Rebecca Boomer-Clark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThere were several other \u201cnear misses\u201d, she added, with trusts having \u201cstretched their organisational capacity and bandwidth to the limit, and sometimes took several years to return to a steady state\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2013, AET was placed on a pause list by government, meaning it could not grow for four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt would be irresponsible for us not to heed the lessons of the past,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2018, Murphy paused Oasis\u2019s growth after realising \u201cwe can\u2019t keep on doing [it]. We had lots of successes…we managed to get schools out of special measures, managed to raise results in a number of schools. But it was chaotic \u2026 because we weren\u2019t systemising what we were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He pointed to how youngsters across Oasis\u2019s schools would have a \u201ca totally different education\u201d to each other, despite being part of \u201cthe same organisation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A batch inspection of 10 of the trust\u2019s academies in 2015 had concluded a \u201clegacy of weak challenge and insufficiently systematic or rigorous improvement work\u201d had \u201cresulted in slow or little improvement for nearly half\u201d of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beware isolation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n In 2016, then Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw published a scathing letter after several such \u201cfocused inspections\u201d, naming and shaming trusts for \u201cserious weaknesses that were contributing to poor progress and outcomes for too many pupils\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul Tarn was appointed to lead one of them, the School Partnership Trust Academies (SPTA), the month before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey had schools in special measures, lots of RI schools and the finance was absolutely broken,\u201d Tarn recalled. \u201cThe trust also had a projected \u00a38.6 million in-year deficit in 2016\u201317. It was a complete and utter mess.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
East Midlands and the Humber regional schools commissioner Jennifer Bexon-Smith decided to strip the trust, since renamed Delta Academies Trust, of three \u201cisolated\u201d schools in Nottinghamshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A lesson was to not take on the odd school that is \u201cgeographically isolated\u201d from others. Doing so would be \u201csilly\u201d as they \u201cwouldn\u2019t be able to share resources \u2013 it would just be a vanity project\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Department for Education pledged two years ago to focus more on giving chains clusters of schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tarn has now set his sights on launching a \u201csouthern group\u201d, having taken on a pair of schools in Nottingham and Lincolnshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But \u201cwe think we might have a couple of others interested. We\u2019re looking for groups or clusters. If it\u2019s one school, [we look at] if it\u2019s large enough to put a cluster around it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Growing in hubs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Tom Campbell, chief executive of E-ACT, which was also named in Wilshaw\u2019s letter, said the \u201cclustering model \u2026 adds resilience and infrastructure\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After being banned from expanding back in 2014, the trust is now expected to have 10 more schools on its book by the end of this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you go back to the beginning, you\u2019d go \u2018why would you have schools in the northwest, southwest, London?\u2019\u201d he said. But he added: \u201cWe\u2019ve now been there so long that we\u2019re embedded there and building around that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In these areas, the trust has tried to add secondary provision where there is none and primaries in parts of the country where these are lacking. Campbell has looked to take on special schools \u201cwhere we\u2019ve got high needs in terms of SEND\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It ensures his trust maintains \u201coperational capacity\u201d as \u201call of that is already there\u201d, while enhancing his ability to maintain school improvement. However, he fears other CEOs with an eye on growth may not be considering these aspects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘Consider impact on operational capacity’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you look at advisory board minutes, you\u2019ll see examples of small trusts with two or three schools suddenly becoming seven or eight overnight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re thinking, \u2018Have they considered the impact on operational capacity, what their tools are around school improvement?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among those joining E-ACT is a school that acts as a feeder to the trust\u2019s only secondary in Daventry, west Northamptonshire. Campbell said the addition means \u201cwe [now] provide most of the education for the town\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is also due to subsume The Venturers Trust, an eight-school chain in Bristol, over the summer. Campbell runs six schools in the area, also used as a base for central team members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s thought through \u2013 it\u2019s not scattergun,\u201d Campbell continued. \u201cWe wanted to work where we were already working because we have the operational infrastructure there \u2026 it meant that any growth could focus on school improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Making trusts \u2018a family\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Wilshaw\u2019s letter suggested that some trusts were not providing \u201crobust oversight, challenge and support to ensure that pupils in all their academies receive a good quality of education\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Tarn and Murphy said some of their issues stemmed from schools not working and teaching in a similar manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\nJohn Murphy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhen Tarn took over SPTA he found teachers across his academies had not been able to collaborate \u201con high-quality resources and share the workload\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, they were working in \u201csmall silos\u201d. In history, there were \u201cabout 16 different specifications\u201d. To solve this, he introduced shared curriculum plans. Subject specialists were then appointed to work across the academies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday we have common assessments, gap analysis that helps children, resources that go with that and we deploy staff where we see things aren\u2019t going well. It doesn\u2019t mean everybody\u2019s doing the right thing \u2013 it means you\u2019ve got a common spine that runs through the trust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the point, Murphy brought his expansion to a halt, he realised his trust was not acting as \u201cone family\u2026 I had 52 schools doing 48 different curriculums.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To aid this, his team devised an \u201cOasis curriculum\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘Learn how to unlock capacity’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Statements of intent were drawn up and shared along with \u201cschemes of work in lesson plans\u201d. Every academy was given \u201can individual plan that was then differentiated according to that school\u2019s stage and journey\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat I was doing was going through a process of having individual academies with shared aims, shared processes and creating that sense of organisational synergy,\u201d Murphy added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Campbell noted that across his clusters of schools, in the likes of Birmingham and Bristol, he now has \u201chundreds\u201d of maths teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means the trust has \u201cto learn how to unlock that capacity, connect the best teachers, share the best practice, or accelerate school improvement\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Delta shares \u201call\u201d its \u201cdata with everyone in the trust\u201d, allowing heads to compare notes on performance. Regular network meetings are held with leaders and the trust\u2019s core team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen you put systems in place and everybody pulls in the same direction, rather than against each other,\u201d Tarn added, \u201cit\u2019s likely you\u2019ll make rapid progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sharing lessons learned<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Righting the ships has put these trusts in an ideal position to share wider lessons with others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through its Project H, AET is sharing the work because it wants to \u201ccelebrate our successes\u201d, but also \u201cbelieve in the power of learning from setbacks and embracing failure\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Campbell added it is \u201cincumbent on larger trusts to make their resources available for others\u201d. E-ACT has started to run \u201cideas conferences \u201cwhere we invite staff from outside the trust to benefit from our training, events, speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe did growth in system leadership capacity, so before we took on more schools we said \u2018are there trusts or other projects we can support?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not hiding that capacity \u2013 we\u2019re going \u2018we\u2019ve got some great stuff. It\u2019s working in our schools \u2013 would it work in yours?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As more leaders consider growth, what do we know about how to do this well?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311204,"featured_media":202147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32],"post-theme":[2884],"class_list":["post-202218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-academies","post-theme-solutions"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t
![\"Rebecca](\"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Rebecca-Boomer-Clark-400px.jpg\")
![\"John](\"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/John-Murphy-400px.jpg\")