What do we offer?
We are a listening organisation.
Our strategic plan focuses on our people (pupils, staff and parents) being at the heart of our vision and critical to our long-term success — our schools belong to their communities.
All our stakeholders — pupils, staff and parents — are encouraged at least annually to complete anonymous, independently-run, verified and benchmarked Stakeholder Voice surveys that have been designed in partnership with researchers and front-line practitioners. The data from these surveys is used to inform the work of our school engagement working groups, promoting and developing positive changes for the benefit of all.
You can find out more about our journey to becoming a listening organisation within this published case study.
The results of our latest staff survey show that Nova staff are:
Staff survey results collected January 2024 and measured against Edurio’s National All Schools 2022/23 benchmark. Benchmark derived from responses collected from September 2022 to August 2023, comprising answers from 43,791 staff members.
We offer an exciting, dynamic and collegiate workplace environment. It is our staff that make a difference to children’s lives and so staff development and professional learning for both teaching and non-teaching roles are centre of our strategic planning to make this a certainty.
As part of our trust, staff can engage with professional learning at an individual, school, trust, regional and national level, as learners and as facilitators and designers of excellent staff training. We see all of our staff as career-long learners and our commitment to professional development includes supporting staff to engage with a range of formal qualifications (such as the NPQs and postgraduate study) as well as bespoke provision to meet emerging needs and aspirations. We have close relationships with a number of excellent external partners as part of this extensive offer, including the University of Nottingham, the Confederation of School Trusts (CST), Ambition Institute and the National Association for School-Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT).
In September 2022, we launched a brand new staff benefits package ‘Nova Perks’. This exciting new scheme provides staff with access to a number of exciting perks including; a cash back health plan, instant discounts, car, technology and cycle schemes and many more!
Along with the other benefits we offer it enables us to retain our place in the region as an organisation that can attract, recruit and retain the most enabled professionals across a range of disciplines.
So, if you are a talented and inspirational individual who is committed to transforming lives, unlocking potential and want to work for an organisation that will...
- Put your well-being, front, right and centre
- Actively listen to you and recognise your contributions — big or small
- Develop you as a highly effective practitioner in the leadership of people — ‘coaching not telling’
- Invest in you and provide flexible and easy access to excellent professional development and progression pathways
- Provide you with the opportunity to network with talented colleagues from within and outside of the trust as part of our commitment to civic collaboration
...then we are the trust for you.
Our staff are the people that ‘unlock’ our children’s potential and make a difference to the lives of children and young people every single day. We will highly invest in you through bespoke training and coaching. We have a clear people and talent management strategy, and our overall aim is for all staff to feel that they truly belong to a transformational school and trust.
Initial Teacher Training
Nottinghamshire Torch SCITT is our innovation award-winning Initial Teacher Training provider, and we have a team dedicated to provision for Early Career Teachers. Our open, inclusive and collaborative trust culture offers the opportunity for wider professional networking and opportunities to lead and learn from colleagues working in a diverse range of settings.
We also have a range of international partnerships through COBIS (working with a group of European international schools) and Jyvaskyla University’s teacher training provision in Finland.
If you are interested in training to become a teacher, visit
www.teachnottinghamshire.co.uk
Diversity
We champion diversity in its broadest sense
Leadership and personal accountability are founded on ownership and self-determination; inversely conformity and micro-management leads to stultification and breeds a dependency culture. Which talented leader wants to be told what to do?
Diversity encourages healthy debate and gives us the opportunity to learn from different ideas and practices. We are open and committed to learning from each other and ‘learning from the best’.
Truly valuing diversity, in all its guises, leads to trust, creativity and accelerates improvement. Whilst context is never used as an excuse, it can make a difference to the iteration of a strategy, and we work positively with the communities that we serve.
We value diversity
We are clear what is aligned and therefore we are also clear what is not, and we do not want or expect conformity or standardisation beyond aspects of compliance.
We value authenticity and honesty and celebrate what makes individuals and organisations unique.
We understand that highly functional teams are diverse and encourage healthy challenge.
We are morally committed to achieving true diversity throughout our whole organisation as well as believing that commonality binds us together.
The results of our latest EDI survey showed that Nova staff are:
Thinking of relocating to the East Midlands?
With schools located in Derbyshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire our communicates are diverse, with large cities, town centres and tranquil villages that offer a wide range of shops, restaurants, cultures, festivals and a rich and varied history.
From the stunning vistas of the Peak District to the hectic nightlife of Nottingham and Leicester there is no shortage of opportunities to suit whatever your lifestyle or pace of life.
If you intend to move from the South of England up to the East Midlands then you will get more home for your money and still be in commuting distance of London. The East Midlands is also the second least densely populated region of England giving you and family the open space that you are looking for. The average house price in the East Midlands (2023) was £251,177 which compared favourably to £533,986 in London, £329,691 in the South West and £398,368 in the South East.
Staff benefits
‘Nova Perks’
All our staff have access to Nova Perks, an employee benefits system bring a range of fantastic benefits including a Bike Scheme, Technology Scheme, Motorsave, Lifestyle Benefits, Instant Discounts, Savings Club, Peer-to-Peer, Liftshare, Car Salary Sacrifice, Health Cash Plan, Gym Scheme, Workplace ISAs, Financial Planning, Healthy Living Resource Module and Financial Education Resource Module.
In our commitment to continue to support employees to achieve a healthy work-life balance, Nova Education Trust offers employees the opportunity to take up to a maximum of one paid ‘Nova Perk Day’ per academic year, in addition to the existing standard leave provisions in place. This can be taken for any chosen reason and does not need to have a defined purpose.
Sickness pay
Staff are entitled to a generous sick pay entitlement depending on their continuous service.
Pension
All staff are auto-enrolled into the relevant pension scheme. LGPS for support staff and Teachers Pension for teaching staff.
Professional learning
The trust is committed to supporting staff development with professional courses and opportunities to progress within the Multi-Academy Trust.
Dynamic Working
The trust offers a dynamic workstyle solution that benefits everyone. It is about empowering our colleagues to work in a way that supports their wellbeing, whilst meeting the needs of our pupils, parents, staff and our communities.
Current vacancies
We are also committed to equality of opportunity in employment and it is our policy to promote equal opportunities in employment, regardless of race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, creed, disability, sex, age, marital status or sexual orientation. This applies to recruitment and selection practices, training, promotion and in the application of national and local agreements in respect of pay and conditions of service.
As a trust we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people and the same commitment is expected of all our staff, partners and volunteers.
All staff are recruited under our safer recruitment processes, in line with DfE requirements, which includes DBS checks. We have a suite of safeguarding procedures, policies and guidance for all of our staff and volunteers to ensure we actively promote children and young people’s welfare and safety.