Join The Partnership

We are committed to an on-going journey of innovation, discovery and development. We believe this will help us to continually test and challenge ourselves and, consequently, continually enhance our offer to the families and pupils we serve.

Steel City Schools Partnership is led by a team of professionals with outstanding track records. This is key to our offer. Our leaders and our school improvement support are highly effective, with a proven track record of improvement over 9 years.

We can point you to the best in the system. We look for the innovators, the leaders and those schools bucking the trend. We visit, we absorb the aspects of their practice that we believe are appropriate to our context. We will help you to forge partnerships and networks. We provide updates on emerging practice, pedagogy and research. We will provide on-going learning and development opportunities for all staff, leaders and for leadership teams. We will encourage you to explore, innovate, inspire and create.

Steel City Schools Partnership bring together a community of colleagues who share a commitment to collaborative working and making their institution the best that it can possibly be.

We have innovative practice taking place in all of our Academies and we connect to local, regional, national and international practice that makes a difference.

We are outward-facing. We believe that we should measure ourselves against the best in the system, not just the best in our locality. Our aim is that our Trust will be city-wide, geographically, socially and economically diverse which provides exciting opportunities for wider networks and heightened expectations.

Steel City Schools Partnership offers collaboration, not prescription. We offer choice, not decisions made for you. Steel City Schools Partnership was founded on the principle of autonomy.

We want all of our academies to feel the benefits of autonomy. Crucially, an autonomous academy is one that takes responsibility for itself whilst recognising what needs to be undertaken collaboratively. Taking responsibility and accepting accountability are key components of success. We will work as a true partner to ensure the on-going success of all our academies.

Academies may have the autonomy to set their own curriculum.
Academies may have the autonomy to make their own decisions on some of the services they want to buy, supported by the Trust.
Academies may have the autonomy to appoint their own staff in conjunction with the Trust.
Academies may have the autonomy to work with partners of their choice.

The ability to maintain a level of autonomy is a key reason to consider joining Steel City Schools Partnership. Our aim is to support and challenge you to become even better. We recognise the importance of ownership in inspiring institutions to achieve beyond their previous best.

We will provide a network of support and challenge.
We will provide inspiring examples of what’s possible.
We will provide supporting tools for improvement to all staff teams including governors, leaders, all teaching and support staff teams.

Support

• SCSP consists of experts whose sole aim is to support our academies to become even better.
• We will support effective governance through offering governance toolkits, induction packs for new governors, training, coaching for new chairs, clerking and other resources
• We will support leaders by sharing what works in other settings – sharing data dashboards, standards tracking and reporting formats – tools to make the job easier and more efficient
• We can offer support for staff CPD at all levels including the development of the Craft of Teaching and Leadership programmes
• We can support recruitment, retention, and succession planning through our School Direct Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Teacher programme partners
• The quality of our inclusive practice is widely acknowledged and is available for you to engage with
• We will provide hands on, practical support on all aspects of life in schools… crucially, provided by people who are in there, doing it every day themselves
• We have innovative practice taking place in our academies on a daily basis that you can learn from
• We have an innovative curriculum design and development practices to share
• We have the intellectual curiosity to explore emerging practices and apply what works to your context
• We can support you to enhance your offer through collaboration with our partnerships with external agencies
• We will offer a comprehensive suite of Trust and academy level policies
• We will support your finance and business management functions
• We will support your premises and facilities functions
• We will support your catering and hospitality functions
• We support by easing the administrative burden on school leaders, by taking care of business continuity planning, risk management, health and safety, long-term premises management and planning

Challenge 

• Our current team includes the CEO who is an experienced Lead Ofsted Inspector, our COO and Head of Estates alongside other experts in their field. School leaders and Specialist Leaders in Education (SLE’s), our Trust Specialist Leaders enhance the offer further.
• Our Board of Trustees includes successful individuals from the fields of business, education, finance, organisational change, risk management and law.
• Our CEO, Members and Trustees are all focused on the success of all our academies

  We will challenge where we need to. Crucially, with that challenge we will provide an infrastructure and the tools to support your school improvement.