Leading national thinking on reading – BWMAT’s contribution to an important new report

This month, the Confederation of School Trusts (CST) and ImpactEd published their latest paper in the Leading Impact Through Trusts series – this time focusing on effective approaches to reading across trusts.

I am proud that BWMAT’s work features prominently in the report, and even prouder of the leaders within our trust who contributed directly to its insights.

It is a significant and timely piece of work, particularly as national data continues to show widening gaps in reading enjoyment and attainment. According to the National Literacy Trust, just one in three young people aged 8–18 now say they enjoy reading in their spare time—the lowest figure in 20 years. Read here.

Against that backdrop, the sector needs clarity, consistency and examples of what strong, trust‑wide reading practice actually looks like.

Three BWMAT leaders, Rachel Morgan (Deputy CEO), Clare Douris (Assistant Director of Education) and Sakara Vitellaro (Assistant Director of Education), contributed to the paper, and their thinking threads through the report’s key messages.

Using data to drive improvement

The report highlights Rachel’s leadership of our Leading Expectations project: a rigorous, data‑informed model that sharpened our trust’s focus on reading outcomes. By analysing patterns across schools, establishing clear expectations, and meeting regularly with Headteachers and Chairs of Governors, Rachel ensured that every conversation returned to what mattered: Which children are behind, why, and what will we do next? This multi‑layered approach led to notable improvements across the trust, including 16 BWMAT schools achieving 80%+ pupils at expected standard in reading in 2024.

Making evidence usable for leaders

The report also reflects Clare’s contribution in building a consistent assessment approach across all BWMAT schools. Clare describes how trust‑wide data enables leaders to compare practice against a shared standard, particularly in areas such as phonics and fluency, giving our central schoool improvement team a powerful evidence base to support and challenge effectively. Her work in developing the BWMAT Reading Curriculum Self‑Evaluation Toolkit is another example of how we bring clarity to complexity. The toolkit helps leaders benchmark their curriculum, pedagogy, resources and classroom culture against what truly excellent provision looks like.

Balancing autonomy and shared expectations

Sakara’s contribution reflects one of our core strategic principles: every school is unique, but excellence must be defined collectively. The report cites her explanation that headteachers are the “lead teachers” in their schools, with autonomy rooted in local context—while the trust provides shared expertise, a common language of excellence and a steady flow of evidence‑informed practice. This balance - freedom within a shared professional culture - is central to why our approach succeeds.

Our inclusion in this national report reflects years of sustained investment in reading across BWMAT.

Highlights include:

• A comprehensive Reading Curriculum Self-Evaluation Toolkit used by leaders to identify strengths and next steps across fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, phonics and reading for pleasure.
• Leadership networks ensuring that English leads, senior leaders and central specialists engage in ongoing professional conversation rooted in research.
• Evidence‑informed preferred approaches in areas such as SSP fidelity, fluency instruction, and vocabulary teaching—identified through trust‑wide data and research.
• Innovative trials, including the use of AI‑supported fluency tools that provide immediate feedback on accuracy and prosody, giving teachers sharper insight into pupil need.
• Cross‑trust professional development, showcased at BWMATFest and through regular network sessions, ensuring reading is everyone’s business, not just the English team’s.

Reading is a fundamental gateway to opportunity. For us, it is also a moral imperative rooted in our Christian ethos: every child deserves to flourish, and becoming a confident, joyful reader is one of the most powerful ways we can secure that flourishing.

Proud to lead national thinking

The CST/ImpactEd report makes clear that trusts have a unique ability to galvanise practice across multiple schools, bringing coherence, expertise and collective ambition. I am delighted that BWMAT’s contribution - through the thinking of colleagues like Rachel, Clare and Sakara - is helping shape national understanding of what effective, trust‑wide reading leadership looks like.

To everyone across our trust working daily to improve reading for our children: thank you. Your work is being noticed, not only by your pupils and families, but now by the national education community.