The Societas Trust – Great Learning Opportunities for ALL!

Welcome Message to Everyone at Alsagers Bank Primary Academy 1 September 2021

Dear Colleagues,

I hope you all had a fantastic summer and it is with great pleasure that I welcome you all to The Societas Trust.

The partnership began approximately 10 years ago as a working partnership between a number of schools and the formation of the Trust was a natural progression in 2016. Our model at the time was ground breaking as it was fundamental there was no lead school heading the Trust. We firmly believe this “association of like-minded people bound by a common purpose, this “platoon of idealistic people”, is at the heart of successful school systems and is the very foundation stone of The Societas Trust. All settings work collaboratively, not competitively, each setting retains its own senior leadership team and business manager and retains its own local governing board.

The Trust is now made up of six primary academies and one nursery school and we are all committed to the shared vision of collaboration and values. Our Trust moto is “Great learning opportunities for all” and this is something that we are all passionate about. The Societas Vision is to create a sustainable, professional community, where all learners are valued and encouraged to achieve their potential, and all individuals are respected.

Whilst it is crucial for us to support the development of the unique identity of each academy in the Trust, we also believe that by developing and promoting innovative and creative approaches to learning and teaching across the trust, we will ensure that our children have the very best opportunities to excel academically and develop socially.

We believe that children learn best and thrive in environments that promote and foster self-belief, the love of learning, and high expectations of themselves and others.

Our proven track record of working together over the last 10 years has resulted in a number of successes (the list is not exhaustive):

All founding primary academy settings now rated good or better by Ofsted;
Rapid and sustained improvement of all settings;
One setting accelerated out of Special Measures to be rated as a Good school by Ofsted;
Strengthened leadership across all levels;
External moderation of standards resulting in accurate use of assessment data;
Curriculum development resulting in each setting having a whole school curriculum that is well matched to the needs of the community it serves;
Successful induction of newly qualified teachers;
Support for staff new or in the early stages of their role;
Quality assurance of teaching and learning;
Mutual respect and a willingness for each of us to learn from one another;
A willingness to make decisions that will benefit all rather than any individual school exclusively;
Shared vision, ethos and values.

I know a number of you have already experienced the benefits from collaborating with your colleagues from across the Trust.

The last 18 months saw unprecedented challenges for us all, but together we faced these challenges and achieved many fantastic outcomes across all settings.

As we look forward, hopefully the relaxation of restrictions will continue allowing us to re-introduce whole Trust events where the children can come together as one. We have participated in some fantastic events over the years and it is delightful to see the children enjoying spending their time with each other.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those involved in the process to firstly convert the school to an academy and secondly to complete the formalities of joining The Societas Trust, I know this has been a complicated process and to bring it to a successful conclusion for the start of the new academic year is fantastic.

Once again, on behalf of all of the Trust, welcome on board and we all look forward to getting to know you and work with you over the many years ahead.

Yours sincerely,

Guy Weir

Chair

The Societas Trust

THANK YOU Message to Stakeholders 15 July 2021

Dear Colleagues,

As another academic year draws to a close, on behalf of The Societas Trust Directors’ Board, I would like to thank you all once again for your incredible hard work and commitment to our settings and the Trust as a whole.

We are all aware of the challenges of the pandemic over the last 18 months but together you have embraced these and continued to support the children and provide the high quality of great learning opportunities for all.

Over the last academic year, average attendance across the Trust was around 96% which is incredible when you reflect on the difficulties of the last 12 months. Remote education continued for those forced to self-isolate.

Hopefully the recent Government announcement will allow us all to return to a normal way of life over the next couple of months. I have no doubt we will all face further challenges but I know that as organisation we are well placed to overcome these.

The Executive Team have continued their fantastic work, including continually reviewing and adopting new practices as guidance evolves. Plans are now in place for all settings to adopt the new operational guidance issued by the DfE for when we re-open in September, alongside contingency ‘outbreak’ plans for each setting should there be a need to step up any safety measures.

