1. OUR MISSION (What we do)

To advance education in the borough of Rochdale and its surrounds so that young people lead happy and fulfilling lives and make positive differences to their communities and society.

2. OUR VALUES (What we believe)

At every level of the Trust, we fully subscribe to the Seven Principles of Public Life. Regardless of legal status, we expect a similar commitment from those with whom we work.

In addition, we are:

• Committed to improving the lives of our students
• Clear on our approach to inclusivity and excellence
• Dedicated to the borough of Rochdale, its communities, and its surrounds
• Accountable for our actions.
• We will always seek solutions, not blame
• Responsible for one another. If one fails; we pull together. If one succeeds; we celebrate. Success or failure; we all learn

We do what we say we’ll do, and we do it well

 

3. OUR VISION (Where we want to be)

To create an inclusive and cohesive system of education in the area that improves the lives of everyone in the borough.

 

4. OUR COMMUNITY (Who we are) 

We are a team of staff with a common set of core values and beliefs closely aligned to our vision. Our academies are joined in a partnership of equals, each with a distinctive identity, working together for the benefit of their communities. Our academy leaders have delegated authority and autonomy within a commonly understood framework of principles, policies, and procedures. We are a family of academies and are responsible for one another. We recognise that academies in the Trust are at different stages of development with regard to education, operations, and finance. Consequently, while we commit to providing all academies with an exemplary service, we will also allocate resources and time on the basis of the needs of each academy.

 

5. OUR SIZE AND SHAPE STATEMENT (What do we want to look like and how big will we be?)

We wish to create and successfully run a family of inclusive academies from early years to 18 in Rochdale and its surrounds. The memorandum of understanding between Rochdale Sixth Form College and Hopwood Hall College is a cornerstone of our strategy; schools are eligible to join, or work, with the Trust if a high proportion of their students progress to either of these colleges.

The Trust has an ‘all-through’ strategy. It is envisaged that there will be one level three provider (RSFC), with a number of secondary and primary schools from whom the college takes the majority of its enrolments. For educational and economic efficiency, there are likely to be more primary schools than secondary schools. Within the pool of schools eligible to join the Trust, Altus has no maximum number of academies that could be a part of the Trust.

 

6. ACHIEVING OUR MISSION (How we will get there)

We will:

• Lead by example and provide the students in our academies with the very best educational experience in the borough.
• Work in partnership with all local stakeholders, regardless of whether or not they are eligible to join the Trust. Where appropriate, we will use memoranda of understanding to codify and solidify these relationships.
• Provide valuable services to local schools to improve the quality of education they provide for their students. For example, through school improvement services, the Children’s University, and the Altus Alumni Society.
• Ensure that we take a wider perspective on all of the decisions we make. Decisions should be made for the benefit of young people in our care and for the wider advancement of education the borough.
• Work with families, schools, and communities to support young people in the transition to, and all the way through, their education.
• Use Trust Partnership Agreements as a way to support schools to join the Trust

7. OUR FIVE STRATEGIC PRIORITIES (The things most important to us)

7.1

Education changes lives. But too often it can reproduce, or even widen, existing social and economic inequalities. We commit ourselves to ensuring that this does not happen in the borough and to provide our students with a high quality of education through:

• Delivering excellent teaching and learning across the Trust to support our students fulfil their potential. We will help them gain the personal attributes, knowledge, skills, and qualifications that they need to successfully progress to the next stage of their education, employment, or life.
• Closing any performance gaps between groups so that all students, regardless of their social characteristics, educational needs, or level of ‘missed learning’ during the pandemic.
• Ensuring our academies offer our students a dynamic and ‘joined-up’ curriculum that sequentially develops their academic and personal skills at each stage of their education. We will support local academies outside of the Trust to do the same
• Developing transition pathways between the key stages so that students move smoothly through the different levels of their education.
• Providing all students with a wide range of cultural and social experiences that enhance their lives and support their education.
• Embedding a clear, structured careers programme in each academy, and developing the alumni society and Children’s University. Through this we will support students to gain the knowledge and attributes that will prepare them for successful careers and fulfilling lives.
• Committing ourselves to ensuring that all academies in the partnership are judged at least good by Ofsted

7.2

Good people are at the heart of every organisation; they make it work. We must recruit, retain, and professionally develop staff through:

• Being an employer of choice for exceptional individuals.
• Staff working collaboratively and effectively across the Trust to help us achieve our vision.
• Prioritising the welfare and mental health of our people so that they are supported to live a healthy, happy, and productive life.
• Working productively and in partnership with support and teaching staff unions. • Developing high-performing individuals and establishing clear cross-Trust career pathways and opportunities that nurture and reward talent.
• Striving to be one of the country’s top 100 employers.

