Purple Ruler × Dixons Academies Trust Dixons Brooklands Academy Dixons Trinity Chapeltown Dixons Newall Green Academy
Trust-wide proposal · Prepared for Dixons Academies Trust

Turn three live academies into one shared Blueprint across Dixons.

Dixons Brooklands, Dixons Trinity Chapeltown and Dixons Newall Green are already teaching live with Purple Ruler — around 18 months of live, teacher-led Blueprint provision and 400+ live hours underway this year. Today each academy runs its own provision in its own city. Pool those seats into shared, trust-wide groups and the maths changes immediately: the same teaching costs far less as the other academies join, every group keeps a floating seat held open for single-day placements, and on an annual trust agreement we hold this year's pricing before next year's increase.

Prepared byPurple Ruler  ·  Daniel Demarmels, CEO
ForDixons Academies Trust Executive & school leads
StatusLive at 3 academies · expanding trust-wide
AssuranceOfsted-accredited · DfE URN 152279
The ask in one minute · for the Trust & school leads

Build on what already works at three Dixons academies — once, for the whole trust.

Since early 2024, Dixons Brooklands Academy and Dixons Trinity Chapeltown have run live Blueprint groups across Years 9–11, and pupils from Dixons Newall Green are placed with us now too — together a sustained, 18-month track record of live, teacher-led provision built around reintegration, gap-filling, confidence and exam preparation. Today the academies run separately, in different cities. Pool their seats — and pupils from the trust's other academies — into shared trust-wide groups, and the per-pupil cost roughly halves, Dixons pupils learn together across sites, and every academy can place a child even for a single day.

3
Dixons academies live with Purple Ruler Blueprint — Brooklands, Trinity Chapeltown & Newall Green
400+ hrs
live teaching underway this year across Brooklands & Trinity Chapeltown
£9.27 → £4.86
per-pupil hourly cost on individual places vs in a full shared group — roughly half
17 → 1
the trust's academies, in four cities, on one shared Blueprint hub

Delivery figures from Purple Ruler delivery records (C02 course enrolment) for Dixons Brooklands Academy and Dixons Trinity Chapeltown, both in active service. Pupils from Dixons Newall Green Academy are placed in our national Academy groups (shared nationally, not summed here as exclusive trust hours). Cost comparison: Academy at £139/week ÷ 15 hrs = £9.27/pupil/hr; shared Blueprint at £29.17/hr per group ÷ 6 = £4.86/pupil/hr. Attendance for AP / re-engagement cohorts is a journey, not a headline number. [Outcome story to add — team: a measured progression figure or a named transition story from Brooklands or Trinity Chapeltown would strengthen this section.]

Proven across Manchester & Leeds

A provision the academy controls — for the children who can't be in the room.

Dixons came to Purple Ruler for live, specialist teaching — the same teacher each week, real lessons, real relationships — for pupils on reintegration and re-engagement pathways, taught on the school's own scheme of work. Across Brooklands and Trinity Chapeltown that has now run for around 18 months, with fresh groups confirmed for this year.

  • Dixons Brooklands Academy (Manchester) — Blueprint since September 2024, a sequence of Year 9–11 groups; two live Year 11 groups running now (≈257 hours), built around gap-filling, curriculum coverage, exam preparation and building confidence.
  • Dixons Trinity Chapeltown (Leeds) — a live Year 9–11 reintegration group (≈145 hours), focused on bringing pupils back into learning and rebuilding a love for school.
  • Dixons Newall Green Academy (Manchester) — pupils placed with us now, learning in our national groups alongside the trust's own provision.
  • Leaders stay in control: half-termly progress reports, drop-in observations against our 10-point Category B Blueprint teaching rubric, and a clear safeguarding line to our DSL.
  • Today they're separate provisions in different cities — pooling them into shared trust groups cuts the cost immediately and lets Dixons pupils learn together.

Live across the trust today

Brooklands (Y9–11) · Trinity Chapeltown (Y9–11) · Newall Green (pupils placed)

Brooklands
257 hrs
Trinity Ch.
145 hrs
Newall Green
national group
18 mo
live track record
3
academies, two cities, live now

Source: Purple Ruler C02 delivery records (Brooklands & Trinity Chapeltown live; Newall Green pupils in national groups). Hours are contracted live teaching this year.

Commercials · the saving, up front · plus an annual price-lock

Pay for groups, not individual places — and fix this year's rate.

