Recommended by Lincolnshire County Council as it preferred multi-academy Trust for schools seeking Academy status

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Content

Context and Core Purpose Lincolnshire County Council Policy on Academies CfBT’s Offer to Schools CfBT Education Trust – parent body of the Schools Trust Core values and principles of Schools Trust membership Benefits of joining the Trust Governance - Trust and Schools Funding National and CfBT Performance related contribution Annual Performance Assessment Application/Conversion Process Key drivers to outstanding schools What is an Academy? Can my school become an Academy?

Draft Diocese/CfBT Proposal School Improvement Service in Partnership with

What is an Academy?

        An independent state school free of Local Authority control.

An Academy has a funding agreement with the DfE slice from the Local Authority.

. The Academy’s budget is paid directly into the Academy Trust’s bank without any top The Academy Trust are the employers of the staff, not the Local Authority.

An Academy sets its own admissions policy within the framework of the Admissions Code of Practice. An Academy is its own admissions authority.

An Academy has freedom over its curriculum and does not have to teach the National Curriculum.

An Academy has the ability to change the lengths of their terms and school days.

An Academy is not bound by National Pay and Conditions agreements.

An Academy is a company registered at Companies House and must abide by Companies Law.

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Can my school become an Academy?

     All schools, other than those below floor standards or in an Ofsted category, can apply to become an Academy. These are called converters.

Schools that are currently rated ‘satisfactory’ can apply but may require an external sponsor in order to convert to an Academy.

Schools that are assessed as inadequate by Ofsted or are below floor standards will be directed to be an Academy sponsored by a Trust with the capacity to improve standards in the school, these will be subject to DfE approval. These are called sponsored Academies.

In the case of foundation schools and voluntary schools, the Governing Body may only apply for Academy status with the agreement of any existing trust or foundation.

If your school has a faith designation this will be retained on conversion and the Diocesan can determine if a school can enter a Trust or not.

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Conversion to Academy status

          Governing Body passes resolution Complete on-line registration Governing Body starts statutory consultation with interested parties Submit short application to convert form Begin TUPE process for all staff Completion of legal documentation relating to governance, land and property transfer and company registration Begin the transfer or renegotiation of any contracts, service level agreements and licences held by the governing body or by the LA Commercial Transfer Agreement signed -detailing all staff salaries and pension contributions, details of assets or contracts that will transfer to the Trust The Trust and the Secretary of State sign the Funding Agreement Ensure all insurances are in place from midnight of the date of conversion.

If your school wishes to transfer to CfBT Schools Trust contact Christina Payne on 01522 553286. CfBT will allocate project manager to help you through the process of liaising over land transfers; liabilities such as pensions and TUPE transfer of staff.

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Context and core purpose

The Schools’ White Paper

‘The Importance of Teaching’

clearly sets out an agenda which frees Heads and teachers from both central and local government control, with the strong belief that autonomous schools will raise standards and will narrow the attainment gaps between pupils from different parts of society.

The Secretary of State has set out his

aspiration that all schools will become Academies

. He states ‘ We will ensure that there is support for schools increasingly to collaborate through Academy chains and multi school trusts and federations’.

Lincolnshire CC has recommended CfBT Schools Trust to be its preferred multi-academy Trust for schools. This demonstrates their confidence in CfBT.

CfBT has established a Schools Trust for Academies with the freedoms and benefits that brings, without the isolation of an individual Trust, but with the security of working collaboratively with others to raise standards and narrow the gap, whilst divesting some of the risks.

The Trust is regulated by a tripartite agreement between DfE, CfBT Education Trust and the CfBT Schools Trust

.

The early members of the Trust have helped to shape it, and members will continue to work with us to ensure it meets your needs.

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Lincolnshire County Council Policy on Academies

On the 26 th July a paper was taken to the Children and Young Persons Scrutiny Committee with 4 options to determine a policy on Academies, it was open to all Councillors and added members to debate. There were 4 options debated: 1 Do nothing and continue the current position 2 3 4 Recommend all schools become Academies and offer no advice Recommend all schools become Academies, if schools are looking for the support of a multi-academy Trust it recommended CfBT Schools Trust Seek to prevent schools becoming Academies.

On the 6 th Sept 2011 The Executive of Lincolnshire CC had presented the outcome of the debated at Scrutiny in a paper titled The Council’s Leadership of Education.

It unanimously approved the new policy on Academies as Option 3.

