Strategic Plan 2014-2017
Introduction Horizons Specialist Academy Trust (HSAT) champions the rights of students with special educational needs. We are committed to providing them with high quality educational and learning experiences through improving the quality of teaching expertise, providing a range of teaching and non-teaching professionals with the comprehensive skill mix required, and creating flexible pathways which expand student opportunities to achieve and successfully move on to the next stage of their journey towards appropriate personal independence. Our partnership working with a range of educational, care and adult providers ensures our students are equipped to be as independent as possible which, for some, means being prepared for the world of work. We endeavour to work with other education and funding agencies to adapt and expand our buildings and equipment in order to better serve our student and parent community. This is HSAT s second Strategic Plan. We have consulted widely to inform our thinking and this Plan describes our ambitions which will be reviewed annually. 2
Foreword from Colin Whittaker, Chair of Board of Directors During this period of extensive change in education, the work of Horizons Specialist Academy Trust (HSAT) in developing better and more responsive educational services for children and young people with special educational needs and their families has never been more important or more relevant. It is crucial that our organisation is flexible enough to respond to the changing needs of our very special school communities. It is vital that we maintain and embed our focus on improving and expanding the quality of our services and I am confident that this Strategic Plan addresses both of these areas. HSAT s priorities reflect its commitment to use the exciting opportunities available to it as a multi-academy trust to, in its own words, do more and to do it better. As a former parent governor, and now as Chair of HSAT s Board of Directors, I have had the opportunity over several years to both experience service delivery in this area as well as contribute to its governance and development. I have absolutely no doubt that this Strategic Plan provides a sound, committed and innovative basis for future developments. All of us - directors, the Chief Executive, Principals, senior managers, and staff are excited by the challenges and opportunities which the future offers. Working with and for our children, young people and their families, and in partnership with a range of other professionals and institutions we are focused and determined to do more and to do it better over the next three years of this Strategic Plan and thereafter. Colin Whittaker Chair of Board of Directors HSAT 3
Introduction from Elizabeth Horne, Chief Executive Children and young people with special educational needs deserve the best possible provision, comprising outstanding teaching and specialist support provided in modern facilities. As educators, we are responsible for ensuring students have an outstanding learning experience. This requires curriculum design and planning, and approaches to learning, teaching and assessment which promote the development of skills and attitudes which enable personal student success and fulfilment and contribute to inclusion and participation in wider society. Over the past two years, education in England has undergone a major transition as the move to Academy status has gathered impetus across all sectors. Special education, in particular, has been the focus of specific development - with radical changes to SEN legislation coming into effect on 1 September 2014. Horizons Specialist Academy Trust (HSAT) is a specialist multi-academy trust, bringing together Abbey Hill Academy including Abbey Hill Academy Sixth Form, Green Gates Academy and Westlands Academy. Together, these three special schools support over 400 children and young people with a range of special educational needs in both day and residential provision. They are underpinned by a single organisational and financial structure under the leadership and management of a Chief Executive. This bold and innovative development is based on a belief and vision that we can do more and do it better - at every level for our pupils and students by more effectively using staff and resources through economies of scale, increased professional development, and greater flexibility. Innovative development driven by established student and parent need is at the heart of all we do. TO DO MORE AND TO DO IT BETTER Our motto To do more and to do it better highlights the drive and determination of our schools to provide high quality educational and learning experiences which aim to develop: Confident individuals who are positive about who they are and what they can achieve. Successful, enthusiastic and motivated learners. Positive participants in their local and wider communities. We have close working relationships with local schools which enable our pupils and students to form relationships and links with other children and young people. Established partnerships with post-16 and post-19 education and vocational learning providers help to prepare our students for adulthood. We value our close partnership with parents and carers and we actively seek to realise the hopes and aspirations they have for their children. We are committed to ensuring that all our pupils and students are well supported by highly skilled staff who are aware of their needs and keep parents and carers fully involved and informed. 4