Another important focus for the Trust is the mental health and wellbeing of all our stakeholders, including the children, their families, and staff. The four steering groups linked to our Strategic Development Plan (Pupil Premium and Recovery, Inclusion and Wellbeing, Developing a Professional Learning Community and Curriculum) and their sub-groups have continued to meet virtually across all settings to review and adopt best practice and access bespoke advice and support where necessary. These groups have been instrumental in implementing a number of initiatives, including mental health training, wellbeing surveys, early help pathways, CPD training, curriculum operational plans, external reviews of pupil premium strategies and of course the continuing Philosophy for Children (P4C) practice. Termly Academy Performance Reviews (APRs) of all our settings have also continued.

During National Sports Week, all children across the Trust were able to enjoy participating in The Societas Olympics, this was a great success and we are thankful to one of our local Olympians, Adam Burgess, for taking the time to provide an inspirational video.

Hopefully, during the next academic year we will be able to re-introduce whole Trust events where the children can come together as one once again.

Plans for the biennial Societas Trust Conference on 8^th April 2022 at Keele Hall are now well underway. The focus of the conference is “Wellbeing and More” and we have secured a number of excellent guest speakers for the day.

Finally, I take this opportunity to wish and you and your families well and hope you all have an enjoyable, relaxing summer break and a well-deserved rest.

Best wishes,

Guy Weir

Chair

The Societas Trust

Statement to Stakeholders 9 July 2021

Dear Colleagues,

I hope this finds you well.

Things continue to progress well across the Trust. Average attendance so far this academic year is still around 96%. As of today, there are 5 confirmed cases of Covid-19 across all of our settings necessitating the closure of 4 bubbles. Children forced to self isolate are also receiving remote education.

I have just met with the Executive Board and the decision has been made to retain all safety measures currently in place to the end of this term, regardless of when Step 4 of the National Road-map comes into effect. New operational guidance has been issued by the DfE (Schools_guidance_Step_4_update) which all settings will adopt in September assuming that Step 4 goes ahead as planned on 19th July.

Below is a report to Directors on the work of the Executive Board and Working Groups this half term:

Executive Board

The Executive Team continued to meet regularly, the focus being on supporting the children and staff across our settings, during the ever-changing national restrictions and expectations due to the pandemic. We also discussed the increase in the number of safeguarding concerns in recent months, the reintroduction of the full curriculum in our settings and the resumption of Ofsted Inspections.

The Education Development Plan and the business of the working parties was reviewed and actions agreed.

The Academy Performance Review (APR) process this term focused on a Deep Dive into reading. Sarah Preston also looked at the context of each setting and the progress made since the Spring Term APR. The APR reports outline her findings; they refer to the strong subject and senior leadership across our settings. The process allowed for quality assurance of leaders judgements, challenge and support with developmental suggestions made.

MAT to MAT collaboration continued with the triads meeting again this term. The opportunity for us to share outcomes, impact and review the process has been deferred to the autumn term. The work on strategic peer-supported development continues to be facilitated by Paul Sheehan from Worcester University.

Preparations for the conference continue. It will be held at Keele Hall on 8^th April 2022 with a focus on ‘Wellbeing and More.’ The guest speakers are: Mary Myatt, Shonette Bason, Julie Leoni, Daisy Christodoulou/or Di Swift and Jason Bangbala.

The Executive Board received another update from Carol Stead, Compliance and Finance Manager, regarding the work of the Academy Business Managers’ Group and Internal Audit Process (including recommendations). Forthcoming ABM Group meeting agendas were also discussed and agreed.

The Executive Board continued the cycle of policy reviews in order to keep up to date with latest legislation and guidance. Sarah Preston updated the Executive this term on the expectations of a Section 8 Inspection.

Strategic Development Plan Update

Pupil Premium and Recovery Steering Group

This Steering Group guides the work of both the Pupil Premium Leaders’ Group and the P4C Leaders’ Group; both these working groups have met this half term.

Bernie Pearce from Blackfriars Teaching School visited each setting this term as part of our work on Pupil Premium Strategies. This was an opportunity to review the implementation of our strategies and for her to offer bespoke advice and support to further enhance practice. Pupil Premium reports for each setting are available.

The leaders of our Philosophy for Children (P4C) group met with Neil Phillipson (P4C Consultant) again this half term. The focus continued on planning for skills progression in P4C and on how to embed P4C in other areas of the curriculum. Dates are being planned for Neil to visit individual settings in the autumn term to offer bespoke advice and support.