Provision today is charged per academy, per pupil. The shared hub moves to Blueprint (Category B): a flat £29.17 per hour per group, regardless of how many children are in it. Dixons academies can split a six-seat group — say two seats each — with one unified schedule and the cost shared at trust level. The per-pupil cost falls as seats fill, the floating day-seat costs nothing extra, and no seat is ever wasted.

shared Blueprint · at 6
£4.86
per pupil, per hour — a full pooled group
individual Academy place
£9.27
per pupil, per hour on the individual model (£139/wk ÷ 15 hrs)
the day-seat
£0
marginal cost of a single-day floating placement — the seat is already paid for
🔒

Lock in this year's pricing — on an annual trust agreement

Our rates rise across all models next academic year. Because Brooklands, Trinity Chapeltown and Newall Green are already partners, an annual trust agreement lets us hold this year's pricing across the trust — plus the consistency of the same assigned teachers and hours. We'll prepare a secured strategy model covering student numbers, budget alignment, hours and teacher allocation for your review.

Worked example — shared core groups across the trust

English · Maths · Science, 1 hour each per day (15 hrs/week). Each group ≤6 seats, pulling pupils from any Dixons academy, with one floating day-seat held open.

Shared groupHrs/wkPer weekPer 7-wk half-termPer pupil / half-term (at 6)
KS3 core ≤6 + float15£437.55£3,062.85£510.48
Year 10 core ≤6 + float15£437.55£3,062.85£510.48
Year 11 core ≤6 + float15£437.55£3,062.85£510.48
Three shared groups, split across Dixons academies£1,312.65£9,188.55£510.48

Three year-band groups give the trust up to 18 enrolled seats plus three floating day-seats for ≈£1,313/week. Per-pupil figure is the group cost ÷ 6 at a full group — about £72.93 per pupil per week for 15 hours of live core teaching (≈£4.86/hr), against £139/week on the individual Academy model. Fewer pupils means the per-pupil cost rises but the group cost is unchanged — which is why pooling across the trust keeps every group full. Electives add at £29.17/hr; Compass 1:1 SEND and Distinction stretch plug in at the same rate. All commercials confirmed in a formal quote.

The Category B model · how Blueprint is quality-assured

Category B — Blueprint, scored live against ten metrics.

Blueprint is our in-school provision: live group teaching on your scheme of work and timetable, up to six per group, for reintegration, behaviour, EBSA, gap-filling and exam support. Its North Star is behaviour and engagement — did the child come, settle, and take part. Every Blueprint lesson is observed and scored by a real person against the ten-metric Category B rubric below (each scored 1 Inadequate / 2 Developing / 3 Established), so quality is assured live, not self-reported.

1

Differentiation & ARE

Pitched to age-related expectations, scaffolded so every pupil can reach the same destination.

2

Behaviour management

Runs within the school's own behaviour systems, not a separate set of rules.

3

Learner profiles & alignment

Teaching aligned to each pupil's profile, needs and starting point.

4

Understanding checks (CCQs/ICQs)

Concept and instruction checks confirm pupils have understood before moving on.

5

Engagement & interaction

Voice, chat, annotation and polls give every profile a route to take part.

6

Lesson structure

A clear six-step structure, or a justified adaptation of it, every lesson.

7

Teacher energy & rapport

Warmth and calm modulated to the group — the relationship that keeps pupils coming back.

8

Professionalism

Consistent, reliable, safeguarding-aware delivery, session to session.

9

Low / no participation

The full lesson is delivered at standard; silence is accepted without pressure.

10

Student feedback report

A per-pupil feedback report closes the loop with school each half-term.

How the score reads — out of 30

10–15
Immediate support — we step in to lift the session
16–22
Developing — strengthening, with clear next steps
23–27
Established — consistent, high-quality teaching
28–30
Exemplary — the standard we share across the trust

Ten metrics, scored 1–3, maximum 30. Leaders can sit in on any lesson with a free observer profile and see the same scoring. Compass (1:1 SEND), Academy (full AP) and Distinction (stretch) each have their own rubric and North Star — shared on request.

The seat that's always open

A floating seat in every group — for the child who needs just one day.

Sometimes a pupil doesn't need a full placement — they need one good day: a fixed-term exclusion day, a transition day, a wobble, a day a TA can't cover. Most providers answer that with a login and a folder of self-study worksheets. We answer it with a real, live, timetabled lesson. Every shared group keeps one seat held permanently open — and your team generates the pupil's login itself, instantly from your dashboard, so there is no enrolment turnaround from us. The child takes the open seat for the day, joins the live lesson already running for their year and subject, and steps back out.

