Welcome to the North Tyneside Learning Trust
Our approach to school improvement and the improvement of the lives and life chances of children, young people and their families is focused on raising standards and improving wellbeing. Our experience tells us that we can do this far more successfully through a collaborative approach. The formation of the North Tyneside Learning Trust enables us to consolidate our plans for collaboration and partnership work and make them more sustainable.
David Baldwin (Director)
Chair of the North Tyneside Learning Trust Board
Burnside Business & Enterprise College became a member of the North Tyneside Learning Trust after the period of consultation on October 1st 2012.
What is a Trust School?
A Trust School is a local authority maintained school which is supported by a charitable Trust which appoints some of the governors. It remains part of the local authority, family of schools.
It operates within the same frameworks as other maintained schools:
- It teaches the National Curriculum;
- Follows the Schools Admissions Code and;
- Can be inspected by Ofsted.
Teaching staff are employed under the terms of the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document. The local authority funds the school on the same basis as all other local authority schools and retains its intervention powers if there are problems at the school.
Trust schools differ because their charitable Trust (the North Tyneside Learning Trust) establishes a long-term relationship with external partners and involves them in the school’s governance and leadership. The governing body of a Trust School (which retains parents, staff, community and authority governors) remains responsible for all major decisions about the school and its future.
The skills and experience of the Learning Trust appointed governors strengthen the whole governing body and make a contribution to the school’s ethos. The governing body remains responsible for all aspects of the conduct of the school (including the school’s budget and staff), and so responsibilities and accountabilities remain clear.
A Trust School does mean that:
- The school becomes its own admissions authority
- The governing body becomes the employer
- Land, building and assets will be transferred from the local authority (LA), and held by the Trust
What is the NTLT
Schools in North Tyneside have always worked with each other and partners to improve education and life chances for young people. During the last few years this collaboration has produced significant gains. In particular there has been considerable improvement in exam results across the board. We are keen to move things further but realise that no individual school can do this on their own.
We believe that becoming Trust Schools allows us to work more closely with a broad range of partners. We are excited by the opportunities this brings to our young people.
28 schools have become Trust Schools, which means we are a type of foundation school. (Roman Catholic and Church of England Schools are already Foundation schools). At the same time we have joined the North Tyneside Learning Trust, which is a charitable trust involving the other trust schools and external partners. The Trust is helping us improve the education of our young people in North Tyneside.
