Our MAT Partnership

Inspiring Leaders is a regional not-for-profit partnership of MATs based in the East Midlands, offering partners high quality professional learning and leadership development for their executive leaders. Our programmes are delivered by experienced MAT leaders and provide professional, regional support for those working in leadership roles within their MATs.

Welcome

Impactful Collaboration

Inspiring Leaders is a regional not-for-profit partnership of Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) based in the East Midlands. We are committed to helping our partners become strong and sustainable.

We recognise the value of each member of a MAT’s Executive Team in making schools successful. We also acknowledge that professional collaboration between MATs at the regional level is not always as strong as it could be. For years, schools have successfully worked in partnership, and we believe that MATs should be no different.

To support regional MATs to become stronger and more sustainable, we have created a full suite of professional learning opportunities for a wider range of MAT leaders to access. We pride ourselves on building effective, reciprocal learning communities where colleagues from all partners have a voice and feel supported to excel in their roles.

Effective leaders recognise the importance of horizontal collaboration to drive improvement. Now, as part of the Department for Education’s (DFE) Trust Quality Descriptions, there is a requirement for MATs to collaborate within regions too. Inspiring Leaders provides this exact solution for MAT Leaders, ensuring that strong partnerships exist with a shared commitment to positively impact on all pupils’ lives.

Find out more about our impact is our recent 2023/24 Impact Report. 

Our Programmes

Regional MAT Partnership

We know that being in a leadership role in a MAT is rewarding, dynamic and challenging and we believe that colleagues in these roles benefit from the challenge and support of those who are in comparable roles in other MATS. 

Our professional communities offer a more personalised leadership development opportunity and deeper opportunities for collaborative learning due to the regional location of our programmes and the emphasis on face-to-face learning.

In all our programmes there will be an opportunity for learners to influence the content so that we are tailoring our approach to their needs. This will be balanced with some fixed features of the programme to ensure a consistency in experiences for colleagues in your MAT.

CEO Network

Our CEO network sessions are designed to support CEOs to be inspired from those working beyond the education sector and to enable greater collaboration between like minded colleagues.

To support CEOs to develop their own practice we host three network sessions during the year.

All of our CEO Network session will be face to face events, held at venues across the region.  Our sessions will include a guest inputs and the opportunity for networking and reflection, as well as updates on key developments in the system.

 

Professional Leadership and Learning Communities

Our Professional Leadership and Learning Communities (PLLC) are regional networks for colleagues to learn from and with each other, with a focus on developing individuals leadership skills and thinking.

To support Executive MAT Leaders to develop their own practice we have set up four sessions during the year for leaders to attend. We have invited expert speakers to present to our groups from the education sector and beyond, and we will facilitate group working to create closer peer to peer relationships. Where appropriate we will hear from DFE funded hub leaders who can add subject specific expertise to the learning experience.

We offer PLLCs for the following Leaders:

  • Directors of Education
  • Directors of Finance / CFO
  • Directors of HR / People Directors
  • MAT Leaders for Safeguarding
  • MAT Leaders for Governance
  • Lead Practitioners for Maths (Cross Phase)
  • Lead Practitioners for English (Cross Phase)
  • Lead Practitioners for EYFS (Cross Phase)
  • Lead Practitioners for SEND (Cross Phase)

 

 

Leadership Networks

Our Operational Networks are regional structured networking sessions which create a balance between expert inputs and collaboration.

To support operational leaders, we are offer three sessions per year where we invite specialist colleagues to come and engage in structured networking sessions creating a balance between expert inputs and facilitated discussions.

We offer network sessions for:

  • MAT ICT Directors
  • MAT Estates Directors
  • MAT Professional Development Directors
  • MAT Health, Safety and Compliance Leaders
  • MAT Marketing and Communications Leads
  • MAT School Improvement Colleagues network
  • MAT Chairs and Vice Chairs
  • Mental Health First Aiders
  • MAT Data Leaders

 

 

Professional Learning that makes a difference

Our professional communities are designed in consultation with our attendees to ensure we provide the support, training and insight that our leaders need.

“There is no there is no other professional space like this . The session content is driven by the current needs of the group and facilitated really well. We hear from great external speakers and engage in brilliant case study visits to settings in a range of locations. There is always something to take away to use within practice development.”

We focus our time of working on collective priorities and also provide opportunities for deep collaboration and partnership working.

We recently evaluated our work to ensure we were making a positive impact and prospective partners can read about the feedback we received by looking on page 7 of our brochure:

Partnership Brochure

We will continue to listen to our partners and improve the support we offer.

Becoming a Partner of Inspiring Leaders

Membership details

We invite MATs to become partners of Inspiring Leaders by subscribing to the whole programme of support detailed above for a fee of £5,500+VAT per year.

This includes:

  • 3 CEO Network sessions per year plus plus 10 monthly online update meetings.
  •  36 Professional Leadership and Learning Community Sessions
  • 24 Network sessions for wider MAT Leaders
  • Access to the Inspiring Leaders Residential Leadership Conference – only open to
    subscribing MATs.*
  • Access to our half termly newsletter.
  • Access to all Inspiring Leaders wider CPDL opportunities with 10% discount.
  • Listing on our website.
  • The use of our logo on your MAT website/stationery
  • The opportunity to take part in the governance of the partnership.
  • A chance to change the culture of MAT partnership working in the region.

To download full details of our partnership offer

MAT Partnership Brochure – FULL 24/25

 

Get in touch

If you would like to know more about our MAT Partnership the please get in touch with and we will arrange to come and meet you and your team. We value deep relationships and want to get to know our partners well before they join.

During the meeting we will provide you with further details or work with you to see how this can best support your MAT.

Email us

 

Get in touch

Leadership

To discuss how we can support you, your school or MAT please fill in the form and we will get in touch with you.

Initial Teacher Training

Please contact us using the details below and we will get in touch to discuss your application.

 

Apply for Teacher Training with Inspiring Leaders

Please complete this short form.