Keeping it Fresh: Values Led Quality Assurance at SAT
Quality assurance is one of the most powerful levers we have for school improvement. At Saffron Academy Trust, it sits at the heart of our cycle of planned, purposeful and progressive engagement with schools – not as an endpoint, but as a driver of learning, growth and collective responsibility.
Our Trust‑wide approach to QA is the Fresh Eyes Review: a 360° exploration of each school, seen through the professional lenses of senior leaders, subject leaders and teachers from across our Trust. It reflects a core SAT belief – that every child deserves to go to a great school – and our commitment to developing great schools through collaboration rather than compliance.
What it isn’t
By design, the Fresh Eyes Review is not a Mocksted. There is no manufactured pressure, no performative compliance and no reductive judgement. Instead, agendas and timetables are carefully co‑constructed with school leaders, respecting the unique character and context of each school while maintaining consistently high expectations across the Trust.
This aligns closely with Confederation of School Trusts guidance, which emphasises that high‑quality assurance is most effective when it is “developmental rather than punitive, and rooted in professional trust.” That trust is foundational to how we work across SAT.
What it is
Fresh Eyes Reviews are collegiate, collaborative and professionally curious. Best practice is shared generously between schools, feedback is offered with integrity, and colleagues act as critical friends where nuance and challenge are needed. This approach brings to life our Trust value of professional collaboration – working together, sharing evidence and learning collectively to drive continual improvement.
Participation deliberately builds leadership capacity and succession. Teachers and leaders at all levels are involved, ensuring a diversity of perspectives and strengthening our Trust’s understanding of progression across both Primary and Secondary phases. This cross‑phase engagement is a vital part of our ongoing work to strengthen transition and continuity of learning.
Feedback is framed clearly against agreed foci and shared live, transparently and constructively. The EEF is clear that “feedback should be timely, specific and focused on improvement” – and this immediacy supports schools to move seamlessly from reflection to action.
More than QA – professional learning in action
Fresh Eyes Reviews are far more than a quality assurance activity. They are one of our most impactful forms of professional learning, giving colleagues direct access to effective practice across the Trust and enabling the intelligent mobilisation of expertise.
This reflects another SAT belief – that we are all learners, and that improvement is strongest when rooted in evidence and shared practice. As the EEF consistently highlights, “great teaching is the most important lever schools have to improve outcomes for pupils” – and our model ensures that teaching and leadership grow together.
Fresh Eyes at RA Butler Academy
Our most recent Fresh Eyes Review took place at RA Butler Academy,
The agreed foci explored the lived experience of disadvantaged pupils – both in and out of the classroom – alongside curriculum engagement and levels of active participation in lessons. Leaders were keen to identify and challenge any passivity in learning, ensuring high expectations and aspiration and achievement for all pupils.
So what?
As always, clear priorities to sustain and strengthen practice emerged. At RA Butler Academy, leaders will continue their significant investment in people – developing staff skill, confidence and cultural alignment through targeted training and support. This intentional approach is having a tangible impact on pupils and the wider community, powerfully illustrated by one child who shared that the support she receives has “transformed her life.”
Further improvement will come through developing flexible fidelity to the RAB Teaching pedagogy. Staff will continue to refine the My Turn – Our Turn – Your Turn sequence, recognising that effective teaching is not always linear and that high‑quality assessment for learning must sets the pace and direction. This work will be strengthened further through Trust‑wide engagement with the WalkThrus programme, a key strand of our SAT improvement strategy.
At its heart, the Fresh Eyes Review reflects who we are as a Trust: values‑led, evidence‑informed and uncompromising in our belief that collaboration, clarity and professional trust are essential to sustainable improvement. When quality assurance is designed with purpose and humanity, it doesn’t simply assure quality – it actively builds it.
Kerrie McGivern
Director of Primary Improvement, Saffron Academy Trust