Inclusion and Wellbeing Steering Group

This Steering Group receives feedback on the work of the Inclusion Leaders’ Group, the Family Support Leaders’ Group and the Wellbeing Group. All these working groups met again.

The Inclusion Leaders’ Group arranged for each setting to implement the pupil’s Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) questionnaire. This will allow for identification of children requiring support. A mental health week also took place on 10^th May. Results of the Trust wide children’s wellbeing survey are currently being collated and analysed; this will then be shared with senior leaders at both setting and trust level.

The Family Support Leaders’ Group reviewed their operational plan. Work this term focused on Early Help Pathways and Mental Health First Aid. They have produced an ‘Early Help Pathway’ (including poster) that outlines the process for a quick referral, the ‘Early Help Directory for Parents and Carers’, giving parents swift and easy access to helplines that can assist them with behaviour, anger management, emotional wellbeing etc. Both are useful resources that will guide and support both staff and parents/carers. Once again the Education Welfare Service were in attendance to give advice; attendance is now mandatory however it was recommended that fines are not issued to parents for unauthorised absence.

The Wellbeing Group continued their work in raising the profile of staff mental health by signposting staff to relevant support. All wellbeing leaders met this term to plan the Mental Health Training for each setting in the autumn term; this might take the form of a full Inset day or half days. A follow up staff wellbeing survey has also now been sent out to all staff to help measure progress since the last survey in the autumn; this survey will close on Friday 16th July; results will then be analysed in September and reported accordingly.

Developing a Professional Learning Community Steering Group

This Steering Group oversees the work of the CPD Leaders’ Group and Early Career Leaders’ Group. Both these working groups have met this term and will meet again in September.

Training as indicated in the Trust Workforce Training Plan took place. This included Governor training and positive feedback was received.

Planning for the Leading to Learn Cohort 1 update and Cohort 2 with David Alston was undertaken. This is scheduled for the Autumn Term.

The Early Career Leaders’ Group will meet again in the autumn term. The focus will continue to be on the new Early Careers Framework and other career pathways. In the Framework, Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) and Recently Qualified Teachers (RQTs) will be replaced by Early Career Teachers (ECTs) from September 2021. Painsley Teaching School (“Golden Threads”) is our preferred ECT provider from September 2021; settings were asked to sign up to their package of support.

Curriculum Steering Group

This Steering Group oversees the work of the EYFS Leaders’ Group and individual subject leaders’ groups. Operational plans are in place.

CPD for the History Leaders was led by David Forshaw from Blackfriar’s Teaching School and facilitated by Lorna Pateman, DHT from Ellison. There will be a focus on art in the autumn term and RE in Spring 2022. It was also agreed that maths catch-up sessions would be held in the autumn term.

The EYFS Leaders’ Group again focused this half term on the EYFS reforms in order to keep up to date with developments and the expectations of the new curriculum and assessment requirements. It is agreed that plans would be shared at the next session.

Some other updates:

Societas Olympics 2021

To celebrate The Olympic Games 2021, during National Sports Week, all children across all settings participated in The Societas Olympics. This was an opportunity for children across the Trust to join in a celebratory event, after what has been a very challenging year. The shared project was led by PE Leaders from each setting, with the Deputy Headteachers’ group having oversight of the project.

The event was a smashing success and enjoyed by all. Children were also treated to an inspirational video from one of our Olympians, Adam Burgess, who will be representing the Nation in Tokyo in the canoeing slalom event – we all wish him every success!

Highlights of the event will be formed into a memorable Societas video to be shared across all settings and webpages.

My thanks to all the staff who have worked extremely hard to make this event possible; Callum Hulme and Alex Lambert in particular for co-ordinating the event.

Condition Improvement Fund (CIF)

I am delighted to report that the bid for CIF funding to make much needed safeguarding improvements to the entrance and reception area at Goldenhill Primary Academy has been successful. This will bring approximately £155,000 of additional funding into the Trust so this project can go ahead over the summer break – the total cost of the project is approximately £185,000. My congratulations to the school on this successful outcome.

