Our mission is to become the Trust that makes the biggest difference, both inside and outside the classroom. When we think about what kind of difference we want to make, this is defined by our three core purposes. Everything we do should be ultimately focused on doing these things well:

• Teach: We will teach all our pupils the knowledge and skills they are entitled to, and how to apply this in how they think and work.
• Develop: We will develop all our pupils socially and emotionally so that they can make good choices about education and life.
• Change: We will aim to understand what is needed for any pupil to excel, so we can create schools where no one is disadvantaged.
• Support: We will support this work by being efficient and by investing in getting the best from our people, resources, estate and technology.

One of our values is ‘share what is best’. As a trust, this means:

• Setting direction: We are part of the education system, but we will set our own direction. We will take responsibility for using the freedoms we have been given to deliver the best education we can. Our size and national spread gives us a voice to speak up on behalf of our pupils, staff and communities, and we will use that voice to their benefit.
• Stretching minds: Education is a pursuit of the mind. We will encourage our pupils and staff to read, to learn and to debate. We recognise the value of expertise and will try and capture the wealth of knowledge across our large workforce so that it can be shared. People who are overworked are less mentally agile. We will use our scale to be more efficient which helps make workloads manageable and expectations fair.
• Supporting our people: We believe the strongest leaders are those who are supported and who support others. Our regional structure creates a network that means problems are shared and successes arise from teamwork. We will create opportunities within our organisation so many staff in many different roles can see how they can develop professionally and progress in their careers.