Ambition School Leadership: Strategic School Improvement Fund Round 2 Guidance

1. Working with Ambition School Leadership on your Strategic School Improvement FundRound 2 application

2. Overview and purpose of this guidance The aims of the Strategic School Improvement Fund align well with our mission at Ambition School Leadership to raise outcomes in schools by developing great leaders to drive school improvement. Our programmes offer development for leaders at all levels, helping schools to identify where to focus and providing targeted, comprehensive training to staff with the potential to have a great impact on student outcomes. If you are applying to the SSIF Round 2, we believe a partnership with Ambition School Leadership will enhance your proposal, allowing you to include in the provision a selection of evidence-based programmes with proven impact to support the development of your staff. This guide will provide you with the core information required for the application form in relation to each of our programmes. We recognise our programmes are likely to form just a part of the provision you are seeking funding for and so have provided short, easy to use responses to each of the key questions in the application.

3. Actions and information to support your application Actions to support your application: • Contact your SRIB and find out what they have identified as sub-regional priorities • Read the guidance in this pack • Further information on the Round 2 of SSIF applications be found on the government’s website • Read the NCTL’s guidance on what makes a strong evidence-based application • Read the eligibility criteria for the SSIF • If you would like to discuss how to embed our programmes in to the wider provision for which you are seeking funding, please get in touch with: Sean Finch sean.finch@ambitionschoolleadership.org.uk Other useful information: • You can find more information about each of out programmes on our website: Ambition School Leadership • Find out further information on our Primary and Secondary Teaching Leaders programmes. • The EEF have published a guide to support schools to build evidence based proposals for the Strategic School Improvement Fund. You can find the guide here: Using evidence in applications to the SSIF

4. Ambition School Leadership OUR AMBITION We are working for a fair society built on an education system where every child can thrive, no matter what their background. OUR MISSION We are building a network of exceptional school leaders at all levels to transform the lives of the children who need it most. ABOUT US Too many children don’t achieve at school and can’t go on to realise their ambitions. Young people from disadvantaged communities are deprived of choices about their future. Great school leaders can change this. Effective leadership has a life-changing impact on pupils, but there aren’t enough skilled leaders in the schools that face the biggest challenges. We are building a network of exceptional leaders at all levels in the schools that need them the most. We provide world-class leadership development and technical training to educators across England and Wales – from teachers aspiring to lead their department, to Chief Executives steering multiple schools, and all the crucial leadership roles in between. We work with partners across the education sector to support the long-term improvement of schools in challenging contexts and offer a clear pathway of expert career progression for the most important job in the world.

5. The Strategic School Improvement Fund • The new £140 million ‘Strategic School Improvement Fund’ is aimed at ensuring resources are targeted at the schools most in need of support to drive up standards, use their resources effectively and deliver more good school places. • Applications for round 2 are open until midday on Friday 20th October 2017; a third rounding of funding to open prior to Christmas 2017 https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-school-improvement-fund • Ambition School Leadership are keen to work with partners to provide high quality professional development for leaders at all levels as part of the provision you are seeking funding for. • Three of the stated activities the DfE will fund are: • deliver improvements in overall teaching, learning and leadership with a preference towards school-led provision • improve specifically the performance of a school in relation to its disadvantaged pupils • Support medium- to long-term sustainable activities across groups of schools • The DfE have stated they will NOT fund NPQs, TLIF programmes or programmes supported by other DfE funding and as such are NCTL contracted programmes are not included in this pack (although more information about our programmes can be found on our website). Other activities NOT eligible for this funding include: activities funded by Opportunity Area and Northern Powerhouse funding; Academy conversion; ITT; improvements to school infrastructure.

