The Trust School Improvement Strategy

School Improvement Strategy Group

This group is led by the CEO and supported by the Trust Improvement Partner (TIP) and consists of the CEO and the two Partnership Heads.

It has been implemented to continue to drive up standards, aid growth at all levels, build capacity across the Trust and ensure that the Trust continues to move forward from a position of strength by ensuring;

• pupil outcomes continue to improve
• the MAT has robust and viable plans for succession
• strong leaders are poised to elevate themselves into different positions as new schools join

Behind this group is one Headteacher, one Interim Headteacher and two Heads of School.

The future model, as shown in the Leadership Structure, will be four Heads of School implemented over the next two to three years. The model beyond the Partnership Heads and Heads of School consists of seven Deputy Headteachers and the equivalent of two point one Assistant Headteachers which are currently divided into three roles in three schools.

The next layer of distributed leadership provides the Trust with a group of thirteen Specialist Leaders of Education (SLEs). These leaders are a mixture of Middle and Senior Leaders with a specific skill-set that support certain aspects of school improvement at both classroom and leadership level. SLEs operate out of Lionwood Support School and work as part of partnership of approximately twenty SLEs. In addition there are five Lead Practitioners across Trust schools supporting organisations within the Trust and beyond, offering targeted advice, guidance and provision around inclusion, behaviour, attendance and family support.

Below is an outline of the Strategic School Improvement Strategy which will robustly hold school leaders to account for achievement and outcomes.

 School Improvement Strategy

This document outlines the School Improvement Strategy and the steps it takes to ensure that all schools are challenged and supported to deliver the highest quality of education possible.

What is the purpose of IST?

• To robustly hold school leaders to account for the impact of expenditure in order to improve outcomes (Integrated Curriculum Financial Planning - ICFP)
• To ensure that schools needing greater support are equipped with enough resource to improve rapidly
• To intervene when schools are not able to improve themselves
• To support schools to be both ‘givers’ and ‘receivers’ of support by modelling a leadership style that is both inward looking and outward facing in equal measure
• To ensure collaborative learning takes place at all levels through Best Practice Networks allowing colleagues the opportunity to share effective innovation and pedagogical approaches, identify strategies for addressing under-performance and engage in joint practice development
• To provide appropriate challenge and support to enable schools to become self-improving

How does IST afford schools ‘earned autonomy’?

Inclusive Schools Trust uses a range of proxy-indicators to judge schools’ effectiveness in conjunction with Ofsted ratings and pupil outcomes. Below are some of the activities used to continuously monitor the position of each school:

• Challenge and support through externally validated termly Progress Boards.
• Support and challenge by VNET (independent provider of support for school improvement) through a school level and a Trust level package
• MOAP and SOAP plus bespoke support for schools by the Data Lead

How does IST support schools which are deemed to not be able to improve themselves?

• Support to build leadership capacity
• NLE support to develop ‘Quality of Education’ with a sharp focus on pupil attainment and achievement
• SLE to support Middle Leadership and the quality of teaching
• Bespoke intervention