FAQs


How do you ensure our school will retain its individuality within the trust?


Our Scheme of Delegation is very clear. Heads and LGBs will have fully delegated authority to retain and maintain the distinctiveness of their school. This remains the case all the time the finances are sound and outcomes at least ‘good’ for the children. We say that the only thing each school ‘has’ to do, is to remain open minded to work with all the other schools in the Trust. Through that, there is increased alignment between how our schools work, but that is because Heads have been open to developing what they do and how they do it, rather than because it’s imposed by the Trust. In short, often good ideas from another academy are 'adopted' by colleague Heads for their own academies.


What are the principal values and vision of your trust? / What is it that drives the trust?  


What drives all of our work is the question ‘what’s best for the children?’ Everything else flows from this. This link is to our Strategic Plan where our mission, vison and values can be viewed.

 

What are your priorities for your schools?


To be outstanding in everything they do. That is not, necessarily, in terms of OFSTED rubric (although that is the mechanism we work in) and for each school that will mean its priorities for improvement may/will be different from each other. That’s part of the strength of working in a MAT - the catalyst for improvement can usually be found from within. The number 1 priority for every school is to keep the children safe (including educating them to become increasingly self-dependent in this respect) followed by that they achieve the best academic and SMSC outcomes they are capable of.


Is any school permitted to join your trust?


It has to be the ‘right fit’ - This means geographically (see here)  as well as in terms of what the needs of the school are, i.e. some require lots of intervention, others less so. The interest in joining SLT means that we are heading towards a model of geographical clusters. Each cluster will fulfil the Trust imperative of working closely with each other. Each academy will benefit from being part of a tight knit family of schools and yet have the 'safety net' of a bigger family with the increased pooled resources that this can bring.


How is governance structured and managed?


The Board of Trustees of SLT, as the Multi Academy Trust (MAT), fulfils the role of directors under company law and trustees under charity law and they are charged with exercising the powers and duties of the Multi-Academy Trust. The Board are responsible to the Members of the Trust as well as the parents, pupils and staff at the academies.


The Trustees as directors are responsible for the three core governance functions: ensuring financial probity, setting the strategic direction of the trust and member academies, holding the CEO, LGB and Headteachers to account. Trustees work with the LGBs to ensure the quality of education and financial management provided at each member academy.


Our published Scheme of Delegation (SoD) is here . Early on in our SoD the Trust states

 

“Whilst the Board of Trustees is accountable at law for all decisions about its academies, this does not mean that the Board makes all the decisions itself, and significant decision-making authority is delegated to individual academy Local Governing Bodies.” 


Later the SoD develops this point by stating  


“The Trust wishes LGBs to have considerable autonomy to act in the best interests of their academy, within the framework and support provided by the Trust.”


When the Trust is talking to Governors at a maintained school we are confident in saying that existing Governors will not discernibly notice a change in their decision making authority.


The Board of Trustees have established an Audit & Finance Committee to cover MAT arrangements in all matters relating to financial and procedural accountability, for risk management and for ensuring statutory compliance is completed in line with good practice. The chair and members of the Committee are non-executive members appointed by the Board. The clerk circulates minutes of meetings of the committee to all members of the Board of Directors. The CEO in his or her role as Accounting Officer, the Deputy CEO and the Chief  Finance Officer (CFO) will normally attend meetings. The Audit  Committee operates as an advisory board under the MAT Board. The Chairs of each member academy meet to review and monitor MAT performance and focus on value for money and effectiveness. There are sub-committees of the full Board of Trustees specifically focused on Growth & Capital and People and Culture.


There is a Trustee (termed a Regional Trustee) charged with representing each academy’s view point on any given item of Trust business. Agendas and minutes are discussed between the Regional Trustee and the Chair of the LGB. 


How does the trust work with school governing boards?


See above regarding Regional Trustees.

The CEO line manages the Head in partnership with the LGB. Therefore, a direct link is always maintained between each school through this mechanism. 

At least one Trust Officer (CEO/DCEO/CFO/O&CD) will attend the LGB meetings. 

Improvement Plans (SEFs) are co-constructed between Heads/LGBs and CEO


The indicative schedule of School Improvement activities (see below but this is merely indicative) will always be discussed or reported back to LGBs.


