has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality . discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page . september 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message this article s use of external links may not follow wikipedia s policies or guidelines . please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references . february 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message ssat the schools network type private limited company industry education founded 1987 city technology colleges trust 2003 specialist schools trust 2005 specialist schools and academies trust 2011 the schools network 2012 ssat the schools network headquarters islington london uk area served europe north america australia asia key people sue williamson chief executive website www.ssatuk.co.uk ssat the schools network is a uk based independent educational membership organisation working with primary secondary special and free schools academies and utcs . its work is focused on providing support and training in four main areas teaching and learning curriculum networking and leadership development . the current company was set up in may 2012 registered as ssat the schools network limited to carry out the business of the previous specialist schools and academies trust . 1 whilst based in the uk ssat operates worldwide through its international arm inet . 2 ssat has almost 3000 member schools in england and internationally . the chief executive of ssat is sue williamson a former headteacher of monks dyke technology college in lincolnshire 3 and former strategic director of leadership and innovation at the specialist schools and academies trust . other educational staff come from a wide range of contexts and have diverse experience and expertise . 4 contents 1 history 1.1 1986 93 1.2 1994 96 1.3 1997 2001 1.4 2002 04 1.5 2005 10 1.6 2010 12 1.7 2012 to date 2 redesigning schooling 3 current work 4 events 4.1 national conference 4.2 achievement show 4.3 annual lecture 5 international work 6 references 7 external links history edit 1986 93 edit kenneth baker announced the ctc programme in autumn 1986 . city technology colleges would be comprehensive schools independent of local authority control and serving inner city areas . the ctc trust was established the following year in 1987 with cyril taylor as chairman . the trust was primarily tasked with identifying potential locations and sponsors for ctcs . the ambition was to open two hundred ctcs . the trust s affiliation scheme was launched in 1992 allowing it to establish links with non ctc schools . an inaugural conference for affiliated schools took place at st ermin s hotel in london the following year and so a pattern was set for an affiliation scheme and accompanying annual conference . it proved impossible to engage a sufficient number of major companies to establish the original target number of two hundred ctcs . fifteen ctcs were established between 1988 and 1993 and are now among the most successful schools in england . 1994 96 edit in 1994 gillian shepherd the then secretary for education opened the ctc programme to local authority schools and also introduced a second specialist area languages . schools could also now apply to become technology colleges . at the end of 1996 there were 182 designated specialist schools mostly technology colleges . in recognition of this the trust changed its name from the ctc trust to the technology colleges trust . the trust s affiliation scheme was also growing quickly with the number of affiliated schools reaching 300 . 1997 2001 edit this period saw specialist schools become central to the development of secondary education . in 1997 the first sports colleges were designated and were promoted and supported by the youth sport trust . the yst aided schools with the preparation of their bids for specialism and were led by baroness sue campbell . the trust also began taking on arts colleges with st paul s way school in tower hamlets east london the first in autumn 1997 . 1997 saw the labour party return to office after an 18 year absence with david blunkett as secretary of state for education . mr blunkett introduced a community dimension to the specialist schools programme . schools were required to prepare a community plan for working with primary schools at least one other secondary school and some wider community groups . at least a third of their funding had to be allocated to this . government targets for the number of specialist schools to be designated rose from 500 by 2000 to 800 by 2003 to 1000 by 2004 and 1500 by 2006 . in 1999 the first three special schools were designated as technology colleges . in 2000 professor david jesson authored a study that compared results at gcse with the comparative key stage 2 ks2 primary school data from 1995 . the analysis showed a value added score of 5.4 for specialist schools compared with 1.1 for non specialist schools . for the first time there was evidence that specialist status was linked to higher results at gcse whether it was on the 5 a c measure value added or contextual value added . schools began to make extensive use of the data themselves to evaluate their performance . the study became an annual project and is still provided today known as educational outcomes . the 2001 green paper schools building on success introduced four new specialisms science mathematics & computing business & enterprise and engineering . the trust was moving from an organisation which primarily provided bidding advice and support to an organisation that held a much extended role . 