Schools

Our Multi-Academy Trust is an organisation in which children, staff and parents should feel part of a caring, collaborative and excellent community. We respect and value the individual nature and ethos of our schools while believing we are more effective when we work together and support each other.

We believe that successful schools are rooted in their local community. We aim to celebrate spiritual and creative diversity, success, and lifelong learning. We are inclusive and collaborative and promote a culture of openness and integrity.

Since the creation of the Athelstan Trust in March 2015 we have had a clear strategic aim to grow the Trust in a cautious and considered way within our geographical area of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire. We believe that considered growth will ensure the financial strength of the Trust and strengthen our capacity to provide high quality education for all our students. In the period that the Trust has been in existence it has grown from 1 to 7 schools with student numbers increasing from 1276 to 4500 students.

As stated in our previous growth strategy, we aim to grow within our geographical area (approximately I hour travel from the Trust office in Tetbury). In line with this it was agreed by the Trustees in October 2020 that we grow to 7 schools with Chipping Sodbury School joining the Trust in April 2021, Leighterton Primary School joining in April 2023 followed by Avening Primary School in September 2023.

On 2^nd December 2021 the Athelstan Trust Trustees approved the adoption of Church minority articles if a Voluntary Controlled School was to join the Trust. In November 2023 they further agreed to move to equality articles. We have had positive discussions with the local diocese and several local church primary schools and are in discussions with schools that have expressed an interest in working with us.

In the autumn of 2021 we commissioned an external, independent CST review of our Trust governance and School Improvement. This review found that:

• There is strong and coherent leadership and governance from the Chair and CEO, all stakeholders have a high level of trust and confidence in their leadership  
• There is a clear vision and strong culture of care and collaboration across the Trust 
• Financial controls and processes are strong, and risk is well managed 
• Governance procedures and processes overall are well managed and delivered across the Trust. 
• The governance of Trust policy and statutory information is a real strength 

Ofsted Inspection teams have recognised the value that the Trust adds to our schools as evidenced in these brief extracts from inspection reports.

Bradon Forest 2016 (Good)

“The school benefits from being part of the Athelstan Trust, which has provided it with effective support and challenge that have improved leadership and teaching.”

Chipping Sodbury School January 2020 (RI)

“The Athelstan MAT has supported governors and the English department.”

The Dean Academy 2017 (RI)
“The trust provides expertise and support to oversee personnel and finance issues.”

“The school continues to receive extensive, high-quality support directly from, and arranged by, The Athelstan Trust. This support is targeted extremely effectively on the key areas for improvement and has strengthened subject and other middle leadership. This has been effective in sustaining improvements in the quality of teaching. The trust’s chief executive and the executive headteacher have supported the head of the school and other senior leaders exceptionally well so that they, as a team and individually, have the confidence and skills to rapidly improve the school further.”

Bradon Forest March 2023 (Good)

“The school is well supported by the trust.”

Bradon Forest Nov 2021 (Good)

“Trust leaders have supported the school well to manage the challenges posed by COVID-19.”

“Trust leaders have recently undertaken a review of the provision for pupils with SEND and have given clear guidance for staff to improve the support provided.”

Chipping Sodbury School November 2022 (Good)

“There has been a significant strengthening of the effectiveness of governance. Members of the local governing body, trustees and trust leaders now apply greater challenge and hold leaders to account. The trust has provided a range of effective training opportunities for governors and the wider staff body. The impact of these can be seen in policies and practices across the school.”

Chipping Sodbury School November 2022 (Good)

“There has been a significant strengthening of the effectiveness of governance. Members of the local governing body, trustees and trust leaders now apply greater challenge and hold leaders to account. The trust has provided a range of effective training opportunities for governors and the wider staff body. The impact of these can be seen in policies and practices across the school.”

The Dean Academy 2021 (Good)

“Since the last inspection, the multi-academy trust has acted to strengthen the leadership of different curriculum subjects. As a result, leaders provide a well-organised curriculum in most subjects. This helps pupils to gain knowledge”.

“This is a school where pupils thrive.”

We have taken the strategic decision to build our central team to ensure that we have the capacity to provide strong effective and efficient central services to all our existing schools and any potential partners.