School Improvement Support

Progress data reviews

Academy Self Evaluation support

Academy Development Planning

Supportive Data Review

Teaching and Learning scrutiny

Pupil Premium Review

Pastoral System Review

Department Review

SEND Review of provision

Governance support and guidance

Progress of groups of children

Safeguarding

Leadership mentoring/coaching

Annual SLT CPD twi-lights led by our leaders

Line management of Head on behalf of LGB

Consultant expert for LGB in Performance Review of Head

Heads Forum - CPD (bi-weekly)

Oversight' - bringing current thinking into each academy

SEND network membership

Curriculum 3 'i's' reviews


Strategic Support from Chief Financial Officer and Operations and Commercial Director & teams

Support in budget setting & monitoring

Risk management, Health and Safety and Compliance

Operational consultancy, i.e. premises, HR, leases

Core finance support and oversight

Accounting & reporting support

Academy compliance support

Payroll SLA

First call HR legal support

ICT Strategy support, i.e. risk identification, procurement, E safety

Contract Procurement - support, guidance and efficiencies

Premises: from Capital projects to maintenance projects and services

Grants and fundraising expertise

Exploration of 'back office' costs and potential efficiencies



What evidence do you have that the Trust has made a difference in other schools?


3 examples - we have many more!

The original Heyworth becoming WPPA has been transformative for the community it serves. No one else wanted to help that school. It was deemed unsafe by HMI. It has now received successive ‘goods’ from OFSTED.


The KS2 SATs attainment in RMW increased by 25% in year 1. The school was coasting and is now cruising to ‘outstanding’.


The Headteacher peer to peer work has benefitted WPSA greatly. For example, the teaching of reading has been completely impacted upon the experiences that our Primary colleagues have shared, they being experts in teaching reading which is increasingly needed at secondary, particularly post- lockdown. This has been part of a bigger jigsaw that has seen exceptional increase in standards around language development and, pragmatically, outcomes in English.


What is the growth plan?

The full plan is here. Pasted below some key paragraphs:-

Our ‘vision for growth’

We will remain entirely child focused - making decisions which benefit the children’s safety, emotional and academic well-being. By serving more children’s interests we will be a ‘force for good’ in West Sussex.

To have (develop) capacity to be world class in all we do, including school improvement for our existing academies and new joiners.  

To be a Trust with high performing academies, led by outstanding leaders, with a shared drive, determination, commitment and ethos, for the academy they are directly responsible but also that everyone in the Trust feels responsible for every child in SLT.

New academies joining SLT will complement our ethos of collaboration, adding value to our already strong provision for the local children.

To grow sustainably, based around developing our staff team (including excellent recruitment & retention) who know they are valued and provided with outstanding CPD opportunities to allow their careers to flourish as they, and the Trust, wish.

To explore opportunities surrounding clusters of schools, particularly relevant for primary schools. Secondary school resources and geographical spreads mean that they can, and will, travel further distances more readily. It is also a good thing if secondary schools serve different catchment areas. (Schools have become very adept at utilising on-line meeting platforms too) .


Our approaches to growth

The Trust must have a dynamic, flexible and differentiated strategy for its growth (see below). The implications of further growth in new provision, Free Schools, sponsored and convertor schools and the varying demands and challenge that they represent must be carefully considered. 

Do you make internal quantitative comparisons between schools in the trust?  Both in terms of academic development and operational issues

Benchmarking is always useful. That said, we treat each academy as an individual depending upon its context, local pressures, barriers to improvement, finance etc. Each school can, and does, learn from each others successes and challenges. Colleagues across academies support and challenge where appropriate in order to keep professional dialogue high on the agenda at all times. 


How do you benchmark progress for school in the trust?

We target set against FFT5 for academic progress for ‘good’ schools. Other progress measures will be identified within Improvement Plans.




What benefits will we see from a services and financial point of view?

Recently, we increased capacity in our Senior team by having a defined CFO and appointing a separate Operations & Commercial Director role. Our CFO is a Price Cooper Waterhouse Chartered Accountant with a background in audit. The Finance & Operations team share an open plan office and have capacity to support new joiners. We expect that team to be enhanced by staff coming into the Trust with similar roles. The financial benefits will be felt largely in terms of quality and value for money. i.e. there may not be savings against your current expenditure but we do believe that you will see significant enhancements to the quality of service. The current management of each academy will add value to the workings of the Trust. The back office are expected, as the educationalists are, to collaborate with colleagues to continually improve.


How would the “economy of scale” benefit from joining a trust work in practice and how will the school be better off financially? 

See above plus, we believe the main value of joining a MAT is around joining a culture and ethos entirely focused on improving each school for the benefit of the children. Where we can save money to plough back into learning or creating better environments, then we will. We believe we can exploit better contracts as we grow and we are identifying a colleague to lead on identifying where we can further improve on this. The Annual Partnership Contribution is reviewed annually to ensure the value for money we offer is at the level we demand of ourselves.


How are the resources and services paid for?

The Annual Partnership Contribution is paid at the rate of £190 per pupil (2023-4). We anticipate this will reduce as we expand (i.e. economies of scale) but it certainly won’t go up! 


How does geographical location affect the performance of the trust? 

We believe that small clusters of schools geographically located close to one another works for primary schools and the secondary school that those ‘feed’. For secondary schools our vision is to have logically dispersed academies that can easily access each other for peer, scrutiny and supportive working arrangements.


