CAT News Issue 1

C .A .T.News The magazine of the

SPREADING THE WORD

ISSUE 1, AUTUMN 2013

EXPLANATION: Chief Executive Stephen Munday addresses prospective pupils and their parents at the Open Evening for Melbourn Village College, the latest Academy to join the Comberton Academy Trust.

SHARED AIMS AND VALUES: Trust Chief Executive Stephen Munday explained the role of theTrust at all the recent Open Evenings including Comberton (above left), Voyager (above right) and Melbourn (front cover).

From humble beginnings . . . up a new ‘Free School’ (i.e. a new Academy) at Cambourne.

This proposal was backed by the Local Authority as providing an appropriate solution to the In the first instance, it came to exist to allow issue and was approved by the Department for Comberton Village College to convert to AcadEducation in summer 2012. After a rapid buildemy status. This move was judged by govering programme, Cambourne Village College nors at Comberton Village College to be the opened in September 2013 as part of the best thing to serve the needs the school and, C.A.T. after consultation, it was pursued. Comberton During 2013, another local Cambridgeshire VilVillage College converted to academy status in lage College approached the C.A.T. to request February 2011. the possibility of joining. Melbourn Village ColSoon after its formation, the C.A.T. was asked lege had for a number of years worked in some to take on significant further developments. partnership with Comberton Village College. A Comberton Village College had already had apmove to join the Trust would greatly strengthen proval to open a new Sixth Form due its highthe partnership and ensure fuller and further performing status as an 11-16 school. This benefits could be gained. After a careful review, major development was taken on by trustees decided that it was in the inthe C.A.T. and the new Comberton terests of all to pursue this developSixth Form was opened in new premment and Melbourn Village College ises at Comberton in September 2011. joined the C.A.T. in September 2013.

The Comberton Academy Trust (C.A.T.) was formed at the beginning of 2011. It supported This means the C.A.T. oversees the The C.A.T. was also asked to sponsor Comberton Village College in its move to Academy status in February 2011 an Academy development for a school following educational establishments: The Comberton Academy Trust seeks to secure Excellence for all in all of its Academies. that was in challenging circumstances.

Comberton Village College There are 5 core principles guiding the work of all the Academies of the CAT. This reflected a strong theme of recent 1. The excellence principle. Education must be of the very highest standard.

Comberton Sixth Form (part of 2. The comprehensive principle. Excellence must be for all.

Government education policy, seeking Comberton Village College) 3. The Henry Morris principle. Every Academy must be at the heart of its local to link schools as Academies through The Voyager Academy community and serve it well. trusts to secure improvements in edu Cambourne Village College 4. The partnership principle. Each Academy must seek to work positively in partnership with others for mutual benefit.

Melbourn Village College

The Comberton Academy Trust (C.A.T.) was officially formed at the beginning of 2011.

cation. After careful reflection, trustees decided that the C.A.T. should be prepared to do this.

This led to the sponsorship of the Voyager Secondary Academy in Peterborough. The Voyager is now firmly established as an Academy within the C.A.T. Comberton Village College governors had long been in discussions with Cambridgeshire Local Authority regarding the need for a long-term solution to ensure secondary places were available to all with the on-going development at Cambourne.

Comberton Village College could not forever accommodate the growing numbers of pupils from Cambourne. Under new Government legislation, an opportunity arose for the C.A.T. to take forward this agenda by proposing to set

5. The international principle. The curriculum inside and outside the classroom must have a clear international dimension.

Comberton Sixth Form Cambridgeshire

Comberton Village College Cambridgeshire

Cambourne Village College Cambridgeshire

Melbourn Village College Cambridgeshire

The Voyager Academy Peterborough

The Comberton Sixth Form opened in September 2011 as part of Comberton Village College within the C.A.T. This allowed 1618 year-old students to pursue their education on this site with the opening of significant new facilities.

Henry Morris (1189-1962), Chief Education Officer for Cambridgeshire from 1922, opened Comberton Village College in 1960. In 1974 the school became fully comprehensive and converted to Academy Status in 2011.

Cambourne Village College opened to its first cohort of pupils in September 2013. It is a new Academy of the C.A.T, opened as a ‘Free School’ under the Government legislation permitting Trusts to set up new schools.

It is established as a Village College at the heart of its community.

Melbourn Village College opened in September 1959 and joined the C.A.T. in September 2013. It became the 4th Academy in the Trust seeking to work in partnership to provide excellent education for all of its pupils.

The Voyager School opened in September 2007. In September 2011, the C.A.T sponsored The Voyager School to become The Voyager Academy. The Voyager joined the C.A.T and partnered Comberton Village College.

Developing the best teachers that I attended. I have also been able to turn this knowledge and SCHOOLS from across the Trust are involved in a Continuous Professional Development programme which is now in its third year. use it as a tool to be able to dissect my own practice. Previously, I The schemes – Improving Teacher Programme (ITP) and Outstandhad considered myself to be a reflective practitioner but now I know ing Teacher Programme (OTP) - are six sessions and seven sesthat I am because for the first time in years I am consciously looksions respectively aimed at teachers at different stages of their ing at what I do with an extremely critical eye and I am also sharing careers and staff from Comberton , Melbourn and The Voyager as what I am learning with my colleagues and the students that I teach. well as CATSA (Cambridge Area Teaching Schools’ Alliance coThey have been fascinated and the students have really enjoyed hosts Saffron Walden County High School are among those inhearing about the course and discussing the benefits of some of volved this year. the strategies that I am learning.”

Both programmes focus on developing Teaching and Learning and The programme is not limited to schools within the Comberton are not subject specific. What sets them apart from other CPD is Academy Trust or Saffron Academy Trust and teachers from a varithat as well as discussions and group meeting, all those on the ety of schools have participated during the past three years. courses also observe other teachers in action to gain ‘real’ experiAdvanced Skills Teacher Matt Mannas, who oversees the proence of practices they may then adopt. gramme, said: “I personally feel that this is the very best kind of The six day-long ITP sessions are aimed at teachers who wish to CPD for teachers. extend their teaching to good and outstanding.

“The combination of lesson observations, targeted tasks and disThe feedback has been extremely positive. cussions enable delegates to reflect on ways in which we can all One Voyager teacher said: “The programme has enhanced my own continually push the boundaries of teaching. teaching practice and encouraged me to reflect on my own teach“Collaboratively observing lessons in a school setting and then ing,” while another said: “The programme has given me reminder of having time to discuss these observations or their own teaching what a good lesson should have in it. Taking time to discuss with practice is core to the way in which ideas about teaching and learncolleagues different ways of engaging and challenging students.” ing are shared throughout the programmes.”

A member of staff from Comberton also found it valuable. “For me as a returner to the profession, this course has been perfect. Brought me up to speed with current thinking on lesson prep/delivery/assessment,” she said.

The OTP, which comprises seven all-day sessions, is geared towards experienced teachers looking to deliver consistently outstanding lessons. They also a focus on mentoring/coaching for those looking to help develop the teachers of the future.

Again the feedback has been extremely positive, with one Voyager teacher commenting: “I am finding the OTP extremely enlightening both as a teacher and as a Subject Leader. There are some things that have been discussed on the course that I have found I already utilise in my own practice and now I can understand why they achieve success with the students that I teach.

However, I have learnt an enormous amount more about managing people and situations and PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES 2) TEACHING: The ITP and OTP courses offer ‘the best kind this was largely due to the coaching sessions of Continuous Professional Development courses for teachers.’

Key partnership role Rosalind Scott, previously a member of the Senior Leadership Team at The Voyager, has been appointed to a central team to develop partnership between the academies.

“My job description is ‘to ensure that the Academies of the Trust secure the benefits of partnership’ and that means finding out what is needed and making it happen as well as finding the best ideas and pracROSALIND SCOTT tices in the schools and making sure everyone is aware of them ” The priorities to start with are: A strong school improvement network Staff talking, planning, working and training together Governors and Trustees meeting and working together Joint experiences for students, student leadership and student voice Anyone is welcome to contact me to talk about the C.A.T. partnership and ask me for help in organising and facilitating conversations, events and innovations. 07815 146556 or rosalind.scott@thevoyager.co.uk INTERACTIVE LESSONS: In English.

English initiative English colleagues from three Trust Academies, Comberton, Melbourn and The Voyager, are among five schools – with Nene Park and Saffron Walden County High - preparing to deliver a new, exciting, specialised Continuous Professional Development programme for the Cambridge Teaching Schools Network.

The programme is for English teachers who want to advance, develop and improve their teaching practice and deliver consistently good lessons.

The programme comprises four full-day sessions, plus a celebration’ twilight. The sessions are all built around an aspect of pedagogy such as Engagement and Challenge, Independent Learning, Assessment for Learning and Talk for Learning.

A key component of the programme is the opportunity to observe lessons across the schools and is an invaluable opportunity for teachers to pick up successful techniques and formulate new strategies to bring back to their own classroom.

