Topics

Why I Believe That A Sector Body Is Necessary

Published October 2018

A Note from the Editor

Trust is an important word at CST. We are of course the sector body for school Trusts, but as members will recognise, the word trust means so much more...

Building a Culture of Belonging

Published July 2022

The Importance of Honesty within the Teaching of British History

Published July 2022

Introduction

In October 2018, we launched the Confederation of School Trusts as the sector body and national organisation representing academy and Multi-academy Trusts...

Reflections on a Duty of Care

In this conference edition of Trust, I wanted to reflect further on the themes of my conference speech. As I said in my speech, I am thinking hard at the...

The Importance of Being Ambitious for Every Child

It was inspiring to be amongst so many people at the recent CST Annual Conference who are dedicated to making the world a better place for our childre...

Introduction

I wish you a warm welcome to this special 2022 conference edition of Trust, which is drawn from CST’s Annual Conference and its theme of ‘Truly Civic’....

By Dave Thomson and Katie Beynon

Pupil Absence Since the Start of the Pandemic

We are all only too aware that Covid-19 led to unprecedented disruption for schools. Pupil absence has been, and continues to be, far higher than before...

Trusts as Civic Leaders in Sustainability

Reflections on the CST Conference - #TrulyCivic

Impossible

The Importance of Honesty within the Teaching of British History

Funmilola Stewart, Head of History and Anti-Racism Lead at Dixons Trinity Academy shares her reflections on the powerful closing keynote offered by the...

Our Community – Feeling Truly Connected

Warren Carratt, Chief Executive Officer of the Nexus Multi Academy Trust and CST member, offers his reflections as a delegate at the recent CST Annual...

Building a Culture of Belonging

The issue of transferability can be problematic in education discourse. Conferences frequently feature voices from other walks of life, from sportsmen...

Policy, Practice and Avoiding Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is a term first coined by Leon Festinger in the 1950s and is used to describe the mental discomfort an individual feels when they...

2022-2030: Beyond the White Paper

When the White Paper was released, many commentators were quick to suppose a lack of real vision and ambition from Whitehall. Cries of ‘there’s nothing...

Introduction

Welcome to this issue of Trust journal. As ever, it is the product of a range of voices in the school system, from School Trusts to partners offering commercial...

An Interview with John Dickens

Following the publication of the Schools White Paper, Steve Rollett, CST’s Deputy Chief Executive, spoke to John Dickens, Schools Week Editor, about...

Introduction

We publish this latest edition of Trust ahead of the imminent arrival of a Schools White Paper. Many of the headlines have already emerged, with the government...

The Power of Communities

"There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.”

Understanding what Makes a Strong Trust

With a white paper nearing, expected to include more detail on the government’s ambition for all schools to be part of a strong Trust, there is a pressing...

Introduction

We are proud to publish this most recent edition of Trust – our journal for executive and governance leaders.

Never has the Wellbeing of Leaders been more Important

Twenty months of Covid-19 is a long time for people to operate in ‘crisis response.’

Introduction

I am delighted to bring you this Autumn edition of Trust Journal. This edition is about the future – how we arise stronger from the global pandemic and...

Introduction

Five Key Strategic Challenges for the Next Academic Year and Beyond

As we near the end of an extraordinary academic year, I thought it might be worth reflecting on the strategic challenges that next year will bring. I think...

The Resumption of Ofsted Inspections – Key Points for Trust Boards to Consider

With a more ‘normal’ schedule of Ofsted inspections expected to resume in the Autumn term, let’s take a bit of time to remind ourselves of key school...

By Leora Cruddas CBE and Steve Rollett

The Case for Collaboration

The Secretary of State for Education set out the Government’s ambition for every school to be part of a family of schools in a strong multi-academy Trust...

Introduction

This edition of Trust, our journal for Executive and Governance leaders, is a special conference edition. Our authors reflect on their experiences of conference...