The Council recognises that it is for Governors to decide, but where governors are seeking support and advice the option is CfBT Schools Trust, however as other Trusts come forward they will assess whether they will meet the criteria.

The Secretary of State has welcomed Lincolnshire’s bold and positive policy.

Lincolnshire has not set the timescale for implementation of the full policy and CfBT will continue to work in partnership with LCC.

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CfBT’s Offer to schools in a changing landscape

1

Converter Academies most schools

CfBT Academies CfBT Schools Trust

A Trust for Academies

4

CfBT Affiliation Scheme for Academies & Schools

New scheme from April 2012 wider offer

CfBT sponsored Academies

2

Sponsored Academies, Special Measures below floor standards

Free Schools CfBT Professional Development Agreement for schools

5

Current agreement with over 365 schools

3

Only developed in agreement with LA

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CfBT Education Trust CfBT Education Trust

is one of the largest educational charities in the UK and is over 40 years old. It works both in the

UK and internationally

, and our mission is to deliver education opportunity which enables individuals, institutions and communities to reach their maximum potential.

In addition to our school improvement services in Lincolnshire, we run our own schools and nurseries in the UK, overseas in Far and Middle East and Africa. We undertake

school inspection services

under contract to

Ofsted

for the North of England, we provide

alternative education to young learners

unable to access mainstream provision, and we

run employment and guidance services

with emphasis on post 16 education. We have recently acquired

CILT

which has responsibility for developing language teaching in England. CfBT is an

accredited provider of phonics training

, runs one of the largest

graduate teacher programme

in the country assessed as outstanding by Ofsted, has a major national reading programme called

Rooted in Reading

and the nationally acclaimed

Olympics/ Paralympics legacy programme

called Live and Learn like a champion. Any surplus finances from these activities is reinvested back into the Trust, and used for educational purposes, including wide-ranging education research activities .

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Core values of the CfBT Schools Trust for Academies

 Every child and young person enabled to achieve their maximum potential  with learners and teaching being at the heart of all that we do. Academies work in partnership with other schools both within and outside  the Trust.

Academies work to serve the needs of the local community.  Academies collaborate to develop their staff through a comprehensive professional development programme with a distinctive international emphasis in order to learn from the best.

 Academies have autonomy within the Trust with freedom to govern, lead and manage provided they are assessed as outstanding or good overall with no major weaknesses.

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Core principles of the working relationship between Academies and the Trust

 Transparency in all Trust work including the budget which is distributed direct to the school, with the contribution to the Trust paid by the school.  Maximum delegation of responsibilities to academies to ensure autonomy that is linked to performance.  All academies in the Trust will have more funding per pupil than they would as a  maintained school although this will decline as more schools become academies.

Academies’ financial contribution to the Trust directly relates to their performance based on three strands of assessment; pupils’ performance (60%), customer satisfaction (20%) and resource management (20%), major weakness in any area could lead to intervention.  Primary Schools and Special schools will have a block grant contribution as well as performance.

 Hard Federations and partnership will have discounts.

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Core principles of the working relationship between Academies and the Trust continued:

 The Trust will seek to work with local children’s services to ensure the best support is available to all children and young people.

 Academies are accepted to the Trust on their current characteristics and policies, major changes to these characteristics such as admissions or religious affiliation require the Schools Trust approval before submission to the DfE.

 Mechanisms to leave the Trust if dissatisfied will be part of the agreement. Limited if the school is in intervention or an Ofsted category.

  Acknowledgement by schools that they are part of the CfBT Schools Trust.

Governors, and Heads of each phase will have membership on the Schools Trust Board.

 As part of the transition process we will determine the contribution and what we offer as part of the programme.

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Benefits to joining the CfBT Schools Trust

The CfBT Schools Trust is a multi-school Trust

providing independence for converter academies within a collaborative supportive framework

where support for weaker Academies is a collectively shared responsibility. We provide a

transition project manager

with experience in such work.

The Trust, rather than individual Academies, will carry out the

interface work with the YPLA/EFA/DfE, cover the legal aspects and liabilities associated with being in a charitable company and ensure all compliance issues are met

, allowing the school to focus on meeting the needs of its pupils. The Schools Trust

will provide budget and audit

guidance and support; including a financial software package; a

people management strategy

to ensure we are a high quality employer,

facilities and health and safety management

framework,

ICT

guidance and a

marketing & communications

guidance and will

monitor the performance of all schools.

