Trust Wide Improvement

Anglian Learning’s aim is for our young people to learn that success can be measured not just through individual performance but also in how we work with and care for others around us.

Achieving this vision requires having academies of exceptional quality – great academies – with leadership at all levels committed to excellence for all and rooted in our core values of aspiration, community, empowerment and inclusion.

Our Approach to Academy Improvement

The following core principles guide our approach to developing our academies:

• We believe that all academies can improve, and context is no barrier to high levels of achievement. We are aspirational for all.
• Respect is required at all levels; processes are about clarity, not control.
• Sustained improvement takes time and can be difficult and messy. Keep it simple but rigorous.
• Academies transform sequentially and in phases, and where strong leaders are empowered to own the improvement journey.
• As academies transform, they should move from capacity takers to capacity givers, leading transformation in the Trust and beyond. No academy can be considered great if another academy in the Trust or locality is struggling.
• Academies work to support each other, as part of our commitment to developing the community of academies. Knowledge, understanding and skill of leaders are shared for the benefit of all.
• Improvement and development can be observed in inspection outcomes but our definition of excellence is broader, more ambitious and more inclusive of what constitutes truly outstanding provision.
• While achievement and progress metrics are key indicators, they do not capture all of the elements that demonstrate improvement nor, more generally, what it is that constitutes a great academy.

How do we improve and develop our academies?

Academy Improvement Visits

Academy leaders are supported and challenged by the central leadership team through a series of Academy Improvement Visits to develop their planning and evaluation processes, using the Trust blueprints which have been collectively agreed. A rolling record of activity and feedback is shared between the central team, academy leaders and governors, together with a dashboard for collecting and sharing a wide range of data, with Anglian Learning and national benchmarks. The goal is to identify areas of improvement, practice worthy of sharing and to hold leadership to account for the work of the school. In addition, audits are also undertaken in safeguarding, health and safety and other core statutory requirements to identify best practice and to ensure we are meeting our duties.

Trust Blueprints, Frameworks and Standards

Development towards the blueprints is led by our strategic groups, improvement networks and trust system leaders. Where academies need significant development to meet key elements of the blueprints, they will be supported through an Academy Transformation Plan.

Blueprint Enquiry Programme:

Headteachers, deputy headteachers, subject leaders, SENCos and designated safeguarding leads are trained to provide support and challenge visits as part of a calendared programme. They explore key developments, building knowledge of areas of strength and furthering a shared understanding of the blueprints.

Professional Learning

Central and academy leadership takes a long-term view of school improvement. They prioritise the development of a professional learning and training culture and systems that build the expertise and capacity of all staff, to inform decision-making, improve practice, and support career progression.

Academy colleagues participate in Anglian Learning’s distributed and collaborative leadership structures, particularly strategic groups and improvement networks, to build collective expertise, design and deliver professional learning, and evaluate provision.

A centrally procured and curated professional learning platform is universally accessible and meets the majority of the professional learning needs of colleagues. Academies use, design or procure professional learning opportunities that meet the particular development priorities of the school, its teams and individuals. These programmes will draw upon and integrate central materials, national and local offers and bespoke Anglian Learning programmes supplementing these as needed.