School Improvement
School Improvement Strategy
The strategy is rooted in the belief that all children should leave school with a profound understanding of their worth and purpose. The Trust fosters a collective responsibility for the success of all pupils, promoting behaviours of hope, joy, love, and curiosity. Accurate self-evaluation and collaborative work are key to driving school improvement across the Trust.
Developing Intellectual, Social, and Organizational Capital
- Intellectual Capital: The Trust focuses on knowing schools well and sharing knowledge among leaders. It supports the formation and professional development of staff, aiming to create servant leaders who can sustain school improvement.
- Social Capital: Strong, trusting relationships are central to setting ambitious goals and transforming teaching and learning. The Trust promotes collaboration across schools to ensure continuous improvement and innovation.
- Organizational Capital: Leadership and governance structures are developed to effectively mobilize resources for the benefit of all schools. Standardized formats and processes are implemented to ensure coherence and effective leadership.
The Trust’s strategies are underpinned by shared values and a commitment to interdependence, ensuring that all schools benefit from the collective strengths of the Trust community.
Trust School Improvement Offer
School Improvement Central Team
Fiona Rigby, OBE
Executive Director of School Improvement
Fiona has been the Headteacher of St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School Sheffield since September 2000; during that time the school has doubled in size and progressed from a school in a vulnerable position to a highly successful inclusive learning community that is oversubscribed, highly valued by its parent and local community and is rated as Outstanding by Ofsted. Fiona works as a Sector Lead for Sheffield Local Authority in the field of SEND, she has worked as an Ofsted Inspector and has taken on a number of roles as an Executive Headteacher supporting schools who have been placed in Special Measures. Fiona worked closely with colleagues at Notre Dame to form the Sheffield SCITT and St Catherine’s has been the lead school within the SCITT developing teachers and mentors across the partnership.
Dr John Coats
Executive Director of School Improvement
John has a wealth of experience of school and system leadership. Within school John has held a number of senior leadership positions with responsibility for curriculum, timetabling, safeguarding and school improvement, and currently also holds the position of Director of School Improvement at Notre Dame High School. John headed up the Hallam Teaching School Alliance from 2018-2022. This work included several system leading roles including Director of the Sheffield SCITT and Lead for the Sheffield Associate Research School. During this time John was successful in securing a number of funding bids for School-to-School support, and to carry out educational research, including an EEF-funded national randomised control trial into Spaced Learning. John continues to be the Senior Link for the South Yorkshire Maths Hub. John is married with three children and enjoys exercise and the outdoors.
Vicki John-Lewis
Maths School Improvement Consultant for St Clare’s Trust and South Yorkshire Maths Hub Lead. Vicki is a school leader with a wide breadth of experience as a primary Deputy Head Teacher. Vicki also leads the South Yorkshire Maths Hub and, in this role, has built considerable expertise in system leadership, in particular in improving the quality of Maths education at primary and secondary.
Jheni Weir
Director of the Sheffield SCITT and Senior Leader St Catherines Primary School, with expertise in Initial Teacher Training, curriculum design and trauma informed practice. Jheni is a Pupil Premium Reviewer and an Evidence Lead for the Research School Network.
Jonathan Lear
Jonathan is a school leader with significant experience developing the quality of curriculum and teaching within a school serving a highly complex community. Jonathan also has extensive experience providing curriculum development support for a number of schools, sharing his deep knowledge and expertise in curriculum design and implementation.
Emma Porter
Emma leads our EYFS network, drawing on her experience leading and developing outstanding early years provision serving children with a range of complex needs. Emma has particular expertise in child development and in developing excellent working relationships with families.
Emma Lear
Emma is an experienced SENCO working in an outstanding school with numbers of children with complexity of need significantly above local and national averages. Emma draws on her expertise and experience in support of other schools within and beyond the Trust.
Wider expertise and experience within the Trust
We have a number of members of staff across the Trust and in our associate schools with expertise and experience in aspects of school improvement within and beyond their own school. Many of these members of staff are already contributing to school-to-school support, development and running CPD and leading collaborative improvement work. They include:
- Local and national RE advisors
- Qualified section 48 inspectors
- Area and Citywide SENDCOs
- ITT and ECT trainers and mentors
- NPQ Leading Teacher Development trained staff
- Writing moderators
- Pupil Premium reviewers
- Trauma Informed Leads
- Autism Trainers
Networks and Partnerships
Through system leadership work across our schools, the Trust has strong connections with a number of mature networks:
The Sheffield SCITT
The Sheffield SCITT (School-centred initial teacher training) is owned and run by Notre Dame High School, Sheffield
South Yorkshire Maths Hub
The South Yorkshire Maths Hub is one of a network of 40 Maths Hubs in England, working together within the Maths Hubs Programme, which began in 2014. The programme is funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and coordinated by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM).
St Wilfrid's English Hub
St Wilfrid's English Hub support schools within and across Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, Doncaster and Derbyshire
We also have local and national partnerships with the:
- Catholic Education Service and the Northern Catholic Dioceses.
- Learn Sheffield
- The Sheffield Governance Service
- The Barnsley School’s Alliance