We seek to understand each child and young person as an individual, recognising the unique blend of experiences and influences that act to shape their learning. Informed awareness of the factors behind each learner strengthens professional judgement. Daily interactions, thoughtful reflection, and authentic connections build true confidence in understanding and supporting every child to thrive and succeed.
Transformational Education means creating learning environments where every learner feels safe, valued and able to achieve their potential. We actively remove barriers to participation and success, recognising that each learner’s experience is shaped by their individual background and circumstances. We challenge discrimination, celebrate diversity, and promote respect in all our interactions.
Our Curriculum, Pedagogical Principles, and Deep Understanding of Learners are designed to advance equality of opportunity and foster a sense of belonging for every student. We expect all staff to uphold these values in their daily practice, ensuring every learner can thrive.
Ensuring that every ATT learner is treated fairly and is given access to the same opportunities and resources to succeed.
Providing the right resources, adjustments and support to different needs, circumstances and starting points.
Outcome of sustained equality & equity; every learner feels accepted, respected and valued for who they are.
At ATT, safeguarding is at the heart of everything we do. Our mission to transform life chances starts with creating safe, supportive environments where every child feels secure, valued, and ready to thrive. We believe that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. That’s why we work closely with our academies to build strong, inclusive safeguarding cultures that put children first—no matter their background or circumstances.
All members of our school communities – including staff, leaders, governors, trustees, parents, carers, and students – are supported with training and resources to help them recognise signs of abuse and respond confidently. This includes regular updates, induction programmes, and practical tools like our Safeguarding Snapshots and KCSIE briefings.
We use CPOMS to record concerns and observations, helping Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) build a clear picture of each child’s needs and access the right support at the right time. If a child is at immediate or high risk, concerns are shared with the DSL straight away, verbally and without delay.
Every ATT academy works to create a psychologically safe environment where children feel able to speak up. We make sure students know how to report concerns and trust that they’ll be listened to and taken seriously. Staff are trained to guide students to safe disclosure routes and respond appropriately.
To support academies in offering both universal and targeted help, we provide an Early Help Core Offer. This includes tools, training, and guidance devised by our Inclusion & Safeguarding team to help schools work effectively with families.
Our approach to mental health is proactive and personalised. Through our Mental Health Waves of Provision, staff are equipped with evidence-based strategies like Zones of Regulation and Emotion Coaching. These help students build emotional literacy and resilience, while also supporting staff to manage their own wellbeing and know when to seek help. This work is closely linked to our SEND Core Offer, which gives schools access to screening, assessment, and intervention tools for children with social, emotional, and mental health needs.
At ATT, we believe that consistent school attendance is fundamental to educational success, personal growth, and lifelong opportunity. Our commitment to attendance is rooted in our mission to transform lives through education and our vision for creating belonging based on inclusive, aspirational, and learner-centred practice across all academies. We know that some of our SEND and disadvantaged pupils face significant barriers to attendance, which we strive to overcome.
We help schools build a culture where attendance is:
We’re dedicated to:
At ATT, we believe every child deserves the chance to succeed. For pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), we set high expectations and provide the right support to help them achieve their potential. Inclusion isn’t just a value—it’s part of everyday practice in all our academies.
Every child with SEND has an individual learning plan with clear, achievable targets. These plans are reviewed regularly through our assess-plan-do-review cycle, ensuring support is always relevant and effective. The aim is simple: action that makes a tangible difference, tailored to the individual, backed by comprehensive support and review.
We believe the best outcomes are achieved when families, students, and staff work as one. That means open dialogue, genuine collaboration, and a shared commitment to progress through our Team Around the Child approach. Parents, carers, and the young people themselves are involved at every step, strengthening both the process and the results. Our team is trained to see potential and possibility, nurturing confidence, independence and achievement so that each learner discovers just how much they can accomplish.
To help schools meet a wide range of needs, we provide:
At ATT, we believe every child deserves a champion. For children in care, that means having someone who advocates for them in every classroom, every meeting, and every decision.
We know that children who are looked after may face challenges linked to instability, trauma, and disrupted attachments. Our role is to help schools remove these barriers and create opportunities for every child to thrive.
We want every child in care to feel seen, supported, and safe. By raising the standard of our universal offer and embedding adaptive practice across our academies, we ensure these learners are not just included, they are empowered.
With skilled staff, strong systems, and a shared commitment to success, we help every child discover what they are truly capable of.
