Thank you for your interest in working with Big Education. We know that considering to join a London based Multi-Academy Trust is a big decision, and are delighted to work with you to explore if we might be a good fit.
Big Education was founded in 2018 with a vision to support and develop expansive approaches to education, one which goes beyond the core academic and encompasses the whole child. The trust was formed to be a catalyst for change – we have the idea of working ‘on behalf of the system’ and not just for our own schools. We have a high profile as a trust and are engaged in significant national change work and conversations. It is an exciting and dynamic organisation with many wonderful leaders and teachers!
We are committed to delivering an expansive educational model in our schools – but do not have a ‘prescribed’ way of doing this. Our existing schools have different ways of expressing that;
We have a highly collaborative and peer-led approach to improvement and learning. Through building deep relationships, we empower our school leaders to be open and learn and develop together.
Despite the name, we are a small trust, and wish to stay at ‘human scale’; not so big that the heads cannot sit around a table together. What that means is we are looking to grow to about 8 schools over the next 5 years.
This means that we can work in a highly collaborative and peer led way. We have brought together strong and interesting schools and leaders who actively work to support and challenge each other. This is supported by a maturing back office set of functions, which we have worked hard to establish and develop. This means there are strong central services to support heads and leaders get on with the critical business of educational leadership.
The children in the schools are of course at the heart of all we do. Supporting the heads and staff to deliver excellence across a board and exciting curriculum offer is our job, and ensuring that this drives our decision making processes.
Each school strongly maintains its individuality and own values and mission.
The idea of a ‘big’ education is a broad concept – our frameworks underpin this. We are not trying to establish one way of doing things, but rather provide a set of tools which help each school ask big questions about what it is doing, and work together to find better answers to those questions. We want difference – we know that is how we find new ideas in authentic ways.
This framework is used to help schools take stock of where they are at and as a stimulus for future planning and development.
Alongside our core work as a MAT, we work collaboratively on a range of projects and initiatives which aim to bring about wider change in the system. These include leadership and professional development courses and training, and other projects such as rethinking assessment. This means there are significant opportunities for heads and other staff within the schools to be engaged in wider projects and work within the sector, and is a powerful route to professional development and learning, which support retention.
In being part of Big Education Trust, the Schools agree to make contributions from GAG funding to the Trust, in return for the provision of services as set out within the central services agreement.
The contributions are held centrally by the Trust and applied for the purposes of:
The central services include:
Big Education Trust is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales.
Company registration number: 07648389.
VAT number: GB142676505
Registered Office: c/o School 21, Pitchford Street, London E15 4RZ
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