Ethos, Mission and Accountability

The Raedwald Trust (RT) is established to deliver its core purpose devolved by parliament: the advancement of education in the public interest. Committed to the 7 Principles of Public Life (Selflessness, Integrity, Objectivity, Accountability, Openness, Honesty and Leadership), the Raedwald Trust uses compliance to drive a culture of ethics and probity. Through this approach, the Raedwald Trust is able to unleash greatness by enabling bold, imaginative and innovative learning and leadership.

Our Trust and Academy Mission and Principles

Higher Expectations; Higher Aspirations; Higher Achievement

Quality: Our Trust is relentlessly focused on improvement and driven by a curriculum led model of planning that allows our young people a new start, new opportunities to succeed.
People: Our pupils and their families are at the heart of what we do, driving inspirational bespoke learning pathways.
Innovation: We work to innovate within an ever changing society, and fulfill the needs of our individual young people. Our staff ‘think out of the box’ and instigate radical approaches to learning.
Community: Our colleagues and partners share our passion for achieving exceptional outcomes for our young people: we work together to support our young people into being productions members of the communities in which they live.

Our Key Characteristics

As a Trust, we value individuality, inclusivity and innovation: our core principles are delivered through our key characteristics. These principles form the basis of our Trust Wide planning. These are:

Enabling inspirational leadership and management
Delivering high quality learning experiences
Securing safe and energising learning environments
Empowering supportive, skilled and nurturing staff
Forging focused partnerships and collaborations benefiting pupil outcomes

The Raedwald Trust was created with the determination to improve outcomes for children and young people who are unable to access education in mainstream education settings and require personalised, bespoke, education in an alternative setting. With the needs of our pupils and their families at the centre of our planning, we use our collective knowledge in working with vulnerable learners to deliver exceptional education, every hour of every day. The Raedwald Trust understands the crucial significance of being open to ideas.

The Raedwald Trust celebrates that its improvement strategy will never be static; rather that it will deliberately and consciously evolve to meet the needs of pupils, and a relentless drive for higher standards. Transparency, flexibility and reciprocity define our systems. We know that working as a whole makes us more than the sum of our component parts.

Our intentional and coherent leadership structures secure our growth through strategic objectives rooted in organsational principles of alignment, autonomy and centralisation. All academies, schools, centres, sites and pathways within the Raedwald Trust operate within the following parameters:

Operating Parameters	Activity
Trust-wide and Academy Centralisation	Vision; Purpose; Principles. Strategic & Trust Growth Planning; Digital Platforms; HR; Finance; Safeguarding; School Improvement; Pupil Admissions; Pedagogy
Trust-wide and Academy Alignment	Curriculum; Assessment; PR; External Provision & Transition; External Partnerships; Standard Operating Principles
Trust-wide and Academy Autonomy	The Raedwald Trust is committed to principles securing collaborative convergence. As such, the Raedwald Trust delivers any necessary academy autonomies through its Head Teachers Executive Group

The Raedwald Trust wider leadership and governance structures provide;

Proactive anticipation and mitigation of Trust ‘break points’, such as scaling up and performance accountability, through effective directional change management systems at Trust level.
A coherent, compelling framework for academy improvement.

The Improvement Strategy: 2019-2020

Our Trust Improvement Strategy sets key focus areas for the Raedwald Trust. We recognise that whilst our academies enjoy a long history of delivering exceptional provision, as a Trust, we are in the early stages of our development. We are energised by the knowledge that the methods we use to drive our improvement will develop over time. Our stability is our unshakable commitment to the achievement of equality of opportunity and exceptional outcomes for our learners. The Raedwald Trust is relentless in its mission for excellence.

