Improvement, inspection and expansion in MATs

Get to grips with the DfE’s guidance on commissioning high-quality trusts. Understand how the DfE measures the quality of trusts, and what it means for your trust.

If you're leading governance in a new trust or one that's growing, you'll need to intentionally design a governance structure that works for your whole community. Learn about some of the options and how other trusts have tackled this.

Use our questions and checklist to think about and evidence how effective governance is in your trust. This will help you demonstrate that you're meeting the trust quality descriptions if you're trying to grow your trust, and it can be a source to draw on in an Ofsted summary review.

Get advice on developing the best governance support for your boards to improve their effectiveness. Use our templates to save time when auditing your current arrangements and consulting stakeholders, so that you're clear on the level of support your trust needs.

Make sure your scheme of delegation works in practice and helps staff, trustees and local governors achieve your trust's objectives. Follow our tips to make sure your scheme keeps pace with changes across your trust and is applied effectively.

When you've designed a new governance structure for your trust, it's important to implement and communicate it effectively. Follow our advice to make sure that all stakeholders are clear on the new structure and what it means for them.

Trust boards and governance leads, be clear on how to develop an effective relationship with your local governing bodies (LGBs). Make sure they understand their role and access training and development, so they feel accountable and engaged to become effective players in your trust.