Education Today Education Today Magazine
Achievement for All Education Trust, a not for profit organisation, has been granted Sponsor and Multi Academy Trust status by the Department for Education and will be forming a Multi Academy Trust (MAT). Launching in April 2018, membership of the Multi-Academy Trust will build organically over the following 12 months to include further academies.
Park House School in Newbury has been identified as the Lead School within the South-Central Hub – the first of three potential regional partnership clusters.
Speaking about the Trust and its aspirations, CEO, Professor Sonia Blandford, said: “Over the past two years, Park House School and Achievement for All have been working closely with the Department for Education to design a Multi Academy Trust that puts children and young people at the centre of everything we do.
“The Achievement for All Education Trust will transform lives through improved educational opportunities and outcomes for all children and young people. Our aim is to provide a quality, inclusive education for all pupils of all abilities, including those experiencing challenges, needs or disadvantage, resulting in happy, engaged, motivated learners and staff.
“We want our schools to retain their local identity and autonomy with enhanced capacity to support continuous improvement and opportunities for development within each of the three Hubs. We will do this by creating a family of schools that share common values, champion inclusion and success for all and focus on the ambitions of their students above all else.”
Park House School Headteacher and South-Central Hub Leader, Derek Peaple, said: “The Trust will establish a strong and committed partnership of schools that provide inclusive learning for all. We will offer a breadth of educational opportunity with high expectations for all children and excellent professional learning and development for all staff. We will focus on the further development of high quality teaching and learning and engagement with parents,carers and the wider community. This will enable us to amplify existing school strengths as well as identifying and supporting new opportunities that will lead to outstanding outcomes for all.”
Working in partnership with established school partners with a successful track record in using Achievement for All programmes to support student progress and whole school improvement, the Trust’s activities will be informed by a deep-rooted mission and set of aims that will drive school improvement, develop professionals, improve outcomes for children and young people as well as enhancing inclusion and social mobility.
Achievement for All is national charity that has functioned as an independent body since 2011. The charity works in close partnership with schools, early years settings and colleges as well as a wider range of professionals, including nearly 400 Achievement Coaches that are all former or current experienced teachers and school/setting leaders.
As a MAT, the AfA Education Trust (AfA ET) is unique in being able to draw from highly experienced established expert staff covering all strategic, operational, delivery and back-office functions. This capacity and experience means that the AfA ET MAT will be notable in requiring no lead-in period or set-up period. The AfA ET MAT will be sustainable from the first day of operation.
The AfA ET MAT will draw on six years’ experience of school improvement to swiftly identify the needs of new schools joining the MAT based on a tried and tested needs analysis, and will lever extensive resource and capacity to meet those needs.