1.Enabling inspirational leadership and management

What we will do	How we will do it	Why it is important
1.1 Deliver a trust improvement system providing a strong growth platform for inspirational leadership at all levels and across all academies	Design commit to rigorous self-evaluation metrics framing our deliberate forward direction Create a transparent system for trust wide information sharing allowing governing bodies and trustees accurate insights into our performance	Evidence based practice will allow us to make validated judgments about the quality of our provision; judgments on which improvement plans can be built and high impact provision delivered. Our internal metrics and commitment to commissioning external ‘fierce friendships’ ensure robust conversations define our future
1.2 Create a culture of determined leadership across the trust, rooted in growth and possibility.	Calibrate lines of responsibility and accountability for all colleagues, matched to trust and academy priorities, tracked though performance management and appraisal systems Deploy leaders to undertake robust internal support and challenge reviews, in each setting, against agreed metrics Proactively seek relationships with external partners committed to reciprocal school improvement	By connecting with internal and external partners, greater opportunity for collaborative convergence is achieved, stimulating creativity and innovation. Our systems will ensure our development is cohesive and connected.
1.3 Design and implement a trust wide Governance Plan aimed at advancing governance capacity to hold leaders and academies to account	Develop, deliver and monitor high impact governance improvement plans Evaluate trust wide scheme of delegation ensuring internal structures support trust development	We recognise the crucial importance of governance operating through clear and straightforward accountability systems. We know that strong governance ensures our self-improving systems have impact.
1.4 Review accountability structures to ensure spending decisions always impact learner outcomes	Deliver a curriculum led staffing plan for each academy, securing economic, efficient and effective teams support learner outcomes Equip the Trust central team with the skills and experience necessary to deliver economic, efficient and impactful learning across our academies	As public servants we understand the crucial obligation we have to ensure we deliver excellent education, in the public interest. Through robust reviews of our spending patterns, we will secure our capacity to offer value for money across our organisation.
1.5 Create a framework of Trust and Academy policies and procedures that meet statutory requirements, take account of local contexts, and support ethical accountability measures	Design first class operating policies across the trust, reflecting practice and offering strong platforms from which exceptional learning experiences can grow	We understanding that policy frames our organisational parameters and ensures we operate faithful to our core purpose. At the Raedwald Trust, policy and procedure interprets our ethics.
1.6 Maximise opportunities offered by investment in digital capability to increase effective, agile, working practices across the trust.	Commission expertise to design and implement an innovative digital strategy delivering opportunity for efficient and effective growth Evaluate and review digital hardware across the trust, ensuring all Raedwald Trust environments have the equipment necessary to deliver exceptional pupil outcomes	At the Raedwald Trust we embrace technological advancement in both our business and learning environments because we understand the digital world stimulates and drives innovation and advancement

2. Delivering high quality training

What we will do	How we will do it	Why it is important
2.1 Implement an ambitious programme of exceptional learning for all learners through focused, challenging, pupil target setting	Commission a rigorous external review of learning across the Trust, providing opportunity for robust and aspirational forward planning Embed Thrive across all of our academies as a tool ensuring all of our bespoke pathways are matched to a robust understanding of need Focus the work of our centralised team on securing and supporting Pedagogical Principles and operating standards across all of our lessons Deliver Trust wide participation in enquiry based learning further promoting the principles of active learning	Our first commitment is to our pupils and we take this commitment very seriously for each and every one of our learners. We know that we can only deliver on our commitment when personalise learning plans offering careful, bespoke, challenge across a wide spectrum of foci
2.2 Assure all pupils of a wide curriculum offer built on prior experience, future aspiration and an unfaltering faith in the transformative impact of exceptional education	Deliver The Raedwald Pledge for all learners in our organisation, offering opportunity for student leadership, character education and challenge Pilot a programme of Learning Outside the Curriculum designed to inform an ambitious plan to open new pathways and plans Build internal strength and curriculum alignment to support the flexible deployment of colleagues, immediately able to respond to arising pupil need Maximise the capabilities of technology to support innovative, inclusive, learning opportunities	Our learners require that we offer highly personalised education, transforming their life chances. Often, our learner’s prior education experiences have not been good; often they are challenged by seemingly insurmountable daily difficulty. It is our duty, as public servants, to work together to ensure our learners are able to grow into healthy, happy, and productive members of our communities.

3. Securing safe and energising learning environments

What we will do	How we will do it	Why it is important
3.1 Institutionalise exemplary, standardised, safeguarding practices, compliant with statutory requirement and mutually strengthening procedures within and beyond the trust	Design and deliver a set of internal metrics evaluating safeguarding practices across the trust Commission an external review of safeguarding in all establishments, schools, sites and pathways across trust Through the RT Safeguarding Group, work with a national leader in safeguarding to strengthen safeguarding practices across the trust	It is vital we keep our pupils safe. It is both our duty and moral obligation to work within a system that allows us to do just that, and that we continually seek our new ways to improve.
3.2 Establish a culture of learning by changing the way we work as a of our scrutiny of front line experience	Design and implement a programme of ‘near misses’ and ‘data breaches’ through which leaders learn from prior experiences
3.3 Work with our partners in social care, health and education, to secure our young people’s access to the support they require, at the time they require it	Create an internal data base of existing student support partnerships in order that all pupils can benefit from strong relationships Develop links with new partners through leader engagement with local networks, proactively seeking new opportunities for collaboration
3.4 Offer the maximum time of learning to all learners and, where a part time timetable is necessary, ensure we are doing all we can to increasing contact hours	Review any pupil on a part time timetable every three weeks as a minimum Ensure each pupil has a full time offer of education Work with Local Authority officers and other professionals to ensure all stakeholders are focused on full time school attendance

