FAQs

Simply get in touch with our COO Jo Wootton at Jo.Wootton@MightyOaks.uk for an initial informal chat.  You are welcome to make an initial visit to our Central Offices or one of our existing schools.

Staff wellbeing is at the core of our ethos at MOAT.  We recognise that teaching can be a stressful profession, with high rates of burnout and subsequent recruitment and retention issues.  To help address this, we have created a staff well-being committee in every school, who have a decision-making role in key decisions that the schools make in regard to well-being.  We are also constantly exploring ways of driving down workload, such as our recent adoption of AI technology in the classroom.

For children, we have a commitment to excellent teaching and learning across the Trust, because we believe that every child at MOAT should have the same deal for every year of their school life.  We achieve this through an approach to Teaching and Learning that has been developed by all staff and encompasses best-practice Quality First Teaching to help ensure clarity of expectation of what great teaching looks like.  We also place huge importance on ‘the voice of the child’ and ensure this is a key component in any decision -making , both at school and whole-Trust level.

We believe it is crucial that your school retains its own unique character, and you are a central part of retaining this.  We will not be changing the name of the school, your uniform, times of day or your ethos statement, for example.

In terms of Curriculum, we do not have a dictated MOAT Curriculum that we expects all schools to follow, however we do have ready-made Curriculum materials in all subjects should you wish to use these to help improve your current Curriculum.

Your Governing Body will become a Local Academy Committee (LAC).  This is a Committee of the Board operating at Local School level.  we take the responsibilities of the LACs very seriously at MOAT, and their functions include local Safeguarding, SEND and standards Governance, to help ensure your school can be supported in a meaningful way within the MAT.

In the first instance we would be happy to come and have an informal discussion about how our Trust operates and what our schools get from being a member. If you so choose, we will then arrange further information to be provided to you or arrange a more formal meeting to discuss membership in greater detail.

Each interested school will be discussed and considered by our Trustees. If they feel that it is of mutual benefit for your school to join our Trust at this stage, a due diligence activity on the interested school will be undertaken. Throughout this whole process the school and Trust have opportunity to ascertain whether this is a mutually beneficial relationship and good fit for both parties.

If all parties agree that the best outcome for all is for the school to join the Trust, then a full consultation period will begin that will include all stakeholders. Members of the Trust will spend a day in school for a consultation day and meet parents, Governors and staff.

Finally, the school will apply for an Academy order (if applicable) once Governors have made a final decision. Mighty Oaks will support schools throughout each stage. For more information, click the ‘Join Us’ button on the Home Page.