Continual Improvement

Our school improvement model is based on the theory of autonomy with coherence - we have a duty to share and implement best practice across our schools but also encourage the development of next practice to drive continual improvement. This means that where schools are doing well in a certain area, we encourage them to keep going, but if there are areas where other schools are doing better (either inside or outside our Trust), we have a duty to learn from them. 

The educator John Hattie states that the highest effect size that teachers can have in terms of student progress is “collective teacher efficacy” meaning the collective belief that together, teachers can make an impact on student learning. Autonomy with coherence drives “collective teacher efficacy” across our Trust - helping all schools to learn from each other so that we can continue to get better. These improvements are evident in many areas, not least attendance. For example, our attendance across primary and secondary has continued to improve this year (from an already strong position in 2024-25), and as of January 2026 our primary attendance has improved by almost 1% and our secondary attendance has improved by 1.5% compared to last year. 

In Let Us Dream (2020), Pope Francis urges us to consider the impact of our decisions on those who are poor, not just in spirit or circumstance, but those whose voices might not be in the room when decisions are made. Our duty as a Trust is to support all students, staff and families with preferential treatment for our most vulnerable. 

In order to do this, it is essential that as a Trust we focus on the enabling factors of successful schools: Governance, Talent, HR, Estates, Finance, and IT. Combined with our pillars of faith, service, personal development, and academic progress. It is our duty, not to lead individual schools as that is the job or our excellent headteachers, but to create the fertile ground for each school to grow so that by God’s grace and through our prayers, each school and the people in it will develop to their fullest.