About ECM Trust

​The Every Child Matters Academy Trust provides a tailored solution to the educational needs of primary schools. It was founded in October 2015 as a result of successful system leadership and collaborative working.

The Every Child Matters Academy Trust currently consists of eleven primary schools –
Athersley South Primary School, High View Primary Learning Centre, Hoyland Springwood Primary School, Kexborough Primary School, Laithes Primary School,  Sandhill Primary School, Wellgate Primary School, Wombwell Park Street Primary School, Wilthorpe Primary School, Ladywood Primary School and Barugh Green Primary School.
 
Staff working within the Every Child Matters Academy Trust have an established history of improving schools both within and beyond ECM. System leaders include the CEO of the Trust, a National Leader of Education (NLE), Local Leaders of Education and Specialist Leaders of Education, delivering school to school support and CPD.
 
Alongside this, the Trust has effective systems to deliver early intervention with children and their families, improving parenting outcomes, attendance and developing outstanding behaviour management, resulting in positive behaviours for learning. The Trust’s Incredible Me Programme effectively supports pupils in their emotional development whilst enabling them to focus on their academic achievement.
 
Trust leaders are experts in educating pupils with special educational needs. The Trust currently includes 3 specialist provisions specialising in supporting pupils with severe communication and interaction difficulties. A fourth provision is to open in September 2024.
 
The Trust's work:

• helps ensure professional development is school-based and classroom focused and tailored to the specific needs of teaching staff in member and wider schools;
• offers opportunities for outstanding staff within the Trust to develop and share their practice, building their leadership skills and professional expertise;
• deploys system leaders capable of providing specific dedicated coaching, mentoring and professional development;
• contributes to the development of local succession planning arrangements to ensure a future supply of highly skilled leaders in local schools;
• contributes to the provision of school-to-school support in the local area and beyond, working collaboratively with other schools to address specific issues (identified by OFSTED, LA, or the school itself);
• identifies high performing staff for deployment into other schools and for positions of senior leadership;
• develops staffing structures that enable Headteachers to focus on teaching and learning whilst other school support functions are dealt with at a strategic and operational level;
• plays a key role in the engagement of other agencies in ensuring the safeguarding and wellbeing of children.

 
Our vision is to build a collaborative of schools where openness, honesty, fairness and empathy, alongside the development of best practice, ensure all children within our schools receive a first-class education. Through system leadership we will support the practice of other schools and academies beyond our Trust to enable them to achieve the same outcomes.

Children are at the heart of all we do. We will provide EVERY CHILD with early help and support to remove barriers to learning and an education that raises aspiration resulting in excellence and enjoyment. This will enable all children to fulfil their potential and maximise their life chances.
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As a Multi Academy Trust our core principles are to:

• strive for excellence in all that we do;
• have a clear focus on school improvement;
• work with families to improve life chances;
• make a commitment to life-long learning; and
• ensure each school maintains its own identity whilst collaborating as one organisation.

Each school within the Trust serves its own community and has its own unique identity led by its Local Governing Body and yet working together as one organisation to achieve the best for children and families within the community. We have a clear focus on school improvement and outcomes, specialising within the primary sector.