I have been a school leader for 22 years.
During that time the school I have led has been through almost all of the possible variations of school category. I have led a maintained school, held foundation status, converted to a standalone academy and, finally, found a home in a school trust along with 22 other like-minded schools.
Having been on an evolutionary journey that took me to the creation of an academy trust, I fully understand why some school leaders have yet to garner the courage to take the next step towards joining a trust.
But if those colleagues could have seen and experienced what I have witnessed, having worked as part of a group of schools in a trust now for nine years, they would come to realise that there are significant and tangible benefits both for children and staff in a trust-based school system.
To some extent, though, you really have to experience this before you fully realise it.
Recognising that many leaders have an understandable need to know more, the Confederation of School Trusts has recently published an excellent pamphlet on this very topic entitled “Why join a trust and why a trust-based system?”.
Its CEO, Leora Cruddas, identifies six compelling reasons why all schools should consider joining a trust. Her reasoning mirrors my own personal experience.
Multi-academy trusts: building a legacy
The trust I am so fortunate to lead consists of schools that have proactively chosen to come together because they fundamentally believe in the same aspirations for the children in our collective charge.
What’s more, these school leaders sought to enter a permanent partnership, one in which they could invest their time and energy in the knowledge that the relationships they forged were institutional and would outlast their own tenure as a leader.
A school trust is for life and goes much deeper than school partnerships dependent upon personal relationships between school leaders.
We are all, after all, just temporary custodians of our schools.
This sense of permanency seeps all the way into the grain of a school, and I have found that, as a result, staff at all levels are willing to invest their time and expertise to support colleagues from other schools in the trust, simply because they know the relationship they are in will still be there tomorrow.
Working together
Furthermore, the permanency of the relationship and the willingness of all staff to invest in the trust create a resilience I have never experienced before. There truly is a Three Musketeers culture of “all for one and one for all”.
By way of example, our headteachers unanimously agreed to enter into a temporary arrangement whereby we “tariff pooled” our energy contracts.
This enabled us to support new members into the trust who had to renew their energy contracts at the worst possible time by sharing the benefits that our more established partners enjoyed.
This is because they held more favourable long-term contracts that we signed in 2021 when energy prices were much lower.
Sharing knowledge
This resilience extends beyond the financial and structural and into education. As you might expect, we have a range of first-rate practitioners working in our school improvement programmes to help subject leaders share in the best possible practice.
We have numerous support networks helping to ensure that we establish, for instance, the best practice in safeguarding and for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
As a direct consequence of our schools’ willingness to work collaboratively, all of our schools are presently rated “good” or better by Ofsted.
Wider career opportunities
It has always been the case that schools invest in their staff and grow their own next generation of leaders, but the school trust takes this development to a whole new level.
Like most trusts, when we have a promotional opportunity, we will look to our own people first and in many instances leadership vacancies at all levels are not advertised externally.
Staff moving between schools in a trust retain their continuous service and accrued employment benefits, given that all schools in the trust share the same employer.
This, we have found, is a powerful lever for the retention of our very best people and adds a resilience to our workforce. These career opportunities also attract many staff into the trust system from schools that are still standalone.
We may not be always able to retain our most aspirational staff in one school, but we stand a very good chance of retaining them within the trust.
By way of example, we have had one school identify 24 staff who had secured a promoted post, either in their own school or within the trust, during the first three years of joining.
Finding the right trust
It is perhaps the case that the benefits of being a part of a trust have to be experienced before they can be believed.
But having witnessed the power of the school trust system, I would say to all school leaders who are still considering this: it is not a question of if you should join a school trust but rather finding the right trust for your school.
Rob McDonough is the CEO of the East Midlands Education Trust
