the mat growth and merger conference 2021

The MAT Growth and Merger Conference 2021

Webinar hosted by Convenzis Group Limited

13th of May - 09:55am – 14:30pm – Go to Webinar

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Arbor Education ArkCurriculum+ Blue Apple Education

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https://www.convenzis.co.uk/arbor-education/

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Keynote Session

Nick OsborneCEO of Maritime Academy

Trust

MAT’s Merger: Lessons Learnt

Maritime MergerWhat we wish we knew

Heading

How it happendt

What we wish we knew

What we got right

We were 9 primaries merged to make 13

Started in March and converted in

September

Trustees made the decision

RSC & TCAF essential early

Background

Wish we knew

Best MAT review there is

Culture

Systems

Know your organisation

Governance

Be working towards something

Difficult decisions early

Huge amounts of early collaboration

Had built up the shared services teams

before

Adapt and agile

Used Experts

Reset our vision

What we got right

Thank You

Case Study

Mike GlanvilleChief Safeguarding Officer & Co-

Founder at MyConcern

‘Tackling Safeguarding Challenges in MATs – Adopting a

Strategic Approach’

www.myconcern.co.uk [email protected] 0330 660 0757 @myconcernInformation Classification: PUBLIC DOCUMENT

MAT Growth and

Merger Conference13th May 2021

www.myconcern.co.uk [email protected] 0330 660 0757 @myconcern

Tackling Safeguarding Challenges in MATs Adopting a Strategic Approach

Mike Glanville – Chief Safeguarding Officer


The Current Context


Inspection

and Oversight

Demand

and Complexity

Legislation

and Guidance

Multi-Agency

Working

Resources

and Budgets

Rising

Expectations

Key Challenges for MAT Leadership

Co-ordination and Consistency


Strategic Safeguarding

Definition

Your safeguarding strategy is the longer-term plan that integrates your major goals, policies and action sequences into a cohesive whole MAT approach

Benefits

• Facilitates an accurate assessment of risk and harm across your MAT

• Ensures that your people, their energy and your resources are directed towards the right objectives

• Allows systems and processes to be aligned and in support of your objectives

• Enables your MAT to better manage changing demand and complexity

• Assigns clear lines of accountability and responsibility

• Reduces the risk of harm and strategic failure

• Scale of benefits achieved may be influenced by your scheme of delegation and current situation


Planning for

Prevention

Recording and

Case Management

Working With Others

The Rich Picture

Governance, Leadership &

Management

Information

Management

Lessons Learned

People & Teams

Strategic Safeguarding

Framework


Implementing a Strategic Safeguarding Plan

Vision and MissionEstablishing the future state

of the organisation from a

safeguarding perspective

Strategy FormulationFormulating and

communicating strategic

decisions/priorities based on

the analysis

Strategic Analysis Identifying strengths and

areas for improvement across

all areas of the setting

ImplementationSetting out the objectives and

detailed activities within a

MAT/safeguarding

improvement plan

1 2

3 4


Resources


Checklist - Strategic Safeguarding for MATs

1 Are governors/trustees aware of the high priority safeguarding risks and issues across the MAT?

2 Has the MAT undertaken a strategic assessment to identify the safeguarding threats/risks in their area?

3 Are there clearly stated strategic objectives and associated action plans at MAT and local school/academy level?

4 Has the MAT taken a contextual safeguarding approach to assessing /analysing extra-familial harm?

5 Is there a culture of vigilance that focuses on early intervention and prevention and is that evident in all schools/academies?

6 Is the safeguarding policies, procedures and practice consistent across the MAT?

7 Does the MAT use a single system for recording and case managing safeguarding concerns?

8 Are the systems for recording concerns being used in a consistent way (eg: the use of thresholds, standard categories/flags and alerts)

9 Is there a system in place that can provide an aggregated view of safeguarding trends across the MAT?

10 Is there a policy and procedure in place to manage low-level concerns about members of staff?


Checklist - Strategic Safeguarding for MATs

11 Has the MAT developed effective working relationships with the statutory agencies across the relevant LA areas?

12 Are all safeguarding records stored safely and securely and comply with GDPR and the DPA 2018?

13 Do all staff across the MAT understand when and how they should share safeguarding information?

14 Is there a consistent approach to safer recruitment and the carrying out of pre-employment checks across the MAT?

15 Are opportunities provided for the safeguarding leads and deputies to network with each across the MAT to promote good practice and consistency?

