Tag Archives: 570 weeks

A high-performing Trust, Inspiring lives  

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Our Next Chapter 

It is time for the next chapter in the lives of our children to be written. Across our schools and Trust, we share the privilege and responsibility of shaping what that chapter becomes. Through the power, magic and hope of education we can create storylines, plots and characters that inspire the lives of all children with greater opportunity and choice. 

Yet our world is distracting, with lots of change that tempts us to chase what is not worth having. In a world of change, we should remind ourselves that what carries the greatest value is often that which is timeless and ‘forever true’. As the next chapters are written, we should ground ourselves in why we exist and what we are good at: protecting our attention on delivering the strongest and most enabling education for all children.

Inspiring every child to flourish through an inclusive, all-through education that nurtures opportunity, equity, and agency for  life. 

To meet our mission, we will prioritise higher performance, raising standards, strengthening our belief in what is possible, and shifting our underlying identity towards that of a high-performing Trust. By focusing on what children need and where our expertise lies, we will deliver an inspiring education that enables children’s personal development and delivers strong outcomes that forge keys to unlock the doors in their future.

As we approach a new academic year, the following sections set out the priorities and actions that will guide our next chapter. 

Performance-Oriented Trust  

We are a performance-oriented Trust: we seek to provide an excellent education and secure outcomes that give our children greater self-agency as they move into adulthood. Our focus on outcomes and the best possible attainment in every stage of education is a powerful lever for greater inclusion, and places every child as the hero in their story. 

We have the capacity, expertise and high performance within our Trust to enable us to secure higher attainment in every year group and every school. We are relentless in helping those who fall behind to catch up and keep up, building greater self-belief and self-confidence. High attainment also supports strong progress, demonstrating the value and dividend that we add across the Trust. 

The Art of the Possible  

Our beliefs can limit what we see as possible. Too often, they protect us from the risks associated with striving for more.  We should engage ourselves and our teams in the art of the possible. We know that higher performance is achievable because it is already evident in several of our schools and teams. 

This year, we will continue to raise standards by believing that much more is possible, overcoming context and having the highest expectations of what all children can achieve. The strongest schools unswervingly secure high-quality provision, use assessment intelligently, invest in deliberate practice, know the rules and are brave enough to apply equity to close gaps. We do this because it is why we exist, where our expertise lies and what our children need. It is easier for us to write their next chapter than to rewrite their previous ones. 

Our investment in provision  

Our work across the Trust is guided by our school improvement triangle. Our significant investment in curriculum, assessment and pedagogy over time is central to our work, overseen by effective leadership and set within strong cultures. These are the main levers for high performance and the areas in which our investments have been made over time. It is the enactment of the curriculum and the use of formative assessment that unlock higher standards and raise attainment.

Performance-oriented Trusts, teams and schools understand when decisive action is required to change trajectories beyond those achieved through normal provision. Lighting escape fires and ‘doing different’ can achieve an alternative future and improve outcomes. 

We will also continue to assess the improvement journey of schools and teams against the forming, storming, norming and performing continuum. Most of our schools and teams across the Trust are norming or performing. The strongest schools continually evaluate their performance and refine the norms that sustain high performance and support further improvement. 

Performance-Oriented Inclusion  

We recognise that some children carry more than others, have had fewer opportunities and experiences in their early childhood and so need us more. They lack neither the ambition or ability, but they have less capacity, fewer resources and face barriers that tip the odds against them. In difficult times, education has the power to transform lives to gift the outcomes required to level up. The performance and development of these children are the most important measure of our worth. They should find their voice and become the central character in their story. 

Our strongest schools increase the life chances of under-resourced children by securing excellent provision with the highest expectations, applying equity to give children what they need and building a culture that closes gaps. Taken together, these approaches tip the odds in favour of disadvantaged children and become embedded in the school’s identity: it is what they do. 

Trust Strategic Plan  

As we enter Year 2 of the Trust Strategic Plan, Building a High-Performing Trust, we recognise that it takes a whole organisation to create the platform (blue) that enables high performance (green). 

Inspiring All-Through Education | 570 Weeks 

We prioritise offering the best start in life for all children, focusing on the quality of provision in these early and formative years as a key lever in our disadvantage strategy. We seek to secure the best possible provision across the 570 weeks of education, enacting and teaching our shared curriculum and focusing on the effectiveness of our personal development curriculum for all children. 

Raising Standards | applying equity and closing gaps  

We raise attainment and secure progress in line with our ambition to be a performance-oriented Trust. We are passionate about outcomes for disadvantaged learners and need to continue to close gaps, gifting the keys to those who need us most. We exist to drive up attainment in each phase of education, seeking liberating outcomes for all children. In doing this, we will better meet the needs of all children with SEND.  

