Options open to schools on becoming an academy / forming a multi-academy trust / joining a multi-academy trust Tim Coulson, Regional Schools Commissioner - East of England and North East London Havering Sixth Form College 21 March 2016

Schools White Paper 2016: Educational Excellence Everywhere Puts the best leaders at the heart of the school system, with the support to thrive Will allow recruiting and development of great teachers wherever they are needed Sets high expectations for all – supported by fair, stretching accountability measures Enables pupils, parents, and communities to demand more from their schools

 Recruitment: reform of NCTL, creation of simple web tools and a new national teacher vacancy website  ITT delivery: reform allocation of teacher training places  ITT content: strengthen ITT content - ideas unsupported by firm evidence are not promoted to new teachers  Accrediting new teachers: replacement of current ‘Qualified Teacher Status’ (QTS)  Deployment: best teachers and middle leaders work in the most challenging areas - National Teaching Service Great teachers – everywhere they’re needed

 CPD and teaching materials and a strong, evidence- informed profession  Support development of a high status, world-leading teaching profession. This will be done by:  supporting the establishment of an independent College of Teaching  continuing to reduce unnecessary workload  increasing teachers’ access to and use of high quality evidence – including supporting the establishment of new, peer-reviewed British education journal; and continuing work with EEF Great teachers – everywhere they’re needed

 Building the infrastructure to support great leaders  Designing new, world-leading National Professional Qualifications  Rebalancing incentives to attract the best leaders to challenging areas, Supporting top middle leaders to relocate to challenging areas and launching a new Excellence in Leadership Fund for the best MATs and other providers to develop innovative ideas to tackle significant leadership challenges  Stronger expectations on governing boards to appoint to fill skills gaps rather than by representation Great leaders running our schools and at the heart of our system

 National funding formulae  Pupil premium  Financial health and efficiency  School estate The right resources in the right hands

 By 2022, all schools will be academies  Most schools in dynamic multi-academy trusts (MATs)  Intervention in coasting and failing schools  Parents and communities able to demand more for their children  A clearly defined role for local authorities A school-led system with every school an academy, empowered pupils, parents and communities and a clearly defined role for local government

Government will:  continue to encourage high performing maintained schools to apply to become academies by 2020  implement measures in the Education and Adoption Act so that all inadequate schools become sponsored academies and coasting schools are tackled for the first time  take powers to direct schools to become academies in underperforming local authority areas or where the local authority no longer has capacity to maintain its schools; or where schools have not yet started the process of becoming an academy by 2020 A school-led system

 Build sponsor capacity, speed up the process of conversion to academy status, and work with the Church of England, Catholic Church and other faith groups to support Church and faith schools to become academies  Promote greater collaboration between schools, particularly through multi-academy trusts (MATs) which we expect most schools will join  Ensure that the future school system is dynamic, responding to success and failure, and that RSCs intervene promptly where academies or MATs are underperforming A school-led system

 Build on the success of the free school programme to open 500 new schools by 2020  Engage MATs, sponsors, academies, dioceses and the wider schools sector to create a legal framework for academies that is fit for purpose for the long term  Help parents to support their child’s education and navigate schools system - new Parent Portal  Ensure school complaints and admissions are clear and fair for parents and children A school-led system

 Define the role of local authorities (LAs) in education: ensuring every child has a school place and that the needs of all pupils are met, and championing parents and the local community. Local authorities will step back from maintaining schools and school improvement  Review the responsibilities of local authorities in relation to children, including the implications for the roles of the Director of Children’s Services and the Lead Member for Children, in light of the policy changes set out in this White Paper A school-led system

 Shifting responsibility for school improvement - enable the best leaders to play a wider role - responsibility transferred for school improvement from LAs to best school and system leaders to spread expertise and best practice  National coverage and increased impact of system leaders  Improve how we designate teaching schools and NLEs by introducing a more sophisticated approach based on timely and accurate data rather than just on Ofsted judgements  Provide targeted funding for system leaders to build capacity through school-to-school support and for RSCs to  intervene in failing and coasting schools Preventing underperformance and helping schools go from good to great

Questions received  How will the proposed changes in national funding formula, scheduled for next year, affect the drive to make all schools convert to academies, and how will this potentially shape the forward strategy of forming Multi Academy Trusts in this region?  Information re the formation of MATs with a combination of existing academies and non-academies/ secondaries and primaries all of which are either OFSTED 'good' or 'outstanding' and faith schools  Implications for Governors currently in a single academy trust if the school voluntarily joins/forms a MAT  Will an application for an Umbrella Trust be supported or is it only MATs?

Forming MATs  Can be single or cross-phase  Can include existing academies and currently maintained schools  Can include ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ schools  Can include ‘required improvement’ schools if the MAT demonstrates capacity needed to ensure the school improves  Can include ‘inadequate’ school if the MAT is also approved as a sponsor

Forming MATs  Needs a trust board with 5 members and 9 directors  Members appoint directors  Directors need to cover all the skills needed – we recommend employees are not on the board, other than CEO – heads will of course attend and advise board  Where gaps in skills – Academy Ambassadors scheme - a non-profit organisation set up to bring inspirational educationalists together with talented business leaders to build better multi-academy trust boards -

Forming MATs  Trust board oversees aggregate of schools’ income and decide on central functions  When a request to convert to become an academy is approved, school receivers a grant of £25k to support conversion – legal, governance, scheme of delegation – takes about 4 months  Trusts need executive leadership from the start

Implications for Governors currently in a single academy trust if the school voluntarily joins/forms a MAT  It could be the basis of the academy trust or it could be taking responsibility for ensuring new directors to take forward the school’s future  If not on the trust board, many will want to remain on the local governing body

Will an application for an Umbrella Trust be supported or is it only MATs?  Schools and MATs can be in any partnerships or arrangements they choose and do not require DfE approval  DfE approval is needed for MATs and it is MATs that are held accountable for the schools for which they are accountable  Many MATs will choose to have strong relationships and some may buy services from each other

More questions

School financial health and efficiency – an introduction Jane Cunliffe