Our declared end result is a motivated teacher with the tools and expertise to succeed, leading not only to enhanced classroom and pupil performance but also higher standards across the school.

The initial pilot is scheduled to begin in January, after which it will be opened out to all interested schools beyond the partnership.

Iain Walker

Excellence for all drives CAT At the centre of the work of the Comberton Academy Trust are some core aims and principles.

These drive all of the work of the Trust in all of its Academies. In many ways they are encapsulated in the maxim ‘Excellence for all’. All of our Academies strive for standards of excellence and they seek them for every single individual. ‘Excellence for All’ runs through the five core principles of the C.A.T. C.A.T.’s Core Principles Five fundamental principles lie at the heart of the C.A.T.: The excellence principle. Education must be of the very highest stan-

dard.

The Comprehensive Principle. Excellence must be for all.

The Henry Morris Principle. Every Academy must be at the heart of its local community and serve it well.

The Partnership Principle. Each Academy must seek to work positively in partnership with others for mutual benefit.

The International Principle. The curriculum inside and outside the classroom must have a clear international dimension.

The purpose of all C.A.T. Academies is to make a reality of all of these principles through their work on a daily basis.

Student voice will be heard . . .

The community of the Comberton Academy Trust includes about 3500 students, 500 staff, 50 governors and trustees, together with all their families, neighbours and friends. Working in partnership means all those people working together for the benefit of every student.

My job is to ensure that the Academies of the Trust secure the benefits of partnership and the main people to ask about how we are doing are the students themselves. With this in mind, I met the executives of the Student Council at Voyager Academy in mid-October. The council requested that a Trust council be set up and asked for help in organising a meeting with representatives from all academies. We also talked about what direct benefits there may be in partnership working and came up with a few headlines: Joint experiences for students: Joint trips Opportunities to work together: Choirs, productions, teams, debates Learning together, Teaching each other and

Training courses Anti-bullying and peer support Sports Leaders, Language Leaders, Charity leaders, Bilingual interpreters SOWING THE SEEDS: THe Voyager Student Council discuss the mer Student researchers its of a Trust Student Council.

Ways for students to The Voyager council also agreed that it is imcommunicate: portant to contact the secretary of state, Virtual Learning Environment Michael Gove regarding recent changes in gov Website ernment policy on assessment and one stu Trust Council dent, Courtney Lee, said: “I think that it is Yes, a Trust Student Council with representaessential for him to see how his decisions are tives from all the student councils and a manaffecting our schools.It is important that we date to take responsibility for guiding the Trust make our voices heard and not silenced. Alto meet their legal requirements, meet the though he may not like what we have to say needs of students and fulfil the purpose of edubut that is tough. This is our education that he cation. is messing with, not just those of us that are in I will be asking the student councils of all acadSecondary Education, but those in Primary Edemies in the Trust to invite me to talk to them, ucation as well.” offering my services to help them communicate Rosalind Scott, Developing Partnership and to consider the suggestion. across Comberton Academy Trust

Working hard to include everybody

SHARING EXPERTISE: A new hub allows staff working in Student Support Services to swap ideas and practices.

Joint training day planned Plans are in place for all staff to attend a joint training day next April.

Every school will host training in different subject areas for all teachers of that subject. This is a way of making sure the best practice and newest guidelines are shared and C.A.T. education is of the best possible standard and all academies work together for mutual benefit.

The Trust seeks to provide excellence for all in all of its academies and the principle of inclusion is dear to the hearts of the student support services in all the partner academies.

Not surprisingly, there is now an Inclusion Hub, a network for staff to share their expertise and chance to hear of and meet new challenges.

This is a particularly active and lively exchange. Staff from Comberton Village College visited Voyager Academy and liked the provision mapping they saw there.

They swapped this for some helpful policy ideas. Cambourne staff have also asked the group for the benefit of their experience by posing a question to the whole group.

Comberton and Melbourn’s Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCos) meet regularly and with the others all linked in to the Hub, they are due to meet as a group soon.

There is a new government Green Paper called, ‘Support and aspiration: a new approach to special educational needs and disability’, which the Trust will be able to put into practice more effectively together as a result of this hub.

Teaching Assistants work closely with students to help them access their learning and make sure a special need does not become a disability.

In a joint training session this term TAs considered the purpose of education and how they can release all their skills and ideas for the benefit of students. They suggested ways in which they could work more effectively, especially how they can work closely with teachers.

There will be many more opportunities for training together like this.