Annual Impact Report 2021-2022

WELCOME FROM THE CHAIR OF TRUSTEES

I am delighted to be able to present our end of year report. This is an exciting time to lead the Trust. We start 2023 with strong leadership, improved results, and a clear strategy for school improvement. We are investing in our people with a renewed focus to drive forward sustained improvement across Education for the 21st Century Trust so we can fulfil our mission of improving outcomes, transforming lives.

However, we do so against an increasingly challenging financial backdrop affecting our schools, families, and the children we serve. We will work hard together to manage these challenges, prioritise the education of our pupils and support our families. I know we can do this best by staying true to our vision and values building a strong culture across our family of schools. On behalf of the Trustee Board, I would like to sincerely thank our parents and carers for your support of our schools. We look forward to seeing them grow from strength to strength.

WELCOME FROM THE CEO

I’m delighted to share with you our first Impact Report. We aim to produce this annually following the submission of our financial statements and the verification of school standards in league tables. The purpose of the document is to give you a summary of how we have done in a number of key areas.

In general, the eight schools within our group of schools have made good progress this year. September 2022 saw many schools move forward with the curriculum, develop greater strength with teaching and learning and ensure greater stability in leadership. Schools have had a challenging few years and we have been doing our best to ensure that we come out stronger at the end of this year. I am delighted to say that, in general, outcomes have moved forward since 2019. We seem, at least, to have come through a challenging few years.

Over the next few months we begin working with key stakeholders to develop the next three year strategy for our group of schools. We aim to create greater resilience and to ensure that our schools are well placed to deliver high standards. More importantly though, we want to make sure that your children and our pupils are thriving in our schools. I’m looking forward to seeing how we come together over the coming months to develop a strategy that secures excellence across the board.

FACTS ABOUT OUR TRUST

SCHOOL LOCATION MAP

Goddington

Bromley South

Elmsted Woods

Chislehurst

Beckenham Junction

Farnborough

Bromley

ACADEMIES OFSTED RATINGS 1

7

MEAD ROAD INFANT (2011)

OUTSTANDING GOOD

SCOTTS PARK PRIMARY (2022) RAVENSWORTH PRIMARY (2018) BLENHEIM PRIMARY (2019) THE RAVENSBOURNE (2018) COOPERS (2018) SPIRES (2017) EDEN PARK HIGH (2021)

OUR VISION & VALUES

THE FOUR CRITICAL QUESTIONS

WHY DO WE EXIST?

To improve outcomes and transform lives.

HOW DO WE BEHAVE?

Trust

Kindness

Endeavour

WHAT DO WE DO?

We create welcoming and open schools for the local community, where every person thrives, makes excellent progress and succeeds.

HOW DO WE SUCCEED?

With aligned autonomy, a clear backbone, a strong culture, academic rigour and smart systems

% EXPECTED STANDARD+ READING, WRITING & MATHS

% EXPECTED STANDARD+ READING

% HIGHER STANDARD+ READING, WRITING & MATHS

% HIGHER STANDARD+ READING

KEY STAGE 4

% GRADE 4+ ENGLISH &MATHS

% GRADE 5+ ENGLISH &MATHS

A8 AVERAGE SCORE

P8 AVERAGE SCORE

STAGE 5

QUALITY OF EDUCATION

THE E21C CURRICULUM

This year we launched a consistent approach to the curriculum throughout our schools. This ensures that our pupils experience greater quality in curriculum design and that our teachers are supported with their planning. It has driven greater collaboration across the Trust and enabled shared assessment

INCLUSIVE

Every child is supported to access a full curriculum.

IMPROVING OUTCOMES

TRANSFORMING LIVES

SEQUENCED

Five year plans are carefully spiralled using spaced learning.

FOCUSED

Powerful knowledge is explicitly highlighted through Knowledge Organisers.

COHERENT

Schemata (Big Ideas) are used to link new content to previous learning.