How are large projects and capital work funded?

This is about to change for SLT where at the moment we have to bid for larger sums. From the beginning of the financial year '24-'25, we will be allocated capital monies each year and will need to establish a clear priority, 5 years +, plan for capital projects. 


What is the impact on budget setting and purchasing decisions?

Next to zero, assuming an at least a balanced budget is planned and adhered to. Each academy retains a notional 4% GAG for a restricted reserve (i.e. catastrophes or uninsured issues). Above that, the reserve is available for the Head to access, including the potential of 'borrowing' from the wider reserve where insufficient funds are available.


What health and safety or building management services are provided by the trust?

The Operations & Commercial Director oversees the site teams. At present, we are investigating a system of ‘pooling’ site staff to be deployed across the clusters, where geographically sensible. We anticipate being able to make better, targeted use of site staff and enhance our consistency across the Trust estate. All statutory policies and procedures are monitored by the O&CD team, with local arrangements with respect to practice.


What technology services are provided by the trust?

In essence, it is on a needs basis, depending what levels of expertise exist within the joining school. We have a central team that will need to grow as the Trust does. We anticipate regular visits/surgeries from appropriate staff, strategic oversight from our in-house CEOPs Ambassador for digital safety. Warden Park is one of only 400 schools worldwide to be awarded Apple Distinguished status.



What are your ambitions for your staff - including having opportunities to work in other schools or wanting stay within their current school?

No one is ever moved from their ‘home’ academy unless they choose to embrace a CPD opportunity offered to them elsewhere within the Trust. Some colleagues have transferred, either temporarily for a project or permanently but it's quite rare. However, many colleagues visit other academies for defined slots to assist in school improvement - this is very popular for the providing colleague and the receiving school. Our ambitions for each of us is that we are 'better at our job at the end of the year than we were at the beginning!' The Trust's job is to make available the conditions to facilitate this personal, professional progress.


How do you support the leadership and management of the school?


How will joining your trust affect the staff of our school?


How do you ensure staff wellbeing?

Our culture is one in which well-being is high profile. We have EHWB First Aid trained staff, we sponsored training for a number of colleagues in  the locality. We cut out anything that does not have an immediate impact on the children, their safety and learning. Each LGB has to have a nominated Governor for this aspect. One of the few ‘musts’ (another being EDI) established by the Trustees.


How is teacher performance and underperformance dealt with?

Standard informal and formal procedures for capability, however we view such situations as failures on the part of the leadership too, i.e. when someone is struggling we should know that and be able to intervene proactively rather than reactively. Otherwise, see RDP above.


What are the training, career and individual development opportunities for our staff including support staff?

Through RDP, we expect staff (all) to identify their training requirements. We expect our leaders to find that, usually in-house. In addition to INSETS (one shared conference each year) Twilight training is arranged each year, often around leadership. We encourage colleagues to visit other places where we know great practice exists.


Will contract and terms including pension contributions continue?

Teachers - yes. Support staff yes to LGPS and the same through the TUPE arrangements. For new Support Staff rates of pay are aligned with NJC rates but not identical. However, they are so aligned that staff do not raise concerns.


Please describe the selection process you would use to identify candidates for new consolidated roles in the MAT

Without knowing individual budget positions, we assume that there would be no expectation of consolidating roles. As the partnership matured we would expect that any ‘natural opportunities’ for considering a change in structures could be explored, i.e. when a colleague moves on we would consider if efficiencies could be made or new ways of working adopted to the benefit of the school (prime consideration) or the Trust. Initially, we will have systems to align (MIS & financial) which will require people in post to establish and manage. It could be in time that we (in partnership) can see how efficiencies could be made, however a) these would only be made if the Head thought that there would be a benefit to the children and b) the LGB control the budget all the time that it is in the black. When considering whether to keep a role, or not, we ask the Head to consider what the impact would be on the children were this role not filled?




How does the trust engage with the various stakeholders in the school community and how do you raise the expectations of the various member of the school community?

Largely through each academy, i.e parents are most invested in each academy, rather than the Trust as such. We are establishing a higher profile on social media.


What are your ambitions for the parent community

That they will continue to support the school’s work and recognise the value of their school being part of the Trust.


How do you ensure parents have a voice in the running of the school? 

Through Parent Governors, we expect the Head to maintain the relationship with the parent body.



What are your ambitions for your/our children?

That they are outstandingly safe and outstandingly successful in their studies. We want them to be healthy, in mind and body, to be inquisitive and expecting of the quality of opportunities our academies provide. We want them to develop the character traits that will set them up for life and be confident to take their place in society. 


How do you support and improve teaching and learning?