16 Are all staff, volunteers and governors sufficiently trained in their respective safeguarding roles and/or responsibilities?

17 Is there an up-to-date job description and/or terms of reference for the senior DSL in the MAT and does it reflect the strategic nature of the role?

18 Has the MAT introduced a consistent model of supervision to support the safeguarding leads and their deputies?

19 Is there a system in place to quality assure the reporting of safeguarding concerns by members of staff across the MAT?

20 Is there a formal process for identifying ‘lessons learned’ to support the professional development of staff across the MAT?


Strategic Safeguarding…..The Book

• Publication on 25th

May 2021

• Available for pre-

order via Amazon


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THANK

YOU

Email: [email protected]

www.myconcern.co.uk

Please come and visit us at our website www.myconcern.co.uk

http://www.myconcern.co.uk/

Case Study

Phillippa De’Ath, Chief Revenue Officer at Arbor Education and

Jonny Wathen, CIO at Wellspring Academy Trust

Effective Due Diligence – The Secret to Merging with any MAT

Effective Due Diligence – The Secret to Merging with any MAT

13th May 2021, 11:55 am-12:20pmPresented by Phillippa De’Ath and Jonny Wathen

The MAT Growth and Merger Conference

What we’ll cover

Introductions

Discussion

● How should you plan for (rapid) growth?

● How to use data to find improvement areas before merging

● Aligning systems: How important is this and why should you care?

● How Arbor can help

Questions

Agenda

Introductions

Phillippa De’AthCRO at Arbor Education

● Phillippa has worked at Arbor for over 7 years

● She previously co-founded two free schools, which were divided between

two established trusts after the initial merger didn’t work out

● She has deep, first-hand experience of the ways insufficient due diligence

can directly impact school standards, and the importance of having the right

data and systems in place

Jonny WathenCIO at Wellspring Academy Trust

● Jonny has worked at Wellspring for over 3 years

● Jonny has supported the organisational development and growth of

Wellspring's community from 14 academies to 27 academies

● As a member of the Trust Executive, Jonny is responsible for leading the

Digital, Performance and Commercial service areas

Discussion

How Arbor can help

MATs can manage on legacy, server-based MIS systems for up to 3-5 schools, but to grow a sustainable central team requires modern infrastructure to centralise your data, operations and communications.

Wherever you’re at on your growth journey, you need the right systems in place to support you

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Ch

alle

nge

Growing is a challenge for start-ups without additional resources

Achieving sustainability can become a strong motivation for expansion. Skeleton central team can become overwhelmed. Standardising systems helps build infrastructure

Start to benefit from economies of scale & gain confidence. Systems and processes standardised and a central team can be paid for to centralise processes and save schools money and time

Complexity increases if too many schools brought on too fast. Roles become centralised which changes school operations

Cottage industry

Growing infrastructure

Sustainable sponsor

Large sponsor

Size (schools)

Infrastructure required but isn’t always affordable

The right MIS should and can help you scale.

By giving you the tools, support and flexibility to work collaboratively across your trust.

Arbor’s Group MIS works out-of-the-box, bringing all your schools together

The only true MIS for MATs

Arbor is the only MIS designed to make a positive, measurable

difference to the way your MAT works

Centralised policy pushdown with customisable fields for schools

Take action centrally to support multiple schools at once

More than 1 in 3 schools who switch MIS choose Arbor

And we’re the fastest growing MIS community, supporting over 1,750 schools and 180 MATs

2012 2013 2014 2017 20182016 20192015 2020

1 8 51124

172

291

465

845

1,400

2021

2,000

Interested in how Arbor can help?

➔ Want to see more of Arbor?

Watch live and on-demand demos at a time that suits you. Just head to bit.ly/2021-arbor-

webinars

Book an initial call with our team:

t: 020 8050 1028

e: [email protected]

We’ll help you plan next steps, whether that’s helping with

research for procurement, organising a deeper discovery, or

planning a personalised demo with us

1.

2.

