Benefits of being part of Cygnus
The focus of any school is to provide the highest possible quality of education, therefore the benefits of being part of Cygnus is being able to utilise our Shared Services. With clear systems and support structures in place, leaders are able to focus on the curriculum, teaching and learning in their school.
Everyone at Cygnus is important and are at the centre of everything we do and the success of our schools. We value all staff through our culture of collaboration , professional development, building schools that are sustainable and provide only the very best.
- SHARED SERVICES
- Education
- Safeguarding
- HR and Payroll
- Finance
- Estates
- IT
- Governance
Education
Autonomy to design a curriculum that meets the needs of each local community and context that is right for their school.
Strong professional development - All members of staff have access to high quality CPD as part of our Career Pathway, enabling all members of the community to realise their ambition and build succession for the future. Staff have access to accredited bespoke programmes including, apprenticeships, TA, HLTA, and NPQs among others.
Strong collaboration for staff at every level through partnership work across our Trust, sharing good practice and learning from others.
Dedicated Education Team supporting school leaders through professional dialogue and positive challenge along with individualised educational support
Cross Trust collaboration and citizenship with residential and educational visits
Safeguarding
The Trust is committed to ensuring all children are cared for in a safe and secure environment. This is achieved through a fully compliant, comprehensive safeguarding system across all schools and a strong culture of safeguarding.
The Trust Safeguarding Manager regularly reviews and updates child protection policies and procedures in line with local and national updates, with contextualised safeguarding information individualised for each school.
We recognise the important role of our DSLs and Family Liaison teams who are supported with regular updates of safeguarding priorities and supervision, as well as networking and sharing practice.
Our Safeguarding Manager supports headteachers by preparing bespoke training for staff together with termly safeguarding updates and training. This ensures our staff have the most up to date knowledge to identify concerns and keep our children as safe as possible.
Schools are supported individually with systems and processes and safeguarding is quality assured through reviews.
Our Safeguarding Manager offers individual assistance and consultations to ensure your staff are empowered and supported with all safeguarding matters.
HR and Payroll
Our knowledgeable and experienced HR and Payroll Team work in partnership with school leaders to create positive working environments and relationships. We provide guidance, support and advice to school leaders for all employment related matters including employment law, recruitment, performance management, and payroll. On-site guidance and support is also available for leaders when required, for example when managing formal processes such as capability, grievance and disciplinary procedures.
Our HR policies and wellbeing services are consistent across the Trust to ensure that all staff are treated fairly and the team are always available to answer any employee queries should they arise. The support of the HR Team enables leaders to confidently manage their teams and reduces workload enabling them to prioritise their time effectively.
Finance
The Finance Team provide support to the Trust and its Schools with all aspects of integrated curriculum financial planning. Assisting and advising leaders with strategic planning, whilst ensuring value for money is obtained in all areas. The team are responsible for financial accounting, management reporting and budget forecasting, assuring leaders of compliance with DfE, ESFA, Charities Commission and Academy Trust Handbook requirements.
Our aim is to reduce workload for senior leaders by providing timely, concise, and accurate management information. Giving leaders the ability to make well informed decisions and plan their schools' strategies effectively. Enabling our leaders to prioritise improving outcomes for all our pupils across the Trust.
Estates
The Estates Team have extensive knowledge, skills and experience in health & safety as well as building and construction compliance. The team oversee the maintenance, building compliance and health & safety of our schools in collaboration with each school’s own Premises Team, supporting in managing and overseeing site improvements and developments to improve their curriculum offer.
Our Team manage and support construction & development projects within each school, ensuring the project runs smoothly and adheres to guidelines, freeing up headteachers precious time to concentrate on curriculum, teaching and learning!
IT
The IT Team oversee and support schools in all aspects of their IT provision and are not reliant on third party companies for support. We have a highly experienced and knowledgeable team that offer both planned for and rapid IT support when needed. We are able to access systems remotely, which means that we can usually fix issues the same day. Schools also benefit from a weekly visit by the team, in order to carry out any non-urgent work and carry out regular maintenance or software updates for instance.
The team provide training for most of the IT related hardware and software used in the trust and schools. This training is available at any time, for as long as required. We know that IT changes in schools can sometimes be stressful for some staff, and therefore, any training is always delivered to suit individual schools.
Governance
Getting governance right is important because of the impact it has on the quality of education and the opportunities schools provide for their children. At Cygnus, we support headteachers with recruitment of new governors, and will help governing boards and headteachers to work successfully together, supporting and respecting each other’s roles and responsibilities.
Governors are encouraged to make use of our high quality bespoke CPD package, designed to provide them with the necessary skills and expertise to carry out their roles effectively. All meetings are professionally clerked and headteachers are supported by our in-house Governance Officer to ensure all meeting paperwork is prepared on time, therefore reducing the workload for senior leaders.
All of this enables our school leaders to focus on what really matters, curriculum, teaching and learning!
If you would like to arrange a discussion or visit then please contact us on 01322 224 201 or via email at office@cygnus.org.uk
