Social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) school in Lancaster, information for academy sponsors

12. Delivering excellence in education

Lancashire County Council’s vision is to help make Lancashire the best place to live, work, visit and prosper. To achieve this our mission is to ensure that our children and young people are safe and living in families where they can achieve their potential and have their health, wellbeing and life chances improved within thriving communities.

Sponsors must have an ambitious vision for the academy, setting high expectations for both pupils and staff. There should be a strong culture of working in collaboration with other schools, support services and education providers locally and in other parts of Lancashire.

Academy sponsors must also be able to demonstrate their approach to effective engagement with partner agencies and services which contribute to improving outcomes for children with SEND.

Relationships with pupils, parents and carers and other local stakeholders should be open, purposeful and viewed positively by all.

Leadership and governance

The council regards strong leadership and governance as a key component to delivering improved outcomes for children and young people in our schools.

Teaching and learning

The county council has an aspiration for all Lancashire schools to be good or outstanding.

The new school should expect to be judged by Ofsted to be at least good, with a strong trajectory towards outstanding. The new school should therefore aspire to perform well above national figures against a range of key indicators.

Key outcomes for this school should focus on preparing pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs to be best prepared for adult life both academically, socially and emotionally whilst also enabling the world around them to have a better understanding of their needs.

To help children reach their potential the school will create a learning environment suitable to their needs. This should include:

• a balanced curriculum which is enjoyable, fulfilling and challenging and that will enable to pupils to optimise their learning potential
• access to the skills, knowledge and experience that will equip pupils for the future employment
• a learning environment that is calm and ordered and in which they feel safe
• an environment in which religious faith and beliefs are respected
• an environment that celebrates and supports diversity and equality
• access to a learning environment that will encourage them to think for themselves, to understand how decisions are made and how actions work to solve or create problems
• access to an environment that values each pupil as an individual and equips them with the values, attitudes, knowledge and skills to make a successful and rewarding contribution to their community in and out of school
• access to an environment that supports their social, emotional and health well-being

Academy proposers will be expected to:

• provide a sustainable good or outstanding school with an exciting and inspiring broad and balanced curriculum that meets the needs of all pupils
• maintain a rigorous focus on educational standards to ensure that every child and young person achieves their potential and goals, and national expectations are met or exceeded
• ensure an inclusive learning environment for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and that they are supported and enabled to make appropriate progress
• promote good pupil behaviour, and an ethos that fosters their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development
• ensure that pupils are kept safe and secure, and away from harm
• seek out and share best practice within and beyond the school, promoting innovation and creativity in learning and teaching
• implement rigorous processes of self-evaluation and continual improvement, including recognising the importance of children and young people’s voice in these processes
• ensure pupils understand how to improve their learning as a result of frequent, detailed and accurate feedback from teachers following assessment of their learning
• ensure gaps in achievement for pupils from vulnerable groups are smaller than the national average and continuing to close
• attract, retain and develop the highest quality teachers and support staff to ensure good or better teaching and learning, and effective and motivated workforces

Working in partnership

All Lancashire schools are encouraged to work in partnership within strong local collaboratives and/or teaching alliances led by national leaders in education.

A key component of selection will be the academy sponsors’ willingness to work in collaboration with the relevant county council services and other providers/partners to develop services which clearly demonstrate continual improvement, through the sharing of expertise and collaborative working.

Academy proposers will be expected to:

• ensure the school plays a key role within its immediate community and the wider local economy
• engage all parents and carers in supporting their child's achievement, behaviour and safety, and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development
• work in partnership with the county council and other educational providers to contribute towards meeting a collective responsibility to secure the best for all Lancashire children and young people, fostering strong school to school relationships, and co-operating with fair access protocols
• develop strategic alliances, partnerships and networks based on a collective moral purpose to better meet the needs of children, young people and families in the Lancaster area
• fully engage with the school-to-school support, including peer-to-peer support, network/cluster/partnership working, and the sharing of good practice
• eupport the statutory responsibilities of the county council to ensure sufficiency of high-quality school places and improved educational outcomes through agreed sharing of data and information

Pupil voice

The academy sponsor will need to clarify how:

• the school will ensure pupils are supported to participate effectively in decisions about support available to them in their local area and in school
• pupils will be involved in the planning and reviewing process of their support
• the school will ensure pupils have access to the information they need to make informed decisions.

Involving parents

LCC expects that potential academy sponsors will be able to determine their plans and arrangements for engaging parents and carers in supporting pupil's achievements and behaviour through engagement with parent support groups.

Accountability

The council recognises that statutorily academy sponsors are accountable through the Education and Skills Funding Agency to the Secretary of State. However, a statutory role for the local authority is supporting parents and families through promoting a good supply of strong schools to offer maximum choice and diversity.

This requires that academy sponsors are also accountable for their performance to parents, the local community, and to the local authority in our role as champions of educational excellence and for the safeguarding and support for vulnerable children and families.

The LA will expect as a minimum that:

• sponsors will attend meetings with the local authority elected members and/or officers upon request to report on progress of the school
• sponsors will provide data as requested by the local authority to enable the performance of the school to be monitored
• the local authority will be able to attend any meeting established by the academy sponsor to monitor the performance of the school against any issue identified in an Ofsted inspection report
• sponsors will respond quickly and positively to any safeguarding concerns raised by the local authority