School Improvement

We believe in continuous improvement.  Our students deserve the very best education and, even where we are performing well, there is always something that could be made better!  We use a balanced blend of challenge and support, working with schools on their short and medium term plans.  Our annual programme includes:

Autumn Term - Health Check

  • Review vision, values, self-development planning and governance. 
  • Evaluate of previous outcomes
  • Confirm systems are robust and effective

Spring Term - Peer Review

  • Senior Leaders supporting one another
  • Focus on issues from the self-evaluation
  • 360 degree evaluation and feedback

Ongoing Review

  • Periodic verification by a third party to ensure that the school's evaluation and the Trust's evaluation are accurate
  • Termly collaborative planning sessions between each school and Core Services colleagues to agree their next 100 day plan for improvement

As well as this annual review cycle, the Trust also supports schools with:

  • Annual Target Setting
  • Appraisal, Performance Management and Pay Moderation systems
  • Trust-wide assessment systems
  • Trust-wide moderation of pupils’ work
  • Challenge and scrutiny of internal tracking data
  • Intelligent accountability through the Trust’s Education Committee

We also offer bespoke support to any school, as and when they need it.  Schools have access to advice from the CEO, Director of Education and colleagues across the Trust.

“Support for school improvement is provided from within the trust and is effective.” Senior HMI, November 2019

Headteachers and other key leaders also work together to plan and delivery school improvement strategies.  In September 2019 they launched a Trust-wide reading strategy at a whole-staff inset day which has seen pupils reading more frequently and accessing a much wider variety of texts.