Great schools

working together

ContentsPage

Foreword and introduction3

Shared commitments4

Ethos and values5

Purpose and strategic objectives6

Governance structure7

Trustee Pen Portraits8

Earned autonomy14

Commitment to collaboration15

Commitment to School Improvement16

Community context17

Central services18

Strategic objectives19

SWOTs analysis 201720

MAT Development Plan 2017-1821

Great schools

working together

Great schools

working together

SOUTH BANK MAT SHARED COMMITMENTS

All our schools within the South Bank Trust are committed to the following:

Excellent teaching:We seek to provide the best quality education for all young people within our community in a non-selective, inclusive and mutually respectful environment. All pupils, whatever their individual needs, backgrounds or barriers to learning, are valued and welcomed into our schools.

Valuing Staff:We recognise that our high performing staff lie at the heart of achieving great outcomes for pupils. For this reason, we seek to provide a supportive environment for all our staff, which values their contribution and enables them to feel happy and fulfilled in their work. We will work in a collaborative way to provide professional development opportunities across schools.

Creativity & Enrichment:We understand that it is the creative and enrichment activities we offer our pupils which are the foundation for enjoyable learning and life-long memories for young people to treasure. We are committed to providing a wide range of such opportunities for all pupils.

Great schools

working together

OUR ETHOS AND VALUES

Equality

All academies are equal partners and there is no lead school.

Collaboration

We work together to meet the school improvement challenges faced across our academies.

Autonomy

Successful Local Governing Bodies are given the maximum possible freedom in running their schools.

Transparency

We are open with each other to provide peer challenge and support for leaders at all levels.

Excellence

Our staff get the best out of our pupils and we get the best out of our staff by improving recruitment and development opportunities across all our schools.

Efficiency

Our lean central staffing team provides best value for shared services through excellent procurement and economies of scale.

Inclusivity

All academies in our Trust remain inclusive organisations that welcome and support students of all abilities, including those with SEND.

THE TRUST’S PURPOSE

Great schools, working together - to deliver an excellent education for every pupil.

THE TRUST’S STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

  1. To manage finances with robust oversight to ensure best value for money.
  2. To sustain and improve the schools’ academic standards.
  3. To manage the internal organisation of the MAT to ensure maximum effectiveness.
  4. To manage the external growth of the MAT to ensure the company is sustainable and viable.
  5. To sustain and improve the MAT’s reputation among its key stakeholders and community.

Great schools

working together

SOUTH BANK ACADEMY TRUSTEES

PEN PORTRAITS

Edwin Thomas

Chair of Trustees

Nicki Mitchell

Vice Chair of Trustees


Reuben Barrett

Chair of the Finance & Audit Committee

Andrea Preston

Martin Frost

Helen Priestley

Jill Hodges

Paul Edwards

Pat Boyle

Graham Wilson

EARNED AUTONOMY

The Trust Board believes that the best outcomes will be achieved for pupils when each school’s Local Governing Body is effective in carrying out its core responsibilities and can be given an appropriate level of autonomy. Full details of delegated responsibilities can be found in the Trust’s Scheme of Delegation, but some key factors are outlined below:

Effective Governing Bodies will be made up of governors who are:

  • Prepared, committed and well-equipped to take their responsibilities seriously and carry them out professionally
  • Working effectively alongside school and Trust leaders to achieve the best outcomes for pupils
  • Willing and able to monitor and review their own performance, as well as that of the school
  • Engaged with processes that provide support and challenge for school leaders, within a context of mutual respect

The Trust expects the core business of each Local Governing Body to be:

  1. To approve, monitor and measure the progress of current goals through the academy’s Annual Improvement Plan.
  2. To review and monitor pupil progress and attainment, ensuring that the academy remains ambitious for its pupils.
  3. To set the strategic direction of the academy, within the context of the wider Trust’s goals and ambitions.

