Our Director of Education provides the strategic lead for school improvement across Hales Valley Trust. Hales Valley Trust uses a robust and consistent process for tracking and measuring pupil performance across our schools. This process monitors the progress and attainment of all pupils aiming to ensure that all pupils successfully complete their programme of study and access the full curriculum offer. 

The Trust provides a comprehensive package for school improvement which is tailored to each individual school and is in response to contextual understanding of the challenges faced. It aims to bring about rapid improvement and build capacity, drawing upon robust research and the use of school-to-school support. 

The Trust package currently comprises: 

• Input, direction and support from Director of Education, CEO, SLE’s and experts from Regional Maths Hub, Regional Early Reading Hub, Regional Diversity Hub, Regional Behaviour Hub, National Curriculum Hubs and through support via an intensive Transforming Teaching programme 
• Support for: accurate school self-evaluation, school improvement planning, regular data analysis and linking to the financial team ensuring we provide value for money and that provision meets the need of pupils 
• Facilitated peer to peer reviews with senior leadership - whole school, phase specific and also with schools (both primary and special schools) outside of our Trust 
• Secondments of key staff to secure improvement 
• Annual safeguarding review with follow-up visits 
• A comprehensive Trust Professional Development Programme that details what support and opportunities staff at all levels can expect 
• Annual ECT programme 
• Annual ECT+1 programme 
• A termly moderation programme for staff: EYFS, Y1,Y2, Y3, Y4, Y5 and Y6 
• Common assessment processes such as: a bespoke package hosted by RM SCHOLAR, whole MAT live data analysis via Assemblypro, live reading analysis via Accelerated Reader, regular use of White Rose or Power Maths checkpoints across all schools checking children know more and remember more of the maths curriculum taught and ensuring leaders identify gaps and address them efficiently 
• Key Trust assessment data is collected and shared termly: GLD, Y1/2/3 phonics, Y2 RWM/SPAG, Y3/4/5 times tables, Y6 RWM/SPAG 
• Trust staff forums in order to develop and share good practice in: English, Maths, EYFS, SEND, IT and our Teacher Educators (TEd’s) and SLEs. 
• Shared INSET provides value for money across schools (where appropriate) 
• ‘Good’ and ‘Outstanding’ schools have termly SIP visits with CEO and Director of Education and term Anchor meetings to report directly to the board
• Schools in Special Measures or that have Serious Weaknesses have EAG meetings every half term, supported by the CEO and Director of Education
• Half termly assessment discussions – challenge given but support provided by the Director of Education to continue to raise standards for all children 
• Termly moderation sessions across all year groups led by LA trained moderators to ensure consistency in outcomes across all schools 
• Headteacher appraisal 
• Regular high quality professional coaching available for Headteachers from an external leadership coach 
• Headteacher mentor provided for Executive Headteachers new in post 
• Deputy Headteacher/Head of school forum in place to develop our aspiring headteachers 
  
  For more information about this service please see our prospectus & induction pack available on our key information page. 

Our Central Finance team provide advice, guidance, training and support to school finance staff and wider teams, where necessary.  Ensuring overall effective financial performance, it is our job to ensure value for money and efficient use of resources. This allows all children across our Trust access to education of the highest standard. 

To give you an idea of the type of support we provide, please see the list below:

• Setting, reviewing and ensuring adherence to all finance policies and processes
• Finance system training I.e. HOGE and IMP
• Bid writing
• Grant monitoring
• Budget setting – annual and multi-year
• Monthly management accounts including multiyear forecasts
• Management of internal and external audit
• Procurement in conjunction with Central Operations
• Capital acquisition
• Bank reconciliation
• VAT guidance
• Communication of financial performance to Members and Trustees

We support our schools to operate effectively, so that they can focus on doing their best for the children in their care.
We provide a vast range of services for the day to day running of our schools.

Operational support we offer includes:

• Contracts and procurement management
• GDPR support
• Recruitment planning
• Marketing service
• Project management
• Payroll management
• HR Administration management and general advice and guidance
• Model policies and guidance
• Compliance reviews: SCR and Ofsted reviews
• Legal support: access to an expert legal team covering a full range of issues
• Health & Safety: A support package including annual health & safety audits

Hales Valley Trust work hard to ensure that our strategic governance is strong. The Trust Board is made up of informed, highly-skilled and well-trained trustees who ensure that statutory duties are met and that a commitment to improving teaching and learning across all our schools remains at the very heart of what we do. 

As a charity and company limited by guarantee, the Trust is governed by a board of trustees (the Board) who have overall responsibility and ultimate decision-making authority for all the work of the Trust, including the establishing and running of the academies maintained by the Trust.

In order to support the effective operation of the Trust and the schools, the Board has established a number of committees to which it has delegated certain powers and functions.

We provide a comprehensive recruitment, induction and Trustee Development Plan for trustees, underpinned by a suite of documentation to support them to carry out their duties effectively. We successfully use GovernorHub to order to communicate all aspects of governance efficiently and it enables us to be paperless in line with our Sustainability objectives.