Parental/carer involvement is critical to student success. We encourage meaningful parental contact and offer regular opportunities and events for parental involvement and discussion. Every student s statement of special educational needs or educational health care plan is reviewed annually. Educational psychologist input and a range of medical therapists including speech and language therapists, physiotherapists and an occupational therapist augment our highly skilled specialist teaching staff. MAKING USE OF OUR STRATEGY But we are ambitious to do more and to do it better. Building on previous achievement and making use of our strengths we will: Support and ensure staff development which raises standards striving for excellence. Establish a reputation for expertise in learning and teaching in the area of special educational needs focused on producing successful, enthusiastic learners. Nurture, develop and ensure our pupils and students have a pride in their achievements ensuring they are confident individuals who are positive about who they are and what they can achieve. Advocate for our pupils, students and their families moving forward together in our provision of care and education. Focus on expanding students learning and vocational experiences post-16 ensuring positive participants in their local and wider communities. Give parents/carers real purchasing power by creating customised packages of their own choosing for the individual young person which they can decide to additionally fund through the monies allocated to them for that purpose. Help expand knowledge and share learning in partnership with other major providers and establishments and, with them, form a recognised and authoritative voice in the North East of England for learning, teaching and care with regard to special educational needs. We are looking forward to working with you to realise our shared ambitions. Elizabeth Horne Chief Executive HSAT 5
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Our Vision For HSAT to be recognised as a provider of consistently excellent learning, teaching and care for children and young people with special educational needs. Our Mission To do more and to do it better using our expertise and specialist resources to develop confident individuals who are successful motivated learners and positive participants in their local and wider communities. Our Values INDIVIDUAL NEED Considering the total needs of each child and young person Ensuring equality and respecting diversity HIGH EXPECTATIONS Maintaining high expectations for all and promoting positive aspiration for our pupils, students and their families BEST USE OF TECHNOLOGY Supporting the best possible learning environment and outcomes Improving our channels of communication with stakeholders and effectively marketing our schools and range of services OVERCOMING BARRIERS Identifying, assessing, and challenging barriers to learning by providing appropriate and alternative learning opportunities OUTWARD THINKING Working in close partnership with other schools, providers, and services RESPONSIVE TO CHANGE Continually improving for the benefit of all our children and young people and their families 7
Our Priorities 1. PROMOTING ACHIEVEMENT AND ATTAINMENT Adhering to good practice detailed in Special Educational Needs & Disability Code of Practice: 0-25 years Maximising the abilities of each child and young person so that their future opportunities are enhanced. Aiming higher towards Outstanding provisions which realise excellent outcomes for all our pupils and students. 2. EXPANDING PROVISION AND OPPORTUNITY Responding to demand for our primary school places. Providing more multi-professional services and further developing partner relationships. 3. SUPPORTING INNOVATION Developing new approaches to learning and teaching based on sound research and rooted in proven and established practice. Utilising new Academy freedoms to be providers of a creative curriculum relevant to our pupils and students. 4. ADDRESSING CHALLENGES Using the flexibilities of Academy status to identify and develop new frameworks and strategies for the delivery of our learning and support services, driven by individual need and parental demand particularly for our post-16 students. Using improved and enhanced communication tools to share good practice and market our facilities effectively. 5. DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT ORGANISATION Valued by our pupils, students, their families, and those with whom we work in partnership. Recognised by Ofsted as providing quality education and care. Working with our Board of Directors to ensure that needs and expectations are met or exceeded. Providing a client-focused, multi-professional service. Becoming a reflective learning organisation which ensures its values are translated into practice through professionally committed and engaged staff. Using existing funding streams efficiently and effectively and securing, where possible, new sources of revenue to enable us to do more and to do it better. 8
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Measuring success against targets DEVELOPMENT OF PRACTICE Our commitment to improving practice will be evident in our new approaches to learning. Utilising the new professional skills mix within our organisation will lead to more appropriate learning and improved student engagement. Reflective practice, based on specific research projects with our Educational Psychologist and the use of student profiles, will ensure effective emotional support for all our pupils and students, thus ensuring the learning environment and ethos is positive. Key Performance Indicators will evidence a pupil/student satisfaction rate of at least 90%. Improvements will be evident in increased attendance and a reduction in exclusions across all our schools. Our schools, due to the very different nature of their pupil populations, will be given challenging attendance Key Performance Indicators - with targets of increasing attendance by between 1.6-3% across