At ATT, we believe that success in education isn’t just about knowledge- it’s also about mindset. A positive attitude to learning helps children engage, stay motivated, and achieve their best. Research shows that up to 30% of attainment is influenced by attitude, which also impacts wellbeing, behaviour, and future opportunities.
We create school environments where effort, curiosity, and resilience are celebrated. Through our ATT2030 values, we help students develop the mindset and motivation to succeed:
It includes how pupils feel about:
These attitudes influence engagement, behaviour, and progress.
By embedding these principles into everyday practice, we help students develop attitudes that support lifelong learning—not just in school, but in life.
At ATT we believe no child’s potential should be limited by their circumstances. We recognise that Young Carers often take on responsibilities beyond their years, and we are committed to identifying, supporting, and celebrating these remarkable individuals.
Staff are trained to spot signs that a child may be a Young Carer and use practical tools—such as the Young Carers Assessment Tool—to understand the impact of their caring role. This is not a one-off process; we listen, review, and respond as needs change.
Every identified Young Carer has a Support and Belonging Plan, co-created with the child and their family. These plans are reviewed regularly and designed to help Young Carers thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.
Through our Team Around the Child approach, we bring together families, staff, and external agencies to provide wraparound care. Each academy has a Young Carers Champion—a trusted adult who offers a safe space, advocates for the child, and ensures their voice is heard.
Support for Young Carers is part of our wider inclusion strategy. We celebrate their resilience and leadership through assemblies, awareness campaigns, and recognition events, making sure their contributions are visible and valued.
At ATT, we are committed to creating environments where every student feels safe, valued, and respected. For LGBTQ+ students, this means providing thoughtful, personalised support that prioritises wellbeing and inclusion.
Inclusion is everyone’s responsibility. Through:
We equip staff to create a culture of allyship, challenge, and care, where discrimination is addressed and diversity is celebrated.
At ATT, we believe every child deserves the chance to thrive—whatever their language background. EAL refers to learners who speak English as an Additional Language. This does not measure English proficiency, so we take care to assess each child individually.
We start with a comprehensive assessment of language proficiency for every EAL learner. This helps us understand their needs and provide tailored support so they can access and succeed in our ambitious curriculum.
We ensure EAL learners are not just supported, they are empowered to succeed academically and socially, with the confidence to thrive in every ATT academy.
At Academy Transformation Trust, we believe that cultural experiences are fundamental to shaping well-rounded, confident, and globally aware individuals. Our intent is to provide every learner with opportunities that broaden horizons, deepen understanding, and foster appreciation of diverse perspectives and human creativity. We endeavour to provide a curriculum which embraces and celebrates every pupil’s culture, ensuring it is represented and woven into their learning experience.
We will do this by providing a rich programme of cultural, artistic, and community-based experiences. We aim to:
At ATT, we understand that literacy is crucial for personal development, economic opportunities, social equity, and informed citizenship, making it a foundational skill for navigating modern life.
Research from the National Literacy Trust shows us that:
As well as conventional reading and writing skills, Unesco defines literacy as “means of identification, understanding, interpretation, creation, and communication in an increasingly digital, text-mediated, information-rich and fast-changing world”. We support our learners to develop strong literacy skills by understanding their starting point and fostering a love of reading.
Learn more about our approach to literacy on our curriculum pages.
At ATT, we understand that Numeracy is essential for personal and professional success, impacting financial literacy, critical thinking, and everyday decision-making. Understanding our learners’ starting points with numeracy helps us understand how to support them in developing key mathematical knowledge and skills.
“Good numeracy is the best protection against unemployment, low wages and poor health.”
– Andreas Schleicher, OECD
We know that a good start in the early years matters. Each year a child spends in an early years setting is a time of rapid learning and development. Mathematics plays a key role in that development and, crucially, mathematical achievement is consistently found to be the strongest predictor of children’s overall school achievement and their success in entering the workforce.
Learn more on our primary curriculum page.
Strong understanding of our learners’ academic performance helps us to understand their starting points and what we can do to support them to thrive. To support our academies to track academic progress, we’ve developed a central data portal, making it easy to access deep insights into every learner’s performance.
By combining academic performance data with other information, such as attendance and engagement data, we can build a clearer picture of a learner’s progress through school.
Our Approach
Our approach to ensuring academic performance data informs strategy and transforms teaching is organised around five interlinked areas that apply across our Trust:
