The Frank Field Education Trust is a Multi-Academy Trust based in the North-West and the West Midlands which aims to build on the work of our Trust founder, the late Rt. Hon. Lord Frank Field.

• Registered name: FRANK FIELD EDUCATION TRUST
• Company number: 09904025
• Registered office address: 164 Whitby Road, Ellesmere Port Cheshire CH65 6EA

Our Purpose: We believe social justice can be achieved for our communities by providing excellence in education.

Our Culture: We believe that the biggest asset within our Trust is our staff and to deliver social justice we need staff to feel valued and believe they can make a difference. We have created a culture, underpinned by our Trust Values Charter, Teaching Charter and Wellbeing Charter that aims to reflect the values which we use with our young people daily.

Our Charters provide us with the principles which support us in all our decision making. As role models for young people, how we behave is as important as what we do and all staff are expected to live out these values.

We do this through:

• living and breathing our Wellbeing and Values Charters
• insisting that everyone sets a good example in how they behave and that they consciously take steps to reduce levels of stress and anxiety in the organisation
• FFET briefings which share successes and provide clarity of our core purpose
• regular headteacher and senior leader meetings to discuss strategic priorities and share solutions
• aligning our FFET calendar across all areas of school life (e.g. data collections; Monitoring for Achievement Cycles; parents’ evenings; Middle Leader and Teacher Development Meetings)
• ensuring all leaders know and understand what it means to lead in our Trust for the benefit of all schools
• supporting leaders at all levels to lead with high expectation and compassion
• providing regular support and guidance from the Trust Executive and Central Team
• our strategy for succession planning which ensures that staff access a Trust-wide professional development offer.

Our Approach: We have created an Excellence in Education Framework that has three key pillars:

1. to have outstanding staff in our schools
2. to have a curriculum for social justice which delivers cultural capital
3. to have effective and supportive systems that enable teachers to teach and children to learn

Our framework is delivered systematically through a Monitoring for Achievement Cycle.

1. Outstanding staff

We are committed to helping all our staff become outstanding practitioners and we have developed a 4 stage approach to professional development that enables all our staff to collaborate within professional learning communities.

All staff contribute to:

• our Professional Development offer which consists of 4 stages, bespoke to each member of staff, depending on where they are on their career journey
• our Teaching Charter which exemplifies what outstanding looks like in our trust and underpins our commitment to high quality collective professional development. This Charter has been written by staff for staff and is designed to map out the culture we expect in our schools
• our Annual Conference which brings staff together to revisit our core purpose, share expertise and develop pedagogy. Each year, we have a keynote theme designed to challenge and stimulate our staff
• staff at all levels being involved in the development and delivery of our key processes (e.g. Consistency Across our Schools, The MFA Cycle, our Professional Learning Communities)
• being outward facing and working with other schools, Trusts and national organisations such as DfE and Voice21
• our Trust Bulletin which shares good practice and celebrates pedagogical excellence
• our FFET networks which facilitate collaboration to identify and align priorities, share skills and evidence of what works while considering the impact on workload
• working collaboratively to identify key areas of development and giving dedicated time within our MFA Cycle to enable staff to flourish.
• our School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) Train to Teach offer to develop new staff to our organisation.

2. A curriculum for social justice

We believe that improving educational outcomes is the biggest way we can positively impact on our pupils’ futures. We have designed a Curriculum for Social Justice that will not only enable pupils to achieve life-changing examination qualifications, but also a set of knowledge, skills and behaviours (cultural capital) that will enable them to lead a choice-filled life guided by a moral compass.

We do this through:

• regular ‘curriculum conversations’ within and across our schools with senior and middle leaders enabling them to share insight, knowledge, resources and to support and challenge
• curriculum and Pastoral Leaders’ Meetings to develop strong relationships within and across our schools to ensure our ‘Be More’ curriculum is integrated seamlessly with pupils academic learning
• subject Leader meetings to collaboratively design and sequence subject curricular
• FFET Network Meetings for subject leaders to collaborate and share practice
• a FFET Be More Event for every subject, each year for pupils from all FFET schools.
• coaching and mentoring to further develop leaders’ expertise and challenge their thinking
• breaking down content into learning cycles which sequences the curriculum, builds on prior learning and fills gaps in knowledge.

3. Effective and supportive systems

We believe that when staff work in an environment where expectations are clear for all then exceptional learning can take place. We have developed a set of robust systems that enables our schools to have a positive, safe, working environment, allowing teachers to teach and pupils to learn.

We have developed:

• a Monitoring for Achievement Cycle (MFA) which outlines how we quality assure and monitor teaching and learning throughout the year The MFA Cycle enables us to signpost the key formative and summative assessment points throughout the year as well as detailing the key opportunities for professional development for our staff. Throughout the year, we use data to identify pastoral and academic priorities and through GAS and AIM meetings ensure that children receive the right support, intervention and encouragement.
• a Behaviour Charter which establishes very clear rules and the way we do things. This ensures staff and children are clear and consistently have high expectations regarding routines and behaviours, encouraging and rewarding good behaviour and ensuring children feel like they belong.
• highly effective pupil support from our Safeguarding, SEND and Behaviour teams who meet regularly, collaborate across our Trust and are outward facing
• regular opportunities for pupils, parents and staff to provide feedback.