Strategy and Programme Networks (SPN)

The directorate is a combination of teams which are directly ‘schools facing’ and those which provide management / support services to the rest of the organisation.

• The work of the Specialist Programme Development Team is one of the core functions of the Trust; that is, to provide support and advice to schools wishing to gain and retain specialist status. This means providing the kind of support that schools want all the way through the specialism life-cycle, with a particular emphasis on enabling cohorts of schools that have joined the movement at the same time to work collaboratively to drive improvement.
  
• The Sponsorship and Fundraising team has two primary strands to its work. It raises sponsorship for specialist schools that would otherwise have struggled to raise the private sector sponsorship required to obtain specialist status. The team also provides the Trust with a vital stream of sponsorship income which enables the organisation to deliver key projects.
  
• The Community team manages the development of the support that the Trust provides for aspiring and designated specialist schools in all aspects of the development of their community programmes. The community programme recognises the benefits to be obtained, both for the schools themselves and their wider community, from specialist schools collaborating with partner schools, local business, further and higher education institutions as well as other groups. 
  
• The Marketing and Communications team is responsible for targeted, effective and consistent communication, both internally and externally and for ensuring that the Trust is delivering the right products and services to schools.
  
• The Planning and Organisational Development team has a remit covering corporate planning and policy guidance, new business development and Human Resources management.