STRATEGIC VISION

2015-2020

Our Academy Mission:

‘Lakelands Academy will aim to provide an outstanding educational experience that is fully inclusive of all students, independent of their background, so that we add value to their lives both in terms of their academic performance and their social, moral, spiritual and cultural development through a personalised approach that produces citizens who are able to make a valuable contribution to society and the community in which they live’.

The Context:

Lakelands Academy strategic plan for the period 2015-2020 reflects the key challenges that face the academy in the next five years, not only in relation to the educational landscape of North Shropshire, but also the national picture and the greater need for collaboration to create a sustainable education set against a backdrop of funding reductions in the public sector nationally.

The plan is designed with sufficient flexibility to take account of the ever changing educational landscape within which the academy operates, most notably:

  • The implementation of a new National Funding Formula for academies/schools
  • The significant changes forced upon the academy due to the end of the Excellence Cluster funding in North West Shropshire
  • The impact of the economic downturn on local authorities and the ability of local authorities to provide the level of support required by academies/schools
  • The emphasis that the LA has placed on localised collaborations in order to address the sustainability agenda in relation to the bullet point below
  • Changes in demography and the recent structural reorganisation of education in Shropshire

The aim of this plan is to provide a clear yet relatively concise statement of how the academy intends to achieve its mission to remain an outstanding provider of education for the students in the community which it serves.

Pivotal to this ambition is the contribution of all staff who are valued for the individual and collective role they have to play in shaping and realising our future.

Lakelands Academy Vision Statement

Developing and empowering the individual to be their best, within a safe, caring and happy community.

Providing an education that is evolving, inspiring and illuminating.

Maintaining partnerships through effective communication between all involved.

Working for the global success of all while recognising and celebrating individual achievements.

Providing a strong and broad but flexible framework of education and experiences that will equip all for lifelong learning.

Embracing change and innovation that meets the needs of our community.

Promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Our Academy Values:

  • Caring for individuals
  • Embracing change
  • Promoting health for learning
  • Celebrating achievement
  • Empowering the individual
  • Being a vital part of the community
  • Innovative high quality teaching
  • Inclusion at all levels
  • Promoting responsible citizens
  • Inspiring life-long learning
  • Encouraging independent thought
  • Instilling the joy of learning
  • High standards

Resources:

Human Resources:

Overall Objective: To attract and retain high quality staff in all areas of the academy’s work

The academy’s staff is, without doubt, its greatest asset and the academy is committed to ensure that specialist staff are appointed to each area (non-teaching and teaching). Theacademy will ensure that only the highest calibre staff are appointed who are well qualified and high performing as the staff are key to the success of the academy. All staff will be provided with access to a comprehensive range of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities so that:

  • Teaching is consistently good and often outstanding and is sustained at that level.
  • Leadership is outstanding at all levels and is effective at deliveringoutstanding learning and progress
  • The administrative/technical staffare of the highest quality and able to support effective leadership and outstanding student learning and progress
  • Teaching Assistants are equipped to provide outstanding support for our inclusive ethos
  • The academy is maintained at the highest possible standard and is a pleasant place to work
  • Transition between phases builds upon prior learning in order to accelerate learning in Key Stage 3
  • Pastoral Care is of the highest quality to support effective learning and progress

The academy will seek to keep teacher/student ratio at the lowest possible level, given the priorities and financial constraints within which it operates

Environmental Resources:

Overall Objective: To continue to develop and improve the academy’s buildings and facilities in order to provide a sustainable, vibrant and stimulating working environment

The academy is committed to providing resources of the highest quality in each area of the curriculum and will endeavour to ensure that excellent specialist accommodation is available to support the most effective teaching and with it, learning. This will be achieved through a phased capital build programme that will prioritise the refurbishment of specific curriculum areas. The upgrading of specialist Music and Drama accommodation will also be a key priority. The most recent refurbishment has facilitated the rationalisation of teaching areas to aid a team approach to learning but this needs to continue to be apriority where subjects are geographically remote from the rest of their ‘faculty’. We are also committed to the removal of ‘temporary buildings’ so that staff and students are able to teach and learn in permanent classrooms. The area where the ‘temporary buildings’ are now sited will be re-developed.

The academy is also committed to extending and improving the facilities available for students and staff to function on a day to day basis and this will include:

  • Social areas, including the provision of a Year 11 common room
  • Learning Resources Areas/Technology
  • Hard Play Areas
  • Office/Team accommodation and staff areas (including work areas)
  • Additional accommodation – Cross phase collaborative learning

We want the students to have access to the best possible accommodationso that their 21st Century learning is not impeded by a 20th Century learning environment. We aspire to creating a vibrant environment with state of the art equipment and facilities.

