Newsletters

Welcome

Welcome to the third edition of Transforming Futures Trusts' new staff newsletter.

With only one more day left until the end of term I wanted to provide a business update on key items across the Trust as follows:-

Critical incident at Courtlands: This has been a difficult term for all staff at Courtlands.  They have conducted themselves very professionally and supported their pupils through their own grief as well as helping others.  Thank you for your ongoing efforts and please do continue to access support available through the trust (see articles at the end of the newsletter for relevant links or contact TFTHRSupport@Deltservices.co.uk.

Delt TUPE Project: As of the 1^st May, 30 of our central services staff transferred across and became Delt employees. Since then, Delt have been working hard to onboard and induct those colleagues.  As we move towards the end of this academic year and within the medium term, we expect to see service improvements continue as well as improved opportunities for partnership and sharing. We remain focussed on our continuous professional improvement programme in this regard.

Ensign House: In continuing our quest to drive down central costs we have given notice on the lease for Ensign House. The lease will cease in December this year. Efficiency savings generated will be re-invested into teaching and learning and a project to manage the removal of property is being implemented.

Estates/Buildings: The Board are actively talking to all local authorities and are searching for alternative properties to cater for the required upgrades to the WRAP provisions.  We are also actively investigating plans for substantial improvement to Courtlands.  None of these will be quick fixes.  The Board is determined to source and provide surroundings that are fit for purpose and contribute to the pupil and staff experience.

Arbor: A full update on the new Arbor system and implementation has been provided within the article below and so this is just a brief note in which I wish to thank Tim Mockford for the work he has undertaken and huge contribution he has made to getting this trust-wide initiative up and running.

Presentation to our Regulators: On 10^th May, a selection of Trustees, Executive Team and Heads provided a presentation to our regulators sharing the depth and breadth of our different provisions across the trust and how each create educational value and outcomes for children in our settings. The presentation was well-received and our audience included the senior national DfE Adviser on SEN, Andre Imich along with key colleagues from the RSC and ESFA. This was a great opportunity for Transforming Futures to share greater knowledge around our complex and unique educational offer for our students and showcase the fantastic work you all undertake. It also allowed us to share some of the challenges we face and what our enablers are in terms of strengthening our provision going forwards.

Outreach work: We are also continuing our work in raising the profile of the Trust and specialist skills of our staff in terms of collegiate working with other Trusts. We’ve held several meetings talking to other MATs regarding our Trauma Informed Practice and there is growing interest within mainstream regarding how this can be adopted and used in their mainstream settings.

Plymouth Strategy: The Prime Minister has just announced a new place-based approach to increasing the number of pupils educated in good or outstanding schools.  In the first year, £10m will be used to focus on four areas: Plymouth, Ashfield & Mansfield, South Sefton & North Liverpool, and North Durham, City & Sedgefield. We await further details of the Prime Minister’s plans however I am excited to share that the Trust will be involved in developing the next phase of the Plymouth Strategy that is broken down into various work streams led by Trust CEO’s to develop a plan. The work streams are:

• Leadership – Greenshaw Learning Trust
• Curriculum – Westcountry Schools Trust & Ted Wragg Trust
• Transition – Reach South, Plymouth Cast and Transforming Futures
• Inclusion – Transforming Futures & PCC

I have been asked to work with Reach and CAST on “transition interdependencies” including transition between primary and secondary; early years to primary.  A connected work stream is on Inclusion/SEND with PCC.

Once again, thank you for all your efforts and commitment during this term. For those of you who are on leave next week, enjoy the holidays, and we look forward to welcoming you back for the second part of the Summer Term.

Best wishes

Gavin Gracie, CEO