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Academisation
Whilst joining a multi academy trust is a significant step, joining the right Trust is absolutely vital. The benefits of collaborative working and resource sharing provide security in an ever changing educational landscape and can secure the long-term success of your school. Everyone has a vital part to play.
Joining the Trust
We know that each school will be different and we value this diversity. We also know that schools can be at different points in their journey to be even better. Primarily, if your values match ours and you believe that every child deserves to go to a good school, then you may want to get in touch to find out more about us.
What can you expect from us?
We will:
- have high expectations
- work with integrity
- work with honesty
- operate selflessly in the public interest
- be objective
- be accountable
- be open
- lead by example
- manage the academy conversion process
- support a school's individual identity and ethos
- develop high performing teams
- challenge mediocrity
- provide career development across the Trust in order to recruit and retain the best
What can we expect from you?
- to share the values and principles of the Trust
- to uphold the ethos of the Trust
- to commit to securing equity
- to fully engage in professional development for the benefit of all
- to contribute to the support and challenge of all Trust employees
- to have high expectations
- to work with integrity
- to work with honesty
- to operate selflessly in the public interest
- to be objective
- to be accountable
- to be open
- to lead by example
Benefits
- Stability in a fast changing educational landscape
- Access to shared services and economies of scale (HR, finance, IT, site, facilities, risk)
- Access to Trust wide professional development opportunities
- Access to Trust leadership development programmes
- PR and marketing
- Curriculum design and development
- Trust wide NQT and RQT programmes
- Access to subject specialists
- SEND expertise with bespoke packages available
- Quality assurance
- Pupil Premium advice and guidance
- Website presence
- Support with data driven improvement and MIS
- PR and marketing
- Recruitment
- Capital planning applications
- Headteacher appraisal
- Headteacher coaching
- Trust wide policies
- Academy conversion
- Governance training and development
- Support with compliance (website, safeguarding, policy)
The Process
Stage 1 Initial Conversations
Values, vision, culture, ethos - a professional conversation about what potential collaboration could look like.
Stage 2 Due Diligence
Purpose of due diligence
Due diligence is the process by which the parties gather information about each other to ensure the integration process proceeds smoothly. In particular, it is used to identify risks, liabilities, cultural differences and practical issues that may cause difficulties later. The key objectives are:
- To test the strategic rationale for the tie-up: will it improve the life chances and attainment of pupils and is it really financially and operationally attractive for both sides? What are the prospects for the future? Do the partners have the capacity and capabilities to pull it off?
- To inform discussions, identify liabilities and make sure the legal documents pick up risks and allocate them appropriately by using warranties and indemnities (legal clauses which require one party to compensate the other if a risk materialises and costs are thereby incurred). The general rule is that liabilities whose origin is pre-transfer belong to the transferor (local authority and/or diocesan trustees), and those whose origin is post transfer belong to the transferee (the MAT).
- To lay the foundations of the future integrated organisation and build its culture. The process should combine an ‘outside in’ approach with an ‘inside out’ approach to understand the schools’ relative position in the local education system, as well as understanding the internal capabilities, strengths and weaknesses.
- To examine broader issues of culture, systems and processes, management structures, future opportunities and business plans.
Some typical due diligence questions:
Financial | Sources of evidence |
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Organisational | Sources of evidence |
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Performance | Sources of evidence |
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Commercial | Sources of evidence |
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Legal | Sources of evidence |
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And, of course, you will have questions for us.
So you want to join an academy trust?
Starting with Why: Why join a trust – and why a trust-based system? (2023)
Leora Cruddas CBE, CEO of Confederation of Schools Trust, explains the benefits of a trust based system here:
CST, Leora Cruddad explains the benifits on joining a Trust
Why Choose or Trust?
Our purpose
Our Trust is truly inclusive: rural, town, community, Church, primary, secondary - we are values driven which means, for us, being truly committed to improving the education of all children we serve and the ones we will never meet. Our moral imperative is to secure equity and we know our responsibility doesn't stop at the end of the school drive.
Our approach
Our schools are very different and we see that as an absolute strength. If you would like to see us in action, please get in touch. We would be delighted to show you around.
Based on NFER research, we focus on:
- Whole school ethos of attainment for all
- Addressing behaviour and attendance
- High quality teaching for all
- Meeting individual learning needs
- Deploying staff effectively
- Data driven and responding to evidence
- Clear responsive leadership
| 3 | 1451 | 98 | 300 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schools in our Trust | Pupils we teach | Classrooms | Staff |
A great place to be
We place huge value on feedback from our pupils, parents and staff.
