What is a Trust Partnership Offer?

Victoria Academies Trust is keen to enter into partnerships with schools through this new and exciting opportunity. 

A Trust Partnership is a time-limited arrangement, allowing schools to partner with an academy trust. It does not deliver the full benefits of joining an academy trust but is an opportunity for a school to benefit from trialling membership in an academy trust and explore how a permanent arrangement might work.

Victoria Academies Trust is committed to providing opportunities to schools to partner with us before any permanent arrangement.

Victoria Academies Trust Partnership Offer is a bespoke package that we can design to support each individual school who partners with us. Our team will meet with you to understand your school, and how we can form a partnership that works for us both. More details about our Executive and Core Team who can be part of the work can be found here.

Our arrangement is governed through a service level agreement that we create with each school as part of the offer. The Partnership offer is a true partnership and we ensure both parties set terms and conditions that work for your school and our Trust.

Trust Partnerships are not a replacement for converting to academy status or a routine preliminary step before academy conversion takes place.

There is no single model of Trust Partnership, however the Department for Education recommends:

1. The partnership should be time-limited, typically 12-18 months. Trust Partnerships is not a long-term solution, or a replacement for conversion.
2. During the partnership, the governing body of the school gives due consideration to academisation/merging through formal consultation where required.
3. Activity undertaken as part of the partnership should focus on teaching and leadership. Trust Partnerships can focus on activities such as headteacher mentoring, senior or middle leadership support, curriculum development or support with ‘operational leadership’ areas such as finance or estate management. The focus is agreed by both parties with a clear plan developed.
4. All arrangements should be recorded through formal documentation, with each party being clear from the outset about the terms, any costs, expectations, and objectives of the arrangement.

More details from the DfE about Trust Partnerships can be found here.

To discuss a Trust Partnership with Victoria Academies Trust, please contact: enquiries@victrust.org

To find out more about our joining process, click here.