A strong school’s journey to joining a school trust

Joining a trust has allowed us to witness in depth the high-quality practice in areas that haven't been our recent focus.

Jim Johnson, Executive Leader, Learning in Harmony Trust, Gary Wilkie, CEO, Learning in Harmony Trust

The school’s perspective - Jim Johnson, Headteacher, Edwards Hall Primary School

As Headteacher at Edwards Hall Primary School in Southend-on-Sea, it is my responsibility to ensure each and every pupil is best supported to develop their individual skillsets and thrive in their education. To achieve this, when making big decisions such as joining a Trust, I have to take all factors into account that may contribute to a child’s ability to flourish.

While we already had a strong track record of making this happen, we wanted to join a Trust so we would be supported to build on our success and ensure we are maximising the positive impact we are having on our pupils and our local community.

It was vital to our vision to establish a meaningful Trust partnership that would work to enhance the learning provision and opportunities available to our pupils and staff. We had already worked with colleagues from the Learning in Harmony Trust since the start of Covid-19, as their leaders in the Southend area supported schools and the wider community across the region with their response to the pandemic challenges. The Trust made a noticeable effort to support local schools by providing us with clear advice when guidance was ever changing, even though it offered no particular benefit to the Trust. By default, the Trust chose generosity, a value which is central to our own approach.

Their professional generosity demonstrated the Trust’s vision and ethos in action, so the appeal of joining their Trust was evident. We had benefited greatly during Covid-19 without being in the Trust – we were confident that support would only be exponentially increased in countless ways if we were part of their family, so we reached out to them.

Before making the decision to join, we met with Trust leaders to ensure their vision and values aligned with those of Edwards Hall. We were reassured by their enthusiasm around innovative thinking, their fresh approach to learning and the encouragement of innovation.

Following this initial meeting, we collaborated to set up meetings between the staff at Edwards Hall and staff from other schools within the Trust. During this process, we gained invaluable insight into the inner workings of the Trust and built a strong partnership between the Trust and Edwards Hall, which later made the transition to officially being a part of the Trust run a lot more smoothly.

We were able to see the Trust clearly demonstrate that they live and breathe the values we share. This helped showcase to our staff the benefits of being able to share expertise, brainstorm and work together as a Trust to overcome challenges.

As the partnership laid the groundwork, we did not face significant hurdles when going through the process of joining the Trust. However, it was crucial to demonstrate to our parents, governors and staff that the decision would bring tangible value to the school.

Many of our well-respected staff members were integral in this mission, as they confidently supported the idea and were champions for the decision. They could see the benefit of the more informal partnership we had developed, working side-by-side with Trust colleagues for an extended period to ensure we were on the same page and would add value in both directions. This set us up for a strong start to officially working together.

In moving forward with the transition, some stakeholders expressed fears about the loss of autonomy for the school. However, they were reassured that as much of the admin and back-office functions would be provided by the Trust, the school would be freed up to focus on the number one priority of education.

Importantly, if the values within an individual academy align very well with those of the wider Trust, it should really not matter who makes various decisions - the same decision would be made by anyone if everyone is following the same roadmap and viewing decisions through the same lens of vision, values, ethos and culture.

The Trust also worked hard to lend any extra support we would need during the transition in order to lessen the stress of it all. As a school, we were well supported throughout the entire conversion and transitioning process thanks to the support from the Trust. It was clear what was needed from us, we were given generous flexibility on timelines, and from the beginning we were treated as fully-fledged members of the Trust even before we officially joined. For all intents and purposes, we were part of the Trust long before the papers were signed.

The Trust’s perspective - Gary Wilkie, CEO of Learning in Harmony Trust

Bringing Edwards Hall Primary School into the Trust has been immensely valuable for us as Trust – the high-quality practice and expertise within the school adds great capacity and experience across our Trust. We recognised throughout the process that the school would bring highly effective school improvement strategies we could all learn from and adapt into how we support all our schools.

As CEO, it has also been really satisfying to see how we as a Trust can bring added benefit to an already well-run and high-performing school. Many of the schools which have joined us previously were at a very different point in their school improvement journey when they joined us. With this very different experience, it was rapidly evident just how quickly we could hit the ground running to go from strength to strength. It has been inspiring to be reminded that great schools are always restless and striving for greater heights of achievement. Since the start of our partnership, we have been excited by the chance to support Edwards Hall to be even better, which has in turn provided us with a glowing model for future growth for many of our other schools.

Looking forward - Jim Johnson, Headteacher, Edwards Hall Primary School

Our school is looking forward to continuing to build on our success through the support of Learning in Harmony Trust.

Joining the Trust has allowed us to witness in depth the high-quality practice in areas that haven't been our recent focus. Our leaders, for example, have benefited enormously from the Evolve Leadership programme, facilitated by the Trust, which has helped our leaders to be more conscious of their strengths and allowed us to become an integral part of the shared language of leadership development that exists within the Trust.

It was evident from the very beginning that this Trust would be a great fit for our school and that it would be a two-way partnership. We know there are many more opportunities that await our school and the wider Trust thanks to the way we work together. For example, we are working closely with Trust leaders to further develop our curriculum to the highest standard, ensuring that it elevates the learning experience of each pupil. We will also continue to engage our staff in professional development, giving our aspiring leaders more opportunities to refine their skills within the Trust through bespoke CPD.

Our plan for taking our school to the next level would not have been possible without the support and resources of the Trust. It is invaluable to be able to draw upon the Trust’s deep expertise and we in turn are proud of how we have been able to share our expertise with our new colleagues.
 

The CST Blog welcomes perspectives from a diverse range of guest contributors. The opinions expressed in blogs are the views of the author(s), and should not be read as CST guidance or CST’s position.

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