Whipton Barton Federation, made up of an Infants and Nursery School and Junior School, are starting the year off with a celebration: Good ratings from their recent Ofsted inspections.

Students from across our schools celebrated impressive post-16 results this morning, with the majority of our students securing their first choice destinations and schools surpassing national averages of 79% (UCAS 2023). Students from

All Saints Academy in Plymouth celebrates an exceptional year!

The school received its best ever Year 11 outcomes, is significantly over subscribed with Year 7 applications and has now been recognised as ‘Good’ by Ofsted for the first time in the school’s history.

The report, published today, is incredibly positive. Inspectors recognised the school’s rich and interesting curriculum and its “relentless drive to establish a culture in which everyone can fulfil their potential”, reflecting their deep commitment to serving the local community and its families. This Ofsted grading is the culmination of years of hard work and the school are keen to recognise the debt of gratitude to all who have been part of our legacy over the years, in particular the local community in Honicknowle and Ham who have supported the changes the school has made in recent years.

Having joined the Ted Wragg Multi-Academy Trust in January 2021, All Saints Academy, the only Church of England secondary academy in Plymouth, has been supported in its journey of school improvement with investment and advocacy. It works in partnership with 13 partner schools in the Trust to share best practice across all aspects of school life for the benefit of students across the region. In alignment with Trust values, staff were commended by Ofsted for their commitment to social justice and their belief that no child’s future should be limited by economic status. The 2022 results were the best ever for the school, placing it in the top 3 most improved schools in the South West since 2019 when it was last inspected by Ofsted as ‘requiring improvement’.

Moira Marder, CEO of the Ted Wragg Trust said “This report is a testament to the work the amazing team at All Saints has done for several years now. I could not be prouder of this wonderful school and its community, and we know that All Saints will continue to go from strength to strength. We are so excited for the future and All Saints' outstanding partnership with its local schools and across Plymouth.”

Ofsted inspectors who visited the school in March 2023 noted the school’s values of ‘Love, Legacy, and Bravery’ shone through interactions with students, who were described as “bold” and being able to “strike up conversation confidently”. Students also talked about the support they get moving into post-16 destinations, especially around careers and it is clear from the report that pupils “think about the legacy they are building for themselves”.

This ambitious School is already making plans to be ‘Outstanding’.  Headteacher Scott Simpson-Horne notes “This Ofsted result is the culmination of an incredible amount of hard work from our students, staff and partners. At All Saints we believe in the transformational power of education and are committed to helping our students achieve their dreams, whether it’s to be the first in their family to go to university or the first to own their own business. I am incredibly proud to lead this school, and look forward to our continued success”.

West Exe School have gained a national anti-bullying silver award from the Anti-Bullying Quality Mark UK (ABQM-UK)  to recognise that anti-bullying has been embedded in life at school. The remarkable efforts of the school team, made up of students, staff, parents and governors, meant their application for a bronze award was upgraded to silver during the review process.

The ABQM-UK award challenges schools to demonstrate their effectiveness in anti-bullying and the prevention of harassment. School communities that gain the Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards can show that:

• Children and young people come to school without the fear of being bullied or harassed
• Staff members respond to all aspects of bullying behaviour and harassment with confidence
• Families are confident that they know who to approach about bullying and harassment and that it will be dealt with efficiently and effectively.

Julie Fossey, Headteacher comments “We are so proud of our anti-bullying ambassadors for being fundamental in achieving The Anti-Bullying Quality Mark - Silver award. This award is testament to the caring and nurturing environment the staff work so hard to create each and every day, and the support from parent and carer advocates.”

At their last inspection in June 2022, Ofsted stated: ‘At West Exe Pupils’ mental health and wellbeing is a priority and pupils know how to stay safe and keep safe online’. 

West Exe School, which is part of the Ted Wragg Trust, has embedded a school Anti-Bullying Strategy.  The team at West-Exe will now be looking to share best practice and advice with partner schools across the Trust, as they do across all aspects of school life for the benefit of students across the region.

Students, parent and carers have been actively involved in the development of positive relationships in the school, supported by staff who tailor bullying prevention to individuals and their circumstances. Together they have embedded this into the culture of the school and its routinely reinforced through assemblies and flagship events like anti-bullying week.

