AGM Report 2018

Archdiocese of Liverpool Primary School Improvement Trust (ALPSIT) Annual General Meeting 17 December 2018

Annual Report and Financial Statement For the year ending 31 August 2018

1

The Archdiocese of Liverpool Primary School Improvement Trust is a company limited by guarantee, registered at LACE, Croxteth Drive, Sefton Park, Liverpool, L17 1AA.

Company Number 10912407.

Contents 1. Company Objectives

Pages 3 - 4

2. Achievements and Performance

Pages 5 - 9

3. Structure, Governance and Management

Pages 10 - 12

Appendix A – Company Accounts 2018

2

1. Company Objectives ALPSIT has been established to fulfil a number of objectives in respect of the primary phase schools in the Archdiocese. These are established in the Articles of Association provided to all Members and Directors. In fulfilling the objects of the charity, the Members and Directors shall seek to: •

promote the efficiency and effectiveness of educational institutions providing primary education and the efficient and effective application of resources for such purposes including by promoting and disseminating models of good practice and by the delivery of support services generally to such institutions;

•

advance the education of people who work or volunteer in, or govern, educational institutions in order to assist those persons to deliver a high quality education to the pupils and communities served by those institutions;

•

establish, maintain, support and sponsor (where appropriate) Catholic Academies under the direction of the Liverpool Roman Catholic Archdiocesan Trust;

•

promote or assist in the promotion of Catholic education in the Diocese, being education which is conducted in accordance with the principles, practices, tenets and teachings of the Catholic Church and all Canon Law applying thereto;

•

facilitate collaboration between the Catholic primary schools in the Diocese and beyond, in conjunction with the Diocesan Education Service, so that they may better serve their communities and promote the common good;

•

promote or assist in the promotion of religious education and religious worship in schools in the Archdiocese.

3

The ALPSIT Membership Rules, provided to all Members and Directors, further set out to: •

maintain, promote and develop a Catholic ethos in each Archdiocesan school;

•

secure a high quality education for all pupils in all Archdiocesan schools;

•

facilitate collaboration between the schools and the sharing of expertise and best practice in respect of teaching and learning;

•

provide and develop strategic leadership and local capacity and accountability, attracting, recruiting and developing the very best teachers and leaders;

•

support governors and parents in fulfilling their roles;

•

develop and maintain strategic partnerships with key national and international organisations who can assist the trust to secure its objectives;

•

provide a strong financial base for Catholic primary education in the Archdiocese, committed to reinvesting any surplus generated from its activities into the trust’s capacity to further these objectives.

There are no proposed changes to the Membership Rules for 2018/19.

4

2. Achievements and Performance The Charity’s initial activities for the period 2017 – 2018, as set out in the Membership Rules, were as follows: •

providing high quality information, support and challenge to schools to improve standards through appointing a primary School Improvement Adviser and working with dedicated School Improvement Partners who are vetted and monitored by the trust;

•

preparing schools for the developing assessment accountability measures through joint standardisation of pupils’ evidence of learning, and shared agreement of expectations of progress across reception and key stages 1 and 2;

•

brokering and quality assuring a school-to-school support, consultancy and professional development offer through consultants based in schools and centrally as noted above;

•

offering professional senior and middle leadership development, provided through the teaching schools in the Archdiocese;

•

offering support for governance and for newly qualified teachers;

•

facilitating learning hubs and research and development networks between schools;

•

capturing, transferring and sharing effective practice across and between schools

A number of year 1 priorities were established in furtherance of delivering agreed Trust activities, namely: 1)

To develop a vision and values framework for the trust

2)

To establish a highly effective School Improvement Partner (SIP) Service

3)

To map strengths and areas for development across the Trust

4)

Building sustainable partnerships and securing funding

5)

To develop a leadership and talent management strategy

5

Work towards these priority areas is outlined in the table below: Priority

Activity

Progress

Priority 1 - To develop a vision and values framework for the trust

(i) Establish vision, core values and aims (ii) Create an ALPSIT website (iii) ALPSITnews Twitter and Facebook set up and all schools with twitter followed (iv) Creation of an ALPSIT logo