Supporting Governance

In response to the Skills Audit, a programme of further training events to support governance is planned for the autumn term 2021 – details below:

Wednesday 15th September – 10:00 to 13:00 – Head Teacher Appraisal Training – Venue The Potters’ Club – Provider Stoke HR – Details

Friday 24th September – 9:00 to 16:00 – Safer Recruitment Training – Venue The Potters’ Club – Provider Stoke HR – Details

Thursday 4th November – 16:00 to 18:00 – Financial Oversight in MATS – via TEAMS – Provider NGA – Details

Thursday 11th November – 16:00 to 18:00 – Managing Risk, The Governance Role – via TEAMS – Provider NGA – Details

Thursday 18th November – 16:00 to 18:00 – The Effective Governance of SEND – via TEAMS – Provider NGA – Details

To book a place on any of the above, please email governor.training@societastrust.org.uk with your name, setting, role, and the course(s) you wish to sign up for.

I continue to be extremely proud of the work we are doing as a team right across the Trust to continue to give all our children the best possible opportunity to learn and to thrive, and to keep them, their families, and our staff as safe as we can.

My thanks to all our incredible and dedicated staff for making this possible.

With my thanks also for your continued support.

Jon Lovatt

Chief Executive Officer

Statement to Stakeholders 19 June 2021

Dear Colleagues,

I hope this finds you well.

Things continue to progress well across the Trust this term. Average attendance so far this academic year is still at 96%. As of yesterday, there were no reported cases of Covid-19 infections at any of our settings.

Some exciting events/news to share with you all:

Societas Olympics 2021

To celebrate The Olympic Games 2021, during National Sports Week next week, all children across all settings will participate in The Societas Olympics. This will be an opportunity for children across the Trust to join in a celebratory event, after what has been a very challenging year. The shared project is being led by PE Leaders from each setting, with the Deputy Headteachers’ group having oversight of the project.

Children from Nursery to Year 6 will be placed into five groups, based upon the colours of the Olympic rings, and will participate in five different sporting events including running, jumping, throwing, distance and relay events. PE leaders across the settings, with the help of sports leaders, will create ‘how to’ videos. These will be available for all children to watch, ensuring consistency of events across the MAT and progression of skills and expectation through the different ages. The videos will also allow children to ‘meet’ other children and teachers across all settings.

The focus of the Olympics is ‘excellence, respect and friendship’ which will be promoted throughout the event. All children will have the opportunity to participate and they will be awarded a participation certificate. Each class will have a winning team and an individual class winner to celebrate; there will be an overall team colour who will win across the MAT. This system will ensure that no one setting will become overall winners. I have also create an opening video to introduce the games and will announce the winning team in a closing video.

Although there are many shared aspects to the event, it has been organised to ensure each setting has an element of choice. For example: choice whether to run the event during one day or over the full week (depending upon their setting and facilities); choice to use the shared event as their annual sports day; choice of organising their own opening and closing ceremony; and choice of expanding the week to include other subject areas and learning – for example, a study of different countries or cultures from around the world.

We are all looking forward to an enjoyable week the highlights of which will be formed into a memorable Societas video to be shared across all settings and webpages.

My thanks to all the staff who have worked extremely hard to make this event possible; Callum Hulme and Alex Lambert in particular for co-ordinating the event.

Opportunity Area – Behaviour and Attendance Project

Last week the Opportunity Area – Behaviour & Attendance Project was approached by delivery leads from the Opportunity Area (OA), offering the chance for schools that have been part of the project and have set up in house nurture hubs to attend an inclusion workshop with fellow head teachers and the OA project leads from Norwich.

The purpose of the workshop was to discuss the development of a city-wide plan for increasing in-house AP provision and how best to use OA inclusion funding to support this in the coming years in Norwich. The Opportunity Area and head teachers in Norwich were keen to look at examples of best practice elsewhere in the country and it gave our schools the opportunity to showcases how funding from the OA has been used to set up and support in house nurture provision and is helping to embed the importance of nurture practice across the city.

One of our primary schools, Gladstone Primary Academy, alongside Burnwood Primary School, were given the opportunity to showcase and advocate their incredible in house nurture hubs.

