The Collegiate Trust Annual Report 2023

ANNUAL REPORT DECEMBER 2023

OUR SCHOOLS 1STJune 2012

Parimal Bhatt, Principal, Riddlesdown Collegiate

I am delighted to share with you this Annual Report on The Collegiate Trust (TCT) – our first since my appointment as CEO in September 2022. Building on the excellent work of my predecessor and founding CEO, Gordon Smith, I am privileged to lead our Trust in our mission of collaboration to deliver exceptional education. For us, that means something that is academically rigorous, full of opportunities for creative and cultural learning and crucially develops the skills and qualities that our learners will need to be successful at school and beyond. Today, we are a family of 8 schools in Croydon and Crawley, all of whom share a culture of ambition that is focussed on people and learning. In this Annual Report, I hope that you will see how that focus translates into activities which lead to achievement and enjoyment for all.

Whilst still relatively new to my post, I have been part of the Trust since its inception, having initially joined the team at Riddlesdown in April 2006. I have been extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to develop professionally within the Trust and it is my determination that all colleagues across our teams benefit from similar opportunities for professional growth.

With the addition of Kenley Primary School in September 2021 and then Woodcote High School in April 2023, the Trust continues to grow in scale and this growth brings fresh opportunities for collaboration.

The Trust now employs 800+ colleagues and educates almost 6,000 pupils. Whilst the Board of Directors has set a Growth Strategy for the coming years, it will be the continued developments in the quality of our work, driven by strong cohesion across our schools, that will be more important than growth in numbers. We work to deliver the best standards in each of our schools and are excited by the prospect of working with new schools whose visions and values align with ours and where a partnership would be mutually beneficial.

This report complements our Financial Statements and Trustees’ Report, which are statutory documents and can be found on our website, tct-academies.org. You will also find on our website a range of other information which will help you to better understand how our Trust works. If you would like to explore working with us – whether as an employee, a school, another trust, a community group or any other interested party – please do get in touch at admin@tct-academies.org or on 03300 100701.

Soumick Dey

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

1st Nov 2016 Sarah Dunne, Principal, Gossops Green Primary School

1st Mar 2018 James Purveur, Principal, Waterfield Primary School 1st June 2018

Andy Crofts, Executive Principal Tom Beecham, Head of School, The Quest Academy Joanne Stawman, Head of School, Quest Primary School

1st Sep 2018

Natasha Grant, Principal, Courtwood Primary School

1st Sep 2021

Katie Turner, Executive Principal, Kenley Primary School Jacki Keogh, Head of School, Kenley Primary School 1st Apr 2023

Kirstie Woodcock, Principal, Woodcote High School

CENTRAL TEAM LEADERS Katie Turner

Lyla Dey

Lucy Bruce

Daniel Pyke

Liz James

Lewis Burgess

Charles Gardiner-Graham

Kelly Livingstone

Director of Education

Director of Performance & Quality

Director of HR

Director of Estates

Chief Finance Officer

Director of Finance

Director of IT

Director of Operations

EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATION FOR ALL Our Trust benefits from having a dedicated Improvement Team focused on improving curriculum, teaching, and learning across our family of schools.

The Education Team, led by Mrs Katie Turner, benefits from a wealth of expertise including extensive experience in school leadership, curriculum design, subject leadership, early reading and post-16 provision.

Outcomes for learners are strengthened through our mission to work collaboratively to share expertise and to support each other in developing learning that responds to the needs of individual pupils and students. Such collaboration has been enhanced with the implementation of our Professional Networks. These are led and facilitated by specialists in their area, bringing together colleagues with common roles and responsibilities to develop the most impactful approaches to school improvement.

Our Trust Improvement Strategy has been informed by a focus on people and learning; in turn, this has shaped our approach to Performance Development whereby teachers utilise an inquiry approach to understand the learners’ needs and use evidence informed approaches to refine, develop or improve strategies in order to identify the most impactful practice in the classroom.