Panel Discussion

Chaired by the Emma Knights OBE, Chief Executive at National Governance Association & David

Wootton CBE, Chair of The Learning Alliance and Freelance Consultant & Kate Detheridge, Regional

Schools Commissioner in Governance and Leadership DfE – Governance Unit & Mark Blois,

Partner at Browne Jacobson (Confirmed)

“Is there a “right” size for a MAT? Why grow or merge? The need to make the case for growth”

1. Right people around the table

2. Organisational identity: ethos and vision

3. Ethics, behaviour, culture and relationships

4. Who does what?

5. The governance professional

6. Community engagement and accountability to stakeholders

7. The local tier

8. Communication and information management

9. Finance, due diligence and risk

10. Sustainability, growth and mergers

11. Oversight

12. System leadership and collaboration

MATs-moving-forward-report.aspx

The power of governance – March 2021

https://www.nga.org.uk/News/NGA-News/March-2021/New-MATs-moving-forward-report-assesses-governance.aspx

© NGA 2020

Proportion of academies in trusts of different sizes over time

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

Nov-16 Oct-17 Dec-18 Oct-19 Dec-20

SATs/Empty MATs 2 - 5 Academies 6 - 10 Academies 11 - 30 Academies 31+ Academies

March 2021: proportion of academies in trusts of each sizeSATs or Empty MATs, 14.9%

2 - 5 Academies, 24.5%

6 - 10 Academies, 22.5%

11 - 20 Academies, 20.8%

21 - 30 Academies, 8.0%

9.3% are in 31+ academy trusts

53.2% of pupils studying in state schools are in academies; 43.8% of of state schools in England are academies

53% of MAT trustees surveyed in 2020 reported that their board was planning to increase the number of academies within their MAT; with only 13% of MAT trustees reporting no plans to expand their MATSchool-governance-2020-governing-in-a-MAT.aspx

Growth in MATs: the aspirations

35%

53%

67%

59%

57%

62%

59%

53%

36%

35%

2 to 5 academies

6 to 10 academies

11 to 20 academies

21 to 30 academies

31 academies and over

Plans to increase the number of academies within their MAT Has increased MAT size within the past year

https://www.nga.org.uk/News/NGA-News/September-2020/School-governance-2020-governing-in-a-MAT.aspx

School-governance-2020-governing-in-a-MAT.aspx

Growth in MATs: the reasons reported

Reasons for wanting to increase size of MAT

by MAT size

5 academies

and under

6 to 10

academies

11 to 20

academies

21 academies

and over

Improving outcomes for more pupils 76% 78% 63% 73%

Growth is part of the trust’s strategy 76% 54% 41% 58%

Finance and resourcing considerations 55% 51% 29% 23%

Wanting to reach ‘optimal’ size 55% 50% 25% 27%

There are suitable schools which wish to join 35% 54% 51% 62%

Asked by the RSC and/or DfE 19% 16% 27% 12%

https://www.nga.org.uk/News/NGA-News/September-2020/School-governance-2020-governing-in-a-MAT.aspx

Have your say - annual governance survey 2021

▪ Capturing the views, experience and practice of trustees, governors, local governing body/academy committee members and their senior executive leaders

▪ NGA use the results to effectively represent and support

the governance community, and to inform the sector

▪ Use www.nga.org.uk/survey to take part

▪ Open until Thursday 10 June

http://www.nga.org.uk/survey

Planning for growth Improving schools

www.nga.org.uk

How does this fit with your moral purpose &

the vision for the trust?

Governance &

Leadership

Geography

CapacityDue

diligence

Management of change

Where we were in 2019 -

▪ most MATs were still small - evidence of success being linked to size was missing

▪ ramifications of some trusts growing too quickly were still being felt

▪ anticipated an increased emphasis on MAT mergers

Where we are in 2021 -

▪ lessons from those who did not manage growth well are better understood

▪ fewer reports of trusts growing exponentially

▪ few mergers have occurred

But we are still anticipating a few more trusts will consider them

▪ mergers take time & careful consideration

▪ requite a fit of values, ethos & vision

▪ relationships are key

Power of Governance: sustainability, growth and mergers

Case Study

Mark Davis, Sales Director at Blue Apple Education

The Importance of Branding & Marketing in Trust Growth

The Importance of Branding & Marketing in MAT Growth.with Mark Davis

• Unearthing the Remarkable – Developing a brand and

providing consistent messaging which is designed to

SELL your Trust.

