We are Omega Multi-Academy Trust, a trust that is ambitious for our learners, our colleagues and the communities we serve. We are driven by a simple mission statement that drives everything we do: We want to provide the best school experience possible for every child, whilst simultaneously being the best employer we can be. Put simply, we want our children, our staff and our communities to flourish.
We are a values driven organisation with a simple philosophy; placing children at the heart of every decision, we always try to do what is right to deliver at least what we would expect for our own children. Being part of Omega MAT means high expectations as standard, of ourselves, of each other and of every learner. This means High Performance by design.
Omega Multi-Academy Trust, was established in 2012 and is a multiphase academy trust of six schools, including four primary schools and two secondary schools, both with sixth form provision.
Our current schools are located in the Department for Education’s Northwest region, within the local authorities of Warrington and Liverpool. Our schools vary in size, from 200 at Burtonwood Community Primary School to 2120 at Great Sankey High School, serving children from age 4 to young adults in Post-16 provision. Alsop High School joined the Trust as our first sponsored academy in November 2020.
With the launch of our new Strategic Plan 2022-24, we entered a new strategic era that aims to ensure each school thrives, whilst also engaging in collaborative work with other trusts across the region and more widely. The Trust, and each of its constituent schools, has benefitted from this redefinition and a renewed contribution to the wider education system for the benefit of its communities.
The Trust was privileged to be part of an Ofsted MAT Summary Evaluation in November 2022, which reflected positively on the work of the Trust. Inspectors identified key strengths in the culture we have nurtured, our clear and unambiguous vision that drives a strong sense of pace and momentum, and our programme for leadership and staff development.
Joined Omega MAT in November 2020 NOR: 1534 including 146 in the 6th form Ofsted inspection, Section 5, May 2023; Requires Improvement
Joined Omega MAT in November 2012 NOR: 2118 including 238 in the 6th form Ofsted inspection, Section 8, March 2023; Good
Joined Omega MAT in January 2018
NOR: 201
Ofsted inspection, Section 5, May 2023; Good
Joined Omega MAT in January 2018
NOR: 628
Ofsted inspection, Section 8, March 2022; Good
Joined Omega MAT in January 2018
NOR: 211
Ofsted inspection, Section 8, April 2022; Good
Joined Omega MAT in January 2018
NOR: 359
Ofsted inspection, Section 8, May 2022; Good
Our strategy is deeply rooted in the needs of our schools and their communities, ensuring their unique requirements are at the forefront of our decision-making. By aligning our objectives with these needs, we can effectively address the challenges faced by our schools and make a meaningful impact on their growth and success.
Our governance structure provides a solid foundation from which to drive accountability for school standards, whilst robustly managing risk and ensuring financial regularity, prioritising the welfare and wellbeing of our children and our staff. We employ a highly effective Governance Professional who, together with the Chair of Trustees (with several years of experience as a National Leader of Governance) ensures our governance structures operate effectively and strategically, equipping our governing boards and committees with the right balance of skills, knowledge and expertise necessary to execute their fiduciary duties with confidence.
Our proactive approach allows us to be prepared for growth and ready to meet the evolving needs of our existing schools, with the scalability to support new schools as opportunities arise.
A key factor in our growth is our willingness to engage with external stakeholders and regulatory bodies to scrutinise our work. It is through this openness that we seek to enhance our practice in all aspects of the Trust’s work, embracing feedback and using this a a driver for continuous improvement.
As an example, our engagement with internal auditors has driven several aspects of our business, receiving Substantial or Strong outcomes in all of our recent audits.
“The Trust has well-thought-out, appropriate strategic priorities which align with the contextual needs of the trust schools. There is a strong sense of pace and momentum to improve educational outcomes for pupils. Suitable governance structures and clear lines of accountability are in place. Trustees carefully delegate considerable responsibility for the performance of individual schools to local governing bodies. Trustees are unrelenting in their drive to improve the quality of education that pupils receive.”
