Why change anything?

Making a Difference

If you are satisfied that your school is achieving all that it can for its young people and are confident of maintaining that into the future, then there may appear little need for change.  Doing what you have always done to get what you have always got may work for you now and for long into the future.

Do remember, the world is changing around you. Local Authorities continue to downsize their offer. Budgets will inevitably become even more hard pressed. The expectations placed upon schools, Head teachers and Governors continue to rise. The question Why Change Anything? is asked within the context of a rapidly changing world.

If you would like to be able to do even more for your children and your community… If you believe that:

• Deepened collaboration between staff at all levels
• Greater resource flexibility
• The ability to maintain a rigorous focus on teaching and learning
• Keen, consistent, fair and accurate support and challenge at all levels
• Community-wide raised ambitions
• Access to best practice worldwide

Could enhance your offer… you should consider talking to us.

Our Solution

Working together in deep partnership, freeing resources to make your money go further, reducing administrative burdens, investing in ongoing professional development at all levels, connecting the whole of the learning community together, building system capacity, respecting individuality.

Together we can make a difference.

Consider our answers to the following questions:

• 1 How will Wellspring inspire us to become even better?

 

We believe in a Trust of equals. We are committed to an ongoing journey of discovery and development that we believe will help us to continually test and challenge ourselves and, consequently, continually enhance our offer to families and young people.

Wellspring is led by educational professionals with outstanding track records. This provenance is key to our offer. Our leaders, our School Improvement support, are credible, proven.

We can point you to the best in the system. We look for the Outliers – those schools bucking the trend – we visit, we absorb the aspects of their practice that we believe are appropriate to our context. We will help you to forge networks. We will provide regular updates on emerging practice and research. We will provide ongoing learning and development opportunities for leaders and for leadership teams. We will encourage you to explore, innovate and create.

We will bring a community of colleagues who share a commitment to collaborative working and to making their institution the best that it can possibly be.

We have inspirational practice going on in all of our Academies right now. We can connect to more, nationally and internationally. We believe that innovation is the lifeblood of a thriving education system.

Our Academies are innovating to improve, e.g; The Forest Academy has run a very successful weekend and holiday ‘Kids College’ for two years to raise standards and aspirations in an area of high deprivation. The Academy also runs a free Breakfast Club from 8:00am, serving 140 children every day. Joining Wellspring gives you the opportunity to tap into great practice like this.

We are outward facing. We believe that we should measure ourselves against the best in the system, not just the best in our locality. Our leaders have taught in London, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and more. Our Trust is geographically diverse, which provides opportunities for wider networks and heightened aspirations.

• 2 What autonomy do we have?

 

Wellspring offers collaboration, not prescription. We offer choice, not decisions made for you. Wellspring was founded on the principle of autonomy.

We want all of our schools to feel the benefits of autonomy. Crucially, an autonomous school is a school that takes responsibility for itself. Taking responsibility and accepting accountability are key components of success in schools. We will work as a true partner to ensure the ongoing success of our schools.

We have two Schemes of Delegation for Academy Governing Bodies. Scheme 1 puts the same delegated powers in the hands of Governing Bodies that they experienced under the Local Authority. Schools rated Good and Outstanding earn Scheme 1 delegation. Schools rated Requires Improvement or Inadequate need more support to help them become Good and better. Scheme of Delegation 2 gives more authority to the CEO and Board to help the Principal and Academy Governing Body to achieve rapid improvement. Of course, we aim to ensure that all our Academies operate under Scheme of Delegation 1.

Academies have the autonomy to set their own curriculum.

Academies have the autonomy to make their own decisions on the services they want to buy.

Academies have the autonomy to appoint their own staff.

Academies have the autonomy to work with partners of their choice.

The ability to maintain a high level of autonomy is a key reason to consider joining Wellspring. Our aim is to support and challenge you to become even better. We recognise the importance of ownership in inspiring institutions to achieve beyond their previous best.

We will provide a network.

We will provide inspiring examples of what’s possible.

We will provide supporting toolkits for all levels at the Academy – support for Governance, support for Principals, support for Business Managers, support for Middle Leaders, support for newly appointed employees, and more.

• 3 How will Wellspring support and challenge us?

 

Support

• Our team consists of experts whose sole aim is to support our Academies to become even better
• We will support effective Governance through offering Governance toolkits, Induction Packs for new Governors, training, coaching for new Chairs and other resources
• We will support leaders by sharing what works in other settings – sharing data dashboards, standards tracking and reporting formats – tools to make the job easier and more efficient
• We can offer support for school staff CPD at all levels
• We can support recruitment, retention, and succession planning through our School Direct Initial Teacher Training programme
• The quality of our Inclusive practice is widely acknowledged and is available for you to tap into
• We can provide hands on, practical support on all aspects of life in schools… crucially, provided by people who are in there, doing it every day themselves
• We have great practice going on in our Academies that you can tap into
• We have innovative curriculum design and development to share
• We have the intellectual curiosity to explore emerging practice and apply ‘What Works’
• We can support you to enhance your offer through collaboration, e.g.; A group of our Academies have bought the full-time services of an Education Psychologist between them to meet the needs of the contexts they serve
• We can offer a comprehensive suite of Trust-level and school-level policies
• We can support your Finance and Business Management function
• We support by easing the administrative burden on School Leaders, by taking care of things like Business Continuity Planning, Risk Management, long-term premises management and planning

Challenge 

• Our team includes experienced OFSTED inspectors, LA officers, Executive Principals and Headteachers
• Our Board includes successful business people, an accountant, a solicitor and people experienced in corporate governance
• We have a professional Clerk, a CEO and Phase Leaders who are focused on the success of our schools

We can challenge where we need to. Crucially, with that challenge we will provide an infrastructure and a toolkit to support.

• 4 What will we get for the Management Fee?

Core functions (within management fee)		Chargeable services
Membership of the Wellspring Academies network. Network development. Link to a Teaching School (research and development opportunities, school direct trainees, broad CPD offer). CEO Support.		School Improvement (level dependent on annual review of Academy performance). Enhanced Financial Services – budget monitoring, month end, funding bids, additional training for staff, adhoc advice. Enhanced Legal advice.
Best Practice Sharing.		Bid writing.
School Improvement co-ordination.		Enhanced Procurement assistance
Statutory Financial Accounts.		Enhanced Governor Support & Training.
Bank Account management–procurement cards, online banking.		Quality Assurance Review Performance Management.
Internal and External Audit.		Human Resources & Payroll.
DFE/EFA Returns.		Academy systems development.
Strategic Procurement.		Enhanced Academy-level Policy writing.
Strategic Financial Planning.
Corporate Health and Safety.
Insurance and Risk Management Co-ordination.
Estates Management.
Finance systems set up, training & guidance.
Quality Assurance systems.
MAT and Governance Administration.
Governor support and training.
Academy conversion support and legal co-ordination.
Statutory legal services.
Benchmarking information.
Trust and Academy level policies.