Ely St Mary’s CE Junior School

Academy Consultation Meeting

June 2014

Why is the school to become an Academy, part of DEMAT?

• The Government’s agenda is for more and more schools to become academies

• For faith schools the Secretary of State for Education has an agreement the Church of England that schools becoming academies must join a Diocesan Academy Trust

• The Diocese of Ely Multi-Academy Trust (DEMAT) is the trust set up by the Ely Diocese to manage its academies.

• DEMAT accepts Church schools and community schools into the Trust

• DEMAT has taken on outstanding schools, good schools, schools requiring improvement, and a school in Special Measures as part of Trust

• It is working with these schools collaboratively to share best practice and to drive forward improvements

Diocese of Ely & DEMAT Schools• Diocese has 82 primary and one secondary:

Cambridgeshire, West Norfolk and Peterborough

• DEMAT has 5 academies now and should have 14 by

October

• Schools & Academies serve the community and admit

pupils irrespective of faith and background: inclusive

schools

Advantages of becoming a DEMAT academy

• Focus on collaborative working, with development, support and guidance from the central team and other Trust Schools

• Diocese aspiration to maintain local church schools within local communities

• Strong links with other Church schools in the Diocese• School improvement support• Help with addressing recruitment issues• Staff development opportunities for existing staff to develop

leadership capacity• Greater resilience and capacity as a group • More freedoms around the curriculum

• Local Authorities has limited capacity to offer proactive support

The DEMAT education team• Director of Education and Deputy Director for School Effectiveness

• Assistant Director

• Specialist school improvement consultant

• Three seconded heads and one ex-head

• Diocesan Support team—10 heads from highly effective schools

• Buildings officer

• Academies business manager and academies project officer

• DEMAT consultant head teacher

• Accountant and finance assistant

• Administrator and PA to Director

Additional Support• School-to-school support from other DEMAT Academies

• Coaching support from Ely Cathedral Business Group

• Links with the Eastern Leadership Centre for middle

leadership training

• Links with Edge Hill University: “Arithmetic for All”

Accountability and responsibility

• Responsibility for schools in the Trust is held by the Board of Directors

• The Trust is accountable to the Secretary of State for the funding agreement and education standards in its academies

• The Trust appoint Head Teacher and the Academy Governors

• The Trust delegates responsibility for the day to day running of its academies to local governing bodies through a Scheme of Delegation

Financial responsibilities

• The Trust is established as a Company limited by guarantee

• the Trust is ultimately responsible for stewardship of funds

• The Trust receive funding for its academies from the Education

Funding Agency

• After deducting some funding (3 to 5%) for central services the

remainder is passed to the Academy to manage

• The Local Governing Body contracts the school budget which is

subject to review and approval by the Trust

• The Trust receives financial reports from its academies and appoints

auditors who audit the accounts and file the annual returns

The MAT BoardCurrently nine directors who set Strategic Direction

• Rev Michael G Banyard• Keith Carne• Howard Dellar• Sue Freestone• John Hayes• Peter Maxwell• Catherine Nancekievill • Tricia Pritchard• Robert Skelton • HR Professional to be appointed

Committees & Local Governing Bodies

The DEMAT Board• Finance and estates Committee• Audit Committee• Personnel Committee• Standards and ethos Committee

Local Governing Body for each school• Setting strategic direction for own school• Setting budget for own school• Focus on standards and quality of education

The conversion process• Secretary of State has already issued an Academy Order but

conversion depends on our showing that the Trust can run the

schools effectively

• The Diocese of Ely Multi-Academy Trust is to sponsor the new

Academy.

• Stakeholder groups are consulted.

• Focus is on minimum change and no disruption to the children’s

education

• The school ethos will remain the same.

• The school name could be changed if wanted.

Implications for staff• Staff will transfer from the employment of the Local

Authority to the Diocesan of Ely Multi Academies Trust.

• TUPE is the Transfer of Undertaking (Protection of

Employment) Regulations 2006.

• All employees who are in post at the date of transfer will

transfer.

• Target date for becoming an academy is 1st October 2014

Governance• DEMAT has a scheme of delegation for local governing bodies:

delegations are linked with school performance.

• Number of governors will depend on the requirements of the

school, fewer for smaller schools.

• The local governing body normally has two staff representatives

and two parent representatives.

• The governing body will need to be reconstituted. Existing school

governors are invited to be governors on the new local governing

body.

QuestionsDEMAT Contacts:

Tricia Pritchard – Director of Educationtricia.Pritchard@ely.anglican.org T: 01353 652711

Rachel Beeson – Deputy Director of EducationRachel.beeson@ely.anglican.org T: 01353 652736

Keith Lovsey – Academies Project Managerkeith.lovsey@ely.anglican.org T: 07855533398

DEMAT SupportSchool/Academy Support (DRAFT) Paper trail

High needs academies – those in Special Measures/Serious weaknesses

• Weekly update sheet completed and sent to DDDE

• Telephone/email support from Diocesan staff

• Half termly Diocesan School Improvement Team Meeting to review progress against plans and data

• Regular meetings with assigned Patch Inspector as negotiated

• Other support brokered as needed (from consultants or from the School’s Team)

• Service Level Agreement services• DEMAT Attendance at LGB meetings

• Copy of Development Plan (to be written with Patch Advisor on a standard DEMAT format) and any reviews

• Minutes from DSIT Meetings• Self evaluation form• Calendar/termly plan with dates

(if available)• Half termly outcomes of Pupil

Progress meetings including Pupil Premium Group

• HT report to governors• Data updated on portal at least

termlyAll academies • Access to DEMAT Head teacher

meetings/SENCo meetings etc. • Access to workshops and events

organised by the diocese (at no cost where possible)

• Telephone/email support from the Education Team

• Service Level Agreement services

As above