As we approach the final few days of the summer term – it is hard to believe how quickly this year has flown – and what an incredible year it has been.
We have enjoyed two Trust development days, including a Trust Wellbeing Day facilitated by Rene Barratt. All staff and those with governance roles joined us to look at our vision and values and staff wellbeing – and we are looking forward to our next opportunity to work together as a Trust on Friday 1st September. This has been extremely productive and we look forward to continuing these collaborative learning opportunities across the Trust.
At this opening day of the new school year, we will be welcoming Blackshaw Lane Primary School, Oldham, and Cromwell High School (Special), Tameside, as they will be officially joining our Trust in the autumn term. This will bring further opportunities to share and enhance our practice across all our schools towards our aim of becoming a beacon of inclusive practice. We are delighted that our Director of School Improvement, Suzanne Pass, has been successful in in securing the Headship of Cromwell High School, and we look forward to working with Suzanne in her new role as part of the Trust. We are also happy to share that Jenni Cryer, our Director of Professional Learning, has been successful in being offered the Headship of North Ridge High Specialist Support School, Manchester, and we wish her every success.
We are bringing new expertise to our collaborative teams across the Trust with new Assistant Director roles for school improvement – Michael Ball and Sian Brown. In addition, Suzanne Carrington will become Assistant Director of Inclusive Practice from September. Karen Taylor will be joining the team to assist us professionally and support Trust governance.
In 2017, Steve Munby, formerly chief executive of the National College for School Leadership, gave a speech on ethical leadership in which he argued that the wrong question is ‘Should my school become an academy?’ He said a much better question is: “How can my school best collaborate with others in a strong and resilient structure to ensure that each child is a powerful learner and that adults have the opportunities to learn and develop as teachers and leaders?” There is something fundamentally important and powerful in these words. A group of schools working together in a School Trust is so much more than simply the changing of the legal structure of the school. The benefit of Trust growth is evident in how we improve our provision and have access to a wider range of learning opportunities for all of the children in our schools.
Termly curriculum subject expert forums have continued to enable staff to support each in developing best practice. Leadership development has remained at the heart of our Trust, with opportunities being provided to ensure quality and growth for leadership succession and different ways of working across schools. In June, we attended the Inspiring Leadership Conference in Birmingham with all our school heads and another leader from each school, including our new schools. This was a valuable opportunity to take time to be inspired, reflect and learn together. Other leaders across our schools benefitted from attending The Education Festival at Wellington College, with a wealth of opportunities to learn about creative curriculum development and professional learning for all.
We are very proud of the achievements of the children and staff within our Trust schools and the improvements in the learning offer. Although we do not measure all our success on SAT results, I must mention the incredible journey that Medlock Valley has been on under Lisa Needham’s leadership which has resulted in outcomes that are above and very close to national statistics.
With growth and increased personnel in our central team, it has been necessary to look for accommodation for the Trust outside our schools. We are so happy to have found suitable office space at Ram Mill behind Halcyon Way (Gordon Street, Chadderton, Oldham OL9 9RH) and we can actually see the school from our windows.
We are delighted to have further developed our family of schools this term with 2 new schools joining Kingfisher Learning Trust and I have really enjoyed this opportunity of reflecting on the developments of the Trust and sharing these with you.
All the best
Anne Redmond
