We understand that joining a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) is a significant decision for your school, and it often comes with a lot of questions. Whether you’re a school leader, teacher, support staff, or part of the community, you may be wondering about the changes, opportunities and benefits that come with being part of a MAT. We want to make the process as transparent and straightforward as possible.
Below, we’ve answered some of the most frequently asked questions to help you feel confident about what it means to join Thinking Schools Academy Trust.
The majority of schools who have joined us have kept their name, however some have chosen to change their name due a variety of reasons. Any decisions would be made by your Headteacher.
The governors of your school will be given the opportunity to join the new Academy Governing Board (AGB) who will work with the Regional Governing Board (RGB) on school governance. The processes they follow will become aligned with those in place at TSAT. We have a friendly team of governance experts who will support this transition and provide any necessary training.
Nothing! Some Heads bring their school into our Trust ahead of their retirement with plans to retire shortly after. However most stay exactly the same and get to utilise the network of 20+ strong Heads in our family of schools. Headteachers will have line management with the Regional Director for the hub that their school will join.
Yes, this is a requirement of joining our MAT. However, the timescales in which your schools adopts this is down to your leadership team. Our Head of Thinking, Teaching and Learning will arrange to meet with SLT within the first two terms of joining to outline an appropriate timeline that meets the schools priorities to embark on the Thinking Journey. In most cases, schools decide to embrace their Thinking Journey by the half way mark of their first academic year as a member of the Trust.
Yes, we would encourage schools to maintain their connections within the local area alongside the new connections within our organisation.
At TSAT we use Microsoft Office 365 across the organisation and within the classroom. All schools will need to be Microsoft users to access the collaborative elements of being a member. If your school is not a Microsoft school, we will put a detailed project plan in place complete with training to work towards migrating the school to Microsoft over time.
The school’s Headteacher and Business Manager will be the key members of staff involved in the conversion process. We are conscious of the workload for these members of staff and always create the project plan for the process according to their needs.
Our Head of Onboarding will work with the Headteacher and Business Manager to identify the priorities for onboarding across the services and education. We break the onboarding process down into three areas: Trust Integration, Education Integration and Central Services Integration. Once the school has joined the support continues for as long as required until the school considers itself a ‘Trust school’.