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Why Join Acorn?

Acorn Education Trust is always looking for new members to join our family. We understand the importance of working collaboratively and sharing knowledge while maintaining school individuality. In the rapidly changing educational landscape, Acorn Education Trust provides professional support, development and growth opportunities, to help schools feel secure and supported.

We are keen to work with schools who share our values and who are eager to contribute their own knowledge, skills and expertise to the trust. We believe by offering schools the opportunity to join us, we can continue to build on the success of Acorn Education Trust and allow schools more time to focus on their students and staff.

Each Acorn Education Trust school has a bespoke support programme, curated through internal and external assessment, to ensure that they’re in complete control of their own destinies and receiving relevant services and advice.

If you would like more information about joining our Trust, please contact us.


Everywhere you go in Acorn, you will see

There is real security in belonging to Acorn. By joining Acorn you are controlling  your own destiny and joining a family of schools.

Professional development programmes

Acorn Education Trust runs a huge selection of training programmes, for both educational and business staff, open to everyone and designed for all career stages. The training is tailored in line with the Trust’s values and encourages staff to be ambitious for their schools to achieve outstanding results. Wherever your staff are on their career journeys, Acorn Education Trust can provide advice, support and resources to help develop them further.

Guidance and support systems

As part of Acorn Education Trust, your team will be able to access expertise in curriculum, teaching & learning and operations. We offer high quality guidance for Headteachers, Governors, Teachers and business staff, covering a wide range of topics and supported by our staff training programmes, centralised processes and key resource materials.

Our leadership structure ensure that each school gets the time and service they deserve as part of Acorn Education Trust. We pride ourselves on having clear communication with our schools to keep them up to date with the latest developments and advice and providing bespoke support for whatever challenges they’re facing.

Visible leadership & management

We pride ourselves on having an active and visible Senior Executive Team and Governing Board. By becoming part of Acorn Education Trust you will have a readymade network of committed and supportive peers, who share your passion for preparing young people for the next stage in their lives. Across all our schools there is a strong focus on leadership and capacity is factored in to assist with reviewing structures, processes, policies and procedures and to support change. We invest in our staff and actively look to grow our staff into leadership roles.

Teaching, learning & assessment monitoring

As part of Acorn Education trust, your school will be supported in delivery excellent pedagogy. We provide subject specialists to support schools adjust to and maintain our ‘all through’ curriculum model. Together with these specialists, schools are given access to new strategies and key materials to help improve their teaching and learning processes and deliver excellent results. All Acorn Education Trust schools have annual reviews, which are designed to identify any areas which require improvement and develop bespoke action plans.

Centralised operations

Increasingly Acorn Education Trust is facilitating schools with centralised operational services, relieving the strain from schools and allowing them to focus on their students. Thanks to their expertise and experience, our Acorn Collaborative Service leaders are able to help deliver the majority of non-educational services to all trust schools, including finance, HR, catering, estate management, SEND, IT and PE & Sport. Each school is assessed individually to ensure they’re receiving the right level of support and that any agreed changes are made quickly and effectively, without disrupting the day to day running of the school.

School improvement

Growth and improvement are key drivers for Acorn Education Trust. We provide subject specialist support where required, with annual reviews of strategies, processes and key materials to all our schools and work collaboratively with them to create a school development plan. All of our schools are improving together; we celebrate the successes, provide support for challenges and keep the focus on the students.

Our aim for school improvement is simple: ensure that all students can attend a good school. To do this we work with schools and invest in their leaders, ensuring that effective teachers are in place to bring about sustained change. By investing in our staff, we can improve the quality of teaching, our students attitudes to learning and maintain consistency in our ‘all through’ curriculum.