Collaborative professional discussion is a regular feature of our Trust. That means that as one of our leads becomes cognisant of a new idea or fresh approach, then everyone becomes aware of it too. Where one academy researches new ideas - every academy benefits from their findings. As mentioned above, our Heads meet, our middle leaders meet and our staff meet, meaning that the reservoirs of development are always flowing. 


Do you have a structured and planned approach to school improvement?

Beyond standard Improvement initiatives (see table above) and plans that are discussed with the CEO, we have a less formal approach called ‘Peer to Peer’. Each Head invites their colleagues to undertake reviews of any aspect of school they like. Often, the Head involves other leaders within the team, thereby distributing leadership. There is always a Senior Officer (CEO or DCEO) closely aligned to each academy, thereby maintaining an on-going dialogue with the Head about continuous improvement.


What do your schools do best and what can they do better?

None of our academies are judged ‘overall outstanding’ by OFSTED. Whilst we are sane about why that is in a couple of examples, we are still frustrated by that. We are talking very fine margins and there is a much longer list of what we do well than what we need to do better at. In no particular order, Trust strengths lie in the following areas:


What opportunities do you see to improve the educational outcomes of our children?

We talk about being stronger together. In this respect, we believe that collective teams of experts are clearly more likely to get enhanced results than professionals working in isolation. At secondary phase we anticipate that cross-department collaboration across our schools will add value to each area of the curriculum, i.e. you don’t need to be poor to get better! We expect HoDs will share resources, schemes, approaches, ideas. 


What services do you provide for SEN and disadvantaged children in the trust? 

The most important thing in this regard is the close working of our SENDCos - they choose to meet bi-weekly. This means the access to expert support is exceptional because if one doesn’t know the 'answer', another will! In addition, WPSA has an expanding SSC which demonstrates our Trust has an excellent, inclusive, reputation. Our academies have access to discounted Educational Psychology and Speech and Language therapy support which we commission thereby meaning we always see the same professionals and can always get a speedy response. 


What is your definition of inclusion and what would it look like in our school?

Every child is known and well-loved for as the person they are. We believe we can help a child overcome any barriers to their learning and personal development. We have very exacting EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) policies and procedures and have been awarded an EDI kite mark. We take inclusion very seriously.


How do you manage Pupil Premium? 

Our approach to narrowing the gap between PP and ‘others’ is founded on relationships, rather than spending money. That said, we spend PP as every other school, but there is more focus on knowing the children extremely well in order to ensure they feel wanted and welcomed in their school. Attendance is critical to success and a child won’t come to school if they don’t feel safe and happy in school. We have just invested in an Attendance Officer role.


How do you manage and monitor the safeguarding policies within the trust?

We have a central policy based on KCSIE. All staff sign to say they have read and understood KCSIE & our Whistleblowing Policy. We train more DSLs than we need to so that each school has multiple DSL trained colleagues. All of our academies use CPOMS. Internal Policy Audits are led by the Trust officers carrying out dip-testing of policies to ensure we are doing what we say we are. 


How would the school experience differ for our children?

On the basis that children do notice improvements to their schools, we hope that where additional capacity is added, they might appreciate that! Otherwise, they will notice very little - because we allow the Heads to lead in their own style. The children may well be involved with cross-school learning initiatives with peers and teachers from other academies. 


What is your approach to behaviour management?

Therapeutic with high standards and expectations.


What is your approach to pupil attendance?

Critical to success. We have appointed an attendance and welfare officer at WPSA and are open to introducing similarly across our primary academies.


How do you assess what the school needs and identify priorities?

Most importantly, we know our schools well in a way a local authority never could. Improvement Plans, building condition surveys, outcome data etc all combine to provide a holistic understanding of each academy.


How do you ensure that you prioritise the good of the pupils over financial efficiency in your decision making?

It’s in our DNA! We have a healthy understanding of what constitutes a good level of reserves balanced against spending available monies on the children on-roll. Some Trusts have huge reserves - we think that is wrong.


Does the uniform change when a school joins your trust?

No


Would the school change its name?

No. We would prefer the word Academy to be in the name - but this is far from a deal breaker! It just means there is uniformity with our existing academies.


Would we retain any charitable funds raised by our school community or by renting our facilities?

Yes, the budget remains allocated to each school.


How will you ensure that collaboration among the schools means less work rather than more work? 

Ultimately, the Head gate-keeps what is adopted and what is not. 


How will you know when SLT has hit the right size? 

What a good question! The Government's research suggests 10 academies is ideal. The cluster arrangement confuses that research finding. At the moment, potential clusters are forming nicely. 


Please give examples of how the SLT schools pool resources and capabilities 



This link is an internal micro-site that we have for all staff policies. It is not designed for the external stakeholders (we have another for them) but are happy to share with xxx as we think you may be interested and can be trusted.