The Kemnal Academies Trust (TKAT) is one of the largest Multi-Academy Trusts in the South and East of England with 45 Special, Primary, Secondary and All Through Academies. 

Throughout the Trust, maximising pupil progress and attainment is a crucial target. To achieve this goal, fuelled by a collaborative working culture, TKAT regularly shares knowledge, insight and experience across all their schools to ensure standards are the best they can be.

It was this very ethos, coupled with the continued growth in schools, that resulted in a need to re-evaluate the data strategy. 

Chris Clarke, IT & Data Director at TKAT, explains:

“As we really focus on an insight-led approach to student attainment, we started looking at data warehouse solutions to help give us a single source of high quality data across TKAT. 

“But in engaging with potential vendors in this space, we learned it would have been expensive to both develop and maintain. It was at this point we engaged with Novatia to understand the art of the possible.”

A longstanding partner of TKAT, Novatia initiated a discovery exercise encompassing an SLT workshop to help define the business need and explore how they would like to use insight across the Trust to improve teaching and learning.

A data mapping audit was also undertaken to develop a clear picture of the multitude of data points that existed within the Trust. 

“The data audit was an eye-opening exercise for us. Novatia helped to identify nearly 70 pieces of software, with either one-way or two-way integration with the MIS,” comments Chris. 

“It was really interesting to see where data travelled from and to. Bringing in Novatia as data experts from the outset proved to be an extremely valuable exercise. It allowed a much deeper business process mapping and optimisation piece of work to happen, ultimately leading to the development of a data strategy from the ground up.”

In completing this initial work, it became apparent that the optimum way for TKAT to improve the pupil experience would be to procure and roll out a single MIS across the Trust.

MIS: specify and procure

Having undertaken valuable work in detailing data points and optimising business processes, Novatia used their experience in supporting other large MATs to help TKAT specify their MIS needs and run their own compliant and robust procurement exercise.

Chris expands: “Novatia helped us in writing a specification, putting together the bid documentation and making sure what we were doing was efficient, accurate and robust. 
They listened to what our Trust needed, and challenged us in the right way to make sure our statement of requirements was based on what we really needed, rather than what we thought we might need.

“A fair and competitive process was very important to us. We wanted to make sure everyone had a fair shot at becoming a technology partner. Novatia supporting us to run our own procurement meant we could focus on our day to day roles, while maintaining transparency and ethics.”

Deployment time

Following the contract award by TKAT to Arbor Education, Novatia commenced the ambitious deployment programme: rolling the MIS out to 45 schools in only 6 months.

As is typical with any large scale digital transformation project, challenges were inevitable.

“All the challenges we experienced we saw coming. Novatia produced a comprehensive risk management audit which foresaw a lot of the things upfront, and we had already identified the mitigating factors we would need to deploy to overcome it,” Chris reveals. 

“With the deployment, because collaboration and communication were foundational pillars to the project, all aspects worked really well. Not only did the schools have information about how things were progressing within their school, our Board and SLT had great confidence because they were kept up to date through regular progress updates.

“Novatia’s experts were on hand to guide us through every stage of the process. As a trust, we were busy managing the day to day of our own operations and to run a process like this is pretty significant. Communicating, engaging, and supporting 45 schools during this transition as well as doing all of that with the trust central digital and executive teams was a huge undertaking and Novatia handled it brilliantly.”

With Novatia’s support, TKAT were able to meet their high velocity timescales for rollout - meaning all 45 schools had their new MIS in place by the end of the Easter holidays. 

HR & Payroll

Following the success of the data strategy and MIS project, Novatia were then commissioned to manage the market engagement and procurement of a new trust HR & Payroll system. 

“Novatia has a defined process around that too, starting with the data strategy and mapping piece, and then taking us through demos, framework selection and assessment and award,” says Chris. 

“Everytime we started to get caught up in irrelevant details, Novatia would help us stay on the right track with a different perspective to help us see the picture for what it was. 

Following a seamless procurement, MHR were appointed as TKAT’s HR & Payroll provider. 

Why Novatia?

With a multitude of projects cementing the longstanding partnership, Chris is upbeat and positive when asked about the value Novatia provide to TKAT:

“From my perspective, Novatia listen and are truly responsive to our needs as a large MAT. At no point does it feel like we were being forced into a corner, it always feels like they are honest and upfront. They recognise where we are on our journey, but have a clear process for helping us achieve our vision for digital in the Trust, always providing the information we need to make better business decisions to benefit teaching and learning. 

“I’ve been in contact with a lot of companies that advertise edtech services and position themselves as specialists. But then you soon realise edtech is just a small part of their company. Novatia are truly educational experts.

“As one of the largest MATs in England, we always look at the testimonials of potential suppliers and whether they have experience with large MATs. Novatia have the expertise and track record of doing this many times for the country’s biggest trusts. Our Board and SLT needed that proven track record and it has proven to be extremely valuable to our future success. Novatia’s services are truly transformative.”