the Trust bringing individual school attendance into line with, or closer to, national levels. Our innovation will be evidenced in the development of the creative curriculum and the range of learning options and vocational opportunities available. We will measure our success through the recorded achievement of our pupils and students. Our Key Performance Indicator is that 100% of our students who are looked after or on free school meals will make at least the same progress as their peers. All our students will be making at least expected progress from the time they enter our provision to the time they leave. In addition we will track our leavers destinations for 2 years and evidence that the majority of our students leaving at age 19 will continue to be engaged in learning and/or employment. STAFF EXCELLENCE We recognise that teachers at the beginning of their career require support but much teaching will be Good or better with some Requiring Improvement. Our Key Performance Indicator is that at least 50% of lessons conducted by newly qualified staff will be at least Good. We have set ourselves the Key Performance Indicator, in line with our pay policy, that all lessons, delivered by experienced teachers, will be Good - and that at least 50% of these will be Outstanding. In addition, by the end of this period of our strategic plan, we will aim to ensure that our experienced teachers routinely demonstrate that they are outstanding practitioners. 10
All our staff will have a Professional Learning Profile and 100% will complete the training development hours required on an annual basis. At least 90% of PGCE students supported when surveyed will agree they have gained valuable support and 90% of views from the institutions e.g. Sunderland University and Stockton Borough Teaching Alliance Group will recognise the skills and expertise of our staff in the area of special education. ORGANISATIONAL STRATEGY AND CHANGE Our response to new developments in relation to SEN legislation will lead to developments in support of post-19 students evidenced by partnerships with FE providers. Our Academy freedoms will support creativity and lead to a flexible curriculum and the establishment of a Forest School initiative. Focussed support for vocational pathways for our hard-to-engage students will see the establishment of specific training and internships. Following the establishment of Westlands as a recognised quality provision, we will progress ways of providing bespoke post-16 provision. Criteria for establishment of a sixth form will be explored, and in line with progress in accommodation improvements, progress development of a Business case and application to DfE. Following the establishment of our Green Gates Academy, our Primary numbers are set to increase from 25 to at least 40. The aim will be to establish it as a recognised source of quality educational provision - which will further increase demand for additional places, particularly in the Early Years stages. Our restructure of the school year and holidays will reduce the length of time pupils/students are away from our support. The benchmark is that the longest holiday period will not exceed 4 weeks and we aim to ensure that our service increases from 39 weeks to at least 41 weeks of the year including our residential care - by the end of this strategic plan. Our bids to funding agencies will support a range of out of school clubs and summer sports activities. Our websites and information material will provide an accurate and comprehensive reflection of our services and knowledge base reflecting local offer requirements and the associated timescales. In keeping with our insistence on financial probity, we will invest wisely to recoup the best return for our investment. In addition, we will seek to attract funding to improve our school estate and resources. By the end of this plan we will have improved facilities for all our students but particularly those at Westlands where significant improvement is required. 11
ORGANISATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS Our parental satisfaction questionnaires will indicate - a Key Performance Indicator of at least 85% parental satisfaction. Our effectiveness will be evident from external validation - from Ofsted. Our Key Performance Indicator is that all our provisions will be at least Good - with the expectation that at the end of this strategic plan at least two of the provisions will be graded as Outstanding. Other awards will be gained in recognition of our excellence: The Investors in People Bronze Award has been gained for all HSAT s provisions for the first time and our target is to gain Silver. The Leading Parent Partnership Award will be gained by all three academies as evidence of our improved working with parents. All academies will be registered as Achievement for All schools and improvements will be recognised. The successful Teaching School Partnership bid will result in us being recognised by the National College as being able to support other schools in developing specialist pedagogy. The Inclusion Quality Mark (IQM) has been gained by Abbey Hill Academy and the aim is for this Award to be achieved by all the Trust Academies by the end of this strategic planning period. Our financial planning and adherence to standards will ensure that we always have reserves which cover our expenditure for at least one month and that these are supported by a robust Risk Register. We aim to spend no more than 85% of our income on employment costs. 12
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Registered office: Abbey Hill Academy & Sixth Form Ketton Road Stockton-On-Tees TS19 8BU Tel: 01642 677113 Fax: 01642 679198 Email: enquiries@horizonstrust.org.uk Website: www.horizonstrust.org.uk September 2014 14