EMAT strategy event 2025

Senior leaders came together with trustees and LAB chairs in June for our annual EMAT strategy event to discuss key areas of focus for the year ahead.

Hosted at Prince William School, the event was an opportunity for headteachers, our governance leaders and members of our Pupil Parliament to look at some of the challenges facing us in the education sector and how we, as a high-performing, innovative trust, plan to tackle them.

EMAT has a well-embedded long-term strategy to achieve its aspiration for ‘every child to be the best they can be’, based on our three objectives of Operational Excellence, Educational Excellence and #EMATter Ethos and our values of Inclusion, Innovation and Impact.  The objective of the day was to consider three key areas of focus against the backdrop of this strategy.

School Effectiveness and Improvement

This session looked at some of the key barriers to achieving meaningful improvement in our schools and what we can do differently.

Among the challenges discussed were how we can identify sufficient time for staff training and development, our approach to succession planning and career pathways, and the use of valid and accurate data.

We discussed the development of a more structured peer review or learning walk programme, creating more protected time for training and development, and an enhanced process for reviewing the impact of intervention work.

Inclusion

The challenge of how we can support our growing number of vulnerable learners and those with additional needs is something facing all schools.

EMAT is taking a proactive approach to the challenge, with three of our seven schools having their own SEND department and a fourth opening in September 2025.

As a trust, we are developing a ‘Pathway to Adulthood’ all-through offer, including an education, health and care triangulated approach that follows students through their EMAT journey.

Employer of Choice

Our aim as a trust is to be the employer of choice for those working in education within the local area. That means addressing the sector-wide recruitment challenge from an innovative perspective.

We discussed ways to remove potential barriers to working with us, such as travel, parking and housing, and offering a good work-life balance, with leisure space, gym memberships and CPD from home as some of the options.

Work is also underway to develop and promote career pathways for all roles within the trust to encourage career develop and retain talented staff.

You can read our full summary of our strategy event below.