Strategy for School Improvement

our mission statement

• To create and sustain challenging, stimulating, nurturing and exciting learning experiences where all children achieve well and are keen to learn.

• To deliver excellence in teaching and learning for all pupils every day.

• To offer an inclusive framework for education that opens for our children “life in all its fullness”.

• To empower leadership at all levels to drive improvements so that each school is aspirational and moves to its next level of performance.

How we manage school improvement so that schools can move to their next level of performance

To ensure that we focus relentlessly on making schools as good as they can be, a key role of the DSAT CEO is to identify (and secure) support for schools that need it.

All schools in the academy receive personalised support, coaching and monitoring visits at least half termly from the CEO as a core offer. The CEO has a school improvement background as an Executive Headteacher with a proven track record of improving underperforming schools and has been (prior to working full time for the trust) a National Leader of Education (NLE). She works closely with all our schools to support leadership and drive improvements, utilising the skills and strengths of the central team school improvement team and also deploying a strong specialist workforce of system leaders from across the trust to engage in high quality school improvement activity and build capacity for school improvement. Within the school improvement team, we also have 5 specialists who work for one day a week for DSAT under the direction of the CEO:

The CEO engages in half day curriculum and leadership reviews (a minimum of 4 half days a week, 4 schools). Combined with the offer above (Mathematics Lead, English/ Phonics Lead and three School Improvement Leads), this equates to 9 school improvement visits across the week. Currently at 17 schools, this means every school is visited at least once a fortnight by a member of the DSAT SI team.

To provide structure we will operate a three-tier school improvement model incorporating the following as our school improvement offer:

Tier 1. Core Offer. The CEO meets regularly with school leaders in all of our schools to identify areas for improvement. All schools as a minimum access at least one half-termly deep diove conducted by the CEO (focused on a broad range of curriculum areas), an annual teaching and learning review (focus on pedagogy) and a review of safeguarding procedures/ behaviour and culture. In addition, as part of the offer, support from the Maths Improvement Lead and English Improvement lead along with the three School Improvement Leads complement this work and provide support and challenge. Additional support from system leaders in the trust is brokered to drive improvements in areas of provision identified in reviews, including training, support and coaching of leadership from the CEO and/ or LPDs. Subject leaders are supported, too, through curriculum hubs and key stage hubs (all subjects, a SENDCo network and a Y6, Y2, FS Hub), all of whom meet termly. As part of the Core Offer, outcomes for pupil groups are analysed. Where outcomes for disadvantaged pupils/ SEND are strong, good practice is captured and shared. Where outcomes for disadvantaged pupils/ SEND require improvement, the trust arranges a Trust Pupil Premium review or SEND review, sets targets, and then reports to the trust and Local School Board and supports the SLT to action improvement. Local School Boards also receive training provided through the trust to help them fulfill their role with skill as part of the Core Offer. Our trust EWO, part of our central team, also works closely with school leaders and visits schools at least once every half term to support improvements to attendance.
Tier 2. Targeted Support. Following the release of data at the end of summer term, risk assessments are carried out by the Trust under the direction of the CEO. Any academies underperforming (assessed against a range of KPIs including recent Ofsted inspection judgements) are identified and an immediate review of the school is undertaken (CEO and central school improvement team). The CEO supports school leaders to devise one month/ three month/ six month ‘raising attainment plans’, including planned support from system leaders from across DSAT alongside the school improvement central team.
Tier 3. Intensive Support. Following the release of IDSR data (Autumn Term), and alongside other indicators linked to effectiveness and quality of leadership, the CEO analyses and reports to the Trust on pupil outcomes, including a separate review for disadvantaged pupils across all Trust schools. A school identified for intensive support will be benefit from additional dedicated input, and time, from the CEO and central school improvement team. Schools may be re-categorised for the purpose of the scheme of delegation at this point. See appendix for our categorisation KPIs. In addition to school improvement visits as identified in Tier 1, the core offer, a school requiring intensive support would also access team teaching and coaching support from the Maths and English School Improvement Leads, along with additional coaching of leaders from across our system leadership team (LPDs). This is planned in a bespoke way to meet the needs of the individual school at risk, with oversight from the CEO.

DSAT has a proven track record of sponsoring schools using the above model (St Mary's CE Walkley, Sheffield, where outcomes have improved and the school has moved from Inadequate to Good; Rossington St Michael's CE, Doncaster, where attainment and progress have improved from significantly below (2016) to significantly above national in 2018, moving from ‘Inadequate’ to Good in 2021.)

What do we value and aim for as a trust as we seek to support our schools to improve?

DSAT schools are all individual and there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to curriculum and provision. Headteachers and their staff design curriculum programmes that meet the needs of their own school and context. We do have a DSAT ‘recommended’ curriculum, and for any schools underperforming we would expect them to adapt their curriculum offer to work in line with our recommended curriculum programmes.
Our commonalities and shared approach across DSAT speak more about pedagogy and joint practice development than a replicated curriculum. We have a strong, developing, research-based approach to teaching and learning which is consistent and shared across all our schools: this forms the basis of our drive for school improvement and raising of standards in all aspects of the curriculum.
Raising attainment is also about understanding the aspirations of the individual child, and as such, in DSAT we promote the mastery approach in our classrooms; expertly planning learning which enables all children to access teaching and to make rapid progress. We support our teachings to become experts at delivering adaptive teaching to empower all children to achieve the best possible outcomes and to know more over time.
We promote teaching strategies across our schools which enable our pupils to know and remember more: applying retrieval strategies, planning small steps of learning to ensure children’s conceptual knowledge is developed and learning is deeply embedded, and promoting fluency strategies. We support our leaders and teachers to design and deliver the curriculum in a way which allows pupils to transfer key knowledge to long-term memory, sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before and pupils can work towards clearly defined end points. The science of memory and current research relating to this is the golden thread through our well-defined DSAT pedagogy.
In DSAT, teachers have a common language and framework for Teaching and Learning, defined as our ‘Teach Simply’ DSAT model. We believe that children know and remember more when lessons are shaped around the following: Revisit/review, Teach, Practise, Apply, Assess. Our DSAT ‘Teach Simply’ model is informed by current research and, very importantly, ensures that our children know and remember more.
In DSAT, our aim is to ensure that all children make excellent progress, and that no child is lost in the averages. At the heart of this is a commitment to improving the quality of teaching and learning in every DSAT classroom and for every child every day.

