The two school improvement strands
Our approach to school improvement combines accountability with collaboration to drive sustained success across our schools.
Challenge and Support Partner Model
This strand provides professional challenge and guidance through regular visits, helping schools evaluate performance, identify priorities, and strengthen leadership and teaching.
Trust School Improvement Strategy
This strand focuses on collaboration across the Trust, enhancing curriculum design, pedagogy, and leadership capacity at all levels to secure high-quality education for every pupil.
Together, these strands ensure continuous improvement, shared expertise, and strong, effective leadership.
Our approach to school improvement
Our school improvement strategy is designed to build strong, sustainable leadership and deliver consistently high standards of teaching and learning across all areas. Through termly visits, targeted professional development, and bespoke support, we work collaboratively with schools to identify strengths, address priorities, and secure rapid and lasting improvement.
Accountability
Accountability seeks to ensure that all pupils in the MAT have access to the highest possible standards of education. The Challenge and Support Partner (CSP) provides MAT directors and the CEO with a robust external review of the accuracy of school selfevaluation. Working with school leaders, they evaluate the quality of education in each school and diagnose strengths that can be deployed across the MAT as well as identifying improvement priorities towards which they can channel support.
Quality assurance includes:
Pupil outcomes
In school target setting
Quality teaching
Self-Evaluation (school)
Newsletters
School Development Plan
Ofsted judgements
School first choices
Safeguarding audit
School website
Headteacher report
LAC reports
SIAMS outcomes
Enrichment participation
% Lateness
Pupil attendance
% Persistent absence
Quality of Education
Insight data (Termly)
Pupil voice
Challenge and support
One of the MAT’s key functions is to provide high-quality challenge and support. As a result, each school is subject to external accountability while also having access to a range of support designed to help schools attain and sustain excellence.
The challenge and support partner
On joining the MAT, schools will receive a visit from two CSPs who will visit lessons, talk to children, look at their work and talk to staU. This evidence will inform a baseline evaluation report which is shared with directors and the schools designated CSP. A CSP will be allocated for two days each term. One of these is a challenge day at which they gather evidence to inform their termly report. This report is shared with Academy Councillors, the Director for School Improvement and the CEO.
The other day is support, designed to help schools address priorities identified in this report and in their own school self-evaluation. Support can be provided by your CSP or they can broker bespoke support on the schools behalf.
Given the significance that the MAT places on keeping children safe, schools receive an additional termly safeguarding visit from Clennell Education Solutions. A safeguarding audit will be completed in the autumn term and progress reviewed in the following spring and summer term visits. The CSP will independently evaluate the accuracy of leaders’ and academy council members’ evaluation of safeguarding.
CPS termly visit structure
CSP termly visits take place each autumn, spring, and summer term, with a clear focus for each visit. Some areas of work continue throughout the year.
Autumn Term
During the autumn visit, the focus is on reviewing published data, checking the Single Central Record and safeguarding procedures, and evaluating the overall quality of education.
Spring Term
The spring visit includes a review of the IDSR, analysis of data predictions, and further evaluation of the quality of education. Personal development is also a key area of focus this term.
Summer Term
In the summer visit, attention is given to reviewing data predictions, behaviour and attitudes, and validating the leader’s self-evaluation.
Ongoing Areas
Across all terms, visits continue to monitor:
Priority areas identified in previous visits
Pupil attainment and progress
Early Years, SEND, and disadvantaged pupils
Attendance, punctuality, suspensions, and exclusions
Support menu
On completion of a comprehensive CSP baseline report a series of questions or priorities are agreed. Informed by these, school leaders then determine their support priorities. This menu exemplifies the resource available to DNDLT schools.
Leadership
Support is available for both middle and senior leaders, as well as headteachers.
Middle and Senior Leadership:
Lesson observation
Joint work scrutiny
Core and foundation subject leadership
Holding others to account
Coaching
Headteacher:
Building leadership capacity
Providing school-to-school support (year 2)
Managing difficult conversations
Additional areas of focus include monitoring and accountability, and safeguarding.
