School to School Support
School to School Support
School to school support can take many forms. Our alliance has a good track record of working with schools for both intervention and prevention.
Our work normally involves working with a school or academy in challenging circumstances to bring about sustainable improvement.
Schools in challenging circumstances include those identified as requiring improvement following Ofsted inspections, those below floor standards, where pupil attainment and progress is on a downward trajectory, or where there is a need to close the gap between outcomes for disadvantaged pupils and their peers. Local authorities, dioceses and chains may also separately identify schools in need of significant improvement and seek to work with teaching schools.
Requests for support normally come through a local authority, an academy trust, the London Leadership Strategy, or an individual school or governing body.
In the past few years we have supported schools in Berkshire, Medway, Portsmouth, Reading, Richmond and Sutton. We have continued to build capacity within the teaching school to support this work, and can draw on expert teachers and NLEs from across the alliance for additional capacity.
Please contact Sharon Roberts, NLE (sroberts@cirrustrust.uk) for an initial conversation about school to school support.
Specialist Leaders of Education
Specialist leaders of education (SLEs) are outstanding middle and senior leaders who have the skills to support individuals or teams in similar positions in other schools. They understand what outstanding leadership practice in their area of expertise looks like and are skilled in helping other leaders to achieve it in their own context.
You need to be an outstanding middle or senior school leader with a particular area of expertise and the capacity, skills and commitment to support others in similar positions in other schools. For full details, please see the NCTL information.
For information only:
All SLEs must have the full support of their head teacher and governing body – they will be committed to up to 15 days of deployment by the teaching school each year.
When the Alliance has SLEs, they will be brokered by the teaching school. Schools having support from a SLE will pay a fixed charge per day to the teaching school, and the SLE’s school will receive a payment to cover supply costs, expenses, and enhancement for the SLE.
In October 2013, our Alliance advertised 12 vacancies, and appointed nine new SLEs in Early Years, English and Mathematics. In May 2014, a further 8 SLEs were appointed.
We are not currently recruiting any new SLEs.
Support from SLEs
For schools requiring support, our fourteen SLEs are available for deployment. If you require support, you should contact Sharon Roberts, NLE (sroberts@cirrustrust.uk) for an initial discussion about a deployment. Schools are charged £385 per day for an SLE.
Current List of SLEs:
SLE's name | SLE's school | Area of expertise |
Claire Bignell | Avenue Primary Academy | Assessment |
Jo Bolton | Westbourne Primary School | Mathematics |
Tom Booth | Westbourne Primary School | Behaviour & Discipline |
Britt Brooke | Avenue Primary Academy | Mentoring and Coaching |
Eva Brown | Cirrus Primary Academy Trust | Mathematics |
Amy Carlile* |
Cheam Fields Primary School (LEO Academy Trust) |
Training and Professional Development |
Julie Craig | Westbourne Primary School | English |
Benjamin Dixon | Westbourne Primary School | Computing |
Roisin Duffy* | The Federation of St. Elphege's Catholic Schools | English, Mathematics (KS1) |
Lina Del Grosso | Avenue Primary Academy | Personal, Social & Health Education/Health and Well-being |
Rebecca Hamilton-Lee | Abbey Primary School | EYFS |
Laurence Hawkes* | The Federation of St. Elphege's Catholic Schools | RE |
Lindsay Hilton | Avenue Primary Academy | EYFS |
Nicola Saunders* | The Federation of St. Elphege's Catholic Schools | Mathematics, History |
Anne-Marie Storey* | Regina Coeli Catholic Primary School | Mathematics, ITT |
Rachel Townsend | Cheam Fields Primary Academy | Mathematics |
Ana Vaz | Avenue Primary Academy | SEND |
* Please note that those teachers marked with an asterisk would be deployed by St Elphege’s Infant School (Emmaus Teaching School Alliance - our partner Teaching School) if required