6. Key changes for Round 2 Applicants are strongly encouraged to work collaboratively with sub-regional improvement boards (SRIBs) and to respond to sub-regional priorities. The SSIF website states: ‘To ensure that support reaches those schools which need it most, and in the most effective way, we expect that, in shaping these applications, regional schools commissioners, multi-academy trusts, local authorities, the Teaching Schools Council, and diocesan representatives will work collaboratively in sub-regional improvement boards and with schools to bring together their local intelligence to identify shared improvement priorities’ Therefore as well as aligning plans with local SRIB priorities, potential applicants are being advised to share there ideas and proposals with their local teaching school council and regional school commissioners office. There is extended flexibility on eligibility criteria to PRUs and APUs and where applications are specifically to increase the proportion of children in infant/first schools meeting or exceeding expectations for language and communication, literacy, and mathematics. This round has reviewed requirements for MATs to support schools outside of their trust. If a MAT submits an application, 25% of schools which will be supported should not be part of the trust (or be due to be part of it).

7. Evidence Based There is a significant emphasis on demonstrating evidence for your proposal, meaning applications should: • begin with a common single need and priority which is amenable to change • include clear and measurable baseline measures and outcomes providing specific programme level evidence • have a clear theory of change, outlining why the solution is addressing the need on a scale which brings about sustainable improvement • identify risks and mitigations in place • detail the expected costs, short-term outputs and long-term outcomes, and • clearly set out the deliverabilityand sustainability of the solution, detailing the activities that will be undertaken by which providers Finding a robust evidence base for leadership development can be challenging. However, the NCTL have recently released evaluations of the Future Leaders programme (High Potential Senior Leaders) and the Teaching Leaders programme (High Potential Middle Leaders), which shows impact on attainment of pupils and retention and progression of leaders. Thesepublication can be used as evidence for the impact of leadership development programmes. Further guidance from the National College for Teaching and Leadership on how to create a strong, evidence-based application can be found here on the government’s website.

8. Tailored to your needs We are keen to support you to put together a strong application for the Strategic School Improvement Fund to enable you to have greater impact and work together to improve life chances for students regardless of background. We have experience of working collaboratively with partners to adapt our offer to ensure we can support you to develop your leaders in line with your school improvement priorities and ensure they can address the areas of underperformance for your students. If you have a vision for how you want to incorporate our programmes in to your wider proposal please get in touch, we’ll be happy to discuss ways to adapt to the ethos and context of your schools. Some examples of ways we could work with partners: • Dependent on scale, we can deliver bespoke elements of our programmes to groups of your own participants. • Your staff could work with us as facilitators on some elements of the programme, bringing their understanding of the context of your schools to the development of your leaders. • We can support you to use our programmes to drive your school improvement objectives,by communicating with your participants to ensure you can tie their experience and learning on our programme into your local priorities. • We can adapt aspects of our programmes to suit your goals, for example we can provide relevant case studies or amend activity design to support leaders to focus on the most important areas for your school.

9. Our SSIF-eligible programmes

10. Aspiring Leadership Programme Issue:Schools know that they need to identify and invest in teachers with the potential to become high performing middle leaders. These middle leaders as line managers will have the biggest influence on the retention of teachers.Headteachers need to plan for the leadership pipeline in their schools, to ensure that they have talented teachers ready to step up to middle leadership, and that their middle leaders learn the skills to become the senior leaders and headteachers of the future. Output:Four development sessions take place in your school or a nominated lead school over the course of two terms. Sessions are led by one of our facilitators, part of an experienced team of school leaders, current Ofsted inspectors and trainers from the corporate sector. Sessions are co-facilitated by a member of your own senior leadership team. Inter-session activities develop participants’ learning from the face-to face training, giving a deeper understanding of how to improve outcomes for pupils. Between sessions, participants conduct a Lesson Study which allows participants to test out theories, gain direct feedback on their interventions for particular groups of pupils and explore techniques for giving developmental feedback. Short-term outcomes:This programme will enable your aspiring middle leaders to prepare to take on their next role while promoting a culture of continuous development. The In-School facilitator will be able to work with the group to focus their development and encourage them to look ahead, thinking creatively about how to improve the life chance of pupils in your school. Participants will join Ambition School Leadership’s national network of more than 4,000 leaders and 1,500 schools, sharing ideas and best practice. Long-term outcomes:The programme empowers teachers to identify and act on their personal strengths and areas for development and explore transferable skills from their current role. It prepares teachers with the potential to become highly effective middle leaders for their next step, building the pipeline of talent in your school. Monitoring:By utilising the strengths and contextual awareness of an in-school facilitator to the deliver the programme, schools have a direct route to track the quality and impact of the programme. Participant feedback is shared with the facilitator, and participants carry out impact projects, tracking the success with pupil level data.