Curriculum & Learning/Pastoral Care

Curriculum:

Overall Objective: To maintain the academy’s outstanding provision by offering a curriculum that responds to the needs of all students, offers a wide range of extra-curricular activities, fosters curiosity, challenge and discovery

The academy is committed to offering a broad and balanced curriculum that is fully inclusive. The curriculum will support a personalised approach to learning that will meet the needs of all learners irrespective of their starting points.

We aim to provide a curriculum that is inspiring, engaging and relevant. A curriculum that not only meets the academic needs of the students but also engages the learner with what it takes to be a good citizen and equips each student with the life skills they require beyond the academy. It will have a strong emphasis on developing independent learning and thinking skills.

We want to develop the leadership skills amongst our students througha range of extra-curricular experiences and activities and through a comprehensive Extended Schools programme. Our curriculum, including extra-curricular will:

  • Be broad and balanced
  • Cater for the whole ability range
  • Be personalised
  • Provide student leadership opportunities
  • Inspire studentsto enjoy learning and become life-long learners
  • Be valued by the learner because they see its relevance
  • Facilitate learning of the highest standard and provide outcomes for all groups of learners that meet or exceed their potential based on prior attainment data

Pastoral:

Overall Objective: To develop further the pastoral system of the Academy by providing individualised pastoral care and support that develops the personal, spiritual, moral and cultural values of learners and further enhances the outcomes by encompassing monitoring and intervention.

The academy is committed to providing the highest possible standard of pastoral care for students. We are a caring academy and believe that the pastoral care of our students is the bedrock on which effective learning sits. The Pastoral System, of which the tutor will playa central role,will ensure that the development of each learner is maintained at the highest possible level so that their learning is not compromised.

The academywill make it a priority to provide access to high quality, personalised support through various agencies and external providers as a way of maintaining a student’s positive attitude to life, self and learning.

The pastoral staffing structure will be developed to further support the outcomes of all students;with tutors and pastoral staff engagingmore with thepersonal development of students and in monitoring and intervention through the strategic use of academy data.

Learning:

Overall Objective: To invest inthe necessary Continuous Professional Development (CPD) in order to bring about outstanding teaching and effective monitoring and evaluation of learning at all levels.

The academy will provide high quality teaching to bring about high quality learning. This will be achieved through a rigorous and developmental CPD programme based upon a coaching model. Teaching will aspire to be outstanding in every lesson and this will be underpinned by meticulous planning, rigorous assessment strategies and high quality written feedback. This will engage all learners with learning outcomes for lessons and provide them with personalised feedback to enable development in their learning which is required for further improvement.

Learning is the highest priority in the academy and will be treated as such. Teaching will be closely monitored. Curriculum leaders have a key role in this and being able to make a judgement about the quality of teaching and the progress being made by learners in their curriculum area is pivotal to their role. This will be supported by the development of a robust, efficient, supportive and manageable academy wide self-review process.

Teaching will be planned so that students learn with and through each other, independently experiencing a learning journey where the teachers’ role is to scaffold the learning experience and not merely ‘give the answer’. Resources will support this experiential approach by placing the student in the driving seat, arriving at the answer through carefully crafted activities, designed to meet the needs of all students and of all abilities. Independence in learning will be demanded through this methodology. Learning will be an exciting experience that develops the love of acquiring knowledge and new skills, equipping students for lifelong learning.

Learning will be extended to nurture the leadership qualities of our students and provide them with a rich programme of extra-curricular activities to support team work, develop self-esteem, buildself-confidence and belief and a sense of wellbeing.

The academy will also seek to develop ‘cross phase’ approaches to learning in order to:

  • Extend the collaborative approach to education across the Ellesmere Cluster
  • Support the transition of students from the primary phase to the secondary phase
  • Provide CPD opportunities between the two phases in terms of:
  • Student learning
  • Lesson planning
  • Lesson delivery
  • Monitoring and tracking progress
  • Meeting the needs of all students, etc

AcademyLeadership:

Overall Objective: To further develop leadership across the academy based upon a supportive framework for staff in all aspects of their role. Leaders will monitor and evaluate the quality of their teams’ provision and outcomes for learners without fear or favour in the rigorous pursuit of excellence for all students.

