Design note 4 - what do we mean?
In addition to the similarities between our new icon and the real Northern Lights, we particularly liked some of the themes the Northern Lights icon represented, namely:
At the Beckfoot Trust, we understand that all healthy organisations have absolute clarity about their purpose.
To aid our clarity, we have answered 4 critical questions that define who we are.
Our leaders share the same mission and values and are aligned in our actions to our guiding principles. The active ingredients are fully embraced, the guiding principles can be iterated differently according to context and culture. We work together with collective efficacy with our leaders at all levels of organisation through cross-cutting teams. We have 3 design principles that link to our 3 strategic anchors.
Whenever we scale up a whole trust strategy, we think very carefully about the why, what and how.
Our approach is demonstrated in the diagram below.
Our One Trust Contract defines our aligned principles that guide our approach to leadership, curriculum, pedagogy, safeguarding, professional growth, personal development and family engagement. Our leaders self-evaluate these principles, and this forms the basis of our school improvement offer. We are informed by evidence and we work with leaders on how best to implement the guiding principles. The clarity we have ensures leaders have agency and the power to lead.
All our schools are at different stages of their journey to remarkable and we support and challenge each other to be ‘better tomorrow than we are today’. This leads to a ‘remarkable mindset’ that is relentlessly committed to high standards for the communities that we serve.