Standing Tall on our Platform  

As a Trust, we continue to build the platform with the conditions, systems and support that colleagues and schools need to focus on the quality of education. We understand that our greatest asset is our colleagues and we will continue to invest in every colleague to ensure they are empowered and able to inspire lives. We maintain our focus on leadership and strong teams across the Trust as a key lever for improving performance and raising standards. We are committed to ensuring an efficient and effective platform, recognising the need to focus on the quality of communication and connection between key teams.  

We also focus on effective growth as the Trust grows to 40 schools and on using our strong financial position to invest in our future, including digital technology and responsible use of AI to improve the quality, efficiency and reach of our work. 

Writing the next chapter | pouring ourselves a cup of ambition 

As we venture into the second year of our plan, guided by our mission and values, we should proceed with confidence and greater self-belief, based on what has been achieved by the exceptional work of our colleagues. We will focus on being performance-oriented and raising standards by investing in our core purpose and provision, closing gaps and meeting the needs of those who need us most.

So go, inspire and create the next chapter for your colleagues and our children. Much of our work already advances our mission, yet there is still much to do. The next chapter must create great experiences and establish the conditions for every child to flourish. It is on us to secure the outcomes that will open more doors, build character and inspire children with greater opportunity and choice. 

You make the difference.  

Thank you.  

Dan Nicholls | September 2026 

Toward the future | inspiring lives

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Our Mission

In the next phase we will strengthen our trust, deepen our connection and collaboration to add more value to each other and to all children. This is a venture in shared responsibility and joint endeavour to inspire lives with greater opportunity and choice. Succeeding in our mission:

Inspiring every child to flourish through an inclusive, all-through education that nurtures opportunity, equity, and agency for life.

A mission that ensures 11,000 children flourish and develop greater self-agency, becoming the masters of their fate. A worthy quest powered by 1,500 connected colleagues, empowered to do meaningful work.

For those that carry the most

We recognise that some children carry more than most, have had less opportunity and experiences in their early childhood and so need us more. They neither lack ambition or ability, but they have less capacity, fewer resources and face barriers that tip odds against them. In difficult times education has the power to transform lives, which is the business we are in. The performance and development of these children is the most important measure of our worth.

“We need equity in education, not equality. If someone can’t see straight because the world is falling in around them, we need to raise them up to clearer skies.” Poor, Katriona O’Sullivan

Anchored by our Values

Everything we do is held by our shared values:

Our stable core enables our innovative edge

We continue to build a strong trust with great schools that focuses on getting every day right and building a stable core: consistently delivering high quality provision with effective systems and shared approaches, enables our frontline obsession.

We stand on our stable core and what we choose to do the same, so that we can innovate on the edge, expertly developing approaches to improve provision and inspire lives. This is a collective, connected and developmental endeavour through collaboration.

Towards 2030 | why we exist

To build a strong trust with great schools. Offering high quality education over 570-weeks that closes gaps for those that most need us. So that the trust exists in a higher performance space and exploits our collaborative advantage that yields a trust dividend.

Our focus on partnerships and places builds better communities for children to grow up in and flourish. Colleagues create greater opportunity through deliberate local and regional collaboration,seeking to improve other trusts and the sector.

The trust is deeply connected within itself. There is a strong collective desire and shared responsibility to add value for all children in every setting. This collaboration enables a level of innovation and shared approaches that add more value. As part of a human organisation colleagues are well connected, making a greater difference to others in and beyond our trust.

The consequence of our work over five years is that the trust becomes self-improving, the systems, shared approaches, trust improvement model, collaboration, horizontal leadership and empowerment is creating more value over time and is self-sustaining.

Colleagues enjoy more opportunity and are proud to do meaningful work that is enabling all children to flourish through an inclusive, all-through education that nurtures opportunity, equity, and agency for life

Higher performance space | in search of the trust dividend

There is an unswerving, shared responsibility and desire to raise standards. To build a strong trust and great schools that exist in a higher performance space that particularly enables disadvantaged learners to thrive and attain well.

So, where next… this year

In the next phase, to summer 2026 we will prioritise these six areas:

Innovative Edge | Inspiring lives

This year we will invest in our inclusive all-through education (570-weeks) and apply greater equity to close gaps for children that need us most. A focus on place-based improvement will build strong community partnerships and support improvement beyond our trust.

Stable Core | frontline obsession

We will continue to invest in our stable core, by building a strong trust that enables great schools. Our colleague focused strategy will invest in all colleagues and create the conditions for our frontline obsession. Aiming to create a self-improving trust, investing in lateral leadership, connection, collaboration and strong systems.

570 Weeks | inspiring all-through education

To build an inspiring, inclusive, all-through education: as an entitlement for all children. Enacting excellent provision for every child throughout their 570 weeks of education. Prioritising:

  • Trust Curriculum | curating and enacting a shared curriculum across all year groups. (SDP)
  • Attendance, inclusion and transitions | to secure stronger attendance, strong inclusion and high-quality transitions, disadvantage first. (SDP)
  • Best Start in life | investing in the strongest possible start for all children through nursery and early years, enabled through a set of core commitments. (SDP)
  • Outstanding Personal Development | outstanding personal development curriculum builds character and offers greater opportunity for all children in every setting.