Student anti-bullying ambassadors have received accredited Diana Award training so that they are prepare and equip with the skills they need to support students who had been bullied or were experiencing friendship difficulties.

A year 10 student from West Exe said; “I have enjoyed my role as a student anti-bullying ambassador; the training we have been given on how to support others and avoid being a bystander has been very helpful.”

Parent advocates have worked closely with us and the community to support the school, parents and students. We are particularly grateful to Paula Northway for her work with us triangulating communication with the wider community, the creation of a range of advice leaflets as well as for running the ‘You are not alone Café’.

Staff anti-bullying champions who meet with students on a regular basis, ensure student voices are listened to and that areas raised as a concern are reviewed, revised and developed to mitigate/minimise future occurrence.   

Emma Gulliver, Senior leader at West Exe comments; “Many of our children will not experience bullying, nor will they know the full story behind the actions we take and the work going on. This award helps us to celebrate all the great work we do that will be unnoticed to most. The ABQM-UK's support has helped us with our self-evaluation and will continue to be instrumental in our efforts, as we work towards the Gold award!” 

This award is a recognition of the inclusive school culture developed by staff, students, parents and governors. It has been an exceptional year for West Exe, who were awarded a ‘Good’ in all areas by Ofsted in their last visit in June 2022. 7 out of 10 students left West Exe last year with a grade 5 or above in both English and Maths, achieving some of the highest progress score in the South West. We could not be prouder of them.

 

Recently I had the privilege of bringing our trust’s annual consultation with headteachers and trust leaders to a close. As I stood in front of these inspirational individuals, who work day in, day out to transform lives and strengthen communities to make the world a better place, I reflected on how vital our collective conversations are to foster a culture of innovation and to enable our leaders to meet the barriers we currently face with determination and optimism. 

I finished the day with this quote, “Transforming education is not easy but the price of failure is more than we can afford, while the benefits of success are more than we can imagine.” (Ken Robinson)

There is a quiet revolution happening in trusts across the country. It emanates from the debate to define the future role of multi-academy trusts (MATs) and how the system thinks about excellence in this area. Notwithstanding the undoubted scale of challenges facing the education sector, our children and wider society, it fills me with a sense of optimism. Whatever people’s view of school trusts, the direction of travel is clear.  They have an integral role to play in the future of education and we need to take this unique opportunity to capitalise on their potential for the benefit of all children. The role of education has never been more important in society and it has never been more important to come together as a sector. Dan Nicholls eloquently articulates this uncommon opportunity for all trusts to work together for all children in Seeking a Trust Dividend; exploiting the power of collaboration.

The Confederation of School Trusts is ready to facilitate some of this work and clear on its charitable purpose and that of multi-academy trusts as "the advancement of education for public benefit.” Our role, as leaders of trusts, is to recognise this golden opportunity to effect positive change by pooling our energies as agents in a complex system.

I have the privilege to work for a values-driven, ambitious and inclusive trust of schools, founded in the belief of Ted Wragg that local schools should collaborate to be the best they can be. We have worked tirelessly in our communities to move away from a school vs school model, where league tables pit schools against each other and where children end up in a post code lottery. We have created a community of headteachers working collectively for the benefit of over 10,000 students, working in harmony and with a healthy dose of competition to drive up standards together. There are many other trusts achieving the same and we have been the beneficiary of the generosity of some of those trusts sharing their work, including Cabot Learning Federation, Reach Academy Feltham, Academies Enterprise Trust and Dixons Academies Trust to name a few. It is critical that in this next phase we do not slip in to a MAT vs MAT model, creating a similar, scaled-up lottery for children and families.

At Ted Wragg, we believe strongly that a healthy trust is one that grows great people, is relentlessly positive in its collaboration and has the highest of standards.

People

For decades, everyone has been clear that to raise the standards of education we need the best possible educators and that to achieve this aim we must elevate the appeal of education as a career of choice. The education sector has the great advantage of a clear sense of purpose for every employee (recently underlined by the designation of 'key workers' during the Covid pandemic) but trusts need to do even more to attract the very best in to the profession and keep them there.  