11. Aspiring Leadership Programme Risks/Barriers to success:It is crucial that schools running the Aspiring Leadership Programme provide support both for facilitation to ensure quality and coordination; embedding learning, monitoring completion of programme tools and ensuring progress towards goals. This is addressed by ensuring all programmes have a suitable In-School Coordinator and Facilitator who receives comprehensive induction into programme delivery and supporting participants to engage with tools. Sustainability:The Aspiring Leaders programme presents the opportunity to develop the high potential teachers in your school to raise their leadership capacity and prepare them for a step in to a middle leadership role. This programme can form a fundamental part of talent management and succession planning in your school, supporting you to start building high quality leaders in your classrooms. Scalability:This programme can be offered as a retention tool for teachers showing potential for taking the next step in to middle leadership. The programme can be run within a single school or across a group of schools working together to improve their leadership pipeline and succession planning. Capacity and capability:With extensive experience of developing middle leaders, Ambition School Leadership are well placed to understand what makes a great middle leader and how to prepare and identify those with the potential to take the next step. Our facilitators are drawn from a pool of experienced school leaders and joined by a co-facilitator from within the school to provide a key contextual and individual understanding of the school and participants and embed their development in their day to day roles.

12. Middle Leadership Programme Issue:A cohesive, high-performing middle leadership team has the potential to make collective progress in the identified priority areas for a school. Sessions will be selected to ensure progress against your identified school goals, each participant will be asked to conduct an in school project focused on the school goals and both can be designed to be in line with the wider focus of the SSIF application. Output:Middle Leadership Programme training sessions are differentiated to provide targeted interventions for the middle leadership team, from those that need to evidence rapid change, to high performing teams requiring advanced development. The programme includes a minimum of six training sessions, selected from over 30 modules to meet the leadership needs of the middle leadership team. Short-term outcomes:Individual growth across the LCF (as indicated by start and end of programme completion); developing individual progress within the scope of their ML role; retention (short-term for duration of programme/academic year); progress towards bespoke, school identified goals/targets/priorities.​ The In-School facilitator will be able to work with your middle leaders to focus their development and encourage them to look across their remit, thinking proactively about how to improve the life chance of pupils in your school. Long-term outcomes: The programme empowers middle leaders to identify and act on their personal strengths and areas for development, and improve outcomes in their immediate department/team. In turn, the programme helps build the pipeline of senior leadership in your school.​ Monitoring:Ambition School Leadership hold three consultation and planning sessions with SLT to design and review the programme with our team. Schools also have access to tools to monitor their leaders’ development and impact, including a bespoke delivery plan for their leaders and individual and group competency frameworks.

13. Middle Leadership Programme Risks/Barriers to success:It is crucial that schools running the Middle Leadership Programme provide support both for facilitation to ensure quality and coordination; embedding learning, monitoring completion of programme tools and ensuring progress towards goals. This is addressed by ensuring all programmes have a suitable In-School Coordinator and Facilitator who receives comprehensive induction into programme delivery and supporting participants to engage with tools. Sustainability:The programme is directly informed by the school improvement plan and any short- or long-term priorities identified and is tailored to address those priorities. The programme will support your MLT to take on the challenge of improving outcomes for all pupils in your school. Scalability:This programme is designed to be tailored to the needs of the middle leadership team in your school. Additional elements can be added to support identified gaps during the progress review meetings and additional cycles can be run as new staff progress through the pipeline. Capacity and capability:Ambition School Leadership has nine years’ experience of delivering leadership development to high potential middle leaders. The programme has received high quality feedback from participants on the applicability and stretch of the sessions. If your school/organisation has placed leaders on the programme before, you can include here your experience of supporting them to have impact in their roles.