4. Empowering supportive, skilled and nurturing staff

What we will do	How we will do it	Why it is important
4.1 Grow a culture of candid conversations, through openness and transparent feedback, promoting ethical accountability	Ensure all staff have opportunity for regular 1-1 professional supervision with line managers focused on professional development and growth Institutionalise a twice yearly HEG Feedback day for all staff to provide solution focused Calendar an annual CEO feedback programme of events aimed at eliciting staff perception and view	We understand that every action and system has unintended consequences that must be understood and offer opportunity for future learning. By operating in a culture of openness, we are better able to deliver exceptional education for our pupils
4.2 Invest in colleagues across the trust through a system of development coaching to ensure we recruit and retain exceptional colleagues	Introduce a trust wide coaching programme, through the careful matching of annual coaching partnerships Establish external coaching relationships for all trust leaders Develop and publish the ‘Raedwald Trust’ package committing to the development of all staff who work for us Pilot opportunities for staff to undertake and publish practitioner research aimed at strengthening our understanding of ‘what works’	By defining individual growth, and partnering with colleagues, our staff are able to elevate clearly identified practices through a mutually supportive determination for trust wide improvement.
4.3 Uphold the 7 Nolan principles of public service through a shared commitment to values based process and practice	Publish the Principles at each leadership and governance meeting Renew recruitment and induction packs, ensuring high profile focus on the 7 Principles Review all RT Policy and Key Documents to ensure the principles are being applied across the trust.	Our core function, mandated from parliament, is to advance education for young people, in the public interest. The Nolan principles are the test against which all of our activity is assessed

5. Forging focused partnerships and collaborations benefiting pupil outcomes

What we will achieve	How we will do it	Why it is important
5.1 All stakeholders (including pupils and parents and carers) have a strong voice in influencing the work of the schools	Establish a ‘friends of’ group and annual participation event Publish annual Trust priorities and ambitions focusing the participation of stakeholders Host the first Raedwald Annual Conference focused on Inclusion and Collaboration	As part of a wider community, the Raedwald Trust has a fundamental obligation to actively participate with stakeholders and investors to ensure it can deliver on its commitment to young people. As an organisation with specific skills and knowledge, the Raedwald Trust is able to be of mutual benefit to partners working to secure excellent learner outcomes.
5.2 To improve opportunities for learning about enterprise and employability in order to better prepare pupils for post 16 transitions	Set robust terms of reference for our External Provision Group so as to set a gold standard across the trust Work with local business and enterprise to develop meaningful learning opportunities for our learners
5.3 Strengthen opportunities to learn from ‘pupil voice’ and influence	Systematically gather feedback from pupils across the site, evaluating development opportunities from key points raised Set up a Raedwald Trust Young Persons Committee securing the influence of learners on organisational operation and strategy Gain accreditation from Investors in Pupils in all of our academies
5.4 We will learn from best practice, research and enquiry from other settings, schools and education systems in the UK and other countries.	Actively participate with national bodies such as HOPE; NAHE; PRUsAP and regional education networks Encourage all trust leaders to serve as school governors Develop links with the national programme supporting students with medical needs Seek out a formal professional partnership with local universities and education training providers

Raedwald Trust Evaluation Metrics and Key Performance Indicators

The Raedwald Trust actively embraces way to measure impact. Through succinct, shared, internal metrics and performance indicators described below, we are able to challenge, support, grow and deliver on our pledge to be exceptional, every hour of every day. Our Trust Metrics and Key Performance Indicators are internally interrogated by our leadership structures and externally verified by commissioned scrutineers. These ‘fierce friends’ to quality assure our work at academy and trust level. Our reports are RAG rated by the HEG and reported to Trustees and they provide crucial insights allowing leadership to be held to account. Our 2018-2019 external focus ares are:

Teaching, Learning and Assessment – annual external review (academy level)
Health & Safety audit – annual external review (Trust and academy level)
Safeguarding – annual external review (academy level)
General Data Protection – annual external review (Trust and academy level)
Digital Health – annual external review (Trust and academy level)
Leadership & Management – annual external review of agreed focused area (Trust and governance level)

For further information about any of our metrics or external audits, please contact us by email at lleeder@raedwaldtrust.org

For full details of Raedwald Trust Board of Trustees, Local Governing Bodies and associated information, please click here.

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