Our Values and Guiding Principles

MISSION AND VISION DRIVE
Our Mission and our Vision of Education will drive the culture and structures of the Laetare CMAT.

RESPECT FOR DISTINCTIVENESS
We are committed to a governance model, which respects and empowers each school’s unique identity and allows the individual charisms of each school’s founder to be nurtured. We value both the unity that flows from the common vision and the diversity of its expression in individual schools. We will ask for alignment rather than standardisation.

COLLABORATION FOR THE COMMON GOOD
The Laetare CMAT is, in its very essence, a collaborative venture. Our academies belong to different Religious Order foundations and a defining principle of the CMAT is that of collaboration. We also recognise our responsibility to work for the Common Good, not just of the academies in the Laetare CMAT, but to the wider family of Religious Order schools so there is mutual benefit. In support of the
view that “The work of Catholic Education is essentially and always a work of partnerships”, the CMAT is also looking to build bridges of collaboration with local Dioceses and their Catholic Multi Academy Trusts and with the families and communities in the areas served by the Laetare CMAT.

SOLIDARITY
We are committed to the principle of solidarity, which recognises the inter-connectedness of individuals in a community - “we are all linked by a single humanity that moves us to help one another” (Pope Francis). Both those with responsibility for the Laetare CMAT, and the academies within it, will think and act as a community. They share a particular commitment to the mutual support of all academies for whom the CMAT is responsible, especially those in need of assistance at any particular time. The CMAT will promote generous actions that recognise that at times individual academies will be capacity givers and others will be capacity takers, or both. Our policies will prioritise funding support to schools in need of assistance, either by levying reduced charges for centralised services or weighting resource support in their favour. The Directors will ensure that common action and collaboration is conducted at the correct level and that the balance between subsidiarity and solidarity serves the common good in the most appropriate way.

SUBSIDIARITY
The true collaborative nature of the Laetare CMAT will be evident through the decision-making authority delegated to the Leadership Group which ensures input to the strategy and operation of the trust from all school leaders within the CMAT. The Laetare CMAT will empower each individual academy to take decisions at a local level on matters that affect it, on the understanding that decisions are compatible with the principles of solidarity, collaboration and the common good, working to maximise the life chances of all young people, regardless of the academy they attend. This proviso
recognises our moral imperative as a Catholic Multi Academy Trust to work for the Common Good and, in particular, to care for our most vulnerable members. It is the CMAT’s expectation that schools will retain significant levels of autonomy which will be outlined in the Scheme of Delegation. Where governance responsibility is delegated, appropriate decision-making authority will be given. The parameters of such authority will be clear, and those to whom responsibility is given will be required to report to those who retain overall responsibility and accountability. The level of autonomy granted will be linked to the quality of education provided and any support will be proportional to need and agreed with the academy. Autonomy will only be reduced if the performance of the academy falls below agreed standards. The autonomous decisions taken by an individual academy will be in line with the shared vision, values and strategic direction of the CMAT.

EQUITY
Religious Orders and the Gaudete Trust will be equitably represented at the Member level of governance. The academies are equal partners within the Laetare CMAT, and at all times, the partners will strive for consensus in decision-making.

TRANSPARENCY
All those involved in the running and oversight of the Trust and the academies will be open and honest in their dealings with each other, at all times acting in good faith and recognising the value of transparency in relation to decision making.