• We have a highly effective central finance team and a healthy, appropriate level of financial reserves.
• As a Trust of 7 schools, we now access direct capital funding. There is a programme of just under £1 million of capital works underway or planned this year.
• We have an experienced effective COO managing the site and compliance across the whole trust. We have a shared resources of site managers working across our schools.
• We have a very strong central IT network team and are in the process of moving towards a central tenancy and mesh network that has the capacity to add new schools and provide a robust high quality IT platform.
• We have a central HR lead and HR staff in each school.
• We employ a highly skilled Trust Governance Professional with experience working with primary and secondary schools.
• We have a team of centrally employed School Improvement Leads, all experienced SLEs, working across the Trust to support each school’s development plan priorities. Through this team we deliver a central Trust CPD programme. We are working with our primary school senior staff to deliver primary specific training and to offer training that is relevant cross phase.
• We make very extensive and effective use of the National College online training which covers all phases.
• We employ a highly experienced Primary School Improvement Partner to support our primary schools and work with our in-house SI team. We provide six SIA visits per year in addition to the visits from the CEO, COO and our School Improvement Leads.
• We have experienced Primary school finance staff in the central team and a new CFO who has experience in a Trust with both primary and secondary schools.
• We employ an external expert for regular safeguarding audits in each of our schools.

Growth is not just about numbers of schools, and we remain committed to growing our student numbers in each school in the Trust and developing shared post 16 provision for Bradon Forest, Malmesbury and Sir William Romney’s School.

In line with the Schools Bill 2022 we believe that we meet the criteria as a ‘Strong Trust’

High Quality and Inclusive Education

We deliver a high-quality education across our academies, including for disadvantaged children and children with SEND. We recognise the existence of an on-going gap in outcomes and reducing this gap is a key priority for the Trust. We operate fair access, are fully inclusive and comprehensive in our admissions. The Trust has an effective central leadership team, strong school leadership and teaching, and a well-designed curriculum.

Strategic Governance

The Trust operates an effective and robust governance structure that involves schools and exemplifies ethical standards, as is evidenced by the recent external review of governance. We utilise the expertise and skills of the board to oversee the strategic direction of the Trust effectively and hold leaders to account and engage effectively with parents and the wider community. Our Vice Chair of Trustees is a National Leader of Governance, and we invest considerable time in Trustee and Governor training. In November 2023 our Trusts voted to move to equality church articles so that the trust can accommodate church primary schools. We now are in the process of expanding our Trust board and have an excellent field of candidates we are considering.  We have strong Local Governing Bodies and a clear scheme of delegation.

School Improvement

There is clear evidence that we work quickly to improve standards within all our schools; transforming previously under performing schools, and maintaining appropriately performing schools.

The Dean Academy (The sponsored school in the Trust)

• • Moved from Special Measures to Good in October 2021

Chipping Sodbury School

• • Joined the Trust as triple RI school in April 2021
  • Graded Good in November 2022

Sir William Romney’s School

• • Joined the Trust as a Good school
  • Has not been inspected since

Malmesbury School

• • Was judged to be outstanding in 2012
  • Has not been inspected since

Bradon Forest School

• • Joined the Trust as a triple RI school
  • Became Good in 2016
  • Remained Good in November 2021
  • Graded Good again in 2023.

Financial Management

The Trust is underpinned by strong and effective financial management, prioritising the use of resources, including the estate, to deliver the best educational experience for children. We maintain sufficient trust reserves and have invested in increased staffing in all Trust schools in areas identified as key priorities by the trustees; Senior Leadership, SEND, Parental engagement, counselling and pastoral support. We have invested significantly in IT infrastructure and in capital projects.

Workforce

The Trust is the Southwest Flexible Working Ambassador and works with schools and Trusts across the region to support recruiting and retaining staff. We enjoy an excellent reputation as a flexible, supportive employer. The Trust trains, recruits, develops, deploys and retains great teachers and leaders throughout their careers. We work closely with the Odyssey Teaching School Hub in Initial Teacher Training and the Early Career Framework, supporting staff development by using National Professional Qualifications. We will be working with Bath Spa University as an ITT hub from September 2024. We have previously delivered the NPQEL in the Southwest as part of the ASCL consortium. We deploy the best staff in the schools where they are needed most through a programme of secondments, have prioritised staff wellbeing through investment in an Employee Assistance Programme package and employ an external HR provider for high level support. We consequently enjoy very good workforce relations.