Trust status is about offering more schools greater opportunity to secure the support of external partners to raise standards, strengthen their leadership and develop their own ethos. Trust schools will be backed by an organisation which shares their aspirations for their pupils, understands their community, can support their continuing improvement and provides them with governors.
A business could funnel its existing activity with a school or group of schools through a trust. Trust schools are able to capture the energy, enthusiasm and fresh-thinking of their external partners for long-term benefit, not just short-term impact. The formality of the trust creates a stable and enduring partnership that will benefit the school and future generations of learners.
Schools value the specific management and professional expertise which governors from business can bring. Working through a trust offers the opportunity for businesses to put in place a coordinated and common approach to school governance.
The trust must appoint at least two governors to the governing body. When setting up a trust the existing governing body will decide whether overall the trust will appoint the majority or minority of governors. Where a majority of governors are appointed by the trust, the trust have a greater influence in any decisions.
Being involved in a trust allows businesses to engage with young people who are going to be the employees of the future. It becomes easier to work with a group of schools through a shared and formal framework and governance structure. It provides the opportunity to help build a culture of creativity, innovation and expertise in schools as well as helping to create a distinctive ethos for the school.
For businesses working in a specialised area, a trust gives the opportunity to build capacity in a specific subject or skills area.
An added benefit for businesses being involved in a trust is the development of their own staff. Involvement has seen improvements in both staff morale and retention.
The trust unites the business and schools in a sustainable partnership and signifies a longer term commitment to work together – regardless of changes in personnel.
The trust also creates the opportunity for a range of organisations to come together as partners to support the school in a specific way. This collective approach creates new innovation and energy and has a much greater impact than schools working with partners individually.
Microsoft, Unilever, RM, Laing O’Rourke, HSBC and Capita are just some of the businesses involved with trust schools. In addition many trusts include universities, colleges, charities and public sector organisations.
Trusts offer the opportunities to work with single schools or groups of schools.
Many schools are opting to work in partnership with other schools and adopt one trust. This means that businesses can work with one trust whilst supporting a number of schools and so having a greater impact for the same resource commitment.
By agreeing to work with trust schools, partners become a member of a charitable trust. One of the roles of trust members is to appoint trustees. The key aim of the trust is for the advancement of education and for the school to utilise skills and expertise particular to their trust members.
Businesses should work with the member schools to work out how they use the partnership in the most beneficial way. For example, a partner may be involved as a trustee and in a very practical way, such as mentoring students or hosting master classes in subjects relevant to their expertise.
Academies and trust schools are two strands in the diverse range of options designed to deliver real improvements in school attainment. Each is designed to work in different circumstances. The academies programme targets those secondary schools with the lowest levels of attainment and in the most deprived communities. As such they represent a radical solution designed to provide a step change in education in failing schools.
Acquiring a trust is a way for a range of schools (both primary and secondary) in different circumstances to raise standards, from those that are currently under-performing to those that are leading the way in the education sector as a whole. There are no specific criteria for which schools can become trust schools: the decision is one for the governing body to make.
The level of involvement from business partners differs in academies and trust schools: