Frank Field Education Trust (FFET) is a multi-academy trust (MAT) founded in 2016 by The Rt Hon. the Lord Field of Birkenhead CH DL, working with schools in the North West of England and West Midlands regions. The aim of the Trust is to establish academies that enable all pupils to achieve social justice through excellence in education delivering improved pupil outcomes.
Ellesmere Port Church of England college was the first academy to join FFET in December 2018, having been re-brokered from a previous Trust. Handforth Grange Primary school, rated outstanding by Ofsted, joined FFET in February 2019 whilst Birches Head Academy Secondary school joined FFET in December 2020. Both Ellesmere Port Church of England college and Birches Head academy are now well on the journey to becoming Ofsted rated good schools, although this improvement journey has been detrimentally affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
FFET is in a sound financial position independent of any new school, or MAT, joining FFET. FFET’s current 3 year business plan is based upon conservative pupil numbers, and shows an increasingly healthy financial position within the Trust.
FFET supports all academies and pupils through enhancing educational and social values independent of the organisational structure. FFET works in close collaboration with schools and MATs to deliver an improved educational system for all our pupils, including the local community. FFET firmly believes that outstanding education delivered through excellent quality teaching and learning in all our academies provides social justice for our pupils and this is fully supported by a comprehensive range of CPD opportunities for all staff. This requires relentless commitment to delivering the Trust’s aims and vision.
As a result, all FFET academies will therefore:
provide the best education possible that delivers improved outcomes for all our pupils;
provide fully supportive and engaged adults who ensure that all pupils develop strong and positive values and behaviours;
encourage all pupils to be confident well-rounded and aspirational individuals, contributing to their local community;
have access to FFET’s Early Life programme that is centered around children’s school readiness in pre-Nursery.
FFET works closely with Infant, Primary and Secondary schools in our local communities, to build on the initial Early Life pre-Nursey programme. Children from our Infant schools, and our partner Infant schools and MATs, feed into our Primary schools that subsequently feed into Secondary schools. This model thereby fully supports our unique fully aligned 0 to 18 educational model, offering continuous learning across Early Life, Infant, Primary and Secondary schools.
FFET operates an open structure of governance that supports different types of partnership arrangements that schools and MATs may be seeking. FFET’s defined Scheme of Delegation fully supports autonomy for all successful academies in our Trust which fully reflects our values and is a strength of our trust. FFET fully values each individual academy’s contribution to the Trust, with no academy being more important than any other academy in the Trust.
All FFET Primary have access to Handforth Grange Primary school’s curriculum rated Outstanding by Ofsted. However, each Primary school within FFET decides itself how much of this outstanding curriculum is used within their own academy. Mrs Andrea Booth, Head Teacher at Handforth Grange Primary school, said ‘it was the vision and ethos, including social justice in education, that was a key influence on our decision to join FFET’. A similar approach applies to FFET Secondary academies where each academy can choose what parts, if any, of the proven curriculum at Ellesmere Port Church of England college are used.
In addition, a full range of school improvement teaching and non-teaching support is available from FFET to Primary and Secondary academies within the Trust. This school improvement support is tailored specifically to each academy’s bespoke requirements, as this recognises each school’s unique educational offer.
Furthermore, all this is underpinned with unlimited access to the strong central services team that provides a comprehensive range of back office support functions including Finance, HR, Compliance, IT, Premises, Marketing and Communications. Mrs Katie Dixon, Principal at Birches Head Academy, said ‘the strong quality of the central services offering was an integral part of our decision making to join FFET’.
FFET also offers a range of employee benefits including Medicash health plan, cycle salary sacrifice scheme, electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme, telephone access to staff welfare support as well as CPD opportunities including collaborative working across all academies in the Trust.
As a result, a school can see that every FFET academy will:
have a positive approach in supporting all pupils;
deliver social justice through excellence in education;
rapidly improve all pupil outcomes with the dedicated and agreed school improvement offer;
fully support all other academies in the Trust sharing expertise and knowledge;
have access to highly effective central services support and expertise that delivers value for money across all functions;
celebrate the success and achievement of individual pupils within each academy;
significantly benefit from the robust governance arrangements that are established and proven within the Trust;
work closely with their local community through a Local Governing Body.
FFET welcomes enquiries from schools in the North West of England and West Midlands regions who may be considering moving to academy status through joining a MAT. FFET would also welcome enquiries from small MATs in the North West of England and West Midlands regions who may be interested in a merger with FFET.
A Guide to joining FFET which includes the level of autonomy each academy has in the |Trust can be found at:
Join our Trust — Frank Field Education Trust (ffet.co.uk)