One open seat. Real teaching. Same day.

🎓🎓🎓 🎓🎓+1

Each ≤6-seat group runs with up to five enrolled pupils and one floating seat reserved. When an academy needs a single-day place, your team creates the login in seconds and the child takes that seat — no new enrolment request, no waiting on us, no waiting list.

Why it matters: the day a child is out of class is exactly the day they fall behind and disengage. A floating seat keeps that day a learning day — and keeps the relationship with school intact.

✕
What others give a one-day pupil: a login and self-study worksheets — no teacher, no peers, easy to ignore.
✓
What the floating seat gives: a live lesson with a specialist teacher, matched to their year and subject.
✓
Dixons peers in the room — belonging, not isolation, on a hard day.
✓
You generate the login yourself — instantly, from your dashboard. No enrolment turnaround from us.
✓
Zero marginal cost: the seat is already paid for inside the group's flat hourly rate — the trust just uses what it owns.
✓
Every use is logged and visible to the trust — who attended, which lesson, what was covered.

The floating seat is a design choice in how shared groups are sized and timetabled — it is only possible because seats are pooled across the trust rather than locked to one academy. Day-placement use is reported alongside enrolled-pupil delivery.

Live oversight · one provision, every academy feeds in

One trust-wide Blueprint — across four cities, on one screen.

The trust owns one inclusion provision; each academy feeds its pupils into shared, trust-wide year-band groups. A Year 10 child in Bradford and a Year 10 child in Liverpool learn in the same live group — online removes the geography, so groups fill, costs fall, and Dixons pupils belong together. The dashboard shows the whole trust-wide picture, then lets you toggle into any academy. Brooklands, Trinity Chapeltown and Newall Green are live today; the other academies are shown with illustrative data so you can see how they'd feed in.

Dixons Academies Trust

17 academies across four cities · consolidated view
Illustrative projection — this academy has no Purple Ruler delivery yet. Under the shared hub it draws on the same pooled groups and the same floating day-seat, so it can start at marginal cost. The numbers below show how a typical cohort could look once live.
3 of 17
Academies live · all can feed in
400+ hrs
Live teaching this year
18 mo
Live track record
Y9–11
Year span (live)

Pupils by year — across the trust all academies combined

Each year band runs as a shared trust-wide group, with a floating day-seat held open for single-day placements.

Dixons Academies Trust

Academies feeding the Blueprint pupils contributed

Brooklands, Trinity Chapeltown & Newall Green are live; the rest are illustrative — together they fill the shared groups.

Cost position per pupil, per hour

Individual places: £9.27/pupil/hr (£139/wk ÷ 15 hrs).
In a full shared group: £4.86/pupil/hr — roughly half, with no seat wasted.
Single-day placement: £0 extra — the floating seat is already paid for.

What leaders receive oversight

Attendance emails plus live attendance, attainment and engagement in the dashboard, lesson by lesson.
Half-termly progress reports benchmarked to age-related expectations — attendance, curriculum coverage and a narrative (example below).
Drop-in observations against our 10-point Category B Blueprint rubric, and a single safeguarding line to our DSL.

Brooklands, Trinity Chapeltown & Newall Green figures from Purple Ruler operational records (live). All other academies show illustrative cohorts to picture the shared hub, not actual delivery. Pupil-by-year figures are illustrative group sizes; exact live numbers are confirmed in operational records and the formal quote.

From the dashboard to the child · what leaders receive

Every pupil gets a half-termly report — benchmarked to age-related expectations.

Behind every number on the dashboard is a real report for a real child: attendance subject-by-subject (RAG-rated), curriculum coverage mapped to the year's age-related expectations, and a candid, strengths-led narrative leaders can put straight in front of parents or panels. It lands every half-term, on top of the live attendance, attainment and engagement your team already sees in the dashboard and the attendance emails it receives.