(i) Approved by the Board and agreed by Headteachers Core Values • To operate for the good of all Archdiocesan primary schools and children • To hold our Catholic ethos at the heart of all that we do • To operate as a charitable not for profit organisation • To ensure all schools can benefit from the wider collaboration whatever allegiances/groups/roles they already participate in • To create an ethos of trust, challenge and support • To be outward looking and seek innovation that could improve our schools • To be committed to developing a research-based, datafocused approach that enable the most effective use of our resources and expertise to inform future planning and areas of improvement • To be celebratory about the good practice and the systematic sharing of it Core Aims • To facilitate collaborative practice within the Archdiocesan family of schools working in partnership to secure education improvement and innovation • To create equality of provision across all Archdiocesan schools; a network of excellent schools supporting eachother • To create sustainable partnerships and working relationships with local authority areas creating a seamless package of support for schools that are in need • To work in a preventative manner with all schools to ensure we maintain our good and outstanding schools • To develop and maintain strong strategic partnerships with key national and international organisations that can support us in our improvement journey • To attract, recruit and develop the very best teachers and leaders and continue to develop and celebrate talent within the Archdiocese • To attract and engage new possible funding sources to build capacity in our system for school improvement • To act on behalf of schools as an economies of scale brokerage service (ii) ALPSIT website fully operational: https://alpsit.org.uk/ (iii) ALPSIT Twitter account fully operational: https://twitter.com/ALPSITnews

6

(iv) ALPSIT Facebook site is www.facebook.com/ALPSITnews1 (v) Logo developed following competition across member schools (vi) Principle of a strategic plan agreed by the Board for further development in 2018/19 Priority 2 - To establish a highly effective School Improvement Partner (SIP) Service

(i) SIPs available to all schools (ii) Quality assurance of SIP provision (iii) Common systems and processes for all SIPs (iv) Data sharing

(i) 70 schools with Archdiocesan SIPs, with other schools accessing SIPs from elsewhere. All schools have access to a SIP (ii) 16 ALPSIT SIPs have been engaged (iii) Regular training for SIPs (iv) Development of a SIP handbook (v) Data sharing between ALPSIT and all local authorities.

Data analysis service employed to interpret and present data

Priority 3 - To map strengths and areas for development across the Trust

(i) Impact proformas issued to all schools (ii) Development of best practice directory

(i) Proformas returned by 65 schools with visits to 41 schools (ii) Launch conference in September provided a showcase to schools to present examples of best practice. In total 74 schools were represented at an event at Hope University, supported by sponsorship to limit the financial impact on the Trust (iii) The principle of ‘solution satellites’ established through which an area of concern (or for investigation) is identified, focused initially on areas of work identified by participating schools, or matters raised from SIP reports. A central steering group (‘hub’) of strengths and areas of need is then created and specific schools take a lead for an area of practice (‘spoke’). The initial satellites will be on ‘diminishing the difference’ (with specific focus on EYFS and mathematics) and ‘leadership development’ (iv) Teaching Schools Partnership developed, with inaugural meeting in September 2018

Priority 4 Building sustainable partnerships & securing funding

(i) Access to NPQ training (ii) Successful Strategic School Improvement Fund (SSIF) submissions and/or other external funding opportunities (iii) Develop opportunities for collaborative purchasing agreements across the Trust

(i) NPQH, NPQSL, NPQML, and NPQEL scholarship places funded for schools in ALPSIT and ALSSIT (ii) SSIF funding no longer made available by the Department for Education (iii) Agreements brokered with companies including Pearsons, The School Bus, and Arbor Education for preferential rates for ALPSIT members (iv) ALPSIT working closely with ALSSIT’s Finance Director to explore future procurement opportunities (v) Contract audit undertaken in collaboration with Churchmarketplace

7

Priority 5 - To develop a leadership and talent management strategy

(i) Development of strategy, develop involvement of schools, and establish implementation timeline

(i) Talent management matrix agreed by the Board (ii) Training in July 2018 to use the matrix (iii) Participant schools to self-evaluate in summer term 2018 before use matrix to map whole school team (iv) Feedback, review, and consideration of collaboration opportunities to be considered spring 2019

A strategic plan for the period 2018 – 2021 has also been established, based on five strategic objectives: Strategic Objective Outcomes 1. Communication To ensure all our schools within Strategy the Archdiocese of Liverpool feel supported and heard by ALPSIT

Key Initiatives • Headteacher meetings by local authority • Perspective Lite • Website • Twitter • Facebook

