There is a recurring theme and mention of Continuous Improvement throughout this education. For ACT Multi Academy Trust, this is about striving to be the best in our field for the best interests of the children, young people and families we serve.  

We clearly recognise that continuous improvement is fundamental to our success as a business and not separate from it. To continuously improve there has to be continuous change. However, we will only change when we can clearly articulate that it is necessary.  Our core business is teaching and learning.

Effective corporate governance should enable the efficient operation of academies in the Trust. We should regularly remind ourselves that our core purpose is to deliver better outcomes for children and young people.  

Our MAT School Improvement Strategy brings clarity and coherence to our pursuit of ever improving provision. We will be relentless in our pursuit of ever improving outcomes for all pupils. Every academy in the Trust has its own self-evaluation and school improvement plan which provides detailed information of the profile of the academy and the improvement priorities which will move the academy forward.

The accepted norm for all academies in the Trust is that provision is at least Good and is constantly moving forward to be even better.  

Central services

The Trust has focused on building capacity in its central services. As school improvement support from local authorities has decreased in recent years, it has become increasingly challenging for individual schools to provide the comprehensive range of services that children and staff require. Our Trust would provide an effective means to more efficiently source these services, tailoring them to the needs of our schools.

Our central services will expand and evolve as our MAT grows and will be tailored to the needs of children and communities. Back-office services include finance including payroll, HR, strategic IT, income generation and procurement. The centralisation of these services releases the leadership teams to focus on school improvement and teaching and learning.  

Finance

Our finance team has a wealth of knowledge and experience of managing school budgets and finances in a range of schools. They will provide support and guidance to all schools within the MAT on how to manage budgets and make savings. In addition, they will oversee procurement for the trust to ensure the MAT is managing finances in the most efficient way.    

School Improvement

Our academies offer high quality support to each other, to other local schools and to the wider school community. The support for academies in the trust will be bespoke and personalised to the needs and the challenges a particular school faces; we do not believe a one size fits all model truly meets the needs of all schools. The trust aims to ensure strong and effective leadership and management through which we improve teaching and learning and raise attainment. In addition, school leaders will have access to highly experienced and qualified consultants to support academy leaders with planning, monitoring and evaluating impact. Staff at all levels will have access to high quality training to support their CPD and will be able to access network groups across the trust.