Outstanding Multi Academy Trust Practice 

Sponsored by Sports Directory

Awarded to a Multi Academy Trust that places pupil and staff wellbeing at the heart of the trust, delivering a co-ordinated approach to leveraging PE, play and sport to support resilient learners.

Winner

Insignis Academy Trust, Buckinghamshire

 

Insignis Academy Trust (IAT) is committed to a holistic approach to wellbeing, prioritising both physical and mental health, with the Trust’s ethos - Being Well, Means Doing Well - embedded throughout the curriculum offering. CEO and chair of the Multi Academy Trust Advisory Board for the Youth Sport Trust, Garret Fay, is a passionate advocate for guaranteed PE time and expanding co-curricular and community opportunities, leading the Trust to be champions of high-quality PE, sport, physical activity, and Mo’s Mission.   

Senior leaders are trained in Mental Health First Aid, ensuring a supportive environment where both staff and students feel empowered to prioritise their mental health. The results of these efforts are demonstrated by a 13% increase in wellbeing in annual surveys and the Trust being recognised with the 2024 Buckinghamshire Schools Wellbeing Award. 

The IAT Sports Partnership has expanded to include 50 Youth Sport Trust partner primary schools, which has served to create numerous opportunities for student leadership. This growth has led to a notable increase in participation in Youth Sport Trust School Games, with Mandeville School Games Organisers experiencing a 32% rise and Buckingham SGO seeing a 48% increase. Participation in the 2024 Insignis Varsity Games also grew by 43%, and the Barclays Girls' Football School Partnership engaged 300 footballers.  

IAT has also successfully secured £187,000 in Opening School Facilities funding to support a range of student-led initiatives designed to promote physical activity and well-being. This includes Youth Sport Trust programmes such as Girls Active, Boys Move, and Active in Mind, all of which encourage participation in new sports and the development of new clubs. One student shared their experience, saying, "I’ve joined the Healthy Hearts Club where I get to use the gym once a week with other people like me. I’ve made new friends and feel better about myself." 

Highly Commended

Haberdashers' Academies Trust South, London

Haberdashers' Academies Trust South Girl Goalie - MAT Award

Haberdashers' Academies Trust South places the Youth Sport Trust Well Schools objectives at the core of its approach, ensuring that student and staff wellbeing drive decision-making. The Trust uses PE, sport, and physical activity to empower young people to thrive physically, mentally, and socially. 

Each school within the Trust holds a Youth Sport Trust membership and uses the audit tool to assess needs and identify professional development opportunities. As a result of this, staff have since benefited from research-based training in order to improve pedagogy and practice, with a positive impact on student outcomes. Additionally, the Trust has participated in national pilots, such as a project tackling anxiety-related attendance issues, which led to measurable improvements. For example, Crayford Academy, one of the pilot schools, has seen its attendance rise to over 94%. 

The Trust, which serves some of Central London’s most under-served boroughs, prioritises breaking cycles of deprivation and poor health. In response to the national decline in youth physical activity, the Trust has achieved a 40% increase in extracurricular club attendance across both primary and secondary phases. Engagement has also improved in targeted interventions for vulnerable groups, such as breakfast clubs which combines physical activity with mentorship. Large-scale events like their annual Trust Games help to engage over 1000 students in physical activity, creating lifelong memories while promoting teamwork and wellbeing. Students benefit from equitable access to transformative experiences that develop cultural capital and social mobility. 

The Trust’s strategic commitment to wellbeing is embedded across all education phases. Each school integrates mental health and resilience-building activities into the PE curriculum, grounded in physical literacy principles, ensuring that sport and physical activity remain central to the mission of empowering every child to flourish. 

Full list of shortlisted entries:

  • David Ross Education Trust  

  • Redhill Academy Trust  

  • Insignis Academy Trust  

  • The Tapscott Learning Trust  

  • Windsor Academy Trust  

  • United Learning  

  • Haberdashers' Academies Trust South 

Winner 2024 - Cabot Learning Federation, West of England

Photo of winners at awards evening

Cabot Learning Federation position PE, sport and physical activity at the heart of their culture. The trust works closely with the Youth Sport Trust on wide ranging opportunities and places the Well School Trust objectives centrally as a framework for achieving these outcomes. 

As an active member of the Well School trust network, they have identified how a strong PE, school sport and physical activity offer can be a key lever to improving the life experiences of all students due to their appreciation of the benefits it brings to physical, mental, and social wellbeing. The Trust use well-being and PE, sport and physical activity as a lever for school improvement. The Director of Education leads on well-being and associated activities and sits on the Multi Academy Trust Advisory Board for the Youth Sport Trust.

The Trust’s guiding light is that PE is for everyone, and Physical Literacy underpins this. The intent is that “We enjoy learning through physical activity”. Through enjoying physical activity, the curriculum will provide students with the opportunities to develop key characteristics to be successful. The belief is that the approach to Physical Education is inclusive and develops all children through movement and interacting with their environment.

The Trust schools all have Youth Sport Trust membership and benefit from being a School Games Organiser and Girls football partnership host site.  They have utilised a number of Youth Sport Trust programmes to support pupils, including Girls Active, Boys Move and Active in Mind.

The Well School Trust audit tool has enabled the Trust to accurately identify areas of need and best practice. Wellbeing is explicitly placed within the PE curriculum which is also based on the principles of physical literacy. The trust has also made a strategic commitment to ensuring wellbeing is at the heart of ALL decisions it makes.

‘Big events’ are a wide range of joy-filled activities which the Trust have developed to create lasting memories for pupils, whilst shaping who they are and developing their sense of self. Over 2000 students have taken part in opportunities they wouldn’t normally be able to take part in. For disadvantaged students, this is a unique opportunity to gain equity and level the playing field, with life experiences that can lay the platform for lifelong success, cultural capital and social mobility.

Schools across the Trust have been positioned as case studies of effective practice by the Youth Sport Trust for effectively delivering two hours of curriculum PE, and seven academies were successful with bids to access Opening School Facilities funding across the region.