An Overview of Current Reforms - and the Case for Unprecedented Collaboration and New Forms of Leadership

This is a significant moment in the history of education in England. The policy reforms that are about to be implemented will shift the strategic picture....

A Bridge to the Future

The capacity of people to look optimistically into the future, even when the present is deeply challenging, is perhaps one of the most remarkable and uplifting...

Future Schooling

Many in the education commentariat are talking and writing about the future of schooling in England. These arguments, situated in the context of the global...

Stronger Together

It is wonderful to be able to write this piece as CST’s Deputy Chief Executive. My only regret is that I’m not doing so in happier times. That said,...

Introduction

In the introduction to this edition of Trust, I want to make the case for ‘robust’ policy. Robustness can be defined as "a system’s ability to maintain...

Introduction

We find ourselves in unprecedented times. Our schools have risen superbly to the occasion and are doing a remarkable job in carrying on the education of...

The Tenacity of the Human Spirit

Recently I wrote an article in TES about the path from crisis to recovery in the COVID-19 response. In this article, I talked about the need to build resilience...

A Choice and a Commitment

The premise of Patrick Lencioni’s excellent book, The Advantage, is that the single greatest advantage any company can achieve is organisational health....

Introduction

Welcome to the new edition of Trust. I am pleased to provide my synopsis of the range of topical subjects covered in this issue.

Free Schools – An Integral Part of England’s Education Landscape

In 2010, the coalition Government invited parents, teachers, businesses, charities and existing schools to establish new schools across the country, and...

Trust is Living Well Together

Reflecting on the word ‘Trust’ – the ‘T’ of our Multi Academy or Single Academy Trust designation – centres our thinking on the importance...

Self-Evaluation and Improvement – A View of the System

So….I used to be responsible for evaluation in Ofsted. I’ll just get that out there before I say any more as it is relevant to virtually everything...

Using Procurement to Create Social Value

Social Value UK defines social value as "the quantification of the relative importance that people place on the changes they experience in their lives”....

Introduction

Welcome to the July edition of Trust. I am pleased to provide my synopsis of the range of subjects covered in this issue.

Taking Stock

We launched the Confederation of School Trusts on 11 October 2018. By this edition of Trust, we are thirty-eight weeks old and I thought it would be a...

Reflections on Autonomy

The term ‘autonomy’ is a highly contested and misunderstood concept. The whole question of the practice of autonomy needs more careful thought and...

Improve Your Accountability Through Positive Parental Engagement

For Multi Academy Trusts, the matter of accountability and transparency remains a growing concern with parents calling for greater clarity on decision-making...

Hatchet or Scalpel – Developing A Different Narrative

You will not have missed the continuing dialogue concerning challenges in school funding. Impassioned reactions of education leaders and the concerned...

Why We Need A ‘Big Education’

There are growing numbers of people – teachers, parents, students, employers – who believe that our current education system and the debate around...

As Others See Us

The poet John Donne famously wrote that ‘no man is an island’. In education we can extend that metaphor to say that no school or education system is...

A System View

Recently we passed a major milestone in the history of English education which, given everything else going on, received relatively little attention. More...

Navigating The Uncertain Political Landscape

As I write this article, UK politics continues to be dominated by Brexit, which is crowding out everything else, and distracting attention from other key...

Fraud in the Education Sector

Throughout 2018, the threat to schools from fraudsters has compounded – not only are schools’ finance teams being targeted through malicious emails...

Evidence-Informed Inspection: Curriculum Research and the Education Inspection Framework

Without a curriculum, a school is just a building full of teachers and pupils.

Educational Revolution

I am lucky enough that each working day, I get to drive throughout the whole of Teesside, Yorkshire, the Humber region and the East Midlands, beautiful...

Why I Believe That A Sector Body Is Necessary

I’ve been around from the beginning of the academy movement. Academies have seen a huge transformation of the system. When we started, academisation...

Introduction

Welcome to the first edition of our Journal for Executive and Governance Leaders. We call it ‘Trust’. We aim for Trust to be a regular, digital, periodical...