THE E21C LESSON FRAMEWORK

The E21C lesson framework was launched at the beginning of September. Barak Rosenshine’s principles come from three sources: (a) research in cognitive science (b) research on master teachers, and (c) research on cognitive supports. There are 10 instructional principles that have been captured in our own framework. They ensure that our pupils have a lesson framework that supports long term memory and is consistent across the curriculum, This reduces in class variation in our schools and it means that pupils know what to expect when they walk through the doors or a classroom. Of course, it’s not a straight jacket for teachers. We don’t expect every lesson to look exactly the same

ASSESSMENT AND REPORTING

In September we continued to align assessment across our schools. The purpose of doing this is so that we can bring our teachers together to moderate work more effectively, share strategies and develop responsive resources. It also means that as parents you can benchmark your child’s progress against their peers.

BEHAVIOUR AND ATTENDANCE

This academic year, we introduced the Culture Rubric to assist schools with reviewing and improving rules, routines and behaviour. The rubric helps schools to identify areas for improvement and provides a framework for continuous evaluation. This year, we joined the DfE’s Behaviour Hubs programme, working with a partner MAT and primary school to ensure we have a consistent approach to routines. The behaviour and attendance forum and strategy group met twice, sharing challenges, good practice, and resources. Attendance continues to be a key focus for us. This included implementing a new graduated attendance approach, with clearer protocols for supporting and monitoring absence and punctuality.

INCLUSION

Our secondary schools welcomed new special needs and disability coordinators (SENDcos). Building parental confidence has been a priority. Four schools had successful SEND reviews, showing that leaders and governors are working together, to establish a clear vision and strategic intent for pupils with SEND. Schools have worked on better meeting the needs of pupils through a combination of in-class interventions, SEND champions who run specialist groups and the use of external services.

TRANSFORMING LIVES PRIMARY

Each of our primaries offers a wide selection of opportunities outside of the classroom. Our children have access to sport, music, dance, chess, gardening, and art clubs. We also run three Forest Schools and children regularly tell us that this is their favourite activity.

Developing children’s strengths and interests in an important part of our curriculum offer. As well as our extensive extra curriculum offer, we also have a programme of student leadership in each of our schools. Our student councils and ambassadors have a wide range of responsibilities and influence the way we do things. One of the most memorable moments was when a group of School Councillors from Ravensworth Primary spoke at the E21C All Staff Conference last October. They spoke passionately and authoritatively on the need for all of us to behave more sustainably.

We are always looking for new opportunities to expand our offer, particularly if that request comes from the children. Recently they asked for more trips, particularly residential ones. So, this year we have expanded our residential trip offer to include a trip to Wick Court Farm in Gloucestershire for Year 5 pupils. This is run by the charity Farms for City Children, set up by author Michael Murpurgo and his wife. The pupils will be staying on a working farm for a week, getting hands on experience with animal husbandry, gardening, bee-keeping and much more!

SECONDARY

Secondary schools have offered a wide range of extracurricular activities. We have clubs, trips and events that span young people’s interest, character and academic development. The offer across the breadths of schools has included horse riding, Duke of Edinburgh bronze, silver and gold awards, fixture led sport teams, debate clubs, spelling bees, school shows, and the experiences continue. Accreditation and certification of the extra-curricular offer takes place as appropriate. We are ambitious for our learners and our character development strives to ensure our trust wide values of trust, kindness and endeavour is intentionally built through our shared curriculum.

We run a spiral curriculum in PSHE/RSE across all year groups, whether through discreet lessons, tutor times, assemblies or drop down days. This is a diverse programme, covering many topic areas and where appropriate guest speakers are invited in. We consider how we develop aspiration and character for all as well as building knowledge about the world that we live in today, so that pupils can navigate it successfully with broad and balanced viewpoints on current affairs topics and be the best in their chosen career.

IN THE COMMUNITY

With the cost-of-living crisis hitting some of our families hard this year we continue to look for ways to support those that need a little extra support. Our financial support fund was launched for families to provide some support with uniform, equipment, and the cost of attending trips and outdoor activities. More information can be found on our school websites.

Schools are committed to the communities they serve, working with local charities to offer food banks, sing carols and help the elderly whilst also supporting national and international charities such as Pudsey Bear, Children in Need and Red Nose Day.

