-1.png)
There are many paths to growing and developing a strong MAT: a school may be interested in becoming an academy and joining your Trust; you may be approached by a SAT looking to merge; or you might want to establish the right foundations to be ready for future growth when opportunities present themselves.
How trusts can be ready for organic growth
No matter what stage of the journey your Trust may find itself, it’s important to ensure that your organisation has the right level of capacity for growth. This capacity will come from a robust central team with the necessary expertise to manage both existing and incoming schools, ensuring that each academy and its staff receive effective, essential services and support.
A review is beneficial regardless of the size of your Trust or the experience of your growth. With current government policies focusing on developing strong trusts through the Trust Quality Descriptors*, adding additional scrutiny to the approval of growth plans, a Central Services Review will equip you with the evidence to satisfy both internal and external stakeholders should you embark on a new project. It will ensure that your Trust satisfies the five pillars outlined in the quality descriptors and be effective in showing your Trust’s commitment to developing and supporting a strong workforce amid the challenges we’re currently facing in this area of the sector.
Key stages of a Central Services Review
Below are some of the key stages of a Central Services Review. Bear in mind that this is not inclusive and may differ depending on the context and size of your Trust - you may wish to focus on elements such as finance and HR, or cover all services. Covering all services is highly recommended to provide the reassurance that your Trust is ready to grow, regardless of the type of growth project that may come your way.
1 Assessing the design effectiveness of the Central Trust Team and its ability to meet current and future demands.
2 Generating recommendations for a cost-effective and efficient organisational structure and division of work to provide outstanding leadership, management, customer service, added value, and flexibility for the future growth of the Trust.
3 Evaluating whether the Central Services Team is structured in a manner that facilitates and promotes the achievement of the Trust’s goals and objectives.
4 Assessing whether changes to the service structure could improve the organisation’s performance and effectiveness.
5 Evaluating whether the Central Services Team’s current performance measures are appropriate in supporting the needs of the Trust. Where applicable, developing recommendations for new performance measures based on industry best practices.
6 Developing recommendations for improving the Central Services Team performance and identifying the steps required to implement each recommendation.
Trust Quality Descriptors
*An overview of the Department’s Trust Quality Descriptors can be found here. They focus on high-quality and inclusive education, school improvement, workforce, finance and operations, and governance and leadership, all of which are evaluated within our Central Services Review.
