Our schools exist to serve the children that attend them. It is our duty to provide them with everything they need in order to be as successful as possible. The decisions we make in the trust and across the schools are always made with the children at the centre – how we can benefit them, how we can improve their experiences and how we can prepare them more.

With this being said, we know that the quality of a school cannot exceed the quality of its staff. It is our firm belief that by looking after our staff, both personally and professionally, they will be in the best possible place to undertake high-quality work which, in turn, will have a positive impact on the children in the trust and beyond. We also need to recognise the benefits that working in a trust brings, especially through collaboration and centralised services.

Staff retention rates in education have been and continue to be low. The reasons for this are wide-ranging, including the workload that they have to undertake and the negative impact that this has on their wellbeing. It is important to strike the right balance where staff are valued professionally and can see the benefits of working within the trust for their careers, whilst we also recognise that they are people first.

Our current objectives are below:

• To keep children at the heart of all decisions made at all levels
• To implement a professional improvement model that encourages personal direction setting
• To offer a ‘Coppice Promise’ to staff which provides care and support for their workload and wellbeing
• To develop collaboration between all schools in the trust to maximise capacity and celebrate best practice