The academy is committed to provide leadership and management of the highest quality at all levels, including governance. The correct structures and skill sets will be in place within teams to effectively lead the academy. Leaders will encourage openness and foster an atmosphere that encourages debate and discussion related to the development of the academy.‘Resilience in leadership’ will be the mantra and this will serve to ensure that complacency and mediocrity do not prevail, ensuring that high quality teaching and learning is evident in a climate of understanding, tolerance and trust across teams.

Leaders at all levels will insist on the highest standards, taking responsibility to challenge and hold others to account when these standards are not met. This will, however, be conducted in a manner that respects the professionalism of other staff and promotes mutual respect between staff and students.

Leadership of teaching and learning is of vital importance and staff having line management responsibilities for their teams have a critical role to play in monitoring and judging the standards related to the delivery of lessons, the learning that happens and the progress that students make and will hold others to account if progress is hampered by the quality of teaching or other factors.

The academy will seek to develop much clearer lines of communication through the L&M structure review and the use of new technology in order to keep staff fully up to date and informed about important developments. There will be a conscious effort for all leaders at all levels to be respectful of the work life balance of staff and to ensure that staff resilience is at its optimum.

Leadership development will be given an equal priority in order that middle and senior leaders understand the vital role that they have in promoting a united message, a clear vision and understand their responsibility to maintain the highest levels of conduct and to enforce the policies of the academy. Middle leadership, particularly, will need to be further developed so that Middle Leaders become more autonomous, ensuring that leaders in these positions understand and are equipped to make challenging decisions.

Partnerships, Collaboration and Community:

Partnerships and Collaboration:

Overall Objective: To continue to develop a mutually beneficial relationship with other education providers in our local community and seek to explore other collaborative opportunities.

The academy is committed to working with others either through formal partnerships or less formal arrangements for the benefit of the students and the local community.

Links with local schools and other educational institutions will be encouraged to offer opportunities that otherwise may not be possible for our students. We will actively seek to maintain collaborative links with other secondary schools/academies in order to offer flexibility to our curriculum 14-19 and also to explore other collaborative opportunities in the areas of:

  • Gifted and Talented
  • Support for the less able
  • Developing motivational programmes
  • Extended School activities
  • Extending the curriculum to Post 16 Provision
  • School support (e.g.administration, site, finance, CPD etc.)

Increased collaboration will be explored with our feeder Primary Schools. This will form an important part of marketing the academy. The academy will seek to lead the way in terms of the ‘sustainability agenda’ across the Ellesmere Cluster of schools/academies, exploring the most cost effective way of retaining our small rural village schools within the financial projections of the national funding formula. The academy will support the Ellesmere Cluster in developing its own vision for the future of education through formal or informal collaboration. This may or may not take the form of formal or informal relationships, depending upon the desire of each partner in the cluster. The academy will also actively explore links with organisations at county, national and international level in order to support the educational experience of the students in our community.

Community:

Overall Objective: To continue to develop community based activities that foster a strong relationship with local groups/organisations and that reinforce Lakelands Academy as a hub of the community.

The academy is committed to working with our local community. There are already well established links with feeder schools. The academy also has an active PTA and other community groups have been associated with the academy for many years, for example, the Ellesmere Rotary Club. We will seek to further these links and promote the academy within our community through:

  • Developing further our Extended Schools provision (e.g. Enterprise projects)
  • Developing specific links with other groups in the community
  • Developing community based projects for students to become involved
  • Inviting specific groups from the community into academy for events such as academy productions, Sports Day etc.
  • Opening our doors to the community by offering specific community support at the academy -e.g. ICT, socialising events, lunch clubs, coffee mornings,

The community is a very important part of the academy and it is important for the academy and community to integrate. The academy wants to dispelthe myths about young people in today’s society through such work.

Marketing:

Overall Objective: To develop a clear and effective approach to marketing so that Lakelands Academy continues to be popular.

The academy is committed to developing a more cohesive approach to its marketing. A much more strategic approach is needed for marketing the academy and this will need to be supported in a variety of ways, namely:

  • Staffing capacity
  • Marketing resources
  • Strategic development

The academy sees this as a very important part of its work; with the declining demography within Shropshire, the academy needs to be more proactive in its approach to marketing. The engagement of primary school students across all our feeder schools needs to become a feature of our work as well as the promotion of academy events and an effective, planned relationship with the media.

Out of catchment Primary Schools have limited contact with our academy and we must increase our marketing efforts to this group to ensure that the numbers of out of catchment students wanting to come to our academy increases.

At every level, leaders need to be aware of the importance of marketing and marketing opportunities exploited through the various outlets (Newsletter, Website, Press etc.) and through links, curriculum or other, across the schools from which we attract students and possibly beyond.