The guidance provides a selected overview of the evidence of the impact of the pandemic on children’s education. We provide a map of the different funding streams and the grant conditions associated with them. Finally, we offer a strategic approach to planning over a three-year period.
Updated April 2022.

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.

In this paper, we explore the potential cost pressures affecting Trusts across the next three years, when set against likely funding increases, and seek to identify the pinch points.
Information is correct as of March 2022.

This document is for chief executives, those aspiring to the role, and trust boards. It aims to underpin key aspects of leadership development and governance by offering a framework to inform executive performance review, executive development, organisation design, and recruitment.

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.

This summary provides an overview of CST's proposals on intelligent regulation for school trusts.

We believe school trusts are well set up to play a civic role – particularly the larger trusts who may be quite large employers in an area and will have the capability and capacity to act with other civic partners. But even smaller trusts can all play a role – as many already do – as good civic partners to their local authority to advance education as a public good in their community.

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 sector-led paper from CST sets out a direction of travel and calls for all political parties work to together with the sector to agree a long-term plan for education, to complete the reform journey which has its origins with the Labour administration at the turn of the century and has continued through the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition and successive Conservative governments.

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.

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.

The paper explores ways in which the outcome of the SEND Review and Green Paper consultation could shift the way society thinks about people with learning disability by avoiding deficit language, that suggests people with learning disability are somehow incomplete or worth less, and makes the case for a more ambitious vision of what a good life is - placing greater value on difference, common values, the process of learning and more, to provide a healthy balance to meritocratic values of academics, occupation, and wealth.

Trusts have become a central part of the English education system, providing the core of school-to-school support, improvement and governance. This means that it is increasingly important for us to know what high quality looks like in a trust. In this paper we have reviewed the evidence from four countries: England, the US, the Netherlands and Sweden. The latter three countries were chosen as they have somewhat similar (though by no means identical) systems. This literature review draws on a search conducted using several evidence bases, websites of government agencies, and a general google search. We also drew on the references to other studies in those sources.

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.

Ahead of further strike action, Platinum Partner Browne Jacobson has provided an update on industrial action.

Presentation slides from a special CST member meeting on 7th June 2023 on the implementation of the ‘Coasting Regulations'.

Vicky Beer CBE, Regional Director and Regions Group lead on intervention shared an update as the end of the first phase of implementation approaches, and how the Department is responding to feedback from the sector.

In this paper, we look back over the last ten years since the 2010 Academies Act to see what we can learn about policymaking with hindsight. It builds on the narrative of our prior publications, and in particular our overarching policy document, our sector-led white paper on the future shape of the education system in England

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.

In January 2023 CST published a discussion paper, ‘Navigating uncertainty: a future direction for Ofsted’. We set out some key concepts that inspection must navigate, including autonomy and control, validity and reliability, and inference and consistency. In this paper we build on this initial conceptual framing to offer some policy ideas which might be considered in relation to inspection. Again, these are offered as a stimulus for discussion at this stage rather than being firm CST positions.

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.

School trusts are facing substantial unplanned and unfunded costs. Analysis of budget information and survey data by CST has found that, without further financial support, more than half of trusts could be in deficit by 2024/5 with the remainder down to worryingly low reserves.

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.

In this short paper, part of the CST ‘A Bridge to the Future’ series, we offer a view of school improvement as deliberate and intentional knowledge building.

There is a strong case for trust leaders to prioritise high quality teacher learning as a mechanism for school improvement. To do so, leaders require an understanding of the barriers to teacher learning and how to overcome them. This paper by Steplab's founder Josh Goodrich and strategic director Claire Hill examines how this can be achieved.

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.

This document is the final report of Ethical Leadership Commission, to which CST contributed alongside other leading education organisations and thinkers. The Commission was set up in 2017 to help school and college leaders consider the ethical foundation of their work, and to offer guidance for our colleagues at a time of great change and unprecedented pressure in education.

In this 'A Bridge to the Future' series paper, Dixons Academies Trust's Funmilola Stewart and Jenny Thompson argue that while the application and delivery of powerful knowledge within schools is recognised as a tool for social justice, for this to be truly consequential our focus must shift from a broad consideration of the disparities between the elite and the disadvantaged, and towards an acknowledgement of the intersectionality underpinning social disadvantage.

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

This paper, part of the 'Bridge to the Future' series, emphasises the importance of teaching, evidence and professional development in improving schools. It considers the ways in which school trusts can work to overcome some of the challenges associated with the design and implementation of high-quality professional development through leveraging their capacity (scale and expertise) alongside their ability to control the conditions and culture in which teachers work and professional development takes place.

‘Rising Strong’ is a series of essays from CST members. This attempts to celebrate the leadership response to COVID-19 and CST’s warmest thanks to the colleagues who approached us about creating a record of our responses: Dawn Haywood, John Camp, Rebekah Iiyambo, Stephen Chamberlain and Sharon Gray. This artefact is a contribution to recording and remembering what we have done.

The leadership of a group of schools working together as a single legal entity and under a single governance structure is a new field of inquiry. This paper in our Bridge To The Future series makes the case for new domains of educational leadership emerging from this field.

This paper, part of our 'Bridge to the Future' series, sets out the vital role of trusts as employers and how to build sustainable people strategies in our sector. It argues that policy makers need to engage more with trusts as employers and better connect with the HR profession. The paper argues firmly that trusts themselves are the key enablers of quality people management in our sector and will play a vital role in building a sustainable education workforce.

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.

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.

A presentation for CST members about the Department for Education's commissioning guidance.

The NASUWT has now provided instructions to their members regarding participation in industrial action this autumn. Guidance for trusts on what to expect and how to manage is provided explored in this updated produced by CST Platinum Partner, Browne Jacobson.

The third and final part of our guidance series on executive performance review, produced in association with our Platinum Partners Bluesky Education and Browne Jacobson.

For the second year running, the Confederation of School Trusts has partnered with Edurio to conduct the National School Trust Survey. 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 guidance offers a process or framework for auditing organisational culture. It is designed to meet the requirement in the Competency Framework for Governance in relation to the responsibility of the trust board to determine, embed and monitor the culture, values and ethos of an organisation. It will help trust boards to answer the question: how do you know?

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.
The new September 2023 version can be either completed electronically or printed out.

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.

This guidance, in partnership with Stone King LLP, sets out the strategic and operational considerations around trust growth for the trustees and executive leaders, with particular focus on how trusts can grow through academy conversion and academy transfers.

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

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 2023.

A summary report of headline findings and a supplementary report on benefits packages for executive leaders in school trusts.

Public policy making, especially in modern times, places a premium on consultation and engagement with the sector or profession or area of the public and private realm which the government department is charged with overseeing. This is both for theoretical reasons – because much of what government does is effectively done by consent and there is prima facie need for some element of collaborative discussion – and also because on a practical basis, much of the information which government requires in order to conduct policymaking is held by the wider environment. Governments need to understand what the scale is of the issue they are addressing; the impact of what they are proposing to do or stop doing; and to hear views as to the achievability and feasibility of proposals.

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

The performance review of the chief executive or executive leader of a school trust is one of a trust board’s most significant responsibilities. It is key to the board’s leadership of strategy and values, its accountability for educational outcomes and financial health, and supports the development and well-being of the trust’s most senior employee. School trusts have the freedom to define their own appraisal process for chief executives in line with their trust’s ethos and values and approach to performance management.

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.

CST's discussion paper on encouraging diversity of staff working in the education sector.