People Strategy
FOREWORD FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Tandridge Learning Trust is a strong partnership of exceptional schools that are committed to providing a caring and nurturing learning environment that delivers equity and excellence in education.
We firmly believe that our people are the key to success, and we value every single person in our Trust from our dinner ladies, to our TAs, teachers, support staff and senior leadership. We aim to create a working environment that recognises the contribution all our staff make, an environment in which they feel supported and valued and have the resources they need to achieve their very best.
I am delighted to share our People Strategy 2024-2028 with you. Our people strategy acts as a bridge between our school improvement plans, the wider Trust strategic plan and our strategic HR infrastructure, specifically our people policies and practices and Neo People, our HR management information system.
The strategy recognises our greatest asset is our staff and defines how we will support and grow our workforce to sustain excellence and to embed a culture of continuous development and improvement. It outlines our commitment to shape a people-centred workplace culture that will enable us to attract, retain and grow the very best staff with a shared commitment to provide a caring and nurturing learning environment that delivers equity and excellence in education for every child. We are committed to grow together as a Trust and to nurture a culture of continuous improvement driven by professional growth and development for all our people.
The people management practices across our Trust have an instrumental role in delivering our wider school improvement plans and in shaping our leadership agenda. Over the next four years we will build on the successes we have had so far, which include the collaborative networks in place, the leadership development programme and the regular wellbeing activities our staff enjoy.
Rebecca Plaskitt Chief Executive
INTRODUCTION
Our vision is to empower every learner to excel and flourish within a culture of inclusion and the highest aspiration. We will consistently place the needs of our learners at the heart of every decision we make whilst working tirelessly to reduce educational inequality and achieve outstanding outcomes for every individual.
Our behaviours and interactions will reflect our core values of:
Equity – we strive to eradicate barriers to learning and promote equality in all that we do; we are unbiased, caring, ethical and inclusive.
Collaboration – we work as a team to create strong and sustainable schools; we listen, we share, and we learn together.
Integrity – we build relationships and trust founded on honesty, fairness and respect for one another.
Our people strategy is designed to underpin our vision and values. It builds on the successful people practices and policies currently in operation and identifies best practice across our family of schools, putting our staff at the forefront of our Trust and maximising the benefits of shared learning and professional growth. Central to this, is ensuring we can offer all our staff a working environment that underpins high performance and continuous improvement and creating a workplace culture where all staff are valued and respected, one that promotes inclusion, equity and equality of opportunity.
We recognise our schools are all at different stages in our collective journey to excellence. We share a commitment to attract staff aligned with our Trust values and ethos, and to retain a high performing workforce by ensuring we have policies, practices and incentives that inspire and enable all of us to make a tangible contribution to the life of our learners.
Our ambition is to become an employer of choice; to shape a workplace environment that attracts and retains the very best staff, with an unwavering shared commitment to work together to inspire all our children with a love of learning.
By working together, there is no limit to what we can collectively achieve.
WIDER CONTEXT
We know that for Tandridge Learning Trust to continue to be successful we need to have clarity of vision and an effective strategy underpinned by a shared understanding of our common purpose across all schools. Our foremost priority will always be high quality inclusive education and how best to continuously improve the learning experience for every child and young person across our Trust. To ensure we deliver this aim, we recognise that our people are our greatest asset.
Our people strategy outlines our commitment to nurturing a high performing culture where each member of staff can thrive at every stage of their career journey.
As a forward-thinking Trust, we understand the challenges in our sector with regard to recruitment, retention, growth, and wellbeing. We prioritise supporting our people, developing talent, and challenging the norm to create an environment where staff are engaged and feel valued, and in doing so are fully able to achieve their personal goals as well as our vision and strategic aims.
Our Key Objectives are:
• To attract and retain talented people
• To invest in employee growth
• To promote employee engagement
• To instil a feeling of belonging
ATTRACTING
We will ensure that our Employee Value Proposition (EVP)* attracts talented people, in line with our strategic vision.
Our guiding principles for talent attraction are:
• To develop a sector-leading EVP that evidences our commitment to our staff, students and children within the Trust
• To evolve workforce planning processes to ensure recruitment activity is timely and cost effective
• To recruit and retain high-calibre staff, ensuring that recruitment processes are free from bias
• To ensure a seamless onboarding and induction experience for new staff
• To commit to competitive salary and benefits offerings
We will measure success by:
• Monitoring key recruitment metrics: time to hire, cost per hire, CV: interview: offer ratios, EDIB metrics
• Evaluating mandatory learning compliance statistics
• Measuring feedback from onboarding survey which will be carried out within the first term of a new staff member joining the Trust
• Improving retention rates and using exit survey feedback
*Our Employee Value Proposition includes:
• Compensation - Pay and other financial benefits
• Professional Development - opportunities for training, upskilling, and career growth
• Work environment - Our culture, values, and the overall employee experience
• Recognition: Support and rewards for employees
GROWING
As a Trust firmly committed to learning, we will provide an environment where lifelong learning is fully supported.
Our guiding principles for nurturing employee growth are:
• To foster an environment where capability, excellence and growth thrive
• To offer professional development pathways for all teaching and nonteaching staff in our Trust
• To facilitate leadership development, mentoring, and coaching services that empower our staff
• To embed a performance development process that supports meaningful conversations and supports each individual to reach their full potential
We will measure success by:
• Evaluating utilisation of the apprentice levy
• Ensuring career pathways have been defined and communicated
• Checking that performance development processes have been defined and embedded
• Comparing metrics on internal and cross-Trust promotion
ENGAGING
We will ensure that our staff are engaged and feel connected. We want them to feel valued for their contribution and to know that we work with them to support their wellbeing.
Our guiding principles for employee engagement are:
• To embed a feedback culture: one where input is constructive, professional, and feeds into the strategic direction of the Trust
• To grow networking channels for peer and Subject Matter Expert (SME) collaboration across the Trust
• To focus on supporting staff wellbeing through initiatives, advocating work-life balance, and empowerment
• To actively develop and promote our employee benefits package
We will measure success by:
• Analysing employee engagement surveys
• Observing reduced sickness absence
• Considering peer and SME networking attendance and feedback
• Monitoring statistics on employee benefit utilisation
BELONGING
We are firmly committed to the principles of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (EDIB) and will ensure these principles by embedding a culture which is positive and fair, where our staff represent the communities that we serve and feel accepted.
Our guiding principles for instilling EDIB are:
• To commit to going beyond our legal obligations and to continuously address any areas of inequality
• To strive to eradicate barriers to learning and promote equity in all that we do; we will always be unbiased, caring, ethical, and inclusive
• To nurture a culture of belonging, where trust, honest communication and cooperation are valued
• To take positive action to move the EDIB agenda forward and weave it into our strategic planning and day-to-day activities
We will measure success by:
• Monitoring and taking positive action around under-represented groups
• Continuously reviewing the gender pay gap
• Evaluating feedback from employee engagement surveys
• Checking that EDIB networking channels are working effectively