To enhance our strategy for professional learning and leadership development, leaders across our Trust facilitate development training for the Early Career Framework and suite of National Professional Qualifications, in partnership with UCL, with a mission to deliver exceptional education for all.

PERFORMANCE AND QUALITY We take pride in the quality of our schools and our ability to deliver an exceptional education for all for a broad age range – from 3 to 18. To support pupils on this educational journey, our provision and outcomes are quality assured through the ‘Performance and Quality Reviews’ and ‘Safeguarding Audits.’ These peer review opportunities enable us to best understand the mechanisms and processes that are undertaken at school level which enable great progress, high standards of academic success and offer a valuable opportunity to collaborate across the Trust. Growing numbers of ‘Professional Networks’ allow a vehicle for like-minded colleagues to collectively come together and share good practice, whilst learning from each other. From Safeguarding to Science, these Networks allow specialists to disseminate impactful strategies and support us in our continual development.

NURSERY AND POST-16

SUCCESSES & DEVELOPMENTS PRIMARY

In the Trust, we are fortunate to have two Nursery provisions at Quest Primary and Waterfield Primary. These allow us to introduce a curriculum that sets young pupils up for success when they start Reception. At the other end of the school experience, we have three Sixth Forms across our secondary schools offering a wide range of courses, including A Level and vocational qualifications. These provisions offer valuable learning in school and provide the stepping stones for future destinations, with the vast majority of pupils moving into higher education.

Following the success of the ‘Good’ Ofsted outcome at Quest Primary and the rapid and on-going curriculum development in the school, numbers on roll have continued to rise and the school is now a popular choice for parents/ carers with children in the local community.

SUCCESSES & DEVELOPMENTS SECONDARY As we returned to a level of normal after Covid and qualification returned to pre pandemic standards, we saw really promising outcomes for pupils across our three Secondary schools. In March 2023 Riddlesdown Collegiate had their efforts publicly recognised by Ofsted with an ‘Outstanding’ judgement received across all areas. This was coupled with an impressive Progress 8 score of 0.50 which is indicative of how well pupils grow academically in the school.

The Quest Academy continues to be a popular choice for families in the Croydon area. With a higher proportion of pupils being entered for the EBaac suite of subjects than national (English, maths, sciences, a language and either history or geography), we can see the level of ambition that leaders have for all pupils.

We welcomed Woodcote High School into our family of schools at Easter 2023. They too celebrated success with a Progress 8 of 0.23, which is above average. Across all our secondaries, there is a collective focus on academic rigour whilst providing robust support systems so that all pupils can achieve their best.

Both Waterfield Primary and Courtwood Primary achieved a fantastic set of outcomes for pupils at the end of Reception with the proportion of children achieving a good level of development exceeding the national average.

This is evidence of the time and continued efforts that our schools invest into the provision in Reception as we know that if children get off to a flying start in their education, then this lays the foundations for future success.

We were impressed by the pupils’ achievements at the end of Key Stage One for the pupils in Kenley Primary.

Collectively, the number of pupils who reached the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths exceeded the national average – we look forward to seeing future success stories from these pupils.

At The Collegiate Trust, we know that the ability to read and take pleasure from the enjoyment of reading underpins access to the wider curriculum. We promote a sharp focus on early reading and make sure that all pupils make rapid progress from their starting points. We were particularly impressed with the outcomes of pupils at Gossops Green and Waterfield Primary who well exceeded national averages in the phonics screening check. We wished all our Year 6 pupils good luck as they sat the Year 6 SATS in May 2023, and know that they will build on these great outcomes as they continue their respective educational journeys at secondary school.

The academic outcomes and personal growth achieved by pupils in our primary schools is indicative of the strength of our Trust and the impact that we can have when working collectively.