  • Attendance, RAG-rated per subject (green ≥75%, amber 55–74%, red <55%).
  • Curriculum coverage benchmarked to ARE — working at, or towards, age-related expectations, with evidence.
  • Strengths-led narrative — real teacher observations, never deficit framing.
  • Ready for parents and panels — no extra write-up for your staff.
Purple Ruler · Half-Termly Progress Report
Pupil: Pupil A (name withheld)  ·  Year: 10
School: Dixons Academies Trust  ·  Half-term: Autumn 1  ·  Provision: Shared Blueprint — core
Attendance this half-term
SubjectLessonsAttendedRate
English282589%
Maths282279%
Science211467%
Curriculum coverage & age-related expectations
SubjectUnits coveredBenchmark
EnglishLanguage Paper 1; comparing texts & writers' techniquesAt ARE
MathsRatio & proportion; linear graphsWorking towards ARE
ScienceEnergy; cell biology foundationsWorking towards ARE
Teacher narrative
ENGLISH · MISS R.
Reads aloud with growing confidence and now volunteers answers unprompted; source analysis is among the strongest in the group, with quiz scores at mastery level.
MATHS · MR T.
Settles quickly and stays on task for the full hour; ratio work is secure and they are starting to self-correct before asking for help.

Illustrative example — pupil details anonymised. Every enrolled pupil receives a report in this format each half-term, benchmarked to age-related expectations.

Independent assurance · Ofsted, October 2025

“Meets all the standards” — with SEND named a significant strength.

Purple Ruler is a DfE-registered, Ofsted-accredited online education provider (URN 152279). Ofsted's October 2025 visit found we meet all the standards across every one of the eight areas — curriculum, teaching, welfare, safeguarding and leadership — and singled out our work with vulnerable, SEND and anxious learners, exactly the pupils Dixons academies place with us.

All 8 areas met in full DfE URN 152279 · 000/1047 KCSIE & UK GDPR aligned
📄 Read the full Ofsted report →

A significant strength of Purple Ruler is the support staff provide for pupils with SEND… each pupil receives carefully tailored, individualised teaching. Staff help pupils to reignite their spark for learning.

Ofsted accreditation report, October 2025Online Education Accreditation Scheme
The core idea · why one shared Blueprint

Individual academy places can't be sized by need. Pooled groups can.

When each academy buys its own places, you pay full price per child and you can't shape a group around need. Pooling six-seat groups across all 17 Dixons academies — in Bradford, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool — changes that maths entirely. Online removes the distance, so it cuts the per-pupil cost, lets Dixons children learn together wherever they are, and is what makes the floating day-seat possible.

  • Groups built by need, not by which city you're in — a dedicated EBSA group, a behaviour group, a higher-acuity SEND group, KS3 and KS4 cohorts.
  • Immediate saving: two pupils here and two there become one full, purposeful group at half the per-pupil cost — and the spare seats aren't wasted, other academies use them.
  • A floating seat in every group for single-day placements — only affordable because seats are shared, not locked to one academy.
  • Children move as needs change through the year, without losing their teacher or their place.
  • A better answer for parents and panels on exactly why each child was placed where they were.

The same six seats, used better

Illustrative — individual places at two academies become one purposeful shared group, with a floating seat kept open.

BEFORE · individual places, full price Brooklands · 2 pupils Trinity Chapeltown · 2 pupils AFTER · pooled across the trust One full group · placed by need ■ Brooklands   ■ Trinity Chapeltown   ■ another Dixons academy   ■ floating seat the trust keeps open for single-day placements
The comparison · a trust already running this exact model

How The White Horse Federation runs Category B trust-wide.

The clearest picture of where Dixons could go is a trust already there. The White Horse Federation took the same Category B Blueprint provision Brooklands and Trinity Chapeltown run today and pooled it across the whole trust — one shared inclusion hub, seats pooled across schools, groups built by need rather than by site. It is the proven comparator for the move this proposal asks Dixons to make, at a scale Dixons can match.

The purpose of this work is to reach the students nobody else could.

Tim James — SEND & Inclusion LeadThe White Horse Federation

What pooling Category B did for them

One trust-wide Blueprint hub instead of separate school-by-school provision — the same model, run once for everyone.

50–60%
more cost-effective than separate, school-by-school delivery
60+
pupils supported across pooled cohorts
14+
differentiated groups with real-time oversight

“Belonging as intervention” — vulnerable learners attend together across schools and year groups, reducing stigma and rebuilding confidence, especially for EBSA. Dixons' 17 academies across four cities make pooling even more powerful: online, the distance between Bradford and Liverpool disappears.

Hear it first-hand
Tim James — SEND & Inclusion Lead, The White Horse Federation
Dixons today · the starting position

Three academies proven, fourteen ready to join.