All other services will be purchased by each Academy.

CfBT will provide a

network of specialist support through CfBT services

or brokered quality-assured services. We will not impose any service, other than finance software, on converter schools and only provide bespoke back office services if schools are seeking such services. CfBT Schools Trust is committed to current staff Conditions of Service.

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Benefits to joining the CfBT Schools Trust cont.

We will provide

high quality professional advice available to all schools

, including a high quality Professional Adviser. All information will be carried through the CfBT Schools intranet with news updates, examples of policies and other core material.

The

professional development of staff

agenda. This will be accessible to all staff, bidding for external funding for projects, developing

Teaching Schools,

is crucial to a continuous improvement extending

outstanding GTP and NQT support.

The Trust will

identify and develop talent

from within the Academies and help to groom our future leaders through investment in our people to

build capacity

. Trust staff will have placements in your schools and you will take part in new projects.

CfBT will

extend its research and development activities focusing on teaching and learning and school leadership and management

and all academies will not only have access to, but also opportunities to participate in, this vital area of work.

CfBT is an

international organisation

and believes strongly in learning from the best from wherever in the world and we see these

wider opportunities for academies as a key benefit

from joining the CfBT Schools Trust.

You will not need to set up a Trust or register as a charitable company as this will be carried out by CfBT. CfBT will agree in writing your initial membership contribution and your governance arrangements before signing up to the Schools Trust.

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Governance Two

elements to the governance –

Trust Governance

and

Academy Governance

The

CfBT Schools Trust will have legal responsibility for the schools

and has a small Board with representation from Chairs of Governors and Headteachers (2) (1 Primary and 1 Secondary). Special schools will added when numbers justify.

The advisory committees to that Board will meet the needs of Academies and the Trust, and will include a

Chairs’ of Governors

group, a

Headteachers’

group and a

Business Managers

’ group. As the Trust develops there may well be phase-specific, regional as well as other groups created by schools to address particular issues.

This is a new development and it is clear schools joining the Trust will need to work with CfBT to shape its structures, processes and procedures as the Trust grows.

We are also keen to ensure the Trust remains focussed on meeting the needs of its Academies; therefore we will

establish an exit mechanism from the Trust

period of time. Academies in intervention will not be able to leave the Trust.

. This will have the relevant checks and balances to ensure the Trust is not held to ransom and has opportunities to rectify genuine management or grievance issues over a

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Governance - schools Academy governance and leadership is critical to developing successful schools.

The key policy of the Government is to give autonomy to school leaders. CfBT is fully committed to ensuring Academies have maximum autonomy where performance justifies such delegation. Each Academy or federation in the Trust will be governed by a

Board of Governors and current governors transfer to the Academy.

An Academy will maintain its distinctive characters within the Trust.

Most schools will be free to run their own affairs

external involvement. with the absolute minimum of Academies in the Trust assessed as having significant weaknesses

will have CfBT governors added

to the Governing Board to help the school improve. CfBT will hold reserve powers over the appointment of new senior staff where a school is in need of intervention. Academies will have

access to advice and support

on governance issues. A key concept in the Trust is that

a school can maximise its autonomy by optimising its educational and management performance.

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Funding

The principle of funding Academies is that they will receive the

same level of per pupil funding

as from the DSB LA allocations. In addition they receive top-up funding to meet additional responsibilities that are no longer provided by the LA.

Funding comes in 2 forms: the

General Annual Grant (GAG),

the same as the delegated budget share received from the LA – small adjustment for reduced business rates because of charitable status, and separate insurance grant: and the

LA central spend equivalent grant (LACSEG),

funding that is held back by the LA to fund services and the grant is calculated by the YPLA. There are services which schools will need to purchase from some of this funding. Unlike maintained schools they are funded on an academic year basis not a financial year basis, and currently they are being given 90% protection on LACSEG money.

The LACSEG varies

and we are expecting significant changes over the next few months. See DfE website for current estimates.