Great schools

working together

A SHARED COMMITMENT TO COLLABORATION

Earned autonomy does not mean that schools work in isolation – schools that join the South Bank Trust have made a commitment to agreed levels of collaboration, which are set out in detail in our Collaborative Working Model. Some key aspects of that commitment are outlined in the table below:

ASPECT / SUMMARY OF COMMITMENTS
Leadership / To engage in the work of the Headteacher Group on a fortnightly basis.
To participate in and engage with a termly Headteacher Peer Review process.
School Improvement / To release named staff for the purposes of trust-wide School Improvement.
To receive and/or provide school-to-school support, as appropriate.
Professional Development for Staff / To release staff for termly Network Meetings, to promote best practice.
To provide opportunities for talent-spotting and succession planning.
Pupils / To create and engage with inter-school enrichment opportunities across the Trust.
Governance / To attend and participate in termly Trust Governance events.
To promote engagement with Trust Communication strategies.
Critical support / To provide emergency support for leaders in the case of critical events.
SEN / To engage in trust-wide processes that support pupils and families.
Premises / To share the expertise and skills of premises staff across the Trust.

A SHARED COMMITMENT TO SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

The Trust has a detailed School Improvement Strategy set out separately. It can be summed up by the core commitments outlined below:

There is a need for the Trust to have an explicit strategy for ensuring that it secures its goal of “Great schools, working together - to deliver an excellent education for every pupil”. This means ensuring that the Trust has an in-depth knowledge of each of its academies and their current performance in order to:

  • Sustain success where it already exists
  • Develop strengths where there is a need to improve
  • Implement rapid improvement strategies where performance is weak
  • Share strengths through mutual support and challenge

The School Improvement Strategy, together with the Standards Monitoring Procedures, set out clearly how the Trust will monitor each academy’s performance. The overview of each academy’s performance is then used to allocate it to a category, which identifies the level of support and/or autonomy it will receive or provide.

The Trust Principal, together with the other members of the Trust’s School Improvement Team, will work alongside any academy identified as requiring support, in order to fulfil the goals outlined in the approved Action Plan for that academic year.

COMMUNITY CONTEXT

Although the area physically at the centre of the South Bank Trust’s current catchment area is not highly deprived, there are pockets of significant deprivation within the area served by the Trust. This is also true of the area surrounding York High School, which the Trust is currently supporting and will be sponsoring from Spring 2018. This means that pupils come from a wide range of social and financial backgrounds. Figures for Free School meals in the Trust’s catchment area range from 10% to 35%. Currently, the level of ethnic minority pupils remains low, although this is something that is beginning to change across the City.

Due in no small part to the strengths of the Trust’s founder schools, the local area has become a popular residential part of the City of York, attracting families into a range of housing, both social and private. This has led to increased demand for primary and secondary places, resulting in the expansion over the past few years of all three founder schools. Indeed the expansion process is still underway for two of these schools.

We value the support and engagement of all our parents across the Trust and many families work closely with the relevant schools to jointly seek the best outcomes for their children. The Trust’s catchment area does contain several areas that are experiencing high levels of hardship and financial challenge - these families can lack confidence in their own ability to support their child’s education, or struggle with barriers that make family like difficult. In every case, school staff do their utmost to engage with families to provide support as appropriate.

THE TRUST’S CENTRAL SERVICES

The Trust currently employs a central team of six. This consists of:

  • Trust Principal
  • Chief Finance Officer
  • Financial Systems & Controls Officer
  • 3 x Finance Assistants

The role of Trust Principal ensures that the core School Improvement Offer (as set out in the School Improvement Strategy) is provided. The other roles provide:

  • Preparation of all accounts and finance reports for the DFE and ESFA
  • VAT returns
  • Budget preparation and monitoring
  • Budget software and software support/training
  • Support with academy conversion
  • Ordering and invoicing
  • Income collection and banking
  • Procurement
  • Data Protection Officer compliance
  • Trust contracts for HR, Payroll, Utilities and IT are also managed and provided by the central team

