WHAT WE DO
Readiness to Grow
There are many growth opportunities for schools, academy trusts and MATs. You may be thinking about conversion, or joining or merging with another trust or MAT. Our strategic review tool, Readiness to Grow, can help – wherever you may find yourself on that journey.
What we do
Ways we can help
Readiness to Grow
There are many growth opportunities for schools, academy trusts and MATs. You may be thinking about conversion, or joining or merging with another trust or MAT. Our strategic review tool, Readiness to Grow, can help – wherever you may find yourself on that journey.
What we do
Ways we can help
We can carry out independent evaluations to assess your growth plans and provide strategic advice, guidance and support. We will help you to develop well-informed strategies built on experience, insights and best practice.
We’ll support you in ensuring that your school or trust is managed effectively and operates safely and efficiently, and we’ll act as a safe sounding board.
Whether you’re a school looking to convert or a regional MAT planning rapid expansion, our support is there at every stage of the growth journey, and in any operational area.
Our Readiness to Grow model
Our extensive experience in supporting schools and academy trusts has led us to identify the 7 operational areas which must be optimised before a school, trust or MAT can deliver successful growth. Within each area are things like systems, teams, processes, governance, and much more. By getting each area into the best possible shape, you can prepare the ideal platform from which to launch your growth plans.
We’ve brought all this together into an audit and assessment model which we call Readiness to Grow. You can ask us for reviews in as many or as few of the 7 operational areas as you like. In each review, we’ll measure your operation against common challenges, and suggest known ways in which successful schools and trusts have overcome those challenges.
How can we help you
Get a free consultation
Depending on your plan and where you are in your journey, here are some examples of what we’d review under each operational enabler:
1
Vision, culture and ethos
- Identifying which aspects of vision, culture, and ethos will underpin your plans
- Testing whether your vision, culture, and ethos align with any other school, trust or MAT involved
- Deciding on the non-negotiables when seeking a MAT to join.
2
People and partners
- Understanding the leadership, governance, staffing structure and HR policy arrangements of any other school, trust or MAT involved
- Understanding the changes for staff, including where roles may affect levels of responsibility (such as the accounting officer and CFO)
- Communicating with partners and stakeholders to outline the reasons for change, and addressing any concerns about the transition from existing to future arrangements.
3
Teaching and learning
- Agreeing on where the schools/trusts stand on teaching and learning (in Ofsted terms)
- Articulating your strengths and weaknesses, knowing where best practice is apparent and where you may need extra support
- Setting up monitoring to help you understand where support is most needed.
4
Curriculum and assessment
- Flexibility in adopting (or considering changes to) curriculum choice
- Evaluating the curriculum and potential changes to key-stage delivery and exam boards, to ensure consistency of approach
- Achieving a shared understanding of assessment processes, so you understand progress at all levels.
5
Quality assurance and accountability
- Understanding school performance and the quality of provision
- Sharing information to ensure that leaders all hold a common view
- Considering developing national and regional performance indicators against all areas of trust performance.
6
Governance and capability
- Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your current governance arrangements, and ensuring that your board understands this when engaging with other schools or trusts
- Understanding the governance ‘offer’ when looking to join another trust or MAT, and how this will impact your current arrangements; this may involve frank discussions around delegation, for example
- Understanding which opportunities will be available to influence (or be part of) the governance arrangements when looking to join another trust or MAT.
7
Resource management
- Understanding the financial impact of joining a trust, in terms of your financial position (looking at central services and contributions)
- Carrying out in-depth financial due diligence on any other trust or MAT involved
- Identifying how successful you’ve been in delivering your current vision and strategy for technology, and how this might support another trust or MAT.
The DfE’s vision for academy trusts
The government's Schools White Paper 2022 wants all schools to be part of a strong academy trust by 2030. Our Readiness to Grow review will help you respond to this. It will help good schools to excel, and underperforming schools to transform, so you can deliver the best outcomes for children.
The DfE is soon to announce that it will drop 2 key areas in the ‘Opportunity for All’ White Paper:
- The 2030 target date for the academy conversion of all schools in England
- The ambition for local authorities to establish MATs.
Nevertheless, the academy programme remains a priority for the DfE.
“We would like all schools to be in a strong multi-academy trust, because we see the positive impact it can have on children’s lives.’
– Nick Gibb, Minister of State for Schools
WAYS WE CAN HELP
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Copyright © 2022 EPM Ltd.