Consistent EBSA Practice Across Every Academy
EBSA Horizons is a two-year partnership that gives every academy in your trust the same understanding of attendance anxiety and the same confidence in responding to it. One central commission covers all schools, all staff, and all families, with live dashboards providing cross-academy visibility from day one.
No per-school procurement. No variation in quality between academies. Board-ready evidence of a trust-wide, support-first approach to attendance and inclusion.
10–20×
Return on investment
~20%
Absence reduction
96%
Rate training as impactful
What a Trust Gets That Individual Schools Cannot
Individual schools can access EBSA Horizons training. But trusts unlock system-level benefits that are only possible when every academy is working from the same foundation.
Consistency Across Every Academy
Every teaching assistant, class teacher, SENCo, and senior leader across your trust receives the same psychology-led training. No variation in quality. No dependency on individual school capacity. When a pupil moves between academies, they meet the same understanding of EBSA at every school.
Cross-Academy Governance
Live dashboards compare training completion, staff engagement, and accreditation progress across every academy. Board members see comparable metrics without specialist knowledge. Regional Directors see strategic investment rather than isolated school-level initiatives.
Central Efficiency
One commission, one procurement process, one contract. Your central inclusion team leads the partnership with monthly steering group support from our psychology team. Individual academy heads carry zero additional administration burden.
Delivering Against Trust-Level Priorities
The regulatory and inspection landscape increasingly expects trusts to demonstrate a consistent, evidenced approach to attendance and inclusion across all academies.
DfE Statutory Attendance Guidance
Working Together to Improve School Attendance applies to every academy in your trust. EBSA Horizons provides the training infrastructure to evidence a consistent, support-first approach across all schools for DfE returns and Regional Director conversations.
SEND and Inclusion White Paper 2026
National Inclusion Standards will apply to every academy. The Inclusive Mainstream Fund provides a direct funding lever for building SEMH capacity. EBSA Horizons delivers the workforce development these standards require, aligned with the £200m SEND CPD programme.
Ofsted Academy Inspection
Inspectors examine how each academy addresses persistent absence and supports vulnerable learners. Schools progressing through the EBSA Horizons training pathway hold structured evidence of a coordinated approach that can be presented during inspection at any academy in the trust.
Regional Director Accountability
Regional Directors examine trust-level performance on attendance and inclusion. Cross-academy dashboards provide the comparable data needed for these conversations, demonstrating strategic investment rather than isolated school-level initiatives.
The Financial Case
A single central investment that reduces exclusion risk, avoids costly escalations, and generates measurable attendance improvement across every academy. These figures are derived from partner data analysed using difference-in-differences methodology.
10–20×
Return on investment
Depending on trust size and how impact is measured. Estimates range from approximately 10:1 based on attendance gains alone, to 20:1 or higher when avoided costs across exclusions, managed moves, and specialist referrals are included.
50%
Of academies making fewer referrals
Within the first year, around half of academies report reduced need to refer to statutory assessment or alternative provision. Each avoided placement saves upwards of £50,000 per year, compounding annually.
~20%
Illness absence reduction
The headline attendance finding, confirmed across partner settings using difference-in-differences analysis with national and regional controls. Effects strengthen over time as more staff progress through the training.
96%
Rate training as impactful
Across all school staff, professionals, and families who complete the programme. High satisfaction supports sustained engagement across the trust and reduces the risk of initiatives losing momentum.
Based on partner data, the per-unit investment works out at:
£306
per academy
£13.50
per staff member trained
£6
per family reached
How the Partnership Works Across a Trust
A trust is not a Local Authority. The delivery model adapts to how trusts actually operate.
Your central team leads
The trust's central inclusion, attendance, or SEND team is the strategic lead. Monthly steering group meetings with our psychology team connect to your trust-wide inclusion strategy. You set the priorities; we handle the delivery across every academy.
Phased or simultaneous rollout
Some trusts roll out to all academies at once. Others start with a cluster and expand. The platform handles registration, progress tracking, and re-engagement regardless of how many academies are active. New staff joining mid-year are automatically added.
Cross-academy dashboards
Compare training completion, staff engagement, and accreditation progress across every academy in a single view. Identify which schools are progressing well and where additional support is needed, without waiting for end-of-term reports.
What Changes Across Your Trust
When confidence, knowledge, and awareness shift across an entire trust workforce, this is system-level culture change with measurable outcomes.
Reduced exclusion and managed-move risk
Staff who understand that attendance difficulties reflect anxiety rather than defiance respond differently. Fewer fixed-term exclusions, fewer managed moves, and a more consistent, defensible approach across the trust. Earlier identification addresses safeguarding implications directly.
CEOs · Directors of Inclusion · Designated Safeguarding Leads
Attendance improvement with Board-ready evidence
Illness-coded absence reduces by approximately 20% across partner settings. Cross-academy dashboards track the improvement in real time, providing comparable metrics for Board papers, Ofsted preparation, and DfE statutory returns.
Heads of Attendance · Trust Board Members · CEOs
Workforce culture change at scale
Staff confidence in responding to EBSA increases by 44%. Professional knowledge increases by 23%. When every staff member across the trust shares the same understanding, the burden of EBSA knowledge no longer sits with individual SENCos alone.
Directors of Inclusion · SENCo Networks · Trust CPD Leads
Family engagement across the trust
Family Horizons reaches parents and carers directly through a five-chapter programme distributed by schools. This builds alignment between home and school responses and reaches families who may not engage with traditional support. Fundable through Pupil Premium.
Directors of Inclusion · Designated Safeguarding Leads · Pastoral Leads
What a Trust Partnership Looks Like in Practice
A Multi-Region Trust
This trust commissioned EBSA Horizons as a central investment across all academies, with the Director of Inclusion as strategic lead. The partnership began with a phased rollout, starting with a cluster of academies before expanding trust-wide.
Cross-academy dashboards allowed the central team to compare engagement and progress between schools in real time. Academies that were progressing well shared practice with those at an earlier stage, creating a peer learning dynamic.
Within the first year, illness-coded absence reduced measurably across the trust. The Board received quarterly updates using standardised reporting drawn directly from the partnership dashboards. The data was also used in Regional Director conversations as evidence of strategic investment in attendance and inclusion.
Designed for Trust Leadership
Whether you lead the trust centrally or oversee inclusion, attendance, or SEND across academies, the partnership connects to your strategic priorities.
"Placeholder: testimonial from a trust CEO or Director of Inclusion about the consistency achieved across academies, the quality of the cross-academy data, and how the partnership reduced the burden on individual academy leaders."
Director of Inclusion · Partner Multi-Academy Trust
Explore How This Would Work Across Your Trust
Book a 30-minute conversation with our psychology team. We will share impact data from comparable trusts, walk through what cross-academy dashboards look like in practice, and explore how the partnership would fit alongside your existing inclusion strategy.