This feedback helps us know when we get things right, but also helps us address concerns.
- Staff feel valued 97%
- Pupils are proud to be our pupils 94%
- Parents would recommend us 96%
Our Services
We know managing academies brings financial challenges and responsibilities that would not be considered in a local authority context. Our cost effective infrastructure eases the burden on our academies. We provide the following services:
- Preparing financial statements in line with the Department for Education (DfE) and Education and Skills Funding Agency (EFSA) requirements
- VAT returns
- Taxation advice
- Budget preparation and monitoring
- Monthly/Quarterly management accounts
- Software and processes training for school finance staff
- Support with Academy Conversion from start to completion
- Property management and asset management
- HR support and consultancy
- IT support
- Health and safety support
- Recruitment
- Governance support
These services aim to liberate school leaders from the management of infrastructure in order for them to focus on improving the quality of education in schools.
If you wish to discuss any of these services, or find out more, please contact us and we will be happy to discuss how we can help.
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
Our school improvement team is led by our Director for Education and our school improvement strategy is based on ‘upstreaming’ rather than ‘find the fault and fix it’.
EVIDENCE-INFORMED PRACTICE
Most forms of professional activity involve choices; it is the ability to make the appropriate choice that is one of the key criteria for professional expertise and authority. A large number of professional activities depend on evidence. For many professions, work is very largely the collection, analysis and identification of strategies based on appropriate evidence.
Professor John West-Burnham
Our strategy
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT AIMS
- We secure equity.
- Leadership, at all levels, drives improvement.
- Our curriculum is irresistible.
- We are research informed.
- We manage resources effectively.
LEADERSHIP SUPPORT
Interim Headteacher
We know there can be occasions when a school needs to have an interim headteacher. We have confident and competent leaders who can step in to lead and manage a school on a short-term basis. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your requirements.
Self-evaluation and school improvement planning support
School improvement is at the heart of everything we do. Ensuring that your school is on a continual, healthy, improvement journey is key. A school review leading to validation of the current self-evaluation and audit of school improvement plan by an experienced school improvement partner. An initial day consists of a review and strategy meeting with governors.
Enhanced Pathways to Support Complex Needs in Primary and Secondary
Support with designing, developing and operating impactful Enhanced Pathways in both Primary and Secondary school settings.
Compliance: website, statutory and non-statutory policies and procedures
Websites are the window into our schools for many stakeholders. The website provides an opportunity to share the culture for many stakeholders but is also the way a school demonstrates that they are compliant with current legislation. A website audit is the first step to checking and formulating an action plan.
Ensuring your policies are compliant, in date, and ratified in accordance with your scheme of delegation is an important function of leaders.
Safeguarding audit and report
A one or two-day safeguarding audit depending on your needs: a comprehensive audit report will be provided as a summary along with workable actions.
Coaching and Mentoring
Coaching and mentoring support for school leaders by school leaders as well as coaching for staff at all levels including Leadership Teams and teachers.
Leadership Teams
| Curriculum planning and development | 3 sessions |
| Using the work of Mary Myatt and John Tomsett, this programme will equip leaders with the basic foundations to plan and enhance their curriculum. The sessions will cover the ‘intent, implementation and impact’ structure but enhance it with ideas from Tomsett and Myatt’s curriculum Triumvirate. | |
| Basic Coaching training | 3 session |
| Planned by our own experienced coaches these three sessions will help leaders to understand the basics of coaching to improve teaching. During the course of the sessions will examine how to what coaching is, look at how to establish coaching relationships, and finally what a good coaching session involves. Participants will have the opportunity to experience coaching on a small scale and have support to implement it in their own schools. | |
| Managing accurate conversations | 1 session |
| Within the Trust we do not talk about ‘difficult’ conversations instead we have ‘accurate conversations’. This session looks at various different models to support leaders in tackling issues effectively and feeling confident to do so. | |
| Building effective leadership habits | 1 session |
| Being a leader can be challenging and without effective habits in place it can become overwhelming. With this session we will look at ways to manage the workload of a leader to ensure you are not only effective but also healthy. | |
HR
The Trust employs its own HR advisors to help with any employment related questions or issues.
IT SUPPORT
Our in-house IT support are able to assist with all computer and IT related issues. They will also help develop a sustainable IT replacement program, supported by the Trust's combined purchasing power.
FINANCE
Our finance team is on hand to support the conversion to academy, and provide assistance with the day to day operations of your schools finances.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Our Professional Development Offer
The MILL Academy Trust is committed to developing its staff team and one way that we can do this is to ensure that professional development is regarded as an entitlement.
