The head teacher and a governing body member from each member school meet regularly to discuss joint initiatives that could potentially benefit multiple schools within the federation. These are initiatives that individual schools might not be able to undertake on their own due to limited resources or capacity. The term ‘soft’ in the federation model means that member schools can choose to participate in as many or as few initiatives as they find beneficial, without being bound by a formal legal contract. Each school is only required to contribute funds towards the development and implementation of those specific initiatives in which they are actively involved. Typical topics covered in these meetings include combined contracts for areas such as school maintenance, IT support, and shared resources; joint training needs for staff development; and the sharing of best practices to improve teaching and learning across all schools.