Tricia Moss (MEd in Primary Education, 2017) is the Trust Curriculum Lead at the Diocese of Ely Multi-Academy Trust which encompasses 40 schools across the area.
My Masters studies at Robinson focused on effective reading instruction for primary school pupils, particularly for pupils working below age-related expectations at the end of primary.
In my current role as Trust Curriculum Lead at The Diocese of Ely Multi-Academy Trust (DEMAT), I lead, support and provide professional development to improve schools and raise pupil outcomes. Across our 40 schools, I lead on developing and embedding best practice on curriculum and assessment; creating self-sustaining professional learning communities that impact on practice and outcomes; instilling a culture of continuous professional development and impact evaluation. As a Trust, we are evidence informed, and the research skills I developed during my masters studies, particularly when writing literature reviews, have supported me well when appraising and synthesising new and established research.
It is widely reported that school budgets are extremely tight, and this is especially true for primary schools. DEMAT is one of very few large primary-only multi-academy trusts (MATs) and over half our schools are small village primaries with mixed-year group classes. As a trust, we align around our Education Principles and have shared curricula and professional development. By working together, we are able to build expertise and support each other, harnessing efficiencies of scale. Having a shared approach to teaching through direct instruction, a shared curriculum that is highly specified and carefully sequenced, and a taught behaviour curriculum, mean we have a shared language. We are able to have a laser focus on impactful teaching and pupil learning. This in turn is supporting us to close the disadvantage gap and give our pupils the best possible start. When asked why we exist, it is ‘to create the foundations to build successful futures’. Our classrooms are joyous places full of focused, articulate pupils who have a love of learning.
We also work closely with other MATs, for example The Knowledge Schools Trust and Advantage Schools, to ensure as many children as possible are getting the best possible start. I have recently written a book on leading primary English published by Bloomsbury with Sallie Stanton at Advantage Schools which is grounded in the work around English that we are doing across our schools.
Curriculum work is never done, we are constantly reviewing, honing and reflecting on the impact of our curriculum; we are relentlessly bothered about every single pupil in our trust and creating the foundations to build successful futures. My masters studies have supported me to review and synthesise research studies in conjunction with empirical evidence from our schools and expert evidence from colleagues within our trust and beyond.