The funds raised support others, whilst providing young people with an understanding of kindness and seeing values in action.

COMMUNITY BASED WORK

Our schools select charities and causes that are important to them. Our Trust conference this year focussed on the theme of belonging. We encourage schools to help create a sense of belonging in the communities that they serve

INCREASING EFFECTIVENESS & EFFICIENCY FINANCE

For 2022/23 the Trust has a turnover of nearly £41.4m and a net in-year surplus of £123,900. A summary of the income and expenditure is provided below.

ANALYSIS OF REVENUE BUDGET 2022-23

HOW THE MONEY IS SPENT

The largest element of expenditure relates to teaching staff but the trust makes provisions to ensure schools have the right resources for teaching and learning and the schools buildings are safe and continuous improvements are made to enhance the experience for students and staff. A summary the percentage spend in key budget areas is shown in the graph below.

INFORMATION TECHONOLOGY

PREMISES RELATED

INDIRECT STAFF COSTS

OTHER STAFF

TEACHING STAFF

SYSTEMS

We continue to develop smart systems across the Trust to make the most of the working together as a group of schools. This year we introduced a new management information system called Arbor. As we work our way through its implementation it will simplify the number of applications that teachers, staff and parents use within the school context. In 2023 we aim to launch the new parent app for all families and begin our transition towards its online payment module. Later in the year parents will be able to see achievement and behaviour on the app.

We are working with our IT support provider to create and deliver a transformation in the IT infrastructure in all schools over the next 3 years. This will mean better connectivity and equipment for both staff and students.

ESTATES

One of the several advantages for belonging in a multi academy trust is the money that we are allocated for capital expenditure. We use a specialist contractor to advise us on where and how to spend the money across the estate. This is prioritised on need and for the period 2021/22 to 2023/24 the

This investment covers significant roofing and boiler schemes, major electrical rewiring work, improvements to playgrounds, refurbishment of science and sports facilities and a wide range of minor works across all schools, with only minor investment at Eden Park High school given that it is a new build school. We are introducing an online system “IamCompliant” to raise and track resolution of maintenance and Health & Safety issues across all schools.

In November we moved to a new provider of cleaning services called Seeclear, a Kent based company who are very experienced in cleaning schools. We expect to see very high standards of cleanliness across all our schools, which is vital to create a high quality learning environment.

CATERING

As we all continue to experience the daily pressures of rising costs, Caterlink, alongside the E21C trust, are working hard to ensure we continue to offer a tasty, nutritious, balanced, and value for money food offer across our Primary and Secondary Schools. It is more important than ever to ensure that we continue to support with these ever-increasing price pressures, and our promise remains to hold the prices of our main meals, fresh fruit, salad and healthy options to promote the uptake of these items.

We are working closely with each school to develop the food offer with new Menus coming after the Easter break which will be enhanced by Theme and Destination Days to keep the offer exciting and bespoke for each of the 8 schools within the trust. We have recently sent out surveys to students to gain valuable feedback on how we are doing and what we need to improve on. We provide vouchers for selected students to encourage their feedback, and to thank them for helping us to develop our food offer and improve the dining spaces we operate in. We are currently working with Coopers, Eden Park and The Ravensbourne School on how we can improve the facilities in which our teams operate, in order to support the development of the food offer and service we provide.

This year, we once again plan to promote our Summer Packed Lunch offer within our primary schools, which we hope will encourage your child to take advantage of this, and then continue to enjoy school meals moving forward. Not only will this allow us to provide a tasty lunch that can be enjoyed in the playground of the schools, but it will also enable the students to maximise their lunch break and playtime with their friends.

