Development Themes

The Grand Union Partnership will involve colleagues across all our schools in a wide range of workshops and training around the themes that have been developed in the trusts strategic plan. We plan opportunities to meet across the academic year that allow staff to move the themes forward and reflect on each others practice.

The 7 themes (listed below) were created as a result of surveys, conversations with senior leaders and trustees, input from our whole trust joint training and reflecting on our annual review.

Development priorities for 2023-24

Curriculum design

• Subject specific networks to be established across the trust informing both curriculum development and review.
• Continued expansion of curriculum enrichment opportunities for children at all schools in the Trust to access.
• Develop curriculum proposals for new school applications.

Teaching, learning and assessment

• Subject specific networks to contribute to capturing, sharing and transferring good practice across the trust.
• Establish effective moderation of assessment practice across the trust in relation to foundation subjects.
• Establish a TA Working Group to promote best practice across the trust.

Leadership and governance

• Develop career development and progression routes for all school and trust roles to clarify training opportunities for specific roles and potential progression paths.
• Adapt current financial planning approaches to align to the DfE integrated curriculum financial planning (ICFP) model.
• Regular trust communications to support staff at all levels across our schools to gain a better understanding of the ways that the work of the trust supports school development.
• Establish opportunities for Trustees to visit schools in the trust to promote a greater understanding of their role within each school.
• External review of governance to be completed - with a particular focus on recommended next steps to support growth.
• Work with IT Service Provider to set up Office365 links at Trust level to better support collaboration.
• Implementation of a common safeguarding platform across the schools in the trust
• Extend guidance and frameworks for trustees and governors in relation to specific link roles.
• Continue to refine the use of performance measures deployed at school and trust level and how these are reported to key stakeholders.
• Engage with local trusts to establish Trust level peer review activities.

Growth

• Implement trust marketing plan to provide opportunities for schools who aren’t currently members to be able to engage with the trust and explore what we have to offer.
• Develop proposals to be used in any new school application.
• Continue to work with schools that have joined some of our head meetings.

Organisational development

• Existing central roles to be appropriately budgeted for within the central trust budget.
• Develop plan for the next phase of central trust roles that will support the Trust as it grows. Likely to include increasing capacity in relation to bookkeeping, administrative support for marketing and communications (e.g. websites, GDPR, etc) and the wider systems used across all of the schools in the trust (e.g. Arbor, MyConcerns, etc). Capacity building in relation to governance will also be considered, though this will link into the review of governance that is planned to take place.
• Establish a shared calendar with supporting guidance for all non-teaching functions to ensure that expertise linked to key non-teaching processes is shared and that when new.

Staff health and wellbeing

• Monitor the impact of resources that enable staff to access external support linked to mental and physical health and wellbeing.
• Develop a working party to enable us to continue to support all colleagues.

Asset management

• CIF bids linked to Asset Management Plan applied for in relation to each school.
• Establish central trust model for resource projects that schools can bid for.
• Develop the role of a central premises manager.

Each theme will be developed further through the trust development plan and involving key staff in taking the work forward. In most cases staff will be used across the trust and will work using the 'Grow' framework. (G-Goal, R-Reality, O-Options, W-What will you do next)

In order to ensure the work is well supported each theme will have a central colleague linked to the work to provide advice and guidance while being a layer of quality assurance. This work will then feedback into the success and areas to develop into the coming years.