When you join DMAT you become so much more than a part of a Multi-Academy Trust. You are joining a family of professionals who enjoy working together and are committed to using the best available research evidence, to transform the life chances of all children.
We are excited about the work that we do and are committed to ongoing professional growth and development. At DMAT, ‘getting better never stops’.
At DMAT we have worked hard to grow a culture in our schools where all staff are looked after, supported and professionally enriched. In an ever-changing educational landscape, we have kept our focus on three very clear priorities:
Alongside this, we care deeply about staff well-being. To support this, all DMAT staff have access to leaders in their school, SCITT and Trust team to whom they can go to for support. DMAT staff also have free access to our ‘Employment Assistance Programme’. This provides a range of personal, medical and well-being support and benefits..
At DMAT work hard to maintain culture in our schools where all staff are looked after, supported and professionally enriched. We would love to hear from you if you think that you might want to play a part in the exciting DMAT journey! In an ever-changing educational landscape, we focus on clear priorities:
At DMAT, we moved away years ago from a ‘tick-box’ approach to teaching and have embraced a ‘tight but loose’ approach. We want teaching to be tight, in terms of focusing on sound , evidence-informed pedagogical principles resulting in strong outcomes for our pupils, but loose in terms of how this is interpreted in classrooms. We do not talk about ‘outstanding’ teaching and we do not grade lessons; instead we talk about great teaching and how all teachers can get that little bit better. Outstanding teaching is formulaic; great teaching accepts that successful teaching looks different in different contexts – great teachers are great at teaching their subject.
We have distilled our approach to great teaching down to six pedagogical principles:
We believe that when teachers implement these principles effectively, students learn well, have high aspirations of what they can achieve and so develop into confident and resilient learners.
We allow Teachers to Focus on Their Core Purpose
We understand the importance of constantly reviewing our practices so that teachers are allowed to focus their energies on the main thing – planning and delivering great lessons. We do this by focusing on a number of key areas:
At DMAT we understand that associate staff are an integral part of our success. In the same way that we nurture and develop our teaching staff, we do the same for our associate staff. Here are some of the ways in which we achieve this:
There are a number of leadership roles for associate staff, which involve leading teams across our schools.
We are really keen to identify talent within our associate staff and provide career progression pathways for them. For example, a number of our teaching assistants have trained to teach through our SCITT.
Our INSET programmes are designed to include bespoke training for associate staff. All too often, in the past INSET days were focused on teaching staff.
Our appraisal process for associate staff means that time is given to understanding individual developmental needs, and supporting associate staff to meet these individual goals.
We have access to bespoke online training to support self-directed study, tailored to the individual needs of the range of associate staff roles within DMAT.
As our trust grows, there will be the opportunity for associate staff to work collaboratively across DMAT schools.