Having established firm foundations, The Villages’ Multi-Academy Trust is keen to grow and is interested in hearing from headteachers and chairs of governing bodies considering becoming an academy and joining a multi-academy trust.

The Villages’ Multi-Academy Trust recognises that every school is unique, serving the distinct needs of its children and families. In ensuring that each of our schools is secure, engaged and well-equipped, we provide the foundations upon which each school can thrive.

Read on to learn more about our approach and if you would like to know more, please contact our CEO, Phil Jackson at ceo@villagestrust.co.uk for an initial informal discussion.

Why did we form a Multi Academy Trust (MAT)?

We initially formed The Villages’ Multi-Academy Trist to embrace the opportunity to take charge of our own future and destiny, driven by a desire to partner with schools who are like minded and share our values, aims and aspirations

We believe our MAT:

• Secures best outcomes for all children in all academies across the Multi Academy Trust
• Provides a stronger focus on teaching and learning
• Maximises staffing resources and gives capacity to attract and retain the very best, and to deploy them strategically across the trust
• Enhances the sharing of best practice – teaching and learning as well as business and administration
• Delivers economic benefits, such as centralised services & economies of scale
• Enables us to focus funds where they are most needed – targeting support to achieve trust’s overall aims
• Allows us to establish viable succession planning programmes and, in doing so, retain the best staff
• More effective governance – accountability to both the MAT Board and other local governing bodies within the Trust

 

Key Principles

Implicit in the vision of The Villages Trust are some core principles that we believe should govern the way each school operates:

• The needs of children are the highest priority – children are the raison d’etre of school
• Each school is best placed to make the right decisions for the children in each school
• The MAT is a school led business rather than running business led schools
• Effective collaboration between schools can have a significantly positive impact and contribute to raising standards
• Honest, open, and transparent relationships between all stakeholders in schools – Governors, senior leaders, staff, children and parents – underpin effective collaboration and partnerships are fundamental to sustained success

Key Features

Teaching and Learning:

All schools:

• Commit to always act in the best interests of the children attending the schools in the MAT
• Recognise that each school within the Trust has its own unique identity arising from the community it serves, its established ethos and development priorities
• Are able to determine their own curriculum content and organisation ensuring it is relevant, meaningful and engaging for the pupils of the school, leading to the best possible outcomes
• Commit to offering a broad and balanced curriculum, offering children a range of experiences across humanities, arts, and sport
• Commit to offer high quality education, based on up-to-date research and pedagogy, to all pupils
• Commit to actively promote inclusion and share a belief that all children can and should make progress, whatever their starting points
• Share a commitment to work in partnership with the parents/carers of all pupils
• Commit to work with other agencies to protect and promote the safety and welfare of all children
• Commit to work in collaboration with other educational organisations (other schools, academies, and MATs)
• Promote effective transition processes for pupils joining each academy within the MAT and those leaving to start the next stage/phase of their education
• Commit to aligning assessment processes and tracking systems
• Agree to participate in MAT-wide moderation processes

 

Behaviour, Safety and Welfare

All schools:

• Adopt robust and rigorous safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures
• Commit to promoting high standards of behaviour
• Commit to working with other agencies effectively and pro-actively to support children in their families

Staffing / Personnel

All schools:

• Agree that the Trust will have a Principal (Head Teacher) in each academy (an Executive Head teacher may be necessary should the MAT become a sponsor of another school)
• Participate in opportunities for shared staff development and collaborative working
• Accept staff expertise is used across the MAT to support improvement and professional development
• Commit to provide high quality continuing professional development opportunities to staff at all levels across the MAT
• Commit to align pay and conditions across the MAT (currently in line with maintained schools)
• Commit to align performance management policy, expectations, and processes

Governance:

The Trust is led by a Trust Board of directors. The full board of the Trust meets at least six times per year. There are four main committees of the Board which meet at least four times per year: Business; Audit and Risk; Human Resources; and School Improvement. These committees provide for detailed discussions and policy development. The scope and remit of each committee is set out in the Trust’s Scheme of Delegation.

Governance of each academy is delegated to Local Governing Bodies (LGBs). It is for each LGB to determine the most effective governance structure for their academy. The day-to-day operation of each academy is delegated to the Senior Leadership Team which reports back to their LGB as appropriate. The day-to-day operation of the Trust is delegated to the CEO, who reports directly to the Board. The CEO is the accounting officer.

The MAT Board is comprised of directors with specific and appropriate skills across a wide range of relevant areas. Each school retains a Local Governing Body, reflecting our belief that local governors in local schools are best placed to make determine what is best for their school. Governing bodies are made up of elected parent governors, staff governors and appointed governors.

Clear schemes of delegation are in place so that all parties know their roles, remit, and responsibilities to ensure consistent and effective governance.

Business:

• Recognising that schools’ business functions serve the needs of children
• Excellent business acumen, ensuring finances are effectively well managed and deployed
• Secure budget planning processes, from census to benchmarking and cashflow
• Support for purchasing and procurement, payroll, and HR management
• Appropriately centralised services, allowing local autonomy supported by central expertise Interested in joining us? Please get in touch ceo@villagestrust.co.uk