The DSAT 10: what does DSAT school improvement look like across the school year, in the classroom for our children and in the staffroom for our educators?

1	High expectations and accountability.	DSAT has high aspirations for all pupils in our care. We have a standardised system for assessment of the core subjects, including annual testing and online systems to identify pupils falling behind and precise gaps in knowledge. Schools are held to account for performance and supported to improve performance. Curriculum leads (wider curriculum) are supported to design ambitious curriculums and to develop assessment strategies which identify precisely what substantive and disciplinary knowledge all children have gained. The CEO manages headteacher appraisal across the trust, which ensures that leadership are accountable and are supported to meet targets.
2	Collaborative partnership working and system leadership.	School improvement is internally driven while at the same time influenced by good practice and current research. This is a relentless focus, and DSAT’s CEO and central school improvement team champion this. They are supported in this role by a diverse and highly skilled team of leaders, system leaders and lead practitioners from across the trust, who are deployed to support at a trust, school or class level. We know that engaging in system leadership makes us all stronger as a trust and encourages learning agility, growth and a shared vision as a staff.
3	Secure understanding of each individual school’s context, self-evaluation and steps needed to move to their next level of performance.	School improvement activity in DSAT happens regularly and is part of our culture. The CEO works alongside school leaders and our schools very closely. This ensures that we know our schools well. As a result of this effective partnership, precise planning for next steps to improve in relation to all aspects of school life are identified and planned for. We adapt strategies to meet the needs of different contexts and then mobilise the DSAT school improvement team to support schools to improve.
4	The development of excellence in leadership.	Leadership at all levels are supported and share good practice, and this drives improvements at an individual school level as a result. Executive Headteachers and headteachers network regularly and receive updates, training and support, including being kept up to date with relevant research and good practice. Leaders at all levels network and work together to improve and receive training: governors, senior leaders, subject leads, key stage leads including early years leads, SENDCo’s. Our School Improvement workforce engages in training and coaching to develop our leadership teams and subject leads.
5	Children knowing more, remembering more and doing more.	There is a relentless focus on improving teaching and learning in all DSAT schools and in all classrooms for the benefit of all our children. This includes the development of a shared understanding of our approach to teaching and learning, with current research and cutting-edge practice informing our pedagogy. We have developed a DSAT wide approach to teaching and learning – our DSAT Teach Simply pedagogy – which ensures that pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning are based on current research on memory. Our training offer includes professional development opportunities to further improve teaching and learning in all of our settings.
6	The development of courageous classrooms and courageous staffrooms.	In DSAT, we know that children learn when they feel safe and are inspired to be aspirational. We train our schools to understand how to build a culture which inspires courage: building courageous classrooms where children are not afraid to ask for help and embrace learning. Similarly, we support our staff to embrace learning agility and be courageous as life-long learners: courageous staffrooms.
7	Embedding a culture of safeguarding.	Embedding a strong safeguarding culture in DSAT is a priority for us. We work with our schools to ensure that practices are safe and securely based on current guidance. We ensure staff and volunteers are well trained and alert to safeguarding issues, and we check regularly that this takes place. We monitor and support safer recruitment and support leadership to manage the workforce in line with safe practices. DSAT check with school leaders’ records to ensure concerns are reported and acted upon. All schools carry out a Safeguarding Audit which is scrutinised by the central team responsible for safeguarding (Alison Hallewell and Nevine Towers), and in addition to this we carry out an annual safeguarding review in each school.
8	Inspiring inclusive practice.	DSAT is an inclusive academy trust and our vision, values and ethos embrace equality, DSAT supports our schools to further improve inclusive practice. Vulnerable pupils are supported, and schools challenged to ensure any barriers to success are overcome for pupils who are disadvantaged, including those with SEN need. We set out clearly as a trust how to use Pupil Premium funding wisely and in line with guidance. Our Vulnerable Pupil Charter outlines how we will meet the needs of SEND AND vulnerable pupils.
9	Supporting wellbeing.	DSAT supports leaders to evaluate practices in order to improve the ways we promote wellbeing for our staff and pupils. Our DSAT Director for People and Culture pioneers our wellbeing strategy and meets regularly with headteachers to consider strategies to improve staff workload. This includes using the DfE workload toolkit with headteachers, evaluating provision, and also working with Early Career teachers to support them to manage workload effectively.
10	Developing staff as experts in the management of behaviour and attendance.	Our Strategic Lead for Behaviour and Culture, a SLE who is a specialist in behaviour management, supports schools and individual staff to review behaviour strategies and make improvements to provision. This complements training for schools and staff, including for Early Career teachers. We have well established systems for supporting schools with behaviour, which include the use of Solution Circles led by our Strategic Lead for Behaviour and Culture, who also has oversight of exclusions for the trust. We employ our own EWO, Alison Hallewell, who works closely with school leaders to improve attendance. This has proved to be an essential aspect of our work and has led to improved attendance across DSAT.