Closing gaps | seeking social justice

To apply equity and unswervingly commit to meeting the needs of children experiencing disadvantage and SEND, securing attainment and attendance that closes gaps and builds agency for each child. Securing greater social justice by prioritising:

  • The trust-wide development of teaching | systematic focus on the development of teaching to enact our shared curriculum. Our strongest lever for closing gaps. (SDP)
  • Disadvantage first | unswerving focus on the performance of disadvantaged pupils, through targets, data and quality assurance, as the indicator of the quality of our provision. (SDP)
  • Catch-up, Keep-up | systematic tracking all learners and applying equity, doing different and more, so that all children are caught up and kept up. (SDP)
  • All leaders, leaders of SEND | developing our SEND provision, focusing on ‘all leaders as leaders of SEND’ – securing a systematic strategy to meet SEND needs.

The importance of place | community partnerships

To build partnerships with educational and community partners to secure stronger communities and 570-week educations for all children. Using expertise in the trust to reach out and secure improvement in schools, trusts and the sector. Growing our reputation and influence by prioritising:

  • Strong recruitment built on growing reputation | securing stronger recruitment of pupils into our schools to inspire more lives and better serve our communities.
  • Trust Growth | securing appropriate and strategic growth of the trust to secure financial opportunities and grow our reputation and influence.
  • Collaboration with local trusts, local authorities and partners | seeking strong collaboration to secure improvement beyond the trust – seeking to influence all 570-weeks
  • Sector reputation and influence | playing an active role beyond the trust, including with the DfE and other partners, to influence policy, improve other trusts and the sector.

Colleague focused | developmental and collaborative

Investing in all colleagues to be connected, to collaborate, develop and grow to lead and contribute toward the mission and feel empowered to do meaningful work. Prioritising:

  • Recruitment and Retention | building a strategy to recruit well and to attract and retain strong colleagues. Considering our approach to flexible working.
  • Professional Development | creating on-going opportunities for professional development, held in a curriculum. Developing, inspiring and creating more opportunities for colleagues.
  • Induction | investing in and building strong induction to support all colleagues to have the best possible start to their career in our trust.
  • Well-being and mental health strategy | securing approaches across the trust to support all colleagues with their well-being and mental health.

Strong Trust, Great Schools | standardise, empower, sustain

Ensuring that the trust improvement model offers the foundation for colleagues to lead great schools. Complicated systems well embedded across the trust to drive effectiveness and efficiency. Prioritising:

  • Deliberate enactment of the Trust Improvement Model (SIM) | developing our standardised approaches, enabling empowered areas and sustaining the model to secure improvement.
  • Financial stability and clarity | Ensuring the trust maintains the present financial security, secures wider responsibility and enables greater investment in the trust.
  • Professional Services | developing professional services, to strengthen platform, offer capacity, expertise and secure the environment to empower all colleagues to deliver the mission.
  • IT Strategy | ensuring colleagues and pupils have the tools they need to thrive now and in the future. Developing our digital vision and cloud-first approach. Exploring the opportunities of AI.

Towards a self-improving trust | lateral trust leadership

Creating the expectation and conditions for horizontal improvement across the trust. Connectivity and collaboration that are more effective and efficient at driving the School Improvement. Prioritising:

  • Trust Leadership Curriculum | investing in and enacting a trust leadership curriculum and to extend the sense of leadership curriculum through networks and the layers of the trust.
  • Networks and Subject Communities | connecting colleagues with purpose, formally and informally, to enable the development of strategies that raise standards.
  • Lateral leadership, 20% time | creating the expectation and the structure for colleagues to work beyond setting to support lateral leadership and secure a self-improving trust.
  • Succession Planning | investing in succession planning and talent management to ensure the future leadership security for our trust.

First Steps… into Term 1

And our first steps in Term 1 will see us deepen our connection and collaboration and prioritise:

  1. Understanding performance and setting the ambition and targets for 2026.
  2. High quality Induction and line management, starting out strong.
  3. Strong start and focus on Attendance, disadvantage first.
  4. Best Start in Life, embedding our core commitments.
  5. Enacting our shared curriculum.
  6. Focus on the development of teaching through Steplab.
  7. Embedding the new Planergy software in Finance.

We choose to venture on this journey to 2030 not because it is easy, but because it is hard, and because our ambition will serve to organise and measure the best of our energies and skills, because the challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win (adapted, John F. Kennedy)

So, breathe, commit … and go inspire lives with greater opportunity and choice.

Thank you, you make a difference

Dan Nicholls | August 2025