‘Education doesn’t need to be reformed – it needs to be transformed. The key to this transformation is not to standardise education, but to personalise it, to build achievement on discovering the individual talents of each child, to put students in an environment where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions.’

Ken Robinson

Overall Aim:

At The Island Learning Trust we are committed to creating a learning community in which children are perseverant, resilient risk takers who take responsibility for their learning and develop their critical creative and social abilities fully. We believe that children learn best when learning is: exciting, challenging, creative, collaborative, practical, reflective and meaningful. Learning should inspire children to ask questions and to wonder.  It should provide them with memorable experiences. It should develop in them the skills of communication, collaboration, critical thinking, social responsibility, problem solving and reflection. It should have the highest of expectations of the learners. It should build on experience and always be purposeful and relevant. We are passionate about celebrating the uniqueness of our learners and our curriculum design reflects this.

In partnership with parents, carers and the wider community, we aim to achieve this vision and to deliver the very best education to our children to enable every child in every Trust school to

‘Grow, Achieve, Succeed’

What characterises The Island Learning Trust?

• Our Trust has been formed by 2 forward thinking schools who have a history of ambition for our children, staff and community
• Children are at the heart of all decision making.
• The well-being of children and staff is our number one priority. Our schools exhibit a strong nurturing ethos allowing ALL children to be successful.
• An innovative, researched based approach to Teaching and Learning with a relentless focus on improving pupil outcomes
• High quality CPD with a well-established coaching culture that is designed to attract, retain and develop all staff to secure outstanding and effective teams. No staff should have to leave for career development opportunities.
• Outward focused intelligent leadership.
• Strong partnerships with CCCU and other training institutions.
• An exciting and dynamic learning community: all children and staff demonstrate a positive ‘can-do’ attitude and embrace the Trust’s Vision and Values embodying them in their everyday interactions with others.
• All children and staff to feel valued, supported and challenged to be the best they can be.

Cornerstones to Success

For our Trust to develop positively there are 6 cornerstones that we adhere to and which form the basis for our development.

1. Pupil well-being and good pupil progress are at the heart of what we do in all of our work.
   We do this by creating safe, nurturing learning environments with high expectations and challenge for all.
2. All working practices are positive, fair and built around a spirit of trust and co-operation.
   We do this by engaging positively with all of our employees to create a happy and successful working environment. The Trust is an organisation which listens and learns, growing organically.
3. Highly skilled, focused, competent and loyal workforce will enable pupils to make great progress.
   We do this by providing high quality CPD, monitoring and rewarding high quality performance and providing significant opportunities for promotion.
4. All Trust provision is judged at least Good by Ofsted (achieved within two years of taking on a school in category).
   We do this by focusing relentlessly upon developing good pupil behaviour, good attainment standards, imaginative and creative teaching and emotionally intelligent and resilient leadership.
5. All Trust provision is cost effective and expenditure never exceeds income.
   We do this by living within our means and maximising opportunities for  economies of scale within a culture of careful resource management.
6. Trust expansion occurs only if it is prudent, cost effective and likely to enhance capacity.
   We do this through engaging in a thorough process of due diligence to ascertain whether each prospective school is viable in the short, medium and long term.

Strategy for Growth

1. We aim to have between 7 and 9 primary schools working in hubs over 3 geographical areas within 7 years. Maximum of 30 minutes traveling time between schools in each hub.
2. Each hub will be driven by an Executive Headteacher with a highly effective Head of School in each Academy.
3. The expanding MAT will inspire greater collaboration and innovation, built on current good practice.
4. When a school is proposed or applies to be a part of our MAT, we consider:

• moral obligation.
• size of school - any new school joining would need to be 1FE or above.
• financial position of the school.
• distance between schools.
• Ofsted category of the school (See attached application form and decision diagram) The moral obligation to raise standards and address under-performance remains the overriding consideration.

5. Our intention and ambition is to create a network of outstanding schools that thrive through collaboration and interaction.

6. We feel a sense of responsibility and obligation to expand. We will only expand when we have the capacity to do so. It is the responsibility of the Trust to build capacity.

Our Approach:

1. We work in partnership with schools ensuring we match support specifically to their needs.
2. We lead by example, using up-to-date methods.
3. We tailor support to individual needs as every school is different.
4. We are open, honest and professional in our approach.
5. We recognise that every school has areas of expertise as well as areas for development.
6. We strive to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and promote a positive work/life balance.

Development Priorities 2016-2017

1. To develop a working infrastructure that supports the work of all trust schools and is cost effective.
2. To ensure that all Trust provision remains at least Ofsted Good.
3. To develop leadership capacity across our schools.
4. To further develop leadership and governance structures that ensure effective and robust accountability.
5. To be ready to expand The Island Learning Trust.