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Supporting Trust and Foundation Schools
Keywords Key documents

Resources and publications

School competitions

The leaflet will give organisations a brief introduction to new school competitions and the role of the proposers.

Trust school implementation plan – 1 school year

Schools may begin the trust school process at any time in the school year; therefore this plan has assumed that each term is of equal in length.

Universities and trusts

Examples of universities working with trusts and the opportunities that arise.

Need help identifying a partner to support your trust?

Download the partner support request form, complete and return to rebecca.ledger@ssatrust.org.uk and a member of the team will be in touch to discuss your needs in more detail.


Local Authority Trust booklet

The Local Authorities’ guide to trust schools gives an overview of what trust schools are, how to become a trust school and the benefits of trust status.

Trustee Handbook - Essential information for trust schools

The handbook will give trust partners important information on the role of a trustee. The handbook is available to download as pdf, or a free copy can be ordered from the consortium office.

Please email contact@trustandfoundationschools.org.uk with your name, organisation address and the name of the trust you support.

Training slides

A presentation to support the induction of new trustees.  

Trust schools toolkit

The trust schools toolkit outlines the process that schools need to go through to acquire a trust - please download the new revised DCSF version (June 2009).

Guide to becoming a trust school

Further support is offered in the Guide to becoming a trust school:

Trust schools and business partners

The guidance note offers schools support in developing an effective approach to business involvement in a trust school. It focuses on five key areas to consider when researching and talking to business partners. A checklist is provided to ensure all key points are considered.

The following memorandum of understanding can be used as a template when starting discussions with potential partners:

An overview flyer to explain to business the benefits of being involved with a trust school:

Trust schools and HEIs

This leaflet explains the benefits to universities and higher education institutes of becoming part of a trust.

Example legal documents

The following are example legal documents and guidance on the process of setting up a trust.

  • Example statutory notice to be displayed on school gates, published in the local press, etc on the day the statutory consultation process begins. Download statutory notice (Word)
  • Guidance notes on how to register the trust. Download guidance (Word)
  • Example memorandum and articles of association, legal documents that need to be completed as part of the registration process. Download example documents (Word)

National Challenge Trusts / Federations / Co-operative trusts

An overview of changing character for National Challenge Trusts / Federations / Co-operative trusts.

Other useful documents

The following documents contain general information that will be of use in the setting up and running of a trust and trust school:

Showcase newsletter

Showcase is the trust and foundation schools newsletter allowing you to read about creative and innovative practices in established and emerging trust schools.

Progress review of the Trust and Foundation Schools Programme

The consortium have recently undertaken a progress review of the programme by interviewing the first 120 open trust schools and measuring the impact that the trust schools model has made on them.

Download the Progress review (pdf)

Trust school blog

Maurice Peddelty, headteacher at Samuel King’s School and Technology College in Alston, Cumbria is part of the North Pennine Learning Partnership which became a trust in April 20008. Maurice's blog is sharing the experience of developing a trust and the efforts to bring the vision to fruition.

We invite you all to read Maurice's blog, add comments, ask questions and share your experiences.

External links

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