1. Chris Gardner | Julie Thorpe | Roger White | Colin Wilkes
YOUR CO-OPERATIVE TRUST
MAKING IT WORK
Guidance for co‑operative schools who have completed
the legal processes of incorporation

2. CASESTUDYWEBSITE:
CONTACT:
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Background context.
The Leeds-based Brigshaw
Co‑operative Trust (BCT) was formally
established in April 2010. It grew
from a successful cross-phase‘soft
governance federation’, and was
created to sustain and expand the
collaboration between the schools.
Seven primary schools formed theTrust
(Allerton Bywater, Great Preston, Kippax
AshTree, Kippax Greenfield, Kippax
North, Lady Elizabeth Hastings, and
Swillington) together with Brigshaw
High School and Language College,
and two Children’s Centres (Kippax and
Villages East). OtherTrust partners include Leeds City
Council, Leeds City College, Cape UK, Carnegie Leaders
in Learning, andThe Co-operative Group.
Brigshaw Trust does not run the schools – that is the
role of the head teacher and governing body – but
acts on behalf of them to ensure that children and
young people benefit from a strong partnership. We
see all of the 4,000 children and young people from
0 to 19 in our schools and children’s centres as our
collective responsibility and aim to ensure that they
benefit as much as possible from our collaboration.
What has the Trust achieved already?
For the Trust to work effectively, we have developed
an annual development planning process overseen
by our Trust board and implemented through a
number of sub-committees that have strong school/
community representation. The head teachers’group
ensures that our shared priorities meet the needs
of all of the schools, while other groups (which
focus on leading teaching and learning, guidance
and support/multi-agency partnership, community
services, and resource management) are responsible
for the following five key strands of Trust activity:
1. Teaching, learning, transition, curriculum
collaboration and pupil participation.
2. Leadership and workforce development and
CPD.
3. Supporting vulnerable children – multi-agency
partnerships and extended services.
4. Working through children’s centres with families
and the wider community.
5. Achieving better value and greater efficiencies.
Practical outcomes include the development of a
‘0-19’approach, which helps to ensure consistency
and continuity for children at each stage of their
education, as well as provision of enrichment
activities within and beyond the curriculum, for
example supporting the 2012 Olympic Project,
The Brigshaw Trust in Leeds
www.brigshaw.com/the_Trust
PeterLaurence,TrustDevelopmentDirector,laurenpj01@leedslearning.net
Casestudy3
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