We also utilise sensible online tools to keep bureaucracy to a minimum and work with external partners to access the best support and challenge available.
iAbacus school self evaulation and improvement tool
GenieSuite CPD tool that supports professional development and appraisal
When the Adults Change partner schools for relational behaviour management
CST (Confederation of Schools Trust) for strategic support and training (governance, leadership, safeguarding, SEND)
| An Introduction to Rosenshine’s Principles | 5 sessions | |
| This programme will introduce teachers to Rosenshine’s principles using Tom Sherrington’s strands. Each hour long session will focus on one strand of principles and look at ways it can be implemented in the classroom. The session also allow time to for teacher to collaboratively plan. | ||
| Making Every Lesson Count | 6 sessions | |
| During these six sessions participants are introduced to the habits of expert teaching and are encouraged to examine their implications for the classroom. Within each hour long session a habit is introduced and techniques are examined to implement it in the classroom. Each session will include time to discuss and plan. Between sessions participants will complete post session challenges to ensure they implement and review their learning. These sessions can also be offered as ‘one offs’ they cover the following: | ||
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| Deepening thinking and improving participation | 2 sessions | |
| Using the work of the EEF and Evidence Based Education, along with other educational research, this pair of sessions looks at how we can challenge our students more effectively. There is the option to complement these sessions with resources for school, department, phase or subject meetings. | ||
| Supporting students with SEND in the Classroom | 1-2 sessions | |
| This package of sessions can be reduced to one or extended depending on the needs of participants. It starts with a basic refresher of legal requirements and the basics around the SEND Code of Practice and can lead to a more comprehensive session looking at ‘quality first teaching’ and assess, plan, do and review cycle. | ||
| Supporting Boys in the classroom | 1 session | |
| This session uses up to date educational and sociological research to examine the reasons for boys underachievement and looks at what the possible solutions there are. | ||
| Developing vocabulary in the classroom | 2 sessions | |
| This pair of sessions uses both the EEF recommendations and the English Mastery approach to help staff to begin a journey of direct vocabulary instruction. This will involve looking at ways to directly teach vocabulary like the Frayer Model and suggestions from the work of educational writers like David Didau. | ||
| High expectations of literacy in the classroom | 1 session | |
| Using the ‘Write Stuff’ model and other examples we look at how teachers can help students to extend their writing and develop more sophisticated sentence structures. This session can be combined with our vocabulary sessions to create an literacy focused sequence.
Accredited Programmes Facilitated by The Trust Professional Development Team with training from OLEVI, these programmes are externally accredited by OLEVI but delivered by our teams. The Professional Development Team have a 14 year history delivering these programmes and we are a Designated OLEVI Centre. | ||
| Creative Teacher Programme | 8 days |
| You will become a more reflective and creative professional, gaining a deeper understanding of high impact pedagogy that ensures significant improvement in the experience and the outcomes of pupils. | |
| Outstanding Teacher Programme | 8 days |
| You will gain a deeper understanding of the latest innovative pedagogy and develop the knowledge, skills, and behaviours to make a significant impact on your pupils and inspire others to improve their practice and approach within a coaching culture | |
| Outstanding Teaching Assistant Programme | 6 days |
| Outstanding teaching assistants are deeply reflective, confident, and creative through gaining a deeper understanding of high quality classroom pedagogy. They will develop the attributes to make a significant impact on the outcomes of, and relationships with, both pupils and colleagues | |
| Power of Coaching | 3.5 days |
| You will gain the knowledge and strategies that credible coaches use to empower thinking and inspire change. You will also learn the theory, skills, and processes to coach informally, formally and in a structured way. | |
| Outstanding Leadership in Education | 6 twilight sessions |
| By engaging with evidenced informed leadership pedagogy, you will discover how to lead and manage individuals, teams, and projects more effectively for greater impact. | |
| Senior Outstanding Leadership in Education | 6 twilight sessions |
| The programme will provide greater clarity, grow confidence, and develop competence of senior leaders, ensuring they know how to shape a compelling vision; balance challenge and support; and successfully overcome complex barriers to achieve significant and sustainable change. | |
GOVERNOR SUPPORT
Our governance training package enables all governors to be as effective as possible in their role. Our Local Governor Committee Handbook outlines all you need to know about the role of governance in the Trust. Documents and templates are available to support with agendas, governor visits to schools and link governor roles.
AND MUCH MORE...
If you are interested in finding out more, please contact us.
