Guidance

Trust and school improvement offer

What improvement support schools and trusts can get in the 2023 to 2024 academic year.

Applies to England

Eligibility criteria

You can get support if your school or trust meets one of the following criteria:

  • your school receives 2 or more consecutive requires improvement Ofsted judgements, with the latest one in the 2023 to 2024 academic year
  • your school receives a single inadequate Ofsted judgement in the 2023 to 2024 academic year
  • a regional director assesses your school or trust to be in need of immediate support

This applies to single schools and schools within a multi-academy trust (MAT).

Exceptional circumstances

If your school or trust does not meet these criteria but you feel you would benefit from the offer, email school.improvement@education.gov.uk.

We’ll consider whether support can be provided in discussion with your regional director.

Support available to eligible schools and trusts

Your school or trust can get up to 15 days of support from a system leader.

This will normally be either a chief executive officer (CEO) of a high-quality MAT, supported by their wider team or a national leader of education (NLE)

They will help your leadership team to:

  • put sustainable improvements in place
  • ensure actions in your school or trust align with your central strategy for improvement
  • build relationships with a high-quality MAT, where appropriate

Your school or trust may also have access to a funded trust partnership to get support from a high-quality trust. £10,000 is available towards the costs of setting up a service-level agreement.

Eligible schools that are part of a MAT will usually get support at trust level rather than school level.

However, the school will get direct support if system leaders decide that it would be more effective.

Next steps

If you’re eligible, we’ll contact you within the term you become eligible.

For maintained schools, we’ll first contact the local authority.

Where schools are part of a diocese, we’ll first contact the diocese. 

Where schools are part of a trust, we’ll contact the trust.

Contact

Email school.improvement@education.gov.uk.

Published 28 April 2021
Last updated 5 October 2023 + show all updates
  1. Updated the sections on eligibility criteria and support available for the 2023 to 2024 academic year.

  2. Page updated to show the improvement support which schools and trusts can get in the 2022 to 2023 academic year.

  3. First published.