Model Policies

The procedure for Trust core policies is that the Board’s Committees review and approve the draft policies at their meetings each term in line with an annual schedule of policy review. Most policies are reviewed every three years. As soon as the Trustees have approved a policy it should be applied in all of the Trust’s schools and therefore will be communicated to the schools at the earliest opportunity so that it can be applied if the need arises.

The Governance office will advise when new policies are approved and uploaded to the website and an editable version of the policy will be sent direct to the Academy office for use. The academy should personalise the red text of the core policy for their academy setting. The Local Governance Committee (LGC) will then receive and note the policy at an LGC meeting.  No other changes should be made to the Trust Core policies. A PDF version of the policy should then be uploaded to the Academy’s website when applicable (see below).

Not all policies need to be displayed on Academy websites, they just need to be available for staff to use and refer to and to provide to parents if requested. However there are some that are required to be included on Academy websites by the DfE and some that are required by the Trust. Altogether the policies that need to be included on the Academy websites are:

1. Safeguarding (Trust)
2. Data Protection with privacy notices for parents (Trust)
3. Health and Safety (Trust)
4. Online Policy (Trust)
5. Administration of Medicines (Trust)
6. Supporting Pupils with Medical Conditions (Trust)
7. Behaviour (Academy)
8. Careers Information & Guidance (Academy (Secondary Academies only))
9. Charging and Remissions (Trust)
10. Complaints policy/procedure (Trust)
11. Equality and Diversity Statutory Duties and Objectives (Trust)
12. Speak Up Policy (Trust) – fulfils requirement to have clear whistleblowing procedures in place
13. Remote Learning Policy (Academy)
14. Uniform Policy (Academy)
15. Relationships, Sex and Health Education Policy (Trust)

It is left to the discretion of the Headteacher whether other policies are displayed on the Academy website.

If staff or Governors have any comments or suggestions for improvement, then please feed these through to governance@donesc.org so that they can be considered by the Trust Board. This will usually be when the policy undergoes the next formal review but may be sooner in appropriate circumstances.

Gender Pay Gap Reports:

Gender Pay Gap report March 2024

Trust Equality Objectives for 2023-2024 are:

1. We will undertake a detailed review of all data supporting the Equalities Policy and related policies and identify the core data for:
   – The Trust
   – Each academy
2. To take action to advance equality of opportunity, and further move towards the eradication of prejudice-related bullying in relation to the protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010 by ensuring that there is an open culture of reporting and that every case is thoroughly investigated, and restorative approaches used to bring about behaviour changes.
3. We will take action to ensure we are an employer of choice with an active recruitment policy to recruit from under-represented groups and develop our equality profile of all staff to help us understand and address key equality issues in our workforce.
4. To monitor levels of parental and pupil engagement (especially the most disadvantaged) in learning and school life, across all activities to ensure equity and fairness in access and engagement. And then to ensure all pupils are given similar opportunities with regards to enriching extracurricular activities.

Requirement to Publish Equality & Diversity Information Annually:

As a Trust, we will publish an annual update on the website, starting in Spring 2022 (when pupil’s 2021 outcomes are confirmed and the Trust’s returns to the annual School Workforce Census have been made).

This update will include:

• Pupil information: Trust-level data about the composition of our pupil population and their outcomes, in relation to gender, Special Educational Needs (SEN) and disability, race/ethnicity and those with English as an Additional Language (EAL), Children who are/have been Looked After (CLA) and pupils who are eligible for Free School Meals (FSM), or who more broadly qualify for the Pupil Premium. We will include national averages wherever possible as comparators. Other protected characteristics are either not relevant to primary pupils or data is only available at school level where publishing that data would risk compromising individual’s personal information.
• Workforce information: Trust-level information about the composition of our workforce in relation to gender, age, disability and race/ethnicity.

N.B.  Currently, we are not able to publish information in relation to other protected characteristics as we do not have reliable data at Trust level and publishing information at school level would risk compromising individual’s personal information. We will also publish information on gender and pay.

Trust Privacy Notice

St Benet’s Privacy Notice – Academy Staff 2023

Trade Union Facility Time:

TU Facility time 2023-24 – St Benet’s

St Benet’s MAT contact details:

Registered and postal address: Orchard House, Hall Lane, East Tuddenham, Norfolk NR20 3LR
Main office tel: 01603 550147

There are a number of policies which include the Trust’s contact details, these will be updated as the policies are reviewed in line with the review cycle. Please use the contact details noted above where needed.