2. School Improvement

• Solution satellites • Sharing of good practice directory • Sharing of good practice events • Annual conference

To ensure that all schools have access to high quality school to school support To ensure systematic sharing of good practice and lessons learned within the Trust To ensure schools within ALPSIT are supported to achieve good or better (Ofsted) and can meet national attainment and progress requirements

3. SIP Service

To ensure all schools within the trust have a school improvement partner To ensure, through the development of a SIP service, that all SLPSIT schools that would like an ALPSIT SIP have access to one To ensure the role of the SIP is supported, managed and monitored to ensure a highquality service is provided 8

• High quality training and support for SIPs • Half termly meetings • Yearly skills analysis • Ongoing monitoring of SIP reports

4. Professional Development

To ensure all ALPSIT schools recruit and retain the highest quality staff

• Teaching schools partnership CPD mapping • Talent management mapping • Leadership development days

To ensure all staff have CPD opportunities provided to help them grow and improve in their role To ensure that leadership is strategically mapped across the Trust and succession planning and talent management are key features 5. Financial Sustainability

To ensure that the role of the Trust is financially sustainable To ensure our schools benefit financially due to any economies of scale brokerage and partnerships developed To ensure any additional funding streams are utilised to benefit the work of the Trust

9

• Churchmarketplace audit • Funding applications as the opportunities arise • Exploration into the charitable status of the Trust

3. Structure, Governance, and Management In accordance with the Articles of Association and the Membership Rules, the Board of Directors is made up of at least the following: (a)

The Episcopal Vicar for Schools and Colleges (ex officio);

(b)

the Director of Schools and Colleges (ex officio);

(c)

the Diocesan Schools Officers (Primary) (ex officio);

(d)

Up to eleven persons elected by those Member Educational Institutions who are primary schools or academies (including “all-through� schools) entitled to vote at the Annual General Meeting with three being voted by and elected as a representatives of those schools who are Teaching Schools and eight being headteachers of a primary school or academy and each being a representative of either the local authority areas of Halton, Knowsley, Lancashire, Liverpool, Sefton , St Helens, Warrington and Wigan, and;

(e) one person as a representative of the governors from educational institutions offering primary education within Liverpool Archdiocese, jointly nominated by the governors of those institutions.

Directors who are elected shall hold office for a period of two years from the date of that election, without prejudice to their re-election.

10

The Board of Directors for 2017/18 Position

Director

Date of Appointment

Episcopal Vicar for Schools and Colleges Fr Michael O’Dowd (ex officio)

11/08/2017

Director of Schools and Colleges (ex Tim Warren officio)

11/08/2017

Diocesan Schools Officer (Primary) (ex Ian Beck officio)

11/08/2017

Diocesan Schools Officer (Primary) (ex Paula Jacobs officio)

11/08/2017

Diocesan Schools Officer (Primary) (ex Maria McGarry officio)

11/08/2017

Diocesan Schools Officer (Primary) (ex Gary Senior officio)

11/08/2017

Teaching School Representative

Deborah Bostock

11/08/2017

Teaching School Representative

Janette Cook-Hannah

11/08/2017

Teaching School Representative

Pat Speed

11/08/2017

School Representative (Halton)

Faith Tiernan

11/08/2017

School Representative (Knowsley)

Jude Ryan

11/08/2017

School Representative (Lancashire)

Cecilia Rigby

11/08/2017

School Representative (Liverpool)

Andrea Connearn

11/08/2017

School Representative (St Helens)

Rebecca Flynn

11/08/2017

School Representative (Sefton)

Kathryn Monaghan

11/08/2017

School Representative (Warrington)

Dominic Vernon

11/08/2017

School Representative (Wigan)

Elizabeth Somers

11/08/2017

Governor Representative

Tony Hegarty

11/08/2017

11

Retirements Rebecca Flynn and Elizabeth Somers have provided written notification of their wish to retire from the Board of Directors for 2018/19. To ensure that all places on the Board are filled appropriately, new nominations were sought to fill those vacancies. It has therefore been determined by the Board that the following directors are proposed for 2019/20:

School Representative (St Helens)

Sara Johnson

School Representative (Wigan)

Joanne Farrimond

Management and Staffing Klare Rufo was appointed as the Primary Trust Advisor, as of 1 January 2018, to co-ordinate, develop, and lead the work within and between ALPSIT and its Members and external organisations.

12