Academisation

Whilst joining a multi academy trust is a significant step, joining the right Trust is absolutely vital.  The benefits of collaborative working and resource sharing provide security in an ever changing educational landscape and can secure the long-term success of your school.  Everyone has a vital part to play.

Joining the Trust

We know that each school will be different and we value this diversity.  We also know that schools can be at different points in their journey to be even better.  Primarily, if your values match ours and you believe that every child deserves to go to a good school, then you may want to get in touch to find out more about us.

What can you expect from us?

We will:

• have high expectations
• work with integrity
• work with honesty
• operate selflessly in the public interest
• be objective
• be accountable
• be open
• lead by example
• manage the academy conversion process 
• support a school's individual identity and ethos
• develop high performing teams
• challenge mediocrity
• provide career development across the Trust in order to recruit and retain the best

What can we expect from you?

• To share the values and principles of the Trust
• To uphold the ethos of the Trust 
• To commit to securing equity 
• To fully engage in professional development for the benefit of all
• To contribute to the support and challenge of all Trust employees
• To have high expectations
• To work with integrity
• To work with honesty
• To operate selflessly in the public interest
• To be objective
• To be accountable
• To be open
• To lead by example

Benefits

• Stability in a fast changing educational landscape
• Access to shared services and economies of scale (HR, finance, IT, site, facilities, risk)
• Free places on our OLEVI programmes (OTP, ITP, OTAP, PoC, OLE)
• Access to Trust wide professional development opportunities
• Access to Trust leadership development programmes
• PR and marketing
• Curriculum design and development
• Trust wide NQT and RQT programmes 
• Access to subject specialists
• SEND expertise with bespoke packages available
• Quality assurance
• Pupil Premium advice and guidance
• Website presence
• Support with data driven improvement and MIS
• PR and marketing
• Recruitment
• Capital planning applications
• Headteacher appraisal
• Headteacher coaching
• Trust wide policies
• Academy conversion
• Governance training and development
• Support with compliance (website, safeguarding, policy)

The Process

Stage 1 Initial Conversations

Values, vision, culture, ethos - a professional conversation about what potential collaboration could look like.

Stage 2 Due Diligence

Purpose of due diligence

Due diligence is the process by which the parties gather information about each other to ensure the integration process proceeds smoothly. In particular, it is used to identify risks, liabilities, cultural differences and practical issues that may cause difficulties later. The key objectives are:

• To test the strategic rationale for the tie-up: will it improve the life chances and attainment of pupils and is it really financially and operationally attractive for both sides? What are the prospects for the future? Do the partners have the capacity and capabilities to pull it off?
• To inform discussions, identify liabilities and make sure the legal documents pick up risks and allocate them appropriately by using warranties and indemnities (legal clauses which require one party to compensate the other if a risk materialises and costs are thereby incurred). The general rule is that liabilities whose origin is pre-transfer belong to the transferor (local authority and/or diocesan trustees), and those whose origin is post transfer belong to the transferee (the MAT).
• To lay the foundations of the future integrated organisation and build its culture. The process should combine an ‘outside in’ approach with an ‘inside out’ approach to understand the schools’ relative position in the local education system, as well as understanding the internal capabilities, strengths and weaknesses.
• To examine broader issues of culture, systems and processes, management structures, future opportunities and business plans.

Some typical due diligence questions:

And, of course,  you will have questions for us!  

So you want to join an academy trust?  Make sure you ask these 7 questions first

Schools Week (2016)

Russell Hobby, General Secretary of the NAHT suggests these:

Many schools will be thinking about joining a trust or federation. This is probably a sensible response to rising costs, falling budgets, diminishing services and ever-more demanding accountability. But groups of schools come in all shapes and sizes. We have to look behind the label and discover what is really going on. These sorts of decisions are hard to undo and success is often governed by intangible factors such as values and culture – there will be groups in which you will thrive and achieve more than you thought possible alone; and there will be groups that suck the joy out of leadership. How do you tell the difference?

Here are some questions you can ask yourself. Or, even better, ask them.

What truly gets them out of bed in the morning?

This is tricky. The aim is to discover their real values but, if you ask them outright, you’ll get the usual motherhood and apple pie about “making a difference”. The best way to discover underlying values is to let them speak at length and make a count of what is and isn’t mentioned. Is it all about finance or growth and little about children? Another good route is to find out about the chief executive’s own education experience. Their views on this often reveal a great deal about their motivation.

Find out about the CEO’s own education experience

How do they handle conflict?

The early days of a trust are full of shared aspirations and consensus. But you will disagree at some point. If there is disagreement about direction, how is this handled?

Explore what will happen if a school within the trust is under-performing – how will this be tackled and what sanctions lie at the end? Be as wary of groups with weak accountability and no conflict resolution as you would be of those with punitive accountability.

What value does the group bring to the individual schools?

This is the obvious one: why would your school be better off inside the group rather than going it alone. What could you do with them that you can’t do now? Don’t get hung up on the management fee – a more important question is what you get for the money. A management fee that is too small will imply a group that can add little value to what you do already.

