School Improvement Model

The Trust’s core values of Ambition, Teamwork and Honesty underpin the approach to School Improvement. At The Two Counties there is a common belief that everyone can be better and that feedback is a gift.
To run healthy and efficient central services to ensure school leaders can focus on school improvement in their schools.
The aim is to deliver a simple but rigorous model which develops: a high – value curriculum, a compelling learning culture and exceptional leadership.
Schools should work to innovate not in isolation. The development of active ingredients supports all schools to improve regardless of their stage in improvement journey.

Exceptional schools need exceptional leaders. All leaders, regardless of the role, are exposed and expected to engage in the latest research as part of our Empowered to Lead model.
Leadership coaching is central to the work of the Executive Leadership. Headteachers receive regular individual sessions from either the CEO or an Executive Headteacher.
Senior and middle leaders receive coaching from the wider executive and central team.

Curriculum teams focus on ‘what’ is being taught to drive up standards in our schools. This team is led by the Executive Headteacher, who is responsible for the quality of education at the TTCT, with strong support from the Directors of Curriculum and Assessment.
There is a growing team of curriculum leaders supporting all the schools in the Trust.
The focus is on ensuring all the students are taught a body of specialist knowledge that will enable them to be successful in public examinations but also in life more widely.
The Curriculum Team is currently developing our prevention before intervention model and are focused on:
- Keeping abreast of the latest research and thinking.
- Developing long terms plans and resources to support the agreed body of knowledge, to really model what a coherent and intelligently sequenced curriculum looks like.
- Coaching middle leaders to develop their school curriculum including the subject induction of new middle leaders.
- Supporting Year 11 students to achieve at least a grade 5 in their formal examinations.

As Peter Drucker says ‘Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast’ so to support the curriculum developments the central team is also resolute in its determination to create a compelling learning culture in all our schools that is based on the needs of our priority students.
The culture team is led by the Executive Headteachers for Culture and Student Experiences. They are strongly supported by trust senior leaders with particular expertise in pastoral care. Additionally, we have a central attendance team that assists schools in reducing persistent absences and ensures that checks for alternative provisions are in place.
The Culture Team are currently focused on:
- Developing an academic culture is being developed through developing intrinsic motivation e.g. through now that rewards and all staff and students having a legacy sentence.
- Improving the attendance for all groups of students is beyond national benchmarks through being persistently consistent about our expectations and support for students.
- Ensuring behaviour for learning policies support learning in all classrooms through eradicating grey areas and demanding a consistent approach but always underpinned by strong professional relationships.
- Embedding a graduated response to meet the diverse needs of students, including the development of Intervention Centres.

At TTCT, we highly value our staff. That’s why we’ve developed The Professional Learning Academy to offer high-quality professional development for both teaching and support staff.
Our innovative approach to appraisal and professional learning reflects our commitment to continuous improvement. Like our students, our staff strive to improve every day and genuinely embrace feedback as a gift.

Four times a year detailed KPIs are produced. The KPIs are presented to LGBs and the aggregated KPIs are presented to the Trust Board.
Schools use the KPIs to drill down to identify in-year priorities for improvement and help decide what is most important right now and who must do what at school level.
The central team use the KPIs to identify where central resources and leadership capacity needs to be deployed and to analyse the impact of the School Improvement Teams.
Each September at the start of semester one, Headteachers write an evaluation of the school’s effectiveness via the School Evaluation Form (SEF).
The SEF will have two appendices, the annual KPI chart and a PRAG of the different areas of school life to ensure the school improvement priorities are identified and acted on.
At the start of semester two, Headteachers update the SEF. This is shared with Governors at the next LGB meeting.

Each school will host two study tours each academic year.
The purpose of the study tour is to share good practice with other schools in the Trust and for leaders to share some expertise on how the school may drive forward improvements in a specified area.
The study tour will include the Executive Team and senior leaders from the Trust occasionally leaders from high performing MATs across the country may join the study tour.

We actively invite external colleagues to visit us and provide feedback, helping us improve as a Trust.
Our schools undergo regular external reviews of SEND and safeguarding to ensure we learn from experts in these crucial areas.