Ofsted, MAT Summary Evaluation November 2022
Commencing July 2022, the Trust engaged in a programme of Leadership Development, built on ‘Human Factors’ philosophy. We wanted to establish a system of ‘just culture’ where we could share our vulnerabilities as leaders so that we can collectively support each other in our Trust and more widely across the education sector. Our trust-wide systems are built around this philosophy, safeguarding psychological safety and embracing absolute candour from our leaders. This drives a shared sense of ownership, harnessing the power of genuine school-to-school support to address our relative weaknesses, whilst exploiting our strengths through the generous sharing of best practice.
Our approach to leadership development is rooted in these principles and has provided a clear succession plan for a new generation of school leaders. We proactively identify opportunities for professional development that articulate and develop the behaviours that we want our leaders to embody and perpetuate through their leadership of other colleagues. These are also the qualities we look for in our recruitment.
We embrace accountability and engage ourselves in external scrutiny because we will never be the finished article; we can learn from other schools, other trusts and other sectors. Our approach ensures transparency and efficacy in our systems and processes.
“The CEO provides strong, strategic leadership. He has a forensic understanding of the trust’s strengths and weaknesses. Regularly brokered external audits give trustees assurances that their selfevaluation process is accurate”
Ofsted, MAT Summary Evaluation
November 2022
The Trust has established itself as an outward-facing, learning organisation and has strong working relationships with civic partners in both Liverpool and Warrington. We fully understand and embrace our role in the wider education system and engage positively with local authority school improvement systems, as both donors and beneficiaries of expertise, advice and practical support as required.
The CEO and executive leaders across the Trust engage positively in wider networks, from the local Safeguarding Board to the National Association of Academy Safeguarding Advisers, and from local/regional CEO learning sets and national bodies such as the Confederation of School Trusts. This helps us to understand the contextual challenges of our communities and to work proactively in supporting through our schools.
We are collaborative in our approach to school and trust improvement and have benefitted from highly effective and mutually supportive relationships with other trusts, both within and outside the Northwest region. We know our strengths as a trust and have demonstrated our willingness to share this practice with others in the spirit of professional generosity. Equally, where we need to develop, we have the humility to actively seek out expertise from other trusts and sectors to learn from the best.
“As an outward-facing organisation, the trust engages well with local authorities. Leaders draw on external expertise from within the local authorities themselves and from their wider connections. Leaders also intend to reciprocate this support by contributing to local authorities’ wider school improvement plans.”
Ofsted, MAT Summary Evaluation
November 2022
The resilience and wellbeing of our workforce is underpinned, first and foremost, by our aspiration for a truly ‘just culture’ and our standard of ethical leadership across the Trust. We have high expectations as standard, driven by a philosophy of high performance for all, but with a strong focus on retaining the right staff with the aim to provide them with the right opportunities for development and growth.
Our People Strategy aims to ensure everyone in the Trust is known, valued and supported. Recognising the importance of staff wellbeing, we have embedded a comprehensive charter for wellbeing, recognition and reward. Our charter reinforces a culture that prioritises the health, safety and welfare of our colleagues and we have invested in a robust staff benefits package (hapi), which includes financial, physical and mental wellbeing support.
Our Safeguarding and People Service is a key professional service in underlining workforce resilience. We have fostered close working relationships with Trade Unions across the region, have practical experience in the harmonisation of policies and procedures across Local Authority areas and our scalable model of HR Business Partnering means capacity to support other schools is built-in.
“There is a rigorous approach to staff development at all levels. The development of subject networks within the trust is also contributing to the growth and development of leaders at all levels.
There is investment in staff wellbeing. Executive leaders have introduced the Omega MAT+ package to improve working conditions. School leaders appreciate the recent initiatives to support with their workload. The support that executive leaders offer makes the trust an attractive employer. Early Career Teachers said that this employer is committed to nurturing their talents and they were effusive about the support that they receive.”
Ofsted, MAT Summary Evaluation November 2022
Omega MAT is financially secure. Our consistent track record of in-year surplus has generated a substantial and secure financial platform on which to build and grow. With strong financial benchmarks compared to similar trusts, we have demonstrated an astute understanding of the effective and efficient use of resources and how this has underpinned our financial health. Financial systems of control are scalable, through cloud-based financial and management information systems that harness the power of a distributed approach to financial control, with strong financial accountability by design.
Recent developments in our equitable approach to funding our schools means the Trust and each of its schools benefit from budget-setting processes driven by need and context, not restricted by the direct relationship between income and expenditure. This means that all schools can thrive, realising economies of scale and ensuring funds can be ploughed back into our schools for the benefit of the children and young people we serve.
We have a strong track-record of strategic investment in our schools to ensure they are inspiring and engaging places to learn and work. Investment in the learning environment has been recognised in recent inspections, prioritising spending to ensure it directly improves the quality of education.
The Trust has worked hard to determine what it considers to be best practice, based on the latest research, which we publish as our ‘Guiding Principles’. These codify what we expect from our schools, from the design of their curriculum, their approach to assessment and inclusive practices, to the cultural approach to safeguarding and the management of behaviour and attendance. Developed with and alongside our school leaders, these become the rubric against which we self-evaluate.
Our approach to school improvement has been developed to support leaders in identifying, at both local and trust level, where there are strengths and areas for development, using a blend of internal systems, and/or external experts. This enables the Trust to proactively facilitate the sharing of best practice, to deploy strategic support as required and to drive effective collaboration to secure improvement at pace.
The capacity for school improvement lies in harnessing the power of genuine school to school support. The expertise required exists in the school system, either within the Trust or more widely. Our collaborative review programme, which drives regular dialogue and deep critical thinking about our work, enables us to establish supportive response to risks, ensuring access to best practice and deploying expertise where needed. This approach to school improvement is not restricted by size or scale; trust capacity is established to facilitate these systems and processes, with strong accountability for their impact as standard.
“There is a strong sense of pace and momentum to improve educational outcomes for pupils, which are already having a positive impact on pupils’ learning and achievement. Primary school leaders said that they, and their pupils, are now benefiting more fully from being part of this trust.”
Ofsted, MAT Summary Evaluation, November 2022
Alsop High School joined Omega MAT in November 2020 having been graded inadequate 18 months earlier, and judged to require Special Measures. The chronic challenges at the school were compounded by the widespread impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Two months after Alsop joined the Trust, the national lockdown again led to the schools closure. Whilst simultaneously supporting the school with its Covid 19 response, the Trust established a School Improvement Team and deployed a School Development Partner. Working alongside the Leadership Team we overhauled the curriculum and developed an ambitious, broad, knowledge-rich and well-sequenced curriculum.
When the school fully reopened in March 2021, pupils had missed a significant period of their education, however, the school was in a stronger position to meet their needs through the curriculum offer. Trust and school leaders prioritised building culture by establishing effective routines with the overarching purpose of creating a calm, orderly, safe and supportive learning environment.
In response to a change in school leadership in April 2021, the Trust deployed an experienced Executive Headteacher to maintain momentum whilst ensuring a smooth transition until the appointment of the substantive, now current, Headteacher in September 2021.
The Trust has developed effective mechanisms which enable significant support through comprehensive CPD focused on building collective efficacy to implement the curriculum. Effective attendance and pastoral teams have been built through increasing leadership capacity and clarification of roles and responsibilities.
Coupled with high support, the Trust has provided high challenge and supported the school leadership to evolve quality assurance processes which precisely identify actions for improvement. Challenging custom and practice has been vital to school improvement and the effective support of the Trust HR Professional Services has had a significant impact on supporting leaders to address underperformance, absence and the wellbeing of colleagues. Ofsted are satisfied that Senior Leaders and Trustees know what needs to be done to improve the school.
“The current Headteacher together with the Trust and newly formed Local Governing Body, have brought much needed stability to the school.”
Ofsted, May 2023
“In most subjects, curriculum plans are ambitious and well-thought out. Subject leaders have considered carefully what pupils learn and the order in which they should learn it.”