14. Headship Programme Issue:Many deputy headteachers lack the technical and leadership skills to make the leap into headship roles in challenging schools. Headship recruitment processes also present an unfamiliar challenge, and leaders need dedicated career support to prepare them for these processes to ensure that they can be successful. Output:The Headship Programme offers nine days of face-to-face delivery from experienced facilitators, to build the technical skills necessary for headship and to understand how to embed vision and values as part of authentic leadership. The programme also offers a nine day placement in a good or outstanding school to put their learning into practice. The programme provides tailored career development to give participants control over the application process and support them into headship roles. Short-term outcomes:This programme builds the skills and experience necessary for headship, and also provides the personal development to prepare candidates for their first headship in the right school for them. The programme also provides participants with access to the Ambition School Leadership of more than 4,000 school leaders in challenging schools across the country, providing peer support and sharing best practice. Long-term outcomes:The programme has a 70% success rate for participants to reach headship within two years of starting the programme. We are the only provider with a focus on closing the achievement gap for disadvantaged children and provide participants with the knowledge to make the biggest possible difference to this group – disadvantaged pupils in schools led by headteachers in the Ambition School Leadership network for two or more years make more progress and achieve higher grades than those at other schools. Monitoring:Participants track their progress on the programme through our diagnostic tool, which highlights their strengths and development areas against our leadership competency framework. They also complete two projects, one in their own school and one in their placement school, to demonstrate the impact of the interventions that they put in place. Participants will also be able to monitor their own success in headship applications and tailor their career support package to meet their needs.

15. Headship Programme Risks/Barriers to success: This programme is highly intensive and participants must ensure that they have sufficient capacity to maximise the benefits of the programme. As this programme readies participants for their next step, it is important for schools to be able to support that progression and to conduct succession planning to ensure that there are opportunities for participants to continue to develop at the organisation during and following the programme. Sustainability:High performing headteachers have the ability to deliver impact across whole schools. By investing in the development of leadership capacity in schools, we are ensuring a sustainable approach to school improvement and raising student outcomes. Scalability: To focus on the development of headteachers we are improving progression rates and supporting the creation of leadership pipelines in schools. Participants on our programmes are encouraged and supported to share best practice within their own schools and with others, extending the reach far beyond the participant’s own self-development. Capacity and capability:Ambition School Leadership has eleven years’ experience of delivering leadership development for senior leaders working in challenging contexts. The programme consistently receives very positive feedback from participants. If your school/organisation has placed leaders on the programme before, you can include here your experience of supporting them to have impact in their roles.

16. Executive Educators: Leading Several Schools Issue:System leaders require advanced knowledge and skills to implement and sustain change across a multi-academy trust (MAT) or other federations. It takes technical skill, confidence and strategic thinking to allow executive headteachers to transform the life chances of the students they serve. Output:The Executive Educators: Executive Heads programme has been developed in response to the challenges and development areas for executive headteachers, as highlighted by recent research, and equips them with the skills to succeed in their role. The programme provides input from successful executive school leaders and leading experts from the wider education and commercial sectors. It comprises two residential training events, two further face-to-face training modules and a range of online resources to reinforce learning. Short-term outcomes:As an immediate outcome, participants gain access to input from experts from the wider education sector and beyond in addition to the opportunity to learn from and share insights with a close-knit cohort of other executive leaders. Participants also gain a greater understanding of their own strengths and development areas through a diagnostic tool designed specifically for executive school leaders, which supports them to improve their own leadership. Long-term outcomes:As part of the programme, participants are supported to set objectives for their organisation and develop strategic plans to maximise their impact on the pupils in their schools. Over the long term, they implement the knowledge and skills gained through the programme to achieve their goals, which might include increasing the reach of their organisation, improving their effectiveness or sustainability, and improving pupil outcomes. Monitoring:Progress against the short and long term objectives will be monitored against the strategic plan for the organisation. The programme will also support participants to produce a number of other resources, such as a succession plan and a recruitment strategy, and the implementation of these can be monitored over time.

