Creating roadmaps to drive school improvement
Collaboration is an essential element for trusts and schools striving to achieve the best for their students. Schools in our partnership can join forces in local hubs, where like-minded leaders address agreed local school improvement and continuous professional development (CPD) priorities.
Challenge Partners’ Hubs collaborate within, or across, phases and types, including special and alternative provision (AP) schools, and vary in size – ranging from four schools in a hub to 67!
Located across England, they span all the way from Newcastle in the north east to the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall. View our hub map to find your nearest hub.
Hubs are supported by the central team at Challenge Partners, and led by appointed Senior Partners and Hub Managers who organise termly meetings so school leaders can discuss progress and share knowledge.
Schools who join us as a Network Partner or a Full Partner can join a hub.
Local Hubs offer:
- A local network of schools, bringing together like-minded leaders to address agreed priorities and to share knowledge
- Collaboration with schools across the hub to agree and create a Hub Action Plan for the partnership year. This covers in-school development, guest speakers, and opportunities for CPD for your team. Hub Action Plans are funded with support from Challenge Partners
- Hub leadership from a Senior Partner and Hub Manager, drawn from strong schools, to support the hub’s members, priorities and activities.
- Support from your local hub to progress any development areas identified through your school improvement programme, including the Quality Assurance Review, Growing the Top and Extending Leading Practice.
- A Hub Manager Network and accreditation scheme for Hub Managers to come together, share best practice and help hubs to improve hub support for member schools.
- Participation in hub-led programmes, such as the Leadership Residency Programme for senior and middle-leaders, giving leaders the chance to spend two or three days at a host school for focused development.
What partners say about local hubs:
“Our work with Challenge Partners and the Aspire Hub has helped our schools and our leaders to grow in many ways. They have grown in knowledge, in confidence and benefited enormously from being outward facing, learning from other strong schools and their talented creative leaders.” Karen Bramwell Senior Partner and CEO of Forward As One CE Multi Academy Trust
"Hubs have brought an energy - when myself and staff attend hub meetings we bring back knowledge, knowledge is confirmed and we learn what we need to find out. You couldn't buy that knowledge." Nigel Jones, Milestone Academy, London Special and AP Hub
"Compass Hub has been fantastic in providing support for me as a headteacher, quality virtual training opportunities for all staff on a range of subjects, equipping us to be effective teachers and leaders, and a link to a new group of schools." Kate Moyse, Coston Primary, Compass Hub
How to join a local hub of collaboration:
You can join a hub:
- As a Full Partner from September 2023 alongside a school improvement programme
or;
- At any time throughout the academic year as a Network Partner, with a pro-rata’d fee based on when you join.
Joining a hub at any partnership level also gives you access to the national Network of Excellence
Head here for further information, including pricing.
Contact us at [email protected] for more information.
