AGM REPORT 2020

Archdiocese of Liverpool Primary School Improvement Trust (ALPSIT) Annual General Meeting 14 December 2020

Annual Report and Financial Statement For the year ending 31 August 2019

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The Archdiocese of Liverpool Primary School Improvement Trust is a company limited by guarantee, registered at the Archdiocese Office, 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

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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.

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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 2020/21.

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2. Achievements and Performance The Charity’s activities for the period 2019/20, 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

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A strategic plan for the period 2018 – 2021 was established, based on five strategic objectives.

These objectives, along with progress over the year, are presented in the table below: Strategic Objective

Identified Outcomes

1. Communication To ensure all our Strategy schools within the Archdiocese of Liverpool feel supported and heard by ALPSIT

2. School Improvement

To ensure that all schools have access to high

Activities

Progress

Create and maintain ALPSIT website

ALPSIT website fully operational and up to date with all opportunities: https://alpsit.org.uk/

ALPSITnews Twitter and Facebook set up and all schools with twitter followed

ALPSIT Twitter account operational: https://twitter.com/ALPSITnews

Half Termly Newsletters

Newsletters shared via email and on the website. Feedback very positive https://alpsit.org.uk/news/2019-0708-july-newsletter

NEW Weekly Bulletin (during COVID 19)

To keep headteachers up to date and in regular contact during the pandemic. https://alpsit.org.uk/trust/newsletters

NEW Policy Update Briefing document

New document created – half termly reviewing all policy changes and summaries of new documents. https://alpsit.org.uk/goodpractice/policy-updates

ALSPIT Subject Leadership Newsletter

Available via all the facebook pages.

ALPSIT Termly update

Regular updates conducted as part of the Archdiocese Headteacher meetings.

School visits

Trust advisor has personally visited 126 schools to date.

Solution satellites

Solution satellites were up and running between Sep – March 2020 but are currently postponed due to COVID 19.

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fully

ALPSIT Facebook site www.facebook.com/ALPSITnews1

is

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

Other fully funded opportunities for school Improvement

Tutor Trust/EEF project 16 primary schools.

Science bug programme and training free Roar mental health training for all schools

Facebook Subject All subject areas covered. Membership Leadership Groups ranges between 20-100 members per group.

Subject Leadership Conference

Took place on 19th November 2020 and has been view by 510 participants.

The conference remains online for ALPSIT schools to access.

Annual conference

3rd Annual Headteacher Conference Just keep swimming too place on 13th October 2020 and was attended live by 159 headteachers, it has been watched a further 100 times since.

High quality training and support for SIPs

104 schools now with Archdiocesan SIPs an increase of 28 schools.

New SIP Training

20 ALPSIT SIPs have been engaged Regular training for SIPs Development of a SIP handbook

Half termly meetings Yearly skills analysis Ongoing monitoring of SIP reports

To ensure the role of the SIP is supported, managed and monitored to ensure a highquality service is provided 7

4. Professional Development

To ensure all Access to Free ALPSIT schools NPQ training recruit and retain the highest quality staff

NPQH, NPQSL, NPQML, and NPQEL scholarship places funded for schools in ALPSIT and ALSSIT. Saving over 1 million pounds to schools in the last three years.

To ensure all staff have CPD opportunities provided to help them grow and improve in their role

Leadership Development Strategy

Leadership steering group established, and Leadership survey designed and delivered to all schools. 90% response rate. 10 recommendations to action.

Talent management pilot

Talent Management matrices piloted in Sefton (25 schools) full report.

Headteacher wellbeing events

New opportunities to support the wellbeing of our headteachers include Headspace sessions with keynote speakers and Orange psychology sessions for leading in a pandemic.

Requested CPD opportunities

Many additional CPD focused on school improvement requested and conducted this year including pivotal behaviour training, Chester zoo whole school approach, The NASENCO award.

Develop opportunities for collaborative purchasing agreements across the Trust

Agreements brokered with companies including Pearson’s, The National College, Online National Safety, CPOMS, SEESAW, for preferential rates for ALPSIT members

ALPSIT working closely with ALSSIT’s Finance Director to explore future procurement opportunities.

Contract secured via DFE procurement platform for office supplies for schools for the second year.

Review of the cost of running the trust led to an

Articulated clearly to the schools the trust outlined an income/spending gap. The schools agreed an increase in

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

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benefit the work of the Trust

Increase to membership

membership costs. Placing the trust in a more financially viable position.

In the Archdiocesan Education Department’s strategic plan survey, 100% of School Improvement partners facilitated by ALPSIT were rated good or outstanding, with many other positive comments received about the impact of ALPSIT.

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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.

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The Board of Directors for 2020/21 Position

Director

Episcopal Vicar for Education (ex officio)

Fr Michael Fitzsimons 01/09/2019

Director of Schools and Colleges (ex officio)

Vacancy

Diocesan Schools Officer (Primary) (ex officio)

Bernie Shiels

01/09/2019

Diocesan Schools Officer (Primary) (ex officio)

Kathy Hall

01/09/2019

Diocesan Schools Officer (Primary) (ex officio)

Paula Jacobs

13/11/2017

Diocesan Schools Officer (Primary) (ex officio)

Maria McGarry

13/11/2017

Diocesan Schools Officer (Primary) (ex officio)

Win Douglas

03/02/2020

Diocesan Schools Officer (Primary) (ex officio)

Barbara Coulton

14/12/2020

Teaching School Representative

Deborah Bostock

13/11/2017 reappointed 13/11/2019

Teaching School Representative

Janette Cook-Hannah

13/11/2017 reappointed 13/11/2019

Teaching School Representative

Pat Speed

13/11/2017 reappointed 13/11/2019

School Representative (Halton)

Faith Tiernan

13/11/2017 reappointed 13/11/2019

School Representative (Knowsley)

Jude Ryan

13/11/2017 reappointed 13/11/2019

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Date of Appointment

School Representative (Lancashire)

Cecilia Rigby

13/11/2017 reappointed 13/11/2019

School Representative (Liverpool)

Andrea Connearn

13/11/2017 reappointed 13/11/2019

School Representative (St Helens)

Sara Johnson

01/09/2019

School Representative (Sefton)

Pete Chapman

01/09/2019

School Representative (Warrington)

Dominic Vernon

13/11/2017 reappointed 13/11/2019

School Representative (Wigan)

Joanne Farrimond

01/09/2019

Governor Representative

Tony Hegarty

25/11/2017 Reappointed 25/11/2017

Retirements Tim Warren retired from his position of Director of Education, and therefore his position on the ALPSIT Board of Directors, on 30 September 2020. The Acting Director of Education is Fr Michael Fitzsimons who also retains his existing designation as Episcopal Vicar for Education.

When an appointment by the Archdiocesan Trustees to the substantive post is made, the appointed officer will take up their ex officio position on the Board.

New Appointments Two new appointments to the post of Diocesan Schools Officer, Barbara Coulton and Win Douglas, have taken up the associated ex officio places on the Board.

Management and Staffing The existing appointed staff - Klare Rufo and Rhiain Jones - remain in post with no further additions during the year.

Accountants and Auditors BDO UK are presently appointed as accountants and auditors to ALPSIT. 12

Company Accounts The most recent Company Accounts are provided at Appendix A.

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