The Navigate Academies Trust (www.navigateacademiestrust.org)is a charitable multi-academy trust focusing currently on primary Academies. A list of their academy schools can be found on their website.

Statement from their website

‘The aim of Navigate Academies Trust is to give children and young people from all backgrounds an education that will transform their lives. Our academies promote ambition and high expectations, ensuring that young people gain the skills, knowledge and understanding they need to prepare for life beyond the classroom – enabling them to succeed in whatever they choose to do.

We work inclusively, with a supportive network of primary and secondary academies in Yorkshire and the Tees Valley.’ 

Pay and Conditions in Navigate Academies

The Navigate Academies Trust has agreed to maintain STPCD and Burgundy Book arrangements and has undertaken that it will not move away from those arrangements without prior consultation and negotiation with the trade unions.

National Recognition Agreement

The NASUWT with the other school workforce trade unions has negotiated a trade union recognition agreement with Navigate Academy Trust for consultation and collective bargaining purposes. This provides the necessary structures for the NASUWT to meet with Navigate Academies Trust at both academy and national level in Joint Committees. The National Joint Committee is where the trade unions meet with Navigate Academies Trust to negotiate on pay, conditions of service issues and on policies and procedures for teachers and other Navigate Academies staff. This was agreed July 2013. The agreement provides for national discussions which will determine arrangements for pay, conditions of service and working time across Navigate Academies Trust.  It also provides for collective consultation at individual Academy level as well as time off with pay and facilities time for trade union representatives.

Employment Policies and Procedures

The trade unions will now be entering into discussions with the Trust in respect of a range of employment policies and procedures.

The NASUWT nationally has agreed regular meeting dates with the employerAgreed policies currently are the TURA (Trade Union Recognition Agreement) and the Capability Policy.

Pay and Performance Management/Appraisal

Throughout the negotiations, the NASUWT has worked constructively with the employer to seek to secure acceptable policies on pay and performance management/appraisal. Navigate have worked positively with the unions and have moved some way to address our concerns in the wording of both policies. The NASUWT has not agreed these two policies but has reserved our judgement. The NASUWT position is that whilst there are many positive points which have been secured through negotiation, the policies are not fully compliant with the NASUWT pay and performance management/appraisal requirements.

NASUWT does not wish to reject the policies but still has concerns over the following provisions in the policies, particularly the classroom observations, which could be detrimental to members’ future pay and pay progression:

  • agreement on 3 observations and 3 hours limit but;
  • additional observations, focus visits which allegedly will not form part of a teacher’s assessment;
  • a recognition that objectives should be set around 3 themes but still allowing more than 3 objectives.

NASUWT has insisted that these policies are reviewed prior to September 2014. The employer has agreed and made this statement.

‘We’ll be ensuring a consistent implementation of the policies across our academies within the spirit we discussed and we’ll be monitoring the processes to ensure that the objectives are properly achieved’

Future of Navigate Academies Trust

The employer explained that they had been invited to a meeting with Tees Valley Headteachers where they indicated their wish to withdraw from Navigate Academies Trust and become a sponsor in their own right. The TV Principals had already been in touch with the Regional Schools Commissioner and felt that they were better placed to deliver the required outcomes with improved value for money outside of NAT. The NAT Board had provisionally agreed to the proposal subject to the outcome of stakeholder consultation. The TV Principals had submitted a business case to the Regional School Commissioner and if agreed an Academy Order will go forward to the Minister. A meeting of the RSC Headteacher Board had been scheduled for 21st May to consider the business case. The associated TUPE process will not start until the outcome of the meeting is known.

A meeting was schedule for 27th May between the employer and DfE at Sheffield to discuss the future of NAT; it was recognised that NAT was now a vulnerable model. All staff employed by Navigate Academies Trust have been made aware of the situation.