17. Executive Educators: Leading Several Schools Risks/Barriers to success: This programme is specifically targeted at current or aspiring executive headteachers of up to four schools. Participants who do not meet this criteria are unlikely to receive the same benefits as a result, and should therefore consider carefully whether this programme is appropriate for them at this time. Sustainability: The programme is designed to help participants implement and sustain change across multiple schools. By working with executive headteachers, the programme seeks to build the knowledge and skills necessary to work towards the strategic priorities of a whole organisation, with a leader in the position to deliver on these objectives. Participants are also able to bring colleagues to parts of the training, ensuring that the knowledge and skills are shared with others within the organisation. Scalability: High performing executive headteachers have the ability to ensure impact across a whole organisation – by investing in the development of leadership we are ensuring a sustainable approach to school improvement and raising student outcomes. The programme is suitable for those aspiring to the position in addition to those currently in post. Capacity and capability: As the market leader in leadership development for executive leaders, Ambition School Leadership are ideally suited to delivering this programme of work. They have employed their deep knowledge of the sector to tailor this new programme to the needs of current or aspiring executive headteachers of up to four schools. To date, they have trained two cohorts of executive leaders from across the UK, who form a collaborative network of leaders who are shaping the educational landscape across the country.

18. Executive Educators: Building and Leading a Sustainable MAT Issue:System leaders require advanced knowledge and skills to implement and sustain change across a multi-academy trust (MAT) or other federations. It takes technical skill, confidence and strategic thinking to allow chief executives to transform the life chances of the students they serve, including an understanding of best practice from other sectors. Output:The Executive Educators: Chief Executives programme provides input from successful executive school leaders and leading experts from the wider education and commercial sectors. It comprises three residential training events, further face-to-face training modules, organised visits to MATs across the country and a range of online resources to reinforce learning. Short-term outcomes:As an immediate outcome, participants gain access to input from experts from the wider education sector and beyond in addition to the opportunity to learn from and share insights with a close-knit cohort of other executive leaders. Participants also gain a greater understanding of their own strengths and development areas through a diagnostic tool designed specifically for executive school leaders, which supports them to improve their own leadership. Long-term outcomes:As part of the programme, participants develop a strategic plan for their organisation which outlines a number of key strategic priorities in order to maximise their impact on the pupils in their schools. Over the long term, they implement the knowledge and skills gained through the programme to achieve these priorities, which might include increasing the reach of their organisation, improving their effectiveness or sustainability, and improving pupil outcomes. Monitoring:Progress against the short and long term objectives will be monitored against the strategic plan for the organisation. The programme will also support participants to produce a number of other resources, such as a succession plan and a recruitment strategy, and the implementation of these can be monitored over time.

19. Executive Educators: Building and Leading a Sustainable MAT Risks/Barriers to success: This programme is specifically targeted at current or aspiring chief executives of multi-academy trusts or other federations. Participants who do not meet this criteria are unlikely to receive the same benefits as a result, and should therefore consider carefully whether this programme is appropriate for them at this time. Sustainability:The programme is designed to help participants implement and sustain change across a multi-academy trust or federation. By working with chief executives, the programme seeks to build the advanced knowledge and skills necessary to develop a sustainable strategic plan, with a leader in the position to deliver on these objectives. Participants are also able to bring colleagues to selected sessions, ensuring that the knowledge and skills are shared with others within the organisation. Scalability: High performing chief executives have the ability to ensure impact across a whole organisation – by investing in the development of leadership we are ensuring a sustainable approach to school improvement and raising student outcomes. A key element of the training focuses on forming a succession plan to facilitate the growth of MATs, and the programme is suitable for those aspiring to the position in addition to those currently in post. Capacity and capability: As the market leader in leadership development for chief executives of multi-academy trusts, Ambition School Leadership are ideally suited to delivering this programme of work. To date, they have trained nine cohorts of executive leaders from across the UK, who form a collaborative network of leaders who are shaping the educational landscape across the country.

20. Deadlines Expected outcome of round 2 20 October SSIF application deadline November December October January 2018 Third round to close Spring 2018 Third round of funding to open Christmas 2017

21. Any questions? Please get in touch with your Ambition School Leadership contact.