Feedback from the event was very positive. The Head of Delivery at Norwich OA, praised how both presentations from the schools were excellent and went down very well and how this has helped to generate new interest from a number of schools to work with Norwich OA to develop their in-house provision.

Here’s what Gladstone Primary Academy had to say about their experience,

‘It was great to be involved in the event, not only to ‘fly the flag’ for Stoke-on-Trent and share the good practice that is in place at Gladstone, but also to share the news of how nurture is being developed in settings across the city.’

Supporting Governance

In response to the Skills Audit, a programme of further training events to support governance is planned for the autumn term 2021 – details below:

Wednesday 15th September – 10:00 to 13:00 – Head Teacher Appraisal Training – Venue The Potters’ Club – Provider Stoke HR – Details

Friday 24th September – 9:00 to 16:30 – Safer Recruitment Training – Venue The Potters’ Club – Provider Stoke HR – Details

Thursday 4th November – 16:00 to 18:00 – Financial Oversight in MATS – via TEAMS – Provider NGA – Details

Thursday 11th November – 16:00 to 18:00 – Managing Risk, The Governance Role – via TEAMS – Provider NGA – Details

Thursday 18th November – 16:00 to 18:00 – The Effective Governance of SEND – via TEAMS – Provider NGA – Details

To book a place on any of the above, please email governor.training@societastrust.org.uk with your name, setting, role, and the course(s) you wish to sign up for.

My thanks to all our incredible staff for making this possible.

With my thanks also for your continued support.

Jon Lovatt

Chief Executive Officer

Statement to Stakeholders 28 May 2021

Dear Colleagues,

I hope this finds you well.

Things continue to progress well across the Trust. Average attendance so far this term is still around 96%. There are currently no reported cases of Covid-19 infections at any of our settings.

Below is a report on the activities of the Executive Team, Steering Groups and Working Parties this half term:

Executive Team

The Executive Team continued to meet regularly; the focus on supporting the children and staff across our settings, during the ever-changing national restrictions and expectations due to the pandemic, continued. Updated policies, procedures and risk assessments ensured a smooth transition for the children upon return on 8^th March.

The Strategic Development Plan including the work of the Steering Groups and Working Parties are being kept up to date.

The Academy Performance Review (APR) process has continued with the settings being recognised by Sarah Preston for their preparations and the quality of the information shared. The APR Reports outline her findings; they refer to some brilliant teaching and learning in our settings. We are grateful also to Sarah for the wealth of ideas and suggestions that she always shares at the sessions. MAT to MAT collaboration continued with the triads meeting again this term. We will share outcomes, impact and review the process on 2^nd July. The work on strategic peer-supported development continues to be facilitated by Paul Sheehan from Worcester University.

The Executive Board receives regular updates regarding the work of the Academy Business Managers’ Group and Internal and External Audit Processes (including recommendations) from Carol Stead, our Compliance and Finance Manager. Forthcoming ABM Group meeting agendas are routinely discussed and agreed.

The Executive Board continues to keep policies under review and up to date with latest legislation and guidance.

Pupil Premium and Recovery Steering Group

This Steering Group guides the work of both the Pupil Premium Leaders’ Group and the P4C Leaders’ Group; both these working groups have met this half term.

The third session for the Pupil Premium Leaders, working with Bernie Pearce from Blackfriars Teaching School, focused on Targeted Support. We looked at the EEF toolkit and the implementation process. It was noted that, by carefully focusing on what needs to be rigidly adhered to and where there can be flexibility of implementation, we can often ensure the greatest success. Future sessions this academic year will be in each setting with a focus on review implementation of the strategies and offering support to enhance practice where possible.

The leaders of our Philosophy for Children (P4C) group met with Neil Phillipson (P4C Consultant) again this half term. The focus was on planning for skills progression in P4C and on how principles of metacognition in Thinking Moves can enhance practice. Each setting has updated their action plans in line with SAPERE silver criteria with a view to some settings achieving this by July 2022. Additional Level 1 training also took place this term thus ensuring all teachers are well trained in the delivery of P4C within their classes; teachers from Richard Heathcote Community Primary School also joined.