Dixons Brooklands AcademyDixons Trinity Chapeltown

Brooklands, Trinity Chapeltown & Newall Green

Manchester & Leeds · live Purple Ruler partners
Current provisionLive · Blueprint, Y9–11
Live teaching this year400+ hours
Track record≈18 months
FocusReintegration · gaps · exams
Role in the hubAnchor academies
+14
Dixons Academies Trust

The other fourteen academies

Bradford · Leeds · Manchester · Liverpool · Ashton-under-Lyne · Stalybridge · Bingley
Current provisionNone yet
OpportunityShare pooled groups
Day placementsUse the floating seat
Cost to startMarginal — shared
Role in the hubJoining academies

Dixons Academies Trust runs 17 academies across Bradford, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool (with academies in Ashton-under-Lyne, Stalybridge and Bingley). A shared Blueprint hub gives the trust one provision, one contract, one safeguarding line — and one place to see every child, in every academy, in every city.

The full toolkit · one continuum, the right tool per child

Blueprint is the spine. These plug in around it.

Blueprint Category B · your school, online

Live lessons on your scheme of work & timetable. Up to 6 per group, with a floating day-seat. £29.17/hr per group. This is what Brooklands and Trinity Chapeltown run today and what the shared hub is built on.

Academy Category A · full AP

Our ready-built curriculum for full non-attenders / EBSA, groups of 6 nationwide. £139/wk part-time (15 hrs core). Best for rapid placement; where Newall Green pupils sit today.

Compass Category C · 1:1 SEND

One-to-one SEND-informed tutoring — the default for EHCP pupils whose group session can't fully meet their needs. Plugs in alongside Blueprint at £29.17/hr.

Distinction Category D · stretch

Group tutoring and exam preparation for high attainers who are under-stretched. Same six-seat format as Blueprint. £29.17/hr.

Optional Enhanced Mental Health support can be added to any model at £180/month per learner. Each category is quality-assured against its own live rubric.

From yes to live · low-friction by design

How a shared Dixons hub gets stood up.

1

Confirm the shape & lock the pricing

Agree the starting groups by year and need, which seats Brooklands, Trinity Chapeltown, Newall Green and the next academies expect to use, and the floating day-seat protocol — and secure this year's rates on an annual trust agreement before the increase. Existing pupils move straight in.

2

Onboard the next academies onto the same provision

Each academy's schemes of work mapped in; safeguarding and data-sharing confirmed once, at trust level, and a launch schedule set with you.

3

Onboard pupils immediately — you hold the keys

Once the hub is live, onboarding a pupil is immediate: your team generates the student's credentials itself, from your dashboard, and they join the next live lesson. No enrolment request, no turnaround on us — a real strength when a place is needed today.

4

Place by need — including for a single day

Children from any academy go into the group that fits them, free to move as needs shift; single-day placements simply take the floating seat held open in every group.

5

One line of sight for the trust

Attendance emails, half-termly ARE-benchmarked reports, live attendance/attainment in the dashboard, drop-in observations against the Category B rubric, floating-seat usage, and a single safeguarding line to our DSL — across every academy at once.

Ready to turn three live academies into Dixons' shared hub.

We can share this with the trust executive directly, or hand it to your school leads to take into a planning meeting — whichever keeps it moving. A 30-minute call will cover the annual price-lock, the starting group structure, the floating day-seat protocol and safeguarding at trust level.

Book the planning conversation →
📦 Commissioning & compliance pack → 📄 Ofsted report →
Ofsted-accredited · URN 152279 Live at 3 Dixons academies
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Book a 30-minute planning conversation

Pick a time that suits you.

We'll walk through the annual price-lock, the starting group structure, the floating day-seat protocol and safeguarding — live, no obligation.

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Purple Ruler · Ofsted-accredited online education · DfE URN 152279 / 000/1047
Honeycomb Building, Edmund Street, Liverpool L3 9NG · learn@purpleruler.com · purpleruler.com

Prepared for Dixons Academies Trust — Dixons Brooklands Academy, Dixons Trinity Chapeltown and Dixons Newall Green Academy and the trust's wider academies. Brooklands & Trinity Chapeltown delivery figures from Purple Ruler operational records (C02 course enrolment); Newall Green pupils are placed in our national Academy groups; figures for the other academies are illustrative projections, not actual delivery. Pricing per current Blueprint rate card; commercials indicative and confirmed in a formal quote. Pupil names withheld for data protection.