Welcome
Stakeholder Consultation Meeting
February 5th 2015
Seend C. of E. VA Primary School
ACADEMY TRUST OF MELKSHAM - PROPOSAL
The schools involved:
ACADEMY TRUST OF MELKSHAM - PROPOSAL
Why a formal Partnership?
Preserve the
church and
community ethos
while sharing the
diversity
For the whole of a
child's learning
journey from age 4
to 19
Target our
resources more
effectively to
‘deliver more for
the same’
History of positive
working together
that we can build
upon
to deliver great
education to
children in
Melksham and its
surrounding
villages
A local solution for
local children
To share expertise,
& staff, train
together, to
improve further
Common
catchment area /
families in multiple
schools
Take advantage
of changes in
education system
to become leaders
in our field
ACADEMY TRUST OF MELKSHAM - PROPOSAL
ATOM – the underlying principles
• To deliver great education through a commitment to collaboration to
benefit the young people in Melksham and its surrounding villages
• We are passionate about creating a local solution for the local
communities served by the schools in the partnership
• Raising aspirations and educational standards and sharing the great
practice within all local schools
• All schools are equal partners - Opportunities for each academy within the
ATOM to celebrate what they already do well and to develop and improve
the practice of all academies within the trust
• Collaboration, nurture and challenge exist at the heart of the learning
community
• A culture of aspiration to educational excellence
• Embracing a successful, inspirational and inclusive learning journey
• Celebrate each schools unique and individual characteristics
• The ‘earned autonomy’ model - delegated powers linked to school
performance enabling high levels of delegation to headteachers and local
governing committees
ACADEMY TRUST OF MELKSHAM - PROPOSAL
ATOM - a Multi-Academy Trust model
Diocesan Board of
Education (DBE)
Secretary of State
funding agreement
Academy Trust
of Melksham
(ATOM)
Trust leadership
Bowerhill
Melksham
Oak
Seend
CofE VA
Shaw
CEVC
Diocese of Salisbury
Education Trust (DSET)
St George’s
Semington
CofE VC
St Mary’s
Broughton
Gifford VC
The Manor
CofE
Schools become academies within the Trust with their own leaders and governors
Each academy has a supplementary Funding Agreement
Scale
c. 2200 children
c. 300 staff
c. £11m revenue
c. £35m+ asset value
ACADEMY TRUST OF MELKSHAM - PROPOSAL
What it means for our schools
Children
Staff
• An ‘all through’ learning journey –
strengthen transition between phases
• Access to wider peer groups
• Access to greater learning resources
• To improve teaching and learning
opportunities across all schools for all
children
• Strengthen their links to the wider world
• Ability to achieve more ambitious and
better outcomes for all our pupils
• Greater opportunities for development
• Access to greater learning resources
• Sharing best practice, subject leadership
and distributed leadership
• All staff employed by the Trust
• Opportunities to work in others schools
Community and Governance
• To continue to work with the Diocese
• To continue to be a part of the local community
• Local governance at the Trust and school level
• Shared policies
• Shared buying power to save money & release more funds for Teaching & learning
ACADEMY TRUST OF MELKSHAM - PROPOSAL
ATOM
• Focused on Melksham and its villages
– Challenged and supported by people who understand our
contexts
• Earned autonomy
– School improvement will remain the responsibility of the
headteachers and local governing bodies if all is going well.
• Focus on Teaching and Learning for Schools
– Building on existing work with challenge to improve.
ACADEMY TRUST OF MELKSHAM - PROPOSAL
ATOM
The ATOM will ……
• ensure that every parent has access to a good school and
all pupils receive consistently good education.
• be built around a group of school working together to
bring about improvements in teaching and learning.
• draw upon the wealth of expertise already in existence
across its schools.
• continue to seek ways of further improving the education
offered by its schools - remaining alert and receptive to
local, national and international initiatives.
ACADEMY TRUST OF MELKSHAM - PROPOSAL
What stays the same?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The children’s teachers and staff
Our school’s name and ethos
Our school’s religious status
The existence of a local governing committee for each school
Each school would still be bound by the statutory codes for
Special Educational Needs
Admissions criteria and catchment areas
The relationships with other local schools
Pay and conditions of staff
The school day and terms
School uniform
ACADEMY TRUST OF MELKSHAM - PROPOSAL
The Proposed Governance of the ATOM
ACADEMY TRUST OF MELKSHAM - PROPOSAL
Academy Trust Governance roles
A charitable company limited by guarantee
Members
Trustees
Agree the articles which
define the charitable
purpose and how the AT
will run.
Company directors (in
Company law) and charitable
trustees in Charity law)
responsible for operation of the
Academy Trust, including:
Appoint the Members
and some Trustees and
power to remove
Trustees.
Sign off company
accounts and annual
report.
Power to amend
Articles.
Hold Board of Trustees
to account.
The 3 core functions common
to all governing bodies
Set Strategic Direction
Create Robust
Accountability
Ensuring Best Use of
Financial Resources
Ensuring compliance with
charity and company law and
Funding Agreement agreed
with Secretary of State.
Local Governors
Responsibilities delegated
from the Trustees to support
the running of the individual
academy - empowered to do
so by a “Scheme of
Delegation” and earned
autonomy.
Core focus on:
Academic performance
Local community and
stakeholders
Other delegated functions
as agreed
Reports back regularly to the
Trustees enabling them to
monitor the Academy’s
performance.
ACADEMY TRUST OF MELKSHAM - PROPOSAL
The ATOM Leadership model
The CEO reports via the
Trustee board and is
ultimately accountable
Board of Trustees
Via the Standards
Committee
Chief Executive Officer
Accounting Officer
Head of Business and
Finance
The CEO delegates the Head of
Business and Finance the
operational responsibility for
business and financial
management of ATOM
CEO Designate –
Steve Clark
Head of School
Improvement
The CEO delegates the Head of School
Improvement the operational
responsibility for leading school
improvement.
HofSI Designate –
Andrew Matthews
NOTE – all role WTE are subject to
affordability planning and
appropriate legal establishment
ACADEMY TRUST OF MELKSHAM - PROPOSAL
What are the risks?
• We are 7 schools joining together which means there may be times when
we don’t see eye to eye
– and so we may need to compromise on some aspects for the benefit of all
• There is a cost to the set-up of the Trust in both time and money
– we have secured £304k in grants from the DfE to fund this
• We are one of the first of this size, we are being innovative and so not all
the processes we need to go through have been proven
– but we get to develop them and be leaders in this field and we have secured
external advisors to help guide us
• Staff will be concerned about the changes and what it means for them
– We have bought in external experienced advisors to help to ensure the TUPE
transfer is carried out effectively and that all staff are supported
• The Trust will be a large company and we must get the governance,
leadership and sustainability model right
– We are working with experts in their field and with the DfE to ensure we
create the Trust in the right way
ACADEMY TRUST OF MELKSHAM - PROPOSAL
Feedback & Questions
If you have further questions or points of view, these can be sent to:
ATOMfeedback@yahoo.co.uk
ACADEMY TRUST OF MELKSHAM - PROPOSAL