LincolnAnglicanAcademy Trust (LAAT)
The Diocese of Lincoln has set up a Multi Academy Trust (MAT) as a vehicle to carry out its academy work this will be known as the Lincoln Anglican Academy Trust.
Its purpose will be twofold:
To be a ‘safe haven’ to grow and develop under performing schools
To be a strong family unit for any school wishing to benefit from shared good practice, skills and resources
Schools who choose to join are likely to do so for the following reasons:
To deal with underperformance
To meet business management needs to allow the school to concentrate on teaching and learning
To strengthen governance
To be part of something bigger
To strengthen and develop leadership
As a vehicle to support other schools
As a mechanism to share resources, best practise, expertise
The LincolnAnglicanAcademy Trust will have as its first Directors:
Mrs Krysia Butwilowska – Principal The ParkerE-ActAcademy
Revd Canon Andrew Dodd – Area Dean of North East Lincolnshire
Mrs Daryl Summers – Lecturer in EducationStudiesBishopGrossetesteUniversity
Mrs Gill Wright – Methodist representative
Mrs Angela Chisholm – Managing Director and Founder of Schools Direct
Our vision
Enabling every child to be all that God intended
Our Aims
We will:
- Transform the chances of individual pupils
- Use the strength within diocesan schools across the diocese
- Be fully inclusive to all
- Besustainable through the expertise within the organisation, through partnership with our current good or better schools and external partners
- Bring strength, motivation and purpose through the belief that every child should be enabled to be all that God intended
- Bedistinctive in character relevant to the context
Strategic opportunities
Schools in the LAAT will benefit from:
Being part of something bigger
For small schools in particular there is often benefit from being part of a bigger group. In part this can be achieved through federation, collaboration, local collaborative trusts, etc. but a Multi Academy Trust provides a sustainable legal structure through which a school can gain by both receiving support and offering support to others. LAAT will increase a schools sustainability and security as well as providing mechanisms for school improvement.
Shared vision and values
Evidence shows that a STRONG shared vision will raise standards. LAAT will give opportunities to work to strengthen vision and values within your school by:
Working with schools who share your vision and values
Gaining experience, skills and ideas to strengthen vision and values within the school
Sharing your vision and values outside your school
School Improvement
LAAT will support school improvement by:
Regularly monitoring teaching and learning and offering a wide range of support where necessary.
Opportunities will be available to share best practice across the schools in the MAT
Shared inset opportunities
With business management taken care of centrally more school time and energy can be spent on teaching and learning
Staff CPD
Staff, especially staff from small schools, benefit from experiencing education in more than one setting . LAATprovides:
The ability for staff to spend time in other schools to develop professionally leading to -
Improved staff retention
Improved staff confidence
Improved staff performance
Business management
Central business management will:
Provide savings through economies of scale
Free resources/time/energies within school to concentrate on teaching and learning
Allow for better use of resources across the whole MAT
Resources
Being part of LAAT will allow for the sharing of resources:
Human
Material
Financial
Skills and expertise
Schools who choose to join are likely to do so for the following reasons:
To deal with underperformance
To meet business management needs to allow the school to concentrate on teaching and learning
To strengthen governance
To be part of something bigger
To strengthen and develop leadership
As a vehicle to support other schools
As a mechanism to share resources, best practise, expertise
Working Together within the Multi-Academy Trust
In addition to the school improvement programme all schools within the Multi-Academy Trust family will be expected to contribute to one or more of the following:
development and maintenance of school policies;
sharing of best practice;
provision of emergency cover;
mentoring of teaching staff;
mentoring of support staff; and
recruitment, training and appraisal of Governors for the Local Governing Bodies
Working Together outside the Multi-Academy Trust
LAAT and Lincoln Diocesan Board of education actively encourages all its schools to collaborate, regardless of whether or not they are Academies:
church schools who chose not to enter the MAT will be offered the opportunity to enter into an arrangement to access school-improvement and other support;
non-church schools may also be offered access
thesearrangements will be based on a simple contractual framework between the Multi-Academy Trust and the school concerned.
What schools can expect
We will insist on only the best for schools:
Every academy to be well led and governed
Every lesson to be good or better
Every child expected to make progress at least, and for many, above national expectations.
