Embracing Change Jon Hills - Holy Trinity West End

Embracing Change – willingly! Picking up the story of HTWE, and how we have used collaboration around school improvement as the basis for building a MAT, which now includes both church and community schools.

Brief background: Surrey Heath Confederation (30+ schools) – commitment of heads, involved in exciting school improvement projects: Ofsted Inspector Training, marking and assessment triads, ‘Barriers to Boys' Achievement’, Gifted and Talented networks, curriculum networks, John Yates Leadership Network, etc… Surrey Heath Heads articulating joined up thinking with common goals and a commitment to action Projects such as the Marking Triads provided a way in to schools for staff other than heads, also allowed a little vulnerability in sharing data, lesson observations, work scrutiny and talking to staff and children. Building relationships for the good of all schools.

Building relationships involves trust and time.

Building relationships involves trust and time. Being open and honest may make us feel vulnerable… but accepting nobody is perfect is empowering. We all have different gifts to offer - playing to our strengths and being prepared to share builds relationship. Together we have the skills and resources to support whatever comes our way.

Reciprocity

Reciprocity Alongside organised projects and network meetings a culture of sharing grew. John Yates network facilitated working together. Some heads are more gifted at networking than others or perhaps have more time or have more capacity to network. A habit of passing on useful information or a nudge about deadlines helped to create a culture of reciprocity.

The Academy Agenda Writing on the wall from budget and Surrey was that things weren’t going to get better and if we wanted to at least continue with what we already have BUT ideally be better than our current status, then we had to think more creatively. We met as a group of 12 schools to share common threads and ambitions e.g. family support workers, speech and language support, effective IT support. It was obvious that we had common goals. Next step was do we want to do it together? If we do want to pursue it further do we do it formally or informally? Can we do it formally? What other models are out there, e.g. co-operative models, loose federations, etc… How do we get there?

What benefits did we want for our children? Like-minded schools working together to support excellence Partnerships across schools to share expertise, draw on resources and share good practice. Focus on improving outcomes for children and developing the whole-child Shape curriculum to meet the needs of our children Not to get rich although more choice Academic budget is easier for leaders to plan instead of no more spending in March LA retain co-ordinating admissions but can

What impact did we want on teaching? Curriculum freedom and development High quality recruitment and retention Better terms and conditions Investment in succession planning Joint School Improvement Capital money to improve school learning environments

How did we get there? We chose MAT route starting from scratch so as to be in the driving seat of where we wanted to go.

Trust but still wanting a voice. The journey from insisting on school representation at trustee & members level to just wanting the right people. Believing it isn’t about losing autonomy and being taken over but instead retaining uniqueness, trusting those in the driving seat are working for the best of all and achieving more together. The process of due-diligence, sharing information meant we had to open up: finance, SEF, SDP and school reviews.

Mission Our MAT has been created to bring together local like-minded schools within collaborative reach, to achieve even greater outcomes for every child than would be individually possible. Each schools’ unique ethos and values, whether secular or faith, are a strength to be celebrated and enrich the whole MAT.

The Executive Team (heads) drives the MAT. We are still very much at the start of our MAT journey and change can bring uncertainty and pain… but we are in it together. The scheme of delegation ensures the MAT is stronger than the personalities if heads come and go, however the initial coming together wouldn’t have happened without trust and relationship.

Now and the future… The Surrey Heath confederation hasn’t been so active as more schools have become academies and money has gone back to school. During the MAT process we have been more inward looking… but now we are established there is the time, capacity and commitment to work with the wider group of schools in the confederation again. A testament to the value our zone puts on relationship is that we have chosen to pool the confederation money together rather than keeping it in school. This is the glue to keep us supporting one another for the good of all children in our area. We all need each other.