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES2017-2020

The South Bank Trust has 5 strategic goals which form the basis for its 3-year plan from 2017 to 2020. This is supplemented by an annual MAT Improvement Plan, setting out the detail with success criteria and monitoring mileposts.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES / ONE YEAR IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES / 3-YEAR GOALS
1. Manage finances with robust oversight to ensure best value for money. /
  • Embed reporting processes & KPIs
  • Centralise finance functions
  • Develop additional central services
  • Ensure appropriate training for CFO and TP
/
  • All MAT schools are in a budget surplus position
  • The MAT itself carries healthy reserves
  • A range of high quality, economical central services is being provided for schools
  • Internal & external audit reports reflect excellent financial systems and controls

2. Sustain and improve the schools’ academic standards. /
  • Develop school improvement activities
  • Involve sub-committees in creating MAT development plan
  • Develop CPD programme for teachers and middle leaders
/
  • York High comes out of Special Measures
  • Strong School Improvement capacity exists so that the MAT is in a position to support its existing schools and sponsor additional schools
  • An embedded culture exists across the MAT of openness and honesty in relation to strengths & weaknesses
  • A coherent programme of training is available across the MAT
  • There are no coasting or RI primaries within the MAT

3. Manage the internal organisation of the MAT to ensure maximum effectiveness. /
  • Ensure that the central MAT team is properly resourced and staff are working efficiently
  • Develop staff collaboration at multiple levels of the MAT
  • Develop communication between schools, LGBs, HTG and the Board
/
  • Additional specialist staff are recruited to the central team (HR, H&S)
  • The School Improvement Team has expanded with new roles created
  • The Trust Chair leads on effective governance at all levels
  • Governing Boards have a sharp, strategic focus in line with the agreed Scheme of Delegation
  • Systems for pupil assessment are standardised across the MAT
  • Systems of self-evaluation are standardised across the MAT

4. Manage the external growth of the MAT to ensure the company is sustainable and viable. /
  • Finalise compelling ‘offer’ to potential new schools
  • Actively ‘recruit’ selected schools
  • Build relationships with potential new schools
  • Embed schools which join the MAT during 2017-18
/
  • There are 10 schools or 5,000 pupils within the MAT
  • The South Bank offer for schools is superior within York
  • The MAT provides a comprehensive transition package for schools that wish to join, but have to wait for conversion

5. Sustain and improve the MAT’s reputation among its key stakeholders and community. /
  • Communicate our vision
  • Celebrate our successes internally and externally
  • Make stakeholders aware of funding challenges
/
  • The MAT has a reputation for its leaders being pupil-led and for having a clear impact on educational standards within York
  • MAT schools are known for their clear commitment to an enriched curriculum for their pupils
  • Parents are highly satisfied with the quality of education that South Bank schools provide

SOUTH BANK MAT ANNUAL SWOTs ANALYSIS SUMMER 2017
STRENGTHS
  • 3 (soon to be 4) experienced Headteachers
  • 3 (soon to be 4) good/outstanding schools
  • 3 (soon to be 4) rigorous and effective FGBs
  • Strong commitment to partnership working
  • HTG is working collaboratively and effectively
  • Each school contributes something valuable
  • There is a commitment to mutual support
/
  • Trustees and Members with a wide range of relevant commercial expertise
  • All schools still in a secure position
  • The MAT has been approved as a sponsor
  • The MAT has been approved to take on York High
  • Schools across the MAT have supportive parent bodies
/
  • Effective CFO
  • MAT budget in in surplus
  • All financial submissions deadlines met
  • Positive internal & external audit feedback
  • Strong cash position
  • Central finance team has a high level of accounting qualifications
  • Successful bids amounting to £3.2 million

