Our Central Team

We have worked hard to shape and develop our central team. Through national recruitments, we have secured a number of highly credible ‘experts’ in their respective fields to support our family of schools.  

Our finance team consists of well qualified professionals with broad experience across the academy and private sector. We want school leaders to be focused on the core business of school improvement. 

Our HR service is led by a CIPD Level 7 Practitioner. We know that investing in staff, managing talent, and occasionally having to deal with tricky situations can take a lot of school leader time and energy; that is why our HR Manager is a full-time role.

Our school improvement function is led by a very strong and experienced system leader. We have a former HMI on the team and currently deliver on both the leadership and specialist NPQs. We are adept at supporting schools in difficulty, as well as schools that are doing great things. 

School Improvement

This is our core business. We do not apologise for, or want to mask this fact. Improving pupils’ life chances, including those who are vulnerable, through a great primary education is what we are here for. Our commitment to inclusion is unwavering, as is our commitment to getting the best outcomes for all pupils.  

Summary: 

• All schools get a substantive ‘core offer’ of support 

• For schools with additional vulnerability, there are extra layers of support  

• We do not wait for a weak inspection outcome to support schools because we know our schools well 

• We have a range of expert practitioners who work with our schools, and seek to build further capacity across the trust 

Our School Support Eco-System

One of our guiding principles is that we have most of our talent in our schools and it is the MAT’s job to identify and nurture this talent, whilst using some of it for the greater good.

To this end we have: 

• Executive headteachers who take a strategic lead on Trust wide work, creating invaluable system leadership opportunities for our most senior leaders 

• Strong class teachers who provide coaching and modelling to teachers in other schools, both within our geographical clusters, and across the wider trust 

• Trust leads, who are highly skilled subject or Key Stage leads who work in, and with, our most vulnerable schools to significantly improve leadership of teaching and learning, and outcomes 

Strength in unity and improvement through support and collaboration is really important to us as a family of schools. 

Building a Partnership

The government has been quite keen to support schools to think about academisation. One of the strategies that has come to the forefront are Trust Partnerships. These have been referred to as ‘try before you buy’ arrangements. 

At Rise, we recognise that working with us through such an arrangement could be helpful for you and your school. To that end, we have set out below some potential ways forward. It is important to note that every Trust Partnership will have context and nuance, so this is very much a starting point for conversations. 

Things we could offer:  

• Access to the Rise full core offer as outlined in our school improvement strategy – the CPD, the professional networks, the support and development visits, and all other aspects 

• Access to parts of the core offer – for example, access to the 6+ professional networks each term, and the sustained CPD programmes 

• A bespoke package of support according to the needs of the school

• One off external reviews – for example focused on safeguarding, inclusion, early reading, or any other school element 

• Financial expertise – for example, finance functions review, systems implementation, tendering, finance staff training, assistance with audit, month and year end process, and interim finance support 

• HR support to help develop and deliver a people development strategy 

The key to any successful Trust Partnership arrangement will be: 

• You and us being equally clear on what you require and what we are delivering on  Establishing a service level agreement that frames the what, how, when and total cost 

• Recognising where this may be the first step towards a wider partnership and where it is not