilst interested this setting felt they were not currently in a position to move forward with this idea.

Developing the Trust Team Directors will be aware that the Trust team has evolved and expanded over the year. The central team now includes  CEO  Business Director  Operations Manager  Premises Project Lead  Premises Maintenance Lead  Data Resources Assistant  Finance Manager  Finance Officer x 4  Trust Administrator

The next appointment which is currently in process is the Network Manager. This will complete the Trust structure as previously agreed.

I have now begun work on the potential structure required should the Trust expand further. This is likely to include:  Additional Finance Officer(s)  Safeguarding Manager (to oversee Safeguarding across the Trust)  Additional Specialist Roles – Clinical and Educational Psychology  Additional Project Managers

The Finance and Personnel Committee recently approved the expansion and movement of our offices within the Drayton Old Lodge facility to make allowance for the current expansion and movement of staff from School sites

2 into Drayton. This will greatly enhance our effective Trust working from September.

Premises Development The Trust premises continue to develop and expand over time. Most recent premises projects are:

1. ICT Upgrade – this will hopefully improve the infrastructure and Internet links in all sites 2. Earthsea expansion – we are converting an unused hall into new offices, toilets and staff room at Earthsea to allow the current staffroom to form a new KS1 classroom 3. Pott Row Therapy Space - we are building a new room in Pott Row to provide better space for the Therapy team 4. Belton is having a new Boiler and toilets refurbished 5. Pinetree is being considered for a further development of current cupboard space to make new offices and free up space for improved KS3 facilities.

Finance The budget for Sept 2016 – Sept 2017 is currently being prepared for submission by 31st July. The Finance and Personnel Committee have seen the initial budget which indicated a deficit. Ongoing work with the Business Director has significantly improved this picture and we anticipate having a balanced budget available for submission.

As previously highlighted, the long term financial stability of the Trust will be greatly aided by the addition of further academies. The stable funding of longer stay settings like Pinetree enables us to offset some of the unpredictable nature of the SSSFN. With 2 or so more academies like Pinetree our Trust finances would look much healthier.

Website and Branding Our Trust website is now live at engagetrust.org.uk This has allowed us to now undertake significant work on standardising policies. We have now determined which policies will be common “Trust” policies and which will be different for each academy. This has been a time consuming piece of work for Andriana as Trust Administrator, but sets us in good store for the future.

National and Local Developments Directors will be aware that the Education, Excellence Everywhere white paper included renewed references to Alternative Provision and Permanently Excluded children. As previously, the indication was that Schools would remain responsible for PEX children and would commission their own AP. This comes alongside the National Funding formula work which currently does not affect the SSSFN funding – but may change the landscape in the future.

CEO Report to Board – June 2016 3 The white paper suggests that there are further AP legislative changes to follow, however we know that has been the position for several years now with nothing appearing.

Locally the soaring number of Permanent Exclusions has begun to garner more press interest and some action from the LA. However it seems most likely that the LA response will be to encourage schools to set up their own provision and part fund it. Directors will need to consider the possible threats and opportunities such an approach offers.

However in the short term we have been successful in gaining a commitment from NCC to renew our contract for 3 years up to September 2019. This gives us a considerable buffer against any upcoming changes. Alongside the new 5 year Compass contract this gives us considerable stability in the medium term. To supplement this we are currently seeking to encourage Suffolk CC to enter into a block contract arrangement with Pinetree. Currently they have placed almost 20 Suffolk students, but have done so on an ad hoc basis. A block contract would give us much greater sustainability for Pinetree funding. That said the level of demand for places is such that the risk of not having block funding arrangements is low.

Engage Educational Services As CEO I am also one of the two directors of Engage Educational Services and intend to use this report to inform the Board of the development of EES.

We are now in the final stages of completing the EES restructure. We are currently advertising for a Company Manager to take over the day to day operational leadership of the company. This will then hopefully allow us to expand and develop the potential of EES to develop further income for the Trust.

We have now moved the EES staff out of all SSSFN buildings except for Brooklands in the East. This has meant having to rent offices in Norwich and Kings Lynn. Whilst this is an additional outlay it has created more space in the SSSFN buildings and usefully highlighted and embedded the separateness of EES.

The intended work for the coming year includes:

 Reviewing and revising the pricing and subscription structure for the Child Support Team  Developing new services and offers  Codifying new operational structures and ways of working

Possible new services include:  Support Staff Supply Agency  1:1 Tutor Agency  Finance and Payroll advice for Schools  Therapy Provision for Schools/Clusters  School based AP units 4 Currently the subscriptions to EES from Norfolk schools remain strong – but the real indicator will be the amount of re-subscribing academies in September. The impact of soaring exclusions has led to some delays for secondary schools in particular and we may see this translate into non- renewal from some schools. The impact of this will need to be considered in the autumn.

Des Reynolds June 2016

CEO Report to Board – June 2016 5