CAPITAL DEVELOPMENTS In 2022/23, the Trust received almost £900k in School Condition Allocation and Devolved Formula Capital for its schools, which it deployed over various capital projects ranging from the installation of new fire doors, building new classrooms and enhancements to the learning environment. Use of capital funding is always on a priority basis, addressing health and safety needs first. In addition to the core capital funding, the Trust also received £190k as an Energy Efficiency Grant to address issues that would help our schools to become more energy efficient. This has been used to upgrade existing lighting fixtures to LED lighting and to address issues with boilers and insulation leaks. The capital funding has allowed the Trust to invest in the infrastructure of our schools, improving both pupils’ safety and learning and operational efficiencies.

Courtwood Primary

The Quest Academy

Quest Primary

Waterfield Primary

Gossops Green Primary

Kenley Primary

Riddlesdown Collegiate

Central Trust

Figure 1 – Utilisation of Capital Grant

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF THE TRUST Schools within the Trust continued to contribute 4.4% of their general grant income to cover the cost of work and services that are provided or resourced centrally. This includes support to schools through school improvement, financial management and monitoring, HR, estates management, governance support and IT. In 2022/23, the Trust received income of £36m which was entirely spent on supporting and delivering an exceptional education for all pupils across our Trust. A further £3m is held in reserves for the Trust’s longer-term development.

Teachers in Schools Support Staff in Schools Learning Resources Central Trust Team

Figure 2 – How Income is Spent

GOVERNANCE OF THE TRUST

There are three levels of governance in our Trust:

Members

A group of five, who have delegated the strategic development of the Trust and oversight of its performance to a Board of Trustees/Directors. The role of the Members, therefore is to monitor the performance of the Board and make sure the Trust is fulfilling its charitable object mentioned earlier. The group of Members is chaired by Mrs Sue Lewis.

Trustees / Directors

A group of eleven which oversees all aspects of the Trust’s work and holds to account the CEO (who is a Trustee) and other senior staff. Mr Philip Hogan and Mrs Fiona McSorley have been re-elected as Chair and Vice Chair respectively of the Board of Trustees/Directors for the current year. We welcomed to this group in Summer 2023 Mr Sajid Ghani, Mr James Palmer and Mr Vernon Rapley as new Trustees. Details of all our Members and Board colleagues can be found on our website.

Local Governing Bodies

Each school has its Local Governing Body (LGB) which is made up of parent, staff, local authority and Trust appointed governors. The LGB works to the Trust’s Scheme of Delegation and monitors the work of the school through the Principal to ensure standards are good and improving.

Our governance community is supported by the Governance & Compliance Manager, Mrs Sara Scott.

To find out more about the Trust’s governance structure, members and directors, please visit tct-academies.org/the-directors.

OFSTED SUCCESS In the last eighteen months, the Trust has seen four Ofsted inspections in its schools. In 2022, ungraded inspections at both Waterfield Primary School and Courtwood Primary School confirmed that they remain GOOD schools. In March 2023, Quest Primary School (previously Gilbert Scott Primary School) was judged to be GOOD in all areas – for the first time in over 12 years. This was the first inspection at that school since it joined TCT in 2018 and the outcome is testament to the hard work, determined leadership and level of ambition that exists at the school today.

In addition, Riddlesdown Collegiate, the founding school of the Trust, was again judged OUTSTANDING (in all areas), also in March 2023, demonstrating how the Trust’s vision of exceptional education for all is successfully being delivered to 2000+ students through a well-developed and high achieving “small schools” model. We are very proud of these achievements and the associated recognition for the excellent quality of our work.

STRATEGIC DRIVERS The Trust has four Strategic Drivers which form the Strategic Plan 2022-25 and inform the priorities in the Development Plans of our schools:

Delivering Exceptional Education

Investing in People

STRATEGIC DRIVERS Providing High Quality Business Support

Growing the Organisation Figure 3 – Strategic Drivers

SCALE

ACTIVITY

COHESION Figure 4 – Growth Strategy

With reference to Strategic Driver 4, organisational growth is not purely about the number of schools within the Trust (SCALE). It is more importantly about the type of work that we choose to do as a Trust (ACTIVITY) and, most importantly, how we choose to work together to maximise the partnership dividend for all (COHESION).