7.3

The borough of Rochdale has much of which to be proud. It also faces significant challenges. We will therefore work in partnership to help transform our town, our communities, support local businesses, and contribute to the wider regeneration of the local area by:

• Being an anchor organisation for the communities where our academies are located. • Making local communities proud of their academies and the role they play in improving lives across the borough.
• Making a major contribution towards the development of talent and skills in the local workforce.
• Reducing the ‘brain drain’ of young people who leave the borough at 11, 16, 18, and 21.
• Supporting the local community and economy in our staffing and resourcing.
• Working collaboratively with partners outside the Trust, including the local authority, employers, and other education providers at all levels (including other MATs).

7.4

We recognise the need to spend public money wisely and effectively. We will therefore run a financially efficient and sustainable MAT by:

• Distributing resources effectively so that we optimise the funds available for teaching, learning and assessment.
• Designing efficient and effective teaching and support service staffing structures. 
• Following rigorous financial planning and procedures which ensure the delivery of value for money and minimise risk.
• Supporting all of our academies to generate at least a modest surplus.
• Recognising that from time-to-time individual academies may face particular financial pressures, and that the Trust will need to support these academies in the short and longer term to ensure that education is not compromised while the academy moves to generating a moderate surplus.
• Creating economies of scale through the growth of the Trust.
• Taking advantage of opportunities for additional funding.
• Providing an efficient and effective estates and IT strategies which support the delivery of high-quality education across the Trust.

7.5

As an anchor institution in our local communities and a leading education provider, we have a responsibility to do all we can to minimise climate change and other damage to the planet. We therefore commit to:

• Changing people’s attitudes and actions so that they contribute towards a more environmentally sustainable future.
• Ensuring the right infrastructure and attitudes are in place to support sustainability in every aspect of our work.
• Constructing buildings of excellent design that contribute to the regeneration of the borough.
• Incorporating environmental considerations into all purchasing decisions and more sustainable working practices.
• Having Trust and local governing board commitment to embed the principles of sustainable development in all activities carried out by academies.

 

8. TRUST GROWTH

As part of our strategy to improve people’s lives in our communities, we seek to grow the number of academies in our Trust. That said, we will only expand our partnership based on local education need and our capacity to deliver. Growth of the Trust will therefore be evolutionary, arising from local need, rather than from an acquisitional target-based approach. We will ask the following questions when an academy is considering joining the Trust:

• Is the prospective academy part of the local education landscape in Rochdale and its surrounds?
• What challenges does the school face? Do we have capacity in the team to make a positive difference?
• How will students, the school, and the Trust benefit from formalising the partnership
• Does the school wishing to join us subscribe to the values of the Trust, or have the potential to do so?

Key elements of the growth strategy:

• The timely and responsive growth of MAT-wide academy improvement and service support teams so that we are able to smoothly transition schools into the Trust and support them effectively when they are part of Altus.
• Schools wishing to join the MAT may choose to enter into a Trust Partnership Agreement for a 12-month period prior to making a decision about joining the Trust.

Key risks to achieving our strategic plan:

• Poor communication with key stakeholders.
• Failure to ensure an appropriate trust and governance structure.
• Insufficient capacity to cope with growth.
• Inadequate planning and development of our infrastructure.
• Failure to ensure consistency of high standards across our schools.
• Not operating within a sound financial framework.
• Ineffectively planning for the succession of staffing and culture.

 

9. MEASURING SUCCESS

We will produce a range of key performance indicators against which we assess how successfully we implement our strategic plan, and to consider adaptations required over time.

We will measure our success by:

• Closely and regularly monitoring a range of key performance indicators at Trust and academy level.
• Producing an annual Trust self-assessment report outlining our strengths and identifying our priorities for the forthcoming year.
• Producing a five-year financial plan which monitors progress against our strategic priorities, and which is reviewed to reflect newly arising risks and opportunities.
• Recognising that we do not define success merely through our own internal metrics, rather through our influence on the wider system of education in the borough

Download a copy of the Strategic Plan 2023-2026

Altus Education Partnership - Bringing Education Together