Inclusion and Wellbeing Steering Group

This Steering Group receives feedback on the work of the Inclusion Leaders’ Group, the Family Support Leaders’ Group and the Wellbeing Group. All these working groups met again.

The Inclusion Leaders’ Group discussed and updated the Operational Plan, which outlines the strategic aims, actions and success criteria for the group moving forward. Other areas for discussion included: possible identification tools for Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) and a pupil questionnaire to identify SEMH children in order to allow staff to allocate support appropriately. A mental health week was held across all settings the week beginning 10^th May.

The Family Support Leaders’ Group focused their session this half term on Early Help Pathways and Mental Health First Aid. They discussed ways of allocating support appropriately for vulnerable children and families. Guidance and strategies for supporting good school attendance was also discussed; the Education Welfare service were in attendance to give advice.

The Wellbeing Group continues their work in raising the profile of staff mental health by signposting staff to relevant support. A fantastic poster has been created by a member of staff from Gladstone Primary; it is to be displayed in all settings, outlining the support groups available to staff to support wellbeing. This half term, leaders received mental health training and further training is being planned for all staff in the future. The staff wellbeing survey is due to be repeated in the second half of the summer term. Further discussions are also to take place at the Executive in order to plan the roll out of the Wellbeing Day for all staff next academic year.

Developing a Professional Learning Community Steering Group

This Steering Group oversees the work of the CPD Leaders’ Group and Early Career Leaders’ Group. Both these working groups have met this half term.

The Trust Workforce Training Plan was reviewed by the CPD Group. In addition to the items already on the plan, the group considered other areas of training including: Maths Catch Up and Managing Actual and Potential Aggression (MAPA).

The Early Career Leaders’ Group met this half term. The focus of the discussions was on the new Early Careers Framework. In the Framework, Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) and Recently Qualified Teachers (RQTs) will be replaced by Early Career Teachers (ECTs) from September 2021. Support pathways are being devised currently by various providers and ECTs and their mentors will be able to access DfE fully funded support and training. Painsley Teaching School (Golden Threads) will be our preferred ECT provider from September 2021; settings were asked to sign up to their package of support.

Curriculum Steering Group

This Steering Group oversees the work of the EYFS Leaders’ Group and individual subject leaders’ groups. Operational plans are in place.

This half term, class teachers from each year group had the opportunity to attend a Catch Up Reading session with Sarah Preston and Janine Oakley from Ellison Primary. The focus was on aligning learning expectations for each year group across the trust and on supporting the identification of priority next steps in each year group that will help to get children back on track in reading.

Switch on Reading training for TAs, led by Glenys Gill, was held this term. Funding from the Stoke on Trent Opportunities Area was given to support this important initiative. A CPD session was led by a member of staff from Goldenhill in the use of the Shine resources to support Catch Up.

The EYFS Leaders’ Group again focused this half term on the EYFS reforms. Discussions focused on the expectations of the new curriculum and on assessment. There is much uncertainty in this area currently however the group will continue to meet half-termly to keep up to date with developments.

A History Leaders’ group is due to be established and will begin work later in the Summer Term.

The governor training events (in association with SouthStar Education and Training) held so far this term have been very well attended; below are the details of one other such event taking place this term:

The Link Governor role within The Societas Trust: Date: Thursday 17^th June 2021 5.00 pm – 6.30 pm plus time for Q and A

This will cover:

how to carry out a purposeful visit within a Societas setting
strategic/operational boundaries,
the role of independent research and governor CPD,
any national expectations of link governor roles;
how link governors can contribute to the overall effectiveness of the governing board and
how link roles can both support and challenge
some suggested templates for reporting and offer some suggestions for new ways of working.

To book your place on the course listed above please email southstar@gladstoneprimary.org.uk with:

Your name, the course you wish to book, your governing role (i.e. chair, link governor etc.) and your setting’s name.

The session will be led by Fiona Stagg, National Leader of Governance; more details of her work can be found at http://www.sbwgovernance.co.uk/

Lots of other events are planned this term – for details, please visit the Trust’s website and go to Calendar of Events.

Wishing you all and all our incredible staff a very well deserved rest over half term break.

With my very best wishes,

Jon Lovatt

Chief Executive Officer