Trust and school improvement offer

What improvement support schools and trusts can get in the 2021 to 2022 academic year.

Eligibility

You can get support if your school, or a school within your trust, meets either of the following criteria:

• a school receives an Ofsted ‘requires improvement’ judgement during the 2021 to 2022 academic year
• a school entered the 2021 to 2022 academic year with a current ‘requires improvement’ judgement for overall effectiveness where the previous judgement was also ‘requires improvement’, or worse

The ratings for both current and previous Ofsted inspections are based on the Ofsted management information which is published monthly.

Exceptional circumstances

If your school does not meet these criteria but you feel you would benefit from the offer, email [email protected]. We will consider whether support can be provided in discussion with your local regional schools commissioner (RSC).

Support available to eligible schools and trusts

Standalone schools and academies

This includes:

• local authority-maintained school
• single academy trusts
• multi-academy trusts (MATs) with only one school

Your school or trust will be offered:

• up to 3 days’ support and advice from a national leader of education (NLE) or equivalent to help your leadership team identify and implement improvements within the school and support the building of relationships with a MAT, where appropriate
• credit up to the value of £10,000 towards the costs of a trust partnership where a suitable partner MAT is identified, and subject to the availability of funds

MATs with eligible ‘requires improvement’ schools

MATs with eligible schools will get improvement support at trust rather than school level.

Your trust will be offered:

• up to 5 days’ support and advice from an NLE or equivalent to help your leadership team identify and implement improvements within the trust and ensure school-level actions align with the trust’s improvement approach
• access to governance support from a national leader of governance (NLG) where beneficial and funding allows
• funding to reimburse the fees levied by an accredited provider for a trust leader to complete the National Professional Qualification in Executive Leadership (NPQEL), where beneficial and subject to the availability of funds

When support is available

If you are eligible or become eligible because of your Ofsted rating, you will be contacted by DfE during the 2021 to 2022 academic year.

DfE will first contact your trust, diocese or local authority to inform them of the offer available before contacting your school directly.

If you wish to self-identify your school or trust as needing support, contact [email protected] at any point.

Contact

Email [email protected].