As we move towards a school system in which all schools are part of a trust, it is right that trusts and schools joining them consider the benefits and challenges of integrating groups of schools. Much of this is addressed through the vitally important due diligence processes that Trusts and schools undertake. However, this paper extends the essence of due diligence beyond the legal and business undertaking to consider what it means to integrate professional practices.

Briefing note on the Schools White Paper 2022, Opportunity for all: strong schools with great teachers for your child.

We are at an exciting point in the history of education in England where, with care and attention, we could become the best system at getting better. If this is to become a reality, we must ask difficult questions, interrogate the evidence, commission more research and put the mission to advance education for public benefit at the heart of all that we do. We offer this narrative discussion paper, summarised in this policy card, for discussion and debate.

Over the past 12 months, CST has been developing a new narrative promoting school trusts as education charities with a single legal and moral purpose – to advance education for public benefit. As part of our work on a new narrative, we have also been developing three ‘nested’ leadership narratives considering trust leadership, civic leadership, and system leadership.

This guidance is intended to support executive and governance leaders with the basics of a financial model known as integrated curriculum financial planning (ICFP). It offers an overview of the approaches but not the tools themselves.

The pandemic has had an impact on every child’s learning, and for disadvantaged pupils in particular. Research conducted by the University of Nottingham between January and September 2021 looked at how leaders in all types of school in 30 small, medium and large Trusts (many serving disadvantaged and "Red Wall” communities”) responded to the challenge of maintaining progress during a continuing period of considerable disruption.

In this pamphlet, CST chief executive Leora Cruddas CBE sets out the case for the school trust, and a trust-based system. It attempts to set out why a trust-based system might be our best bet, and explains why a group of schools working together in a school trust is so much more than simply the changing of the legal structure of the school.

Following the publication of the Academies Regulatory and Commissioning Review, Leora Cruddas CBE presented an overview of the review at a special member briefing.

With an incredible foreword written by best-selling author Matthew Syed, six academy trustees from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds share their personal and professional experiences and highlight why a diverse and inclusive board is so important. This timely collection is part of a broader programme on diversity and aims to encourage everybody in the sector to reflect.
Published in association with the New Schools Network.

This paper is intended to support such discussions by exploring key tensions and trade-offs that exist in inspection policy and practice. We think setting these out is an important first step before moving into the ‘nuts and bolts’ of what a future framework should look like. Too often calls are made for Ofsted to focus on X or to look beyond Y, but the broad paradigm – and the concerns sometimes expressed about inspection - remain the same because the issues outlined in this paper are not always properly understood. We think that exploring these tensions as a starting point creates the space to think truly differently and constructively about the future of inspection.

The Schools White Paper and SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper together bring the ‘system’ into view. Both papers offer an analysis of the education system and provide firm proposals on matters of system governance. System governance refers to the structures, mechanisms, and processes by which the organisations responsible for delivery are held to account. The White and Green Papers propose to do this largely (but not exclusively) through commissioning and regulation.

This paper sets out six questions that we should consider as part of the regulatory review.

CST considers school trusts as structures with the potential to build and mobilise knowledge pertaining to school improvement. This paper, part of CST's 'Bridge to the Future' series, seeks to extend this analysis by arguing that we need to understand school improvement as a field of practice rather than view it as a series of disconnected activities.

As part of CST's Bridge to the Future series, written in partnership with the Reach Foundation.

In this short paper, part of our 'Bridge to the Future' series, we make the case for intelligent systems of accountability built on firm principles. We explore what accountability means and why it matters in the Trust sector. We also explore what needs to be done to create more ‘intelligent’ forms of accountability.

The paper, part of CST's 'Bridge to the Future' series, makes the powerful argument that as we emerge from the pandemic that we should consider with fresh perspective the future for our Church of England schools.

CST’s first National Survey of School Trusts aims to create a unique and powerful picture of our sector. Supported by our Platinum Partner, Edurio, the report explores the progress and priorities of school trusts across England.

Thoughts on the future of the education system in England from our chief executive, Leora Cruddas CBE.

If we are going to build a school system in which schools are part of a group in a single governance and accountability structure, we need to be explicit and eloquent about what constitutes a strong trust. We offer this narrative paper for discussion and debate.

Eight years on from David Hargreaves' first think pieces on a self-improving school system, this paper, written in collaboration with Teaching Schools Council and Browne Jacobson, dives into what may be next for the future of the school system.

The Academy Trust Governance Code is a voluntary code that draws upon the Charity Governance Code and relevant Department for Education guidance.

This glossary is intended primarily to help new trustees and academy committee members with some common terms used in education. It focuses on terms relevant to academies and trusts, rather than legacy terms for maintained schools.
A downloadable version is available but we recommend using the online version for ease of use and to ensure you have the most recent information.

This short online course is an ideal introduction for anyone who would like to know more about the role of a trustee.

CST members can access a range of model policies covering staffing and school operations provided by CST Platinum Partner Stone King, along with additional guidance papers on how to create and review policies.

The Department for Education has announced a new process for approving significant changes at open academies. Updated 26 April 2024.

This free online course covers the basic knowledge trustees need in the early stages of their new role.