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Annual Performance Assessment Pupil Performance: 60%

Progress Attainment Quality of teaching and learning Attendance and Behaviour 30%

(18%)

30%

(18%)

30%

(18%)

10%

(6%)

Customer Satisfaction: 20%

Parent/carer satisfaction Pupil satisfaction, including enrichment and enjoyment 30%

(6%)

50%

(10%)

Pupil recruitment and retention 20%

(4%)

Resource Management: (Finance, HR, Premises, Health and Safety etc.): 20%

Budget balanced with appropriate reserves Staff attendance, recruitment, retention and development Premises maintenance and health and safety 40%

(8%)

30%

(6%)

30%

(6%)

The external moderation will be carried out by a combination of senior Academy staff from other Trust schools and a member of CfBT’s own staff. Academies will pay for the external moderation with the expected cost less than £3,000 and school staff engaged in the moderation will be paid for their services.

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CfBT Schools Trust funding arrangements

The

CfBT Schools Trust will not replicate LA infrastructural costs

Trust’s element will be based on the so it will be looking to minimise Trust expenditure. We allocate funding direct to the school. The

annual performance assessment (APA)

.

The funding models for primary, secondary and special are different. At present we refer to this as the ‘

annual membership fee (AMF)’.

The AMF will range from 0.75% for a top outstanding school to 3.75% for a low satisfactory school. If a school’s performance is less than satisfactory it would be placed in

intervention

with a AMF up to a 4.5% and if in Ofsted

special measures

it could be subjected to a AMF of up to 6%. Primary schools will have a block payment of £15,000 plus the % based on APA. Special school’s AMF still to be determined.

CfBT are very keen to develop

partnerships and hard federations

. Where 3 to 5 schools combine the block payment will be reduced by £5,000 per school. Where 6 or more schools combine the block payment will be reduced by £10,000 per school. Where there are vertical federations each case will be negotiated.

CfBT will hold 1% of the budget annually as an emergency fund

maintain the low membership fees.

which will be returned at the end of each year. There will be strict rules over any expenditure taken from the reserve fund, but it will give additional assurance for the Trust and help

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CfBT Schools’ Trust – Funding Mechanism 6% Governing Committee + CfBT 4.5% 3.75% 3.25% 2.75% 2.25% 1.75% 1.25% 0.75% Governing Committee – Full Control 100% 90% Outstanding 80% 70% Good 60% 50% 40% Annual Performance Assessment 30% Satisfactory 20% 10% School Improvement Service in Partnership with

Annual Performance Assessment

A unique feature of the CfBT Schools Trust is its

membership costs being related to its performance

. This is designed to reflect the risk and liabilities of each school’s membership as well as an Academy’s potential contribution to the Trust. This model provides a key driver for governors and the leadership team to seek continuous improvement with an incentive to reduce their contribution to the Trust . We will work with governors and Headteachers to

ensure the methodology is acceptable and the methods of moderating the internal assessments

will need careful consideration. The annual performance assessment will

not be directly linked to Ofsted

inspections.

CfBT has decided that effective governance, leadership and management will be reflected in the effectiveness of the other elements and therefore not assessed in its own right

; this will also mean that it is not directly linked to the senior leadership performance management.

Initial thinking on

pupil performance, customer satisfaction and resource management

weights the three groups as 60%, 20% and 20%, although this model may change for Special schools. Within each group of indicators each element has been provisionally weighted to give an overall score.

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CfBT School Improvement Key drivers for outstanding schools

Effective leadership World Class provision Outstanding outcomes An entitlement to unique experiences Self-evaluation for improvement Strategic planning Quality assurance for effective impact Ensuring high quality teaching and learning A personalised curriculum A culture of innovation Maximising achievement Accelerating progress for all Exploiting the potential of data Enrichment and excitement Global dimension Enterprise culture

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CfBT proposal for a Diocese / CfBT’s multi-Academy Trust Governance of the Trust

The joint Trust will have equal membership from the Diocese and CfBT with one additional member. The additional member will be selected by the Bishop from a shortlist recommended by joint Trustees.

Governance of the school

As with the CfBT Schools Trust the current balance of governors in each school will be directly transferred.

Trust Partner responsibilities Diocese responsibility

1. The ethos and religious characteristics of the school will remain with the Diocesan Board; CfBT will work with the Diocese to develop specific leadership training to enhance these characteristics. 2. The land and building assets will remain with the Diocese and additional land/buildings transferred usually from the LA to the Academy would go to the Diocese.

CfBT’s responsibility

1. The school performance and raising standards agenda. 2. The comprehensive CfBT infrastructural support would run in exactly the same way for schools in this joint Trust as in the CfBT Schools Trust, ensuring there is efficiency of scale and high levels of support, not dissimilar to the current Local Authority/CfBT support.

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