Ofsted, May 2023
Since our incorporation as a multi-academy trust, Omega MAT, its Trustees and Executive Leaders have carefully considered our vision for growth. Since we sponsored our first academy in November 2020, the Trust has augmented capacity for growth through the establishment of scalable systems for school improvement and the delivery of professional services that reliably meet the needs of our schools. Our schools have consistently demonstrated strength in outcomes or strong evidence of impact which means they are improving strongly. We have never seen growth as an aspiration in its own right, but as a means by which we contribute to school improvement in the wider education system
Building on our existing footprint in Warrington and Liverpool, our vision is to establish a trust infrastructure delivered through two discrete hubs in these areas. Our North Cheshire Hub, based in Warrington would utilise existing capacity to invite growth opportunities from across three local authority areas within easy reach of our established infrastructure. Our second hub, our Mersey/Wirral Hub, will serve an area across three surrounding local authority areas, building from our existing presence at Alsop High School in Liverpool.
We believe this would offer a coherent school support infrastructure, built upon the professional services model already established in Warrington, with a rolling investment in professional services capacity ahead of schools joining the Trust.
Conditions for growth: Our vision for growth remains one of discerning growth. This means we will retain our existing conditions as a benchmark for ensuring growth is not detrimental to our existing schools and adds value to those schools proposing to join the Trust.
6 Schools 5000 Learners
8 Schools 5500 Learners
12 Schools 7900 Learners
15 Schools 9300 Learners
18 Schools 10700 Learners
21 Schools 12000 Learners
3 2 LOCAL AUTHORITIES
1 EDUCATION INVESTMENT AREAS INVESTMENT PRIORITY AREA EDUCATION
76
LOCAL AUTHORITY MAINTAINED SCHOOLS
17 3
Outstanding Requires Improvement
54
Good
2
Inadequate
Our North Cheshire Hub has significant potential for growth from our existing infrastructure and within its current capacity. The Trust has already received expressions of interest from local schools in Warrington, who are keen to explore the prospect of joining our Trust, such is the emerging strength of our local reputation. The two neighbouring local authority areas of Halton and St Helens are both identified as Education Investment Areas, which in total provides scope for Omega MAT to contribute to the school improvement system in those areas.
In keeping with the published Trust Development Statements, across Halton and St Helens we would bring a strong track record of educational standards in the area, in Early Years, throughout the Primary Phase, up to and including Post-16 outcomes. Attendance across all our schools in the area is strong compared to national standards.
The investment in this hub would bring coherence to the DfE’s identified fragmented system in the area, building upon the Trust’s current engagement with other trust’s and local authorities across the region.
20 LOCAL AUTHORITY MAINTAINED SCHOOLS
26 LOCAL AUTHORITY MAINTAINED SCHOOLS 30 LOCAL AUTHORITY MAINTAINED SCHOOLS
ST HELENS 7
22
Omega MAT is already established within the Liverpool Local Authority area. We propose to develop the Trust’s infrastructure in this area, growing the capacity to engage with a wider cohort of schools across the neighbouring local authority areas of Knowsley and Wirral.
Initially, this hub would draw on the expertise, systems and processes from within existing capacity, alongside the augmentation of professional services in keeping with any planned growth. The development of this hub would contribute to the delivery of the vision for these areas as defined by the published Trust Development Statements for all three areas. Omega MAT would bring a strong track record of educational standards from its established schools, where strength in Early Years, the Primary Phases and within the Secondary Phase at Key Stage 4.
We have a forensic understanding of the social challenges underpinning poor attendance and are experienced in implementing systems and processes in schools to underpin and promote good attendance. The Trust is committed to inclusion as an ongoing thread of school improvement activity in all our schools and across both hubs, with low rates of exclusion in our established schools.
The investment in this hub would bring coherence to the DfE’s identified fragmented system in the area. Omega MAT is experienced in driving school improvement across a substantial geographical area and, through the development of this model, is committed to ensure no school is isolated, having equal access to the comprehensive professional services of a strong trust.
75 LOCAL AUTHORITY MAINTAINED SCHOOLS
62 LOCAL AUTHORITY MAINTAINED SCHOOLS 17 LOCAL AUTHORITY MAINTAINED SCHOOLS
Growth across the two proposed hubs will require rolling investment from the Trust to augment capacity in line with our growth trajectory. This will ensure the standards of support we provide to our schools across the two hubs continues to add value and drive standards.
WA5 3ZJ 01925 988 330
enquiries @omegamat.co.uk
omegamat.co.uk