2002 04 edit in 2002 charles clarke succeeded estelle morris as secretary of state for education and instantly announced a lifting of the financial cap that had previously limited the number of schools that could be designated in any bidding round . a collaborative rather than a competitive approach would further accelerate the growth of specialist schools and a new target was set of 2000 specialist schools by 2006 . a second aspect of charles clarke s vision for what he termed a specialist system was a more balanced approach to the spread of specialisms in any one area . as many schools struggled to raise the required 50 000 sponsorship he established a partnership fund a mix of private money donated by the garfield weston foundation and public money to which schools could apply to make up any shortfall . the effect of lifting the cap on new designations plus the four new specialisms as announced in the 2001 green paper was a rapid rise in the number of specialist schools . in 2002 there were 992 specialist schools and by 2004 this figure had risen to 1954 . in 2003 a further two new specialisms were announced humanities and music . an sen specialism for special schools was announced in 2004 . in 2003 the trust changed its name to the specialist schools trust sst . the trust s network of schools continued to grow the number of schools affiliated passed 1500 in 2002 and reached 2500 in 2004 . a regional structure was established in 2002 to cope with the sheer scope of the network . full time regional coordinators worked with a committee of volunteer headteachers in their region and this steering group set the local agenda for events and other activities . 2003 saw the establishment of the national headteachers steering group initially made up of the chairs of each regional steering group . its task was to steer the trust s strategy for its services to schools . this was the by schools for schools model taking shape . practitioner led programmes become more prominent between 2002 2004 with leadership programmes beginning with courses for aspirant headteachers and developing leaders . to this day ssat leadership programmes are designed and delivered by school leaders . a major venture of the trust between 2002 2004 was the development of its international arm international networking for educational transformation known as inet . this network grew in response to demand from schools in england and overseas starting principally in australia . it exists and flourishes today with networks in the united states china the netherlands and wales . the leading edge programme was announced in 2003 a response to the idea of specialism in school improvement first proposed by estelle morris in 1998 . again a practitioner led philosophy a large network of leading edge schools exists today . following a challenge from the then schools minister david miliband the trust began working with headteachers to define personalising learning . professor david hargreaves held a series of workshops with 200 headteachers and identified the nine gateways to personalising learning . a series of five conferences with ascl then sha followed to examine the gateways . after each conference david hargreaves produced a pamphlet with case studies from schools . by the time of the last conference in january 2006 the nine gateways had been clustered into four groups deep learning deep experience deep support and deep leadership . the national conference in 2006 focused on these four deeps and consequently a number of schools restructured their leadership teams on this basis . 2005 10 edit in september 2005 the trust took on a central role in the government s academies programme . originally announced by david blunkett in 2000 its aim was to challenge under achievement in the country s poorest performing schools . the programme had many similarities to the ctc programme of the early 1990s and required the trust to once again change its name it became the specialist schools and academies trust ssat . in 2007 the trust formed a system redesign network initially partnering 10 highly successful innovative schools to determine the building blocks of system redesign in education for the 21st century in england . by 2008 the structure of the trust s funding had changed dramatically . in 2003 4 the dfes specialist schools grant represented 43 % of funding . by 2007 8 it accounted for 24 % while 37 % came from other commissioned work from the dfes and 35 % from commercial income work won by competitive tender along with affiliation fees and income earned from events training provision and so on . 2010 12 edit in may 2010 after a hung parliament the coalition government were sworn into office . in september 2010 government decided to end ring fencing of grants to schools to fund their specialist status . throughout 2010 and 2011 the organisation decreased in size but continued to win contracts overseas . the most notable of these was in abu dhabi where as ssat middle east it continues to operate a network of schools and work closely with the abu dhabi educational council . the trust s contract with the department for education to support the sponsored academies programme ended in august 2011 although it continues its close links with academy principals and sponsors and supports schools converting to academy status . the trust was now supported primarily by affiliation fees from its thousands of affiliated schools and the delivery of its events and activities . as a result the trust changed its name to the schools network reflecting the organisation s new position in education . its affiliation scheme regional steering groups and practitioner led training programmes all contributed to the feeling that a country wide schools network was now established . chief executive elizabeth reid left the network in december 2011 and was replaced by sue williamson . 2012 to date edit in june 2012 after an announcement the previous month that the schools network would be going into administration a management buy out ensured that a new company ssat the schools network would continue the school network s work . ssat purchased parts of the uk operations of the trust from