All teachers motivated to self-improve and aspire to excellence
All academies to be judged good or better at section 5 inspections
All Church of England academies to be judged good or better at Section 48 Inspections
All academies to share expertise across LAAT
To ensure that this is the outcome for every child in every academy we will implement rigorous procedures at every stage. Each procedure leading to supportive programmes to meet both need and context:
- For every school which we are proposing to be the sponsor we will use national benchmarks to carry out audits to ensure viability
These audits will include:
Leadership and management – including governance
Teaching and learning – including data analysis for all groups
Finances
Asset management – including conditions and strategic plans
Parent and pupil views
- For every school we will use the above information to produce an appropriate school improvement package that fits the needs of that particular school. Each package will bring about:
Sustained standards
And where necessary:
Rapid improvement across the school
Sustained improvement
Raised expectations of teachers, pupils and parents
Accelerated learning to close gaps
High aspirations within school and community
- LAAT will use both Diocesan officers and others to bring about the most effective school improvement solution and use other external providers to ensure sustainable schools into the future
School to school support using outstanding head teachers, class teachers and governors.
Accredited National College Leaders (i.e. NLEs) – school improvement
CFBT – school improvement/governance
Edisonlearning – school improvement
Individual consultants – school improvement
NVB Architects – Asset management
LBMW – trust, land and legal issues
PKF – business/project management
William Farr church of England academy – business/finance support
Costs
It is expected that for the first year the top slice for academies will be 4-5%.
For this each academy will receive:
Business management services –
Procurement
Quality Assurance
Monitoring of finances
Contracts
Provision of finance package
Provision of management information system
Monitoring of standards and brokering of school improvement support
Provision of policies where required
HR services
Initial audits (see above)
Access to a network of 141 schools
Expectations
Terms of Reference for the Local Governing Body
The terms of reference of the Local Governing Body (LGB) must be approved by the Board of Directors (the Board) of the Academy Trust. The Board may review and amend these terms of reference from time to time. These terms of reference provide the framework within which the LGB shall operate.
The LGB of (name of school) school will be composed, where possible, of 9 members: The Head of School, two parent elected members and 1 community members, 5 members appointed by LAAT. Wherever possible the local incumbent will be a member and the local PCC will be consulted to find appropriate LAAT appointees.
Up to 2 co-optees may be appointed following a unanimous request from the Local Board being approved by LAAT for specific, time limited projects. Voting powers of co-optees shall be limited to those projects.
The work of the Local Board will be further supported by staff, pupil and parent forums who will feed formally into the Local Board.
Each forum shall be attended by a member of the Local Board who shall represent the views of the forum to the full board.
Working Practice:
- The structure of the LGB will be agreed by the Board and may be amended from time to time.
- The usual term of office for all members of the LGB will be 4 years except for the headteacher.
- The members of the LGB shall, upon their appointment or election, give a written undertaking to the Members and Board of Directors to uphold the objects of the Company as set out in the Articles of Association and all policies and procedures agreed by the trust or LGB form time to time.
- The chair of the LGB will be appointed by directors of LAAT
- In the absence of either the chair or the clerk at a meeting of the LGB, the LGB will agree a replacement for the meeting.
- The chair of the LGB will meet with representatives of the Board at the beginning of each School year to discuss the roles and responsibilities of the LGB in relation to the local academy’s development plan and any other issues as appropriate.
- The LGB will meet as often as is necessary to fulfil its responsibilities but as a minimum, the LGB will meet at least once each term.
- The quorum for any meeting of the LGB meeting is 50% of those members of the LGB currently appointed. (rounded to the nearest whole number)
- The clerk to the LGB will circulate an agenda and any papers at least one week before a meeting of the LGB.
- It is assumed that each Member of the LGB has read any papers as long as they have been circulated in accordance with point 9.
- All recommendations and decisions made at a meeting of the LGB will be recorded accurately in writing. These minutes will be forwarded by the clerk of the LGB and to LAAT at least one week before the next LGB.
- The Board may request the chair of the LGB to attend any Board meeting and present a summary of the issues discussed and recommendations made at any previous LGB meeting.
- Any Director of the Academy Trust or their representative may attend a meeting of the Local Governing Body.
- Any member of the LGB may request the chair to invite persons who are not members of the LGB to attend its meetings.
- Each member of the LGB shall have one equal vote. Where there is an equal division of votes, the chair of the LGB will have the casting vote.
- All decisions reserved for the LGB shall be determined by the Board according to the Scheme of Delegation and will be reviewed at least annually.