Sunday, February 10, 2019

Collaboration across trusts


Better together - collaboration across trusts






In a time where our country appears to be looking in on itself, it is ever more important that school leaders remain outward facing.  Looking for challenge and support from those beyond our own organisation is both energising and affirming.  As a headteacher, I was involved in a range of collaborations across schools, supported by local networks, teaching schools and trusts.  As a CEO of a MAT, there seems to be fewer examples of collaboration across trusts.  This blog shares the emerging stories from collaborative work from the newly formed Kent Multi Academy Trust Alliance.

The Kent MAT Alliance was formed in 2018 with nine academy trusts and a teaching school alliance.  The group was formed to develop opportunities for the CEOs to network and support one another.  Being a leader in any organisation can be a lonely place and it was the vision of the group to form relationships that would nurture support for one another and our trusts. Here are a three steps we have made in the past six months since forming the Kent MAT Alliance.

1. Set out your terms of engagement

We started by engaging an education consultant to coordinate the set up of the alliance.  The consultant brought a wealth of knowledge to the table and helped draw together a group of like minded CEOs and a teaching school alliance.  We met together and formed our terms of reference.  This helped us bond as a group and understand our collective vision for the alliance. This led to the production of a logo and vision statement 'better together' that reflects our alliance's belief that together we are stronger.

2. Make things happen

We set out to put on meaningful events for us as CEOs and for our teams across schools.

With the support of Queenborough Teaching School Alliance, our NQTs and post NQTs have met across our trusts to supplement the NQT training offered, building relationships and strengthening teaching for our fledgling teachers.  

Three CEOs have met to trial a trust self review system based on the DfE MAT Development Programme . This has led to three in depth reviews with CEOs and trustees offering rigorous challenge for one another across trusts.  The outcome of the self review discussions led the CEOs to build a shared action plan to strengthen practice within their own trust. Being prepared for deeper external challenge has led to a strengthening of our own systems, building confidence for future inspections, Regional School Commissioner reviews and the potential of Ofsted summary evaluations of trusts.

We have set up a trust business manager group.  TBMs meet and discuss opportunities for shared procurement, opportunities to share key management information systems and engage in professional discussions about business, finance and HR.

We have offered out training events for headteachers and governors on IDSR analysis.  Utilising the knowledge base of our own system leaders across the alliance to make the training bespoke and purposeful.

3. Share what works

Our next step is to share our work.  We cannot work in silos in education and with our vision of being 'better together' we are happy to share what works and what hasn't worked with our alliance.  Knowing the educational landscape is a bumpy place that shifts beneath our feet, we need to remain nimble and take confident steps in order to navigate the winding path ahead. 

I would love to hear from you about how you have developed collaborative work across trusts.






Chartered College of Teaching Events


Canterbury Christ Church University Chartered College of Teaching Hub


The Canterbury Christ Church University Chartered College of Teaching hub supports teachers in East Kent.  The hub provides a range of events and networks that help teachers and school leaders across the region to connect and grow.  

The committee members include:


Forthcoming Events



  • 5 March 2020 Teach Meet 4:30pm CATs Canterbury Confident exam preparation
  • 24 March Critical Friends peer support group for anyone undertaking a research project
  • 24 March 4:00-5:30pm at Brenzett CE Primary School, Brenzett. Book in here
  • #BrewEdCanterbury event on Saturday 28 March 2020 from 12:00-5:00. Book in here
  • 30 April 2020 - Journal Club - Bobbing Village School 4pm - 5:30pm
  • 21 May 2020 Lead Meet 4:30pm -6:30pm CATs |Canterbury
  • 2 July 2020  Journal Club - Bobbing Village School 4pm - 5:30p



To connect with the Canterbury Christ Church University Chartered College of Teaching hub click here to email Graham.


Past events:


7 March 2019  5:30 - 7:30pm Teach meet hosted by CATs Canterbury

30 March 2019 Irresistible Curriculum Conference hosted by Canterbury Christ Church University

30 April 2019 Journal Club 5:30-7:30 hosted by CATs Canterbury

16 May 2019  Lead meet hosted by CATs in Canterbury 5:30-7:30pm

2 July 2019 Teach Meet Canterbury #TMCanterbury  hosted by Pilgrims' Way Primary School in Canterbury

8 October 2019 Journal Club hosted by CATs Canterbury

9 October 2019 Journal Club hosted by Warden House Primary School, Deal

12 November Teach Meet hosted by CATs Canterbury 

13 November Journal Club hosted by Pilgrims' Way Primary School, Canterbury 

23 January - Journal Club - Bobbing Village School 4pm - 5:30pm.

30 January 2020 Journal Club 5:00pm-6:30 CATs Canterbury