Policies

Our Approach

The DfE publish Statutory Policies for trusts with details of the policies and documents that must be in place. It is the responsibility of our Trust to ensure that these are in place. We take the following approach:

  • Trust Policies – these are policies which the Trustee Directors approve and all schools within the Trust must follow these. Sometimes a highlight may be applied where localisation of names or contact details etc may still be required. There is no formal adoption by the school as the policy has been set by the Trust Board and may have involved consultation with third parties, such as the employment unions or follow a model personalised to the Trust context e.g. from the Local Safeguarding Children's Partnership. We sometimes refer to these policies as "trust-wide" or "blanket" policies.

  • Trust Policies requiring personalisation – These policies are where the Trust sets the direction, but the policy requires a degree of personalisation around individual practice and procedures within the individual schools. The Trust will advise the schools that the policy has been reviewed and request the personalisation is undertaken by the school leadership. We sometimes refer to these policies as "template" policies.

  • School Policies – these are policies which are based on individual schools practice. These will be written by school leadership. Schools decide how to publish these policies (SharePoint, website, etc).

  • Some policies and procedures only apply at trust level (i.e, schools have different policies).

  • Many policies are statutory and some of these must be approved by the local committee. The local committee will also be responsible for monitoring the impact of these policies.

Accessing Policies

The Good Shepherd Trust policies that apply to all employees and schools are available here.

Please see individual school websites for policies and procedures that apply to schools (including school complaints). Links to our school websites may be found here.

Some policies and procedures only apply at trust level (i.e., schools have different policies). These are available here.

Our template policies (which each school must adapt as directed) are available here.

Some key policies are provided below.

Safeguarding documentation can be found on our dedicated safeguarding page. Click here to visit the safeguarding page.

Data Protection and Privacy notice information can be found on our dedicated page. Click here to visit the Data Protection page.

Complaints

Trust complaints policy and process. 

Each school within the Trust has an ‘Academy Complaints Procedure’ which must be followed for complaints relating to the school. That local policy sets out the procedure to be followed and facilitated by the Head teacher and Local Committee for all complaints relating to the particular school.

Whistleblowing (Protected Disclosures)

A culture of openness and accountability is essential in order to prevent situations occurring or to address them if they do occur. Whistleblowing (Protected Disclosures) Policy of the Trust

Equality Information and Objectives

Equality Information and Objectives Policy, Objectives and Action Plan.

Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement

Trust's statement and its links to other policies.

For all other queries regarding Trust policy or procedure, please contact us here.