Teaching and Learning
Support focuses on challenge and curriculum adaptation to ensure high-quality teaching and learning across all subjects.
Thinking Skills and Metacognition
Encouraging pupils to develop deeper thinking and reflective learning strategies.
Curriculum
Support includes:
Developing a well-sequenced curriculum that is progressive and builds on prior learning across all core and foundation subjects
Designing assessment that is purposeful and does not add unnecessarily to teacher workload
Strengthening pupil recall and retrieval so that pupils are ‘knowing more and remembering more’
Professional Learning Processes
Encouraging schools to use action research and professional enquiry, alongside developing in-school coaching models.
Academy Council Development
Improving challenge and preparing academy council members for both external and internal accountability.
Brokering Additional Support
Instead of using a CSP support day, schools can broker targeted support. This may involve in-school support, collaboration across a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT), or an external visit. The support provided must be linked to development needs identified through CSP activity, rather than funding existing school priorities.
CSP support time can be deployed flexibly. Schools can merge their three support days and run a series of combined twilights over the course of the year or a joint training day, for example. Alternatively, a support day could be an afternoon and after school staU meeting rather than a full day visit.
Additional support
School to school support
MAT schools contain a wealth of expertise which can be deployed across the MAT in order to support improvement where needed. This might be headteacher support or the opportunity to observe practice or shadow leaders in other schools. MAT support extends beyond that offered by the CSP.
External Support
While schools might use their CSP to provide in-school support, they can also broker external expertise needed to address the agreed improvement priorities emerging from the CSP process.
Collaboration and Innovation
Through our network program, one of our main aims is to build collaboration and innovation.
We work closely with a number of external partners, such as the North Tyneside Maths Hub and STEM Learning School Trust. Working in partnership, we have developed an extensive menu of termly network meetings which offer leaders access to high quality CPD and the opportunity to work collaboratively with colleagues from across the MAT.
Included in our offer is English (St Michael's English Hub), Maths (North Tyneside Maths Hub), Science (STEM Learning Schools Trust), History (KnowhowEd), Geography (KnowhowEd), Design & Technology (STEM Learning Schools Trust), RSHE (Thrive trained practitioner), Mental Health First Aiders (Mental Health First Aider consultant), Early Careers Teachers (CEO/ DoSI), SEND (MAT SEND Lead).
In addition, we offer opportunities throughout the year for schools to come together to develop assessment practice and moderate writing. Our CPD programme also offers subject leader support and curriculum development days, for example computing and Art and Design.
Growing future leaders
We acknowledge the challenge of recruitment and retention of staff. At DNDLT we are committed to staff development throughout our organisation.
Early career
In the first three years of teaching, Early Career Teachers (ECTs) have the opportunity to lead learning in their school. Designed to enhance classroom practice and that of their peers they will have the opportunity to participate in at least one of the following:
- Collaborative curriculum development
- Action research or collaborative enquire
- Peer coaching.
Senior
Becoming a senior leader requires teachers to balance the demands of remaining an excellent classroom practitioner while developing whole school leadership expertise. Support available may include:
- School, or Trust, senior leader mentor
- Leadership coaching, including online 360° feedback
- Networking groups across the Trust e.g. deputy headteacher group
- National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership.
System leadership
System leadership
For established headteachers who aspire to system leadership there are opportunities to develop the capacity of individuals who demonstrate this capacity:
- CEO shadow opportunities
- NPQ for executive leadership.
Middle leadership
For leaders who take responsibility for curriculum, teaching or pastoral leadership the school and Trust partners will support the development of leadership skills beyond the classroom. This could include at least one of the following:
- School or Trust subject mentor
- Leadership coaching, including online 360° feedback
- National Professional Qualifications for Leading Teaching and Senior Leadership.
Aspiring for headship
Leading a church school is a privilege and a unique challenge. For potential candidates that aspire to headship and have the skills to do so the Trust can facilitate:
- National Professional Qualification for Headship
- Headteacher shadowing.
