We are currently responsible for a number of academies in West Yorkshire, Manchester, Staffordshire and Merseyside, with the Co-op acting as the sponsor.

Co-op offers access to business expertise and many learning opportunities for the children and young people underpinned by Co-op values.

The Trust plans to take on additional academies each year, but the aim is to expand steadily so that we can continue to provide highly personalised support for each of our academies within a cohesive and united family of academies.

We will be a learning organisation

We will learn from our experiences and take stock before moving on. This will make us more efficient, effective and strategic. We will take every opportunity to find the best moral and ethical ways to support and educate our children. We will:

• make evaluation and learning central to everything we do
• focus on outcomes so that we can measure the impact we’re having
• share our knowledge, performance indicators and findings so we can find new ways to support our children and staff as well as influence thinking in other organisations
   

We will regularly evaluate and be mindful of risk

There is a significant number of schools that would like to join our trust. These opportunities allow us to support many more communities and improve the lives of those educated by us. But this ambition carries risk. To manage this we need to be reflective, evaluative and realistic as we create a balanced portfolio of academies. We will do this by being honest and open with ourselves and focusing on risks well in advance. We will manage risk rather than avoid it, so we stay competitive and innovative in all that we do for all those that we serve.
 

We will use digital technology to help us be more effective and efficient

We will become a more digitally efficient organisation through:

• evaluating how well we use technology across a range of services including teaching and learning
• implementing a plan to provide better support for our children and staff through technology that makes co-operation easier
• establishing technology as a major vehicle for improvement and efficiency across the trust
   

We will be cost-effective and locally empowered

We will make sure that all available resource is delivered to academies to benefit the pupils and students. This will keep the ‘top slice’ contribution as low as reasonably possible. We will maintain a clear reserves policy for each academy so that we avoid any possible financial contagion.  We will regularly review the way we delegate so that we continue to improve but also maintain the correct level of oversight and control at a local level. This is where we want the regeneration of our communities to come from.
 

We will be a diverse organisation that works with others to achieve this important aim

We will make sure equality, diversity and inclusion run through everything we do. From the way we support our children, their families and carers and our staff. We will:

• promote opportunity and achievement for all
• be as accessible and inclusive as possible
• build a diverse and representative workforce
• work productively with our key partners including trade unions, local authorities, other schools especially those following a co-operative path, the wider co-operative movement and the charity sector
• treat everyone we support fairly and with respect adhering to co-operative values and principles and the Ways of Being Co-op