Investors in People Award
Our ethos of ‘Your Child is Our Child” provides children with the best education and life chances and to achieve this people are at the core. Getting the very best out of a group of people, and for every employee to achieve more than they thought they were capable of, is what we invest in. This then links to everyone being happy, valued and successful to achieve this aim.
Investors in People is a leading international framework for people management, providing a rigourous and transformative process, involving assessment of practices, policies and the overall approach to investment in people. The framework covers over thirty aspects across three main areas – Leading, Supporting and Improving and includes evidence and documentation gathering, staff questionnaires and interviews and shadowing of meetings.
Our first ever assessment and the following accreditation at a Platinum level, achieved by only 2% of companies, reflects ALP’s commitment to excellence in people management and development.
Our report opened with ‘My time at ALP was truly enjoyable and inspirational’. This opening statement from our assessor makes us very proud. We believe our people enjoy coming to work and are inspired to always be better for our pupils.
The assessment also mentioned the alignment and communication of our ethos ‘Your people all strongly bought into the ethos. I frequently heard “Your Child is Our Child” and the sense of pride was strong in all.’ Again, this is something that we are very proud of. All of our people are part of our family and can contribute and have a positive impact on our pupils and our communities.
We have established strong and ethical practices that ensure accountability, transparency and integrity throughout our organisation. By upholding these principles, we create a culture of trust and employees are empowered to lead responsible decision-making processes which prioritise the best interests of our pupils and the communities we serve.
We have established a range of activities which facilitate the engagement of our people to engender a culture in which dialogue, collaboration and engagement can flourish. We build confidence, trust and a commitment to our aims by ensuring individuals feel listened to, valued and well informed. Our report highlighted this strength: ‘Collaboration is at the heart of everything. This strongly reflects your aim, and everyone is involved in networking and collaboration internally, externally and through professional networks.’
Our aim is to improve the life chances of our pupils and to have a positive impact on our community, this was reflected in our assessors final comment, ‘Your people’s sense of fulfilment in their work is exceptional and many described how they hoped to stay with ALP for a long time due to its unique approach and focus on the children and local communities.’
The Platinum award is not just a recognition but a commitment to continuous improvement, we understand that excellence is not a destination but a journey. We have a strong culture of learning and development but will always seek to enhance our practices.
The success of this process led to the team being shortlisted for two Investors in People awards: The Best Newcomer and The Best Platinum Organisation, from the 50,000 organisations Investors in People support across the globe this was an amazing accolade, recognising our drive and commitment to ‘Make Work Better’.
