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 9 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.
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Strategic Themes |
25/26 Emerging Development Plan Priorities |
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Curriculum Design
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o Enhancing central capacity to provide targeted support and challenge in relation to key areas of focus within School Development Plans o Create more opportunities for the sharing of good practice across the Trust o Monitor the implementation of ‘I’m a clever writer’ at New Bradwell, Green Park and Giffard Park to share any aspects of good practice the delivers a positive impact o Bring TP onto the Arbor assessment system o Continue to develop the foundation assessments to report into trustees and LAC’s |
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Teaching, Learning and Assessment |
o Central Trust role to support teacher development, utilising a range of outcomes to identify where best practice exists within the Trust and using this expertise to support improvements for those not securing such strong outcomes through coaching support o Action Research projects linking to cross trust groups (e.g. Safeguarding, SEN and subject networks) to focus on common SDP themes and provide an additional resource for school improvement o Termly monitoring linked to all key national indicators o Develop a group of staff across the trust to come up with practical examples of where AI can save time for teachers |
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Leadership |
o Work with our IT Service Provider to establish a staff intranet that supports cross trust communication and working o Review contribution levels of each school to the central Trust budget to consider the degree to which the current model is fit for purpose o Revisit Trust Training plan for middle and senior leaders in schools o Ensure self-evaluation practices at school level are fit for purpose in relation to the emerging Ofsted changes to inspection o Ensure all staff and governors receive appropriate training in relation to key new priorities linked to KCSIE 2025 update o Create development pathways for head teachers within our schools through performance management meetings o Present plan to develop the central team and structure o Central team are developing ways to show they are making efficiency savings for the trust and the schools. |
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Governance Development |
o Extend guidance and frameworks for trustees and governors in relation to specific link roles and trustee visibility across the schools o Training for Trustees and Local Governors to support their continued development and ensure that they continue to offer both challenge and support o Continued development of finance and reporting to aid in-year decision making o Supporting trustee’s to visit schools to support critical thinking of the development plan o Embedding new governance arrangements accessed through MKCC o Securing a Trustee with a legal background (as per RD advice) o Review the business cycle and the terms of reference for each committee. o Develop a audit, risk and premises meeting and a finance and staffing meeting o The Trust to review its reserves policy and conflict of interest policy o Policies should be incorporated into the Scheme of Delegation |
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Growth |
o Developing stronger understanding of how RD and Advisory Boards make judgements regarding the growth of the Trust o Invite the RD or our linkd DFE person to join us for a day so they can better represent us at meetings. o Secure the three schools currently in the pipeline into Trust membership within 25/26 o Once new schools are part of the Trust prioritise other aspects of the strategic plan over further growth (other than relevant new school opportunities that may arise) o Continue to develop units across the trust |
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Organisational Development |
o Onboarding staff from new schools currently with initial applications with the DfE o Enhance current arrangements for staff induction to Trust employment and the capture of relevant information from exit interviews o Development of central HR processes to support the consistent management of staffing across the Trust o SmartLog to support the delivery of key mandatory training for all staff o Embedding new leadership teams at both Deanshanger and Old Stratford o Carry out another cross-trust evaluation |
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Staff Health and Wellbeing |
o Heads group to share information about the impact of the health and wellbeing strategies that are deployed in schools and inform development of Trust wide initiatives o Undertake review of staff working practices to consider any potential steps to manage workload factors more efficiently o All schools to have a staff wellbeing group o Develop ways to improve staff attendance across the trust |
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Asset Management |
o Further enhance the processes the Trust follows to identify and budget for property projects o Look at centralising contracts and contractors to ensure value for money o Risk assessments standardised across the schools and an ongoing training in place o Transition from MyConcern to CPOMS o Standardise processes linked to external providers using school sites o Continue to develop CIF bids but plan for this being centralised when we have more than 3000 children o Develop our commitment to Sustainable growth |
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Financial Sustainability |
o Single bank account to be in place for the start of 25/26 o Strategies to support longer term sustainability of each school in the Trust to be developed and where necessary actioned in a context of continuing falling rolls o IMP fully established and giving us more accurate data o TP moved across to IMP and sage for a full year and some of their processes coming centrally. |
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 for coming years.