ASPECTS FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
FINANCE / ACADEMIC STANDARDS
  • Fulfil budget predictions
  • Integrate two new schools financially
  • Embed central finance team, centralised processes & new office
  • Ensure central office maximises efficiency and savings
  • Seek additional external funding
  • Successfully manage the expenditure of MAT grants
/
  • Improve York High outcomes
  • Improve primary school performance at Scarcroft (in Writing) & Woodthorpe (in Reading & Maths)
  • Implement cross-MAT staff development programme to share classroom practice
  • Ensure Peer support and challenge for Headteachers
  • Further develop the MAT’s procedures for completing ongoing risk assessments

INTERNAL ORGANISATION / GROWTH / REPUTATION
  • Maintain a united front at leadership level
  • Embed and expand the role of Trust Principal
  • Add educational expertise to the Trust Board
  • Implement a new clerking package
  • Streamline the work of FGBs to avoid duplication
/
  • Ensure a more proactive approach for MAT growth
  • Regularly revisit and ‘own’ Growth Strategy Document
  • Ensure a clear MAT ‘offer’ and ‘ethos’ is articulated through a range of promotional documents
  • Ensure central team matches MAT expansion
/
  • Seek opportunities for good publicity
  • Ensure effective and ongoing communication with all stakeholders, especially parents
  • Maintain strong links with the LA, other MATs and the DFE
  • Gather stakeholder views across the MAT

OPPORTUNITIES / CHALLENGES / THREATS
  • Capacity to support a primary school in difficulty
  • Trust Principal role now has dedicated time
  • Headteachers can learn from one another, including through Peer Reviews
  • CPD programme in 2017-18
  • New centralised office
  • CIF bids (current & pending)
  • Impact of two new schools (W & YH)
  • Investment potential due to good cash position
/
  • Decreased income in real terms
  • Capacity challenge to still be involved in local Cluster work
  • Ensuring that schools do have some centrally agreed approaches, rather than pulling in different directions
  • The need for consistency of Trust Leadership over time
  • Centralisation of financial procedures
/
  • As a small MAT, we have relied on external grants to support central staffing
  • Impact of York High sponsorship on Millthorpe
  • Impact of York High accountability/York High outcomes on the MAT
  • Impact of two challenging secondary school budgets on the MAT’s financial position
  • Uncertainty about National Funding Formula creates uncertainty about MAT budgets

MAT DEVELOPMENT PLAN SUMMARY 2017-2018

OBJECTIVES / PRIORITY ACTIONS / AUTUMN 2017 / SPRING 2018 / SUMMER 2018
  1. Manage the MAT’s finances with robust oversight to ensure best value for money.
/
  1. Fulfil budget predictions
  2. Integrate two new schools
  3. Embed centralisation
  4. Maximise efficiency and savings
  5. Seek additional external funding
  6. Successfully manage the expenditure of MAT grants
/
  1. Budget monitoring
  2. Integrate Woodthorpe
  3. Embed centralisation
  4. Seek new savings
  5. Seek income streams
  6. Monitor grant expenditure
/
  1. Budget monitoring.
C. Embed centralisation
  1. Implement savings
  2. Seek income streams
  3. Monitor grant expenditure
/
  1. Budget meets targets
  2. Integrate York High
  3. Evaluate centralisation
  4. Seek further savings
  5. Utilise any additional income
  6. Monitor grant expenditure

2. Sustain and improve academic standards.

/
  1. Improve York High outcomes
  2. Improve primary school performance (S & W)
  3. Implement CPD programme
  4. Ensure Headteacher Peer Review
/
  1. Implement YH improvement plan
  2. Implement primary school improvement plan
  3. Implement CPD programme
  4. Implement Headteacher Peer Review cycle 1
/
  1. Monitor York High progress
  2. Monitor impact on Scarcroft & Woodthorpe
  3. Implement CPD programme
  4. Implement Headteacher Peer Review cycle 2
/
  1. Monitor York High progress
  2. Measure primary school outcomes
  3. Evaluate impact of CPD programme
  4. Implement Headteacher Peer Review cycle 3 & evaluate