Process planning and delivery is the second in a series of three guidance notes on the performance review of chief executives. The series provides robust sector- and role-specific guidance on the principles and practices of executive performance review to support your trust’s process from end-to-end, whatever its size or stage of development.

This document should be read alongside the Department for Education’s guidance for maintained schools applying to join a school. It provides an overview of good practice on public engagement and consultation at each step of the process.

This rapid audit tool for trustees provides a way for trustees to self-assess their understanding, using CST’s Assurance framework for trust governance as a base. The form can be filled in electronically and saved for return to trust governance professionals, or printed out for completion on paper.

This guidance sets out the strategic and operational considerations for head teachers and governors of maintained schools considering joining a school trust.
School trusts are groups of schools that come together to form a single organisation. This guidance includes many of the questions and considerations that your governing board will need to ask when you are considering joining a trust, as well as during the due diligence process. It also sets out a high-level overview of the legal considerations and processes to be followed during the conversion process.

The scheme of delegation is a vital document within a trust. It is a document that is, and should be, bespoke to every trust in order to describe how the trust board has decided to delegate responsibilities within the organisation. These checklists have been devised to help trusts develop a clear and comprehensive scheme of delegation.

This role description draws on Department for Education guidance, the Academy Trust Governance Code, and CST frameworks sets out some of the key qualities for a good chair.

The role of a member of a school trust is one of the least well understood positions in a trust. This document sets out the key qualities of a member and their relationship with other aspects of trust governance.

The proposition of governing a school trust is fundamentally different from governing a maintained school. While there may be comparable challenges in maintained schools, problem-identification and solutions are often specific to trust governance and need a different approach.

It is crucial that trustees conduct themselves in a responsible manner, in line with their responsibilities as both charity trustees and company directors.
This model code of conduct outlines principles to follow both as individual trustees and corporately as a whole board.

This document outlines the role of a school trust governance professional and their key responsibilities.

This guidance is intended to support school trust boards with the induction of new trustees.

In February 2022, CST published an influential discussion paper asking the question, ‘What is a strong trust?’ Since then, we have engaged in a sector-wide discussion to understand how our proposed domains of organisational strength and resilience aligned with sector thinking and the emerging evidence base. This paper sets out our current policy position.

The aim of this framework is to identify trusts' most significant areas of strength and challenge, so that they can build organisational capacity. It is diagnostic, not evaluative, or judgemental.
The framework is supported by Ambition Institute, Challenge Partners, Evidence Based Education, the National Institute of Teaching, and ImpactEd.
Updated September 2024.

Recordings and slides from a member engagement briefing on 11 September 2024 looking at upcoming changes to Ofsted operations

Results from the third annual National School Trust Survey, conducted by the Confederation of School Trusts with Edurio. The survey is designed to uncover the main priorities and challenges for the sector for the upcoming academic year, as well as to provide some detail on specific approaches.

This document sets out the key qualities of a trustee of a school trust.

Risk management is the process by which risks are identified, their severity assessed and cost-effective actions are taken to address, or mitigate, them to bring them down to acceptable levels. This guidance provides a risk template for trusts as a starting point for a bespoke approach.

Board evaluation is too often viewed as a compliance activity — a mechanical process of checking off items on a list with little real value for the board. But meaningful evaluation can be transformational.

Our education system needs a clear and compelling narrative around which to build over the coming years and decades. A collective purpose, a shared vision and a uniting concept towards which we focus our time, resources, leadership, energy, expertise and wisdom.
Flourishing together: A collection vision for the education system sets out a joint vision from CST, the Church of England, and the Catholic Education Service.

This discussion paper sets out why and how trust governance can evolve to focus more on forward strategy than compliance, engaging a broader range of voices and better serving our communities.

Succession planning is critical for trust boards to ensure stability, continuity, and effective governance over time. By identifying and preparing future leaders, boards can maintain their strategic direction, preserve organisational knowledge, and avoid disruptions during leadership transitions.

This guidance has been withdrawn due to operational, funding, and policy changes since publication.

This withdrawn guidance included a code of principles for determining executive pay. We have now incorporated these principles with wider guidance to form a combined Setting executive pay guidance document.

School trusts are complex and agile organisations. The proposition of governance should therefore be a live conversation and boards should monitor and improve their performance continually. This updated toolkit outlines our 20-element assurance framework including guiding questions to consider and descriptors of what strong and weak assurance would look like in a trust at board level.
Updated September 2024.

Member briefing on 5 February 2025 looking at Ofsted consultation on a new inspection framework and DfE consultations on a revised accountability framework.

As part of ensuring a positive, reflective board culture, trust boards are encouraged to undertake regular self-evaluation, both as a corporate entity and as individual trustees. This chair of trustees 360° review tool can act as a key part of the trust board’s regular self-review activity.

This template is intended to help you produce a short guide to your trust’s governing arrangements to help new members, trustees, and local committee members. It can also be useful for other stakeholders, including parents. During Ofsted visits inspectors may find it helpful as a quick way understand your arrangements, as these vary between trusts.

The Government has published a Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, setting out a range of provisions on child protection and safeguarding, plus several changes to the legal framework for academies. This updated briefing note sets out CST's position on key provisions.

In February 2025 the Department for Education launched a consultation on school accountability principles; school profiles - a new digital service which provides information about schools; and school improvement through intervention.