• Producing Results.

Blue Apple Education.

Why is ensuring a strong brand identity importantfor your trust?

• More trusts than ever now recognise the role that EFFECTIVE branding and marketing can play.

• 5 Trusts currently recruiting for a “Marketing Manager”

• Growth plans, targets and funding have led your “competition” trusts to seek out professional help.

Reason No 1 – Increased Competition

• Schools face a number of options when

looking to academise

• What information is available to help

them make a decision?

• Make sure that YOUR voice is the loudest

one that they hear.

Reason No 2 – Having the loudest voice!

• Reflect your vision and values in your

brand and messaging

• Evidence this in your communications

• Give schools a reason to engage with you

and ultimate choose to join!

Reason No 3 – Why you?

• A strong brand can help foster a feeling of

“togetherness” across school environments

• Do staff feel part of the Trust?

• Links back to strong staff recruitment and

development

Reason No 4 – Internal Communications?

• Little or no marketing experience in many Trusts.

• Lack of trust in marketing effectiveness.

• “Vanilla” brand messaging, lost in an ocean of

similarity.

• No plan or strategy leads to reactive, ineffective

and costly activity.

Some common issues:

So… where do you start?

Understanding what makes your school unique.

What is Remarkable

about your Trust? (What type of MAT are you…think about the

first impression you want to present)

First impressions matter.

• Most of us know intuitively that first impressions are important. We don’t like to think that we judge a book by its cover or a person by what they are wearing, but the reality is that we often do. It’s second nature.

• Your audience can make a judgement about your Trust in less than 1 second.

• So before they have looked for your welcome message, or viewed your vision & values, they are already making judgements, which might be hard to change.

What does this logo say to you?

• How would you describe this school?

• The logo is from a Special School

offering a very specialist provision to

students with profound physical and

mental disabilities

What does this logo say to you?

Understanding what makes your school unique.

What is Remarkable about your

Trust? Let’s expand on your answers

to this question…

Is your identity unique?

• “We have a family feel”

• “We provide centralised services allowing the school to focus on education”

• Take a look at what other trusts in your area are doing – does your messaging stand up against them.

• If you were a school looking to academise, which Trust is making the better first impression?

Do the “opposite check”

• Would it be feasible for any educator to claim the opposite? For

example, schools often tell me they are “Nurturing, but the

opposite of ‘nurture’ is ‘neglect’. No school would claim to be

neglectful - nurturing each child is a vital part of education. So

even though the concept is important, it means that ‘nurture’ is

unlikely to be a useful differentiator.

• You will likely find lots of other schools saying the same thing.

Tell the story…

• Stories make facts easy to recall and are uniquely

human. In fact, the famous Heider study showed that

we see narratives even where there aren’t any.

• So what stories can you tell to demonstrate your

“Remarkable” ? – Show evidence!

Understanding what makes your school unique.Ask the simple question;

“What is Remarkable about our Trust?”

to your staff, school SLT and staff and other stakeholders.

•Do their answers align with your own?

• Is the Remarkable reflected in your current marketing and communications?

Consider the user journey…

• Each of the examples is making life hard for the end user

• Provide a clear message and a clear “call to action”

For example:

When a prospective new school

first visits your website, what do

you want them to do?

Consider the user journey…

A user journey is a path a user may take to reach their

goal when using a particular website…

User journeys are used in designing websites to identify

the different ways to enable the user to achieve their goalas quickly and easily as possible.

The User Journey

Map out the easiest user journey...• Try to make it as few clicks of the mouse as possible.

• Keep forms simple and quick to complete… Name / email

address.

• Your opportunity to control the information that your audience

sees and digests….. So make it good!

So what next?

•Think about your school website – Who are the t

If you always do what you’ve always done…. you’ll always get what you’ve always got.

So what next?•Think about your school website – Who are the t

Take advantage of a free Blue Apple Education marketing consultation:An honest appraisal of your current marketing & communications and advice on how it could be improved

So what next?


Sign up for the School Brand Identity Masterclass…•Various dates to chose from •(May 25th)

So what next?


[email protected]: Blue Apple Education on YouTubehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-davis-b0a091a/

http://www.blueappleeducation.com/

Thank you for attending today’s conference, we hope you

enjoyed the content!

the mat growth and merger conference 2021

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