Sustainability remains at the heart of what we do, looking at ways to drive down food miles, packaging into our kitchens and waste going into our bins. There will be further menu and concept development for the Autumn term along with craft training and support from our Development team to ensure we are working on the skill sets of our most valuable assets, which is our people who deliver a great service daily within the E21C trust

SUSTAINABILITY

The trust has started work on our Sustainability strategy. We invited pupils to speak at our staff conference in October about the importance of responding to the climate emergency and take action to become more sustainable. The Trust has secured funding of £250,000 from the DfE to be invested in energy efficiency measures over the next 18 months. We will use these funds to invest in LED lighting and solar panels across the estate, as well as other works including thermal insulation of pipes. In parallel we have set up a staff group across schools to raise awareness and drive behaviour change with staff and students.

OUR PEOPLE

2022 saw the launch of our new people strategy. As well as embedding strong systems and policies across the Trust we have launched our professional growth strategy, removing performance related pay for teachers (M1-M6), unlinking lesson observations from pay and ensuring a rigorous approach to instructional coaching. We launched aligned twilight session to ensure that training comes frequently and often for teachers and that it is based on the most impactful practice.

PEOPLE PLAN ON A PAGE

PROFESSIONAL GROWTH & TALENT MANAGEMENT

• Dedicated time for Instructional Coaching, trained coaches in every school, “See it, name it, do it”

• Fortnightly coaching for continuous improvement: builds trust & motivation, accelerates growth

• 10 twilight deliberate practice sessions

• Teaching model lessons, evidence-based playbooks

• High quality support & mentoring for ECTs

• Simple tool to review people & plan for succession

• Trust wide opportunities for career pathwaysbuilding community and belonging.

RECRUITMENT

• “People of E21C” video shorts showing variety of staff roles

• Build relationships with ECT providers for 23/24, including local university and colleges

• Recruitment practices enable diverse candidates & appointments

• Consistent text across all recruitment materials

WELLBEING & ENGAGEMENT

• Start with the why; overcommunicate 4 critical questions

• Regular CEO & Leadership meetings with staff

• Harnessing Edurio staff survey results to drive cultural change and address issues

• Diversity & Inclusion strategy developed and delivered, guided by DEI survey results

• Workload charter implemented (more detail needed)

• Rarely cover policy

• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

REWARDS

• Implement automatic pay progression for M1 – M6

• Move to two formal meetings per year, instead of three

• Implement single associate staff pay model by Sep 22

• Promote and be clear on the benefits offered by the trust

EXCELLENT HR OPERATIONS

• Twice yearly review of staff for each school with HR Business Partner

• Underperformance addressed

• HR KPIs regularly reviewed

• Full implementation of Civica HR and payroll system

• Clear HR trust/school operating model with “How to” guides

DIVERSITY EQUITY & INCLUSION

During 2022 we created and launched a DEI strategy. We are aiming to “Develop our consciousness, confidence and competence in DEI”. The principles we are working to are:

CREATING INCLUSIVE WORKPLACES

CREATING BELONGING FOR ALL (STAFF, STUDENTS)

ENSURING REPRESENTATION IN THE CURRICULUM

ENSURING THAT POLICIES, PROCESSES, PRACTICES ARE INCLUSIVE & EQUITABLE

DIVERSE TALENT IS RECRUITED, DEVELOPED & RETAINED

COMMITMENT TO CPD FOR STAFF

LISTENING TO STAKEHOLDER VIEWS

USING DATA TO INFORM THE STRATEGY

In the 2022-23 year we have focused on our work with staff at all levels, from our trustees, leadership team, and headteachers, to all staff members at our October conference. We look forward to continuing this work, and expanding the remit to focus on students over time.

HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED?

If you would like to get involved, and volunteer in one of our schools, or work with us, please visit our websites listed below:

E21C Website e21c.co.uk

Work with us e21c.co.uk/Careers/Current-Vacancies

News and Events page e21c.co.uk/News

Contact us e21c.co.uk/Contact

Senior Schools

Eden Park - edenparkhigh.com

Coopers - coopersschool.com

The Ravensbourne School - ravensbourne.info

Spres Academy - spiresacademy.com

Primary Schools

Blenheim Primary School - blenheimprimary.com

Scotts Park - scottsparkprimaryschool.co.uk

Ravensworth Primary School - ravensworthprimary.co.uk

Mead Road Infant School - meadroadinfantschool.co.uk