Why Join Academy Transformation Trust?
When choosing a Multi Academy Trust, you will want one with a proven track record in school improvement and one that resonates with your own values.
Academy Transformation Trust is passionate about transforming life chances by achieving the highest possible standards and preparing all our students to lead successful lives. We educate, safeguard and champion all our learners, setting high standards for each one of us aswe build the powerful knowledge and cultural capital which stimulate social mobility and lifelong learning.
Being part of the ATT family brings access to 35 different learning communities across our trust, including specialist areas like SEND and Safeguarding, subject areas, and various leadership groups. This networking forms the engine room that provides our senior and middle leaders with opportunities to share expertise and raise standards. We work collaboratively and make use of research-based initiatives, educational papers, and knowledge of exceptional practice to recommend improvements that will support every one of our academies.
Our Education Directorate provides support in preparing for Ofsted inspections. We work alongside you to help conduct your own robust and informed quality assurance, led by a highly experienced education directorate including practising Ofsted inspectors.
Our bespoke programme of Challenge, Support and Improve (CSI) is tailored to the individual needs of your academy and specific to your journey of improvement. Collaboration is key to our success and we use capacity from leaders across our Trust to ensure our experience, knowledge base and joint development practice continues to grow as our performance improves. Just take a look at our recent record of Ofsted performance:
Annual reviews for each academy span one or two days. Two-day reviews are used for academies close to an inspection or who are in the stabilise or repair stages. One-day reviews are used to undertake deep dives in areas identified through the CSI process and for academies in the improve and sustain phases.
How do we succeed?
We succeed through our model of aligned autonomy, which gives value and strength to the broader direction of travel whilst allowing each academy to retain its own identity and engage with its own community in a way that is relevant and bespoke. We value the power of collaboration alongside the distinct identity of each academy and the community it serves.
What does this look like in practice? Will I have to teach a specific curriculum model?
We agree a common approach to some curriculum areas, identifying the powerful knowledge that exists for each cohort. Then, we leave it up to individual academies to define how that knowledge is delivered. Resources are shared and curriculum models in writing at primary, for example, have a similar approach.
What about Safeguarding and SEND?
Part of being in a MAT is receiving the support and benefitting from the collective knowledge, experience and powerful quality of provision in areas where you may feel vulnerable as a stand-alone school or academy. At ATT, we have a dedicated and highly specialised safeguarding team that conduct specialist reviews, offering advice and action planning alongside regular visits and coaching. This helps you ensure that a strong safeguarding culture permeates every aspect of your academy. This is supplemented by legal advice and robust support for when concerns are raised. We ensure DSL and DDSL training and supervision is helpful and informed and we provide support in the form of Trust-wide policies and procedures.
We also have a specialist and highly experienced SEND team that supports and reviews the SEND provision across our Trust with expert legal advice and robust legal support where required. This provision includes auditing specialist support, SENDCo training, CPD and supervision, as well as policy and procedure, and challenging case disputes.
How much contact from the Trust can I expect?
We believe in keeping things simple. Your life as an academy principal is complicated enough, and we don’t want to make it any harder. Communication is key; we make sure there is regular contact with your line manager, CEO and the Directors of Education. Face-to-face training and development with all Principals takes place at least 5 times a year, with fortnightly national online Keeping in Touch (KIT) meetings. We share our strategies and approach challenges together. We try to ensure that the heavy lifting of being briefed with up-to-date compliance and strategy is done in our KIT meetings, so we can invest face-to-face time in exploring our priorities and our ‘Big Moves’ in a more collaborative and creative environment. Our leaders find this invaluable and the quality of networking and support that comes from leaders working cross phase and across our geographical spread leads to exceptional responses to the most challenging problems.
What about training and staff CPD?
We also succeed by making sure we invest in talent development. ATTI is a system-leading Institute that provides a one-stop Professional Development offer for all our colleagues and academies.
Our ATT Institute is the cornerstone of ATT colleague PD for all roles and career stages. It provides the best development opportunities, from accredited courses to one-off training sessions and co-ordinated networking. All our courses are evidence-based and facilitated by extremely knowledgeable professionals, so we know that all our colleagues receive the best training available. But more than this, ATTI provides the glue that binds us together and provides the capacity to support academy improvement. The courses, webinars, training sessions are tailored specifically around what you need on your journey of academy improvement. The support is commissioned as part of the CSI process and meets the needs of your academy.
What support for central operations services can I expect?
We recognise that managing Finance is an incredibly time consuming, complex and energy-sapping job when you run an academy. That’s why our finance team is there to support you every step of the way. We recognise how important it is for you to keep a focus on the decisions relating to how your resources are deployed to benefit your students in your academy. We ensure that our team of finance professionals are solution-focused and equipped to understand your academy’s individual priorities, helping you achieve success.
Our finance services include:
- Complete oversight and management of accounts, giving you peace of mind that you are tax and legally compliant
- Providing financial support, advice and training to help you make the most of your budgets and resources
- Completing all statutory and DfE required reports for your academy. This includes annual statutory accounts, monthly VAT returns and ESFA returns.
- Full payroll management in partnership with our external payroll provider. This includes fully managed Pension Services in conjunction with pension schemes.
Our regionally-based Human Resources team are experienced in supporting the most complex and demanding challenges. You are never alone and know that legally you are covered and only one phone call away from expert HR advice. HR advisors understand the need of each individual academy and are commissioned to support you in achieving your individual priorities.
Our Estates Management team is highly experienced and successful at bidding for capital and estate development. The team oversees estate maintenance function within our Trust and ensures you get the best value when seeking to enhance your buildings and grounds. As well as support for capital projects, day to day support is focused on your priorities and your needs, aligning with your improvement journey. Cleaning is one aspect of this and again is provided by a trust wide contract and centrally managed.
IT is another area that is centrally managed but supported locally with academy-based IT staff. We share data and systems, using Power BI alongside Bromcom to analyse our trends and inform our strategy. This is incredibly powerful and effective across broad aims such as improving attendance or identifying the impact of a provision for specific groups of students.
Catering is another contract on offer as centrally managed and we rapidly address concerns wherever they arise, ensuring that our contractor is providing the level of service that our students need to thrive.