Who will they not work with and why?

A great trust has a tight vision and a clear idea about how it can help. It finds a niche where its values, skills and procedures work best. One of the best ways to unearth this is to explore their limits – what wouldn’t they do? Who do they say no to, and why? A group that has never turned down a school or project may be a group with a dangerously unfocused sense of its strengths.

How big do they plan to get?

You want to be part of a group that manages its growth carefully and sustainably – excessive or poorly planned growth is a major cause of problems for groups of schools. Look not only for overall size but geographical spread, balance of strong and weak performance, clear specialisation and flexible structures. On the last point, at what stage will the existing governance stop working and the group need to invent new layers?

What happens when the leader leaves?

Many groups of schools are driven by the energy and vision of their founder. Is this the case in the trust you are considering? If so, how long will he or she be around and how much capacity has he or she built around them? Would it all fall apart in their absence?

What is shared and what is delegated?

How much freedom will you as a leader really have, and how much do you actually want? Total freedom suggests that the group is just symbolic, but presumably you didn’t go into the job to be demoted into middle management, either. This is also a question that it is hard to get honest answers to. Clear answers should help you determine whether the group is sustainable and constructive and, more importantly, whether the culture of the group matches your own values.

Why Choose or Trust?

Our purpose

Our Trust is truly inclusive: rural, town, community, Church, primary, secondary  - we are values driven which means, for us, being truly committed to improving the education of all children we serve and the ones we will never meet.  Our moral imperative is to secure equity and we know our responsibility doesn't stop at the end of the school drive. 

Our approach

Our approach is sustainable - we do not see growth as being 'successful' in terms of the number of schools in our Trust but in terms of the quality of education in all Trust schools.  In a nutshell, no school should fall behind as a result of more schools joining the Trust.  Our approach works.  All Trust schools have recently been judged as 'Good' by Ofsted (2017 and 2018) and we continue to work with schools and colleagues beyond the Trust as we always have.  Our schools are  very different and we see that as an absolute strength.  If you would like to see us in action, please get in touch.  We would be delighted to show you around.

Based on NFER research, we focus on:

1. Whole school ethos of attainment for all
2. Addressing behaviour and attendance
3. High quality teaching for all
4. Meeting individual learning needs
5. Deploying staff effectively
6. Data driven and responding to evidence
7. Clear responsive leadership

A great place to be

We place huge value on feedback from our pupils, parents and staff.

This feedback helps us know when we get things right, but also helps us address concerns. 

• Staff feel valued 97%
• Pupils are proud to be our pupils 94%
• Parents would recommend us 96%

Like to join us?

Our Services

We know managing academies brings financial challenges and responsibilities that would not be considered in a local authority context.  Our cost effective infrastructure eases the burden on our academies. We provide the following services:

• Preparing financial statements in line with the Department for Education (DfE) and Education and Skills Funding Agency (EFSA) requirements
• VAT returns
• Taxation advice
• Budget preparation and monitoring
• Monthly/Quarterly management accounts
• Software and processes training for school finance staff
• Support with Academy Conversion from start to completion
• Property management and asset management
• HR support and consultancy
• IT support
• Health and safety support
• Recruitment
• Governance support

These services aim to liberate school leaders from the management of infrastructure in order for them to focus on improving the quality of education in schools.

If you wish to discuss any of these services, or find out more, please contact us and we will be happy to discuss how we can help.

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

LEADERSHIP SUPPORT

HR

IT SUPPORT

FINANCE

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Our Professional Development Offer

The MILL Academy Trust is committed to developing its staff team and one way that we can do this is to ensure that professional development is regarded as an entitlement.  This philosophy underpins our ‘career stage’ framework for professional development – ensuring that our staff team has the most up to date knowledge, skills and understanding in order to be the best in the profession.

	OLEVI	We are committed to working with OLEVI to deliver high quality professional development that is proven to have real impact.  ITP          Improving Teacher Programme OTP        Outstanding Teacher Programme OTAP     Outstanding Teaching Assistant Programme PoC        Power of Coaching OLE        Outstanding Leadership in Education      We also offer OTAP for Teaching Assistants across the Trust.  All Trust Schools benefit from free places on our OLEVI Programmes.
	OTSA	We are a Strategic Partner of OTSA (Oxfordshire Teaching School Alliance).  As part of our succession planning, we invite colleagues to apply for places on OTSA’s GFL (Growing Future Leaders) programme.
	Pivotal Education	We are a ‘Pivotal’ Trust and a number of colleagues are designated as Pivotal Instructors.  All staff will receive Pivotal training and have access to online professional development.
	VEO	Video Enhanced Observation (VEO) enables us to share effective practice and work collaboratively across the Trust.  Staff are able to work in small groups to fine tune their practice – often utilising incremental coaching.
	Genie Suite	We co-ordinate our professional development through Genie Suite to ensure that paperwork is minimal and more time is spent on development that has real impact.

 

GOVERNOR SUPPORT

AND MUCH MORE...