There could be a whole article on its own devoted to the importance of a coherent and effective people strategy devoted to growing great people. However, when it comes to being the best place to be an employee, the research is unequivocally pointing to one answer that culture is king and strong leadership is the key (Impact Ed: Working Well: exploring staff engagement and pupil wellbeing in English schools and the work done by Educators Thriving across the seas as only two examples).  

We believe that investment in developing excellent leaders in education, in particular our headteachers, is vital for the success of a culture where all will thrive. In our Trust we have committed to this idea by collaborating in the development of the SW100 and developing our own internal leadership development programme, including Future Headteachers.

In addition, we are developing a professional development curriculum that will give all of our great people the tools they need to succeed; bespoke CPD to ensure all teachers are equipped to be teachers of SEND, high levels of investment in quality incremental coaching for all teachers, apprenticeships for teaching assistants and business professionals and a suite of training for all managers in the organisation, are just a few of the developments which demonstrate our commitment in this area.

Collaboration

Relentlessly positive collaboration is also fundamental to success and is built on trust and strong relationships; internal, community-focussed and national collaboration.

In Steve Rollett’s blog, Deputy CEO CST, Hard Wiring Connections, he talks about the opportunity trusts with a shared mission have to connect staff for meaningful and effective development. This can be witnessed across all of our internal networks and it begins with the culture set with our Headteachers.  Headteachers are now supported by each other. No longer isolated, they work as part of a collective, simultaneously empowered to drive improvements forward in their own unique contexts. Suddenly it becomes more fun to be a headteacher! 

Community-focussed collaboration must start with our parents. The Public First Report (Towards a new generation of Community Schools – listening to parents of the Red Wall) highlights that, “parents want schools that are connected to them and the wider community, with ‘communication’ coming up again and again.” This can often be misinterpreted as communicating more rather than better. Whereas building school trusts as anchor institutions (Community Anchoring – School Trusts as Anchor Institutions by James Townsend, Ed Vainker and Leora Cruddas) starts with listening deeply to our communities, building trust and stronger relationships, so our communication and actions are effective and meaningful.

National collaboration brings me back to how important it is that all education institutions are outward-facing and that they put any egos to one side. School trusts and other institutions need to work together for the benefit of all, operating with a mantra of system generosity. The Dixons OpenSource Onsite offer is a perfect example of this and has been a transformative process for our trust, supporting us with the structure of our executive, providing secondment opportunities and study tours for our headteachers as a stimulus for further school improvement (https://dixonsos.com/).

Standards

Standards need to be driven by ensuring we are championing our most vulnerable at all times, and all systems need to be implemented with children at the heart of every decision and with social justice at their core. Having the highest of standards is a balance between implementing consistent systems and enabling excellence in each unique context. Systems need to support us in holding each other to account, they need to be evidence-informed, share best practice, have transparent data and measure the collective impact of our endeavours.  

We have just taken part in a valuable pilot Ofsted for our MAT. It demonstrated that we are all still grappling with the question of what does, or should, a strong MAT look like. If we are brave we have an opportunity to hardwire in to our core quality assurance framework those performance indicators that we believe will have the biggest potential to truly transform lives, one of the most important being the gap for our most disadvantaged.

So, what now? I am uplifted and enthused by the conversations among educators today as we move beyond the academisation debate. I see the system being close to finding a new and exciting pathway for education which tackles some of the hard-wired issues that have been facing us for over 80 years. If you are in a privileged position of working on strategy for a trust please do get in touch. Together we have an opportunity to rise above short-termism and lead the way towards a long-term vision of a stronger system for all children.

Tickets are now on sale for QE Theatre Academy’s next production, Legally Blonde – The Musical. The show runs nightly from Tues 31^st January until Saturday 4^th February with a matinee and evening performance on the Saturday.

Legally Blonde is a 2007 musical with music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and a book by Heather Hach. It is based on the novel Legally Blonde by Amanda Brown and the well-known 2001 film of the same name starring Reece Witherspoon.

The show tells the story of Elle Woods, a sorority girl who enrols at Harvard Law School to win back her ex-boyfriend Warner. Throughout the show, very few characters have faith in Elle, but she manages to surprise them when she defies expectations while staying true to herself.

Legally Blonde premiered on Broadway in 2007 and transferred to the West End opening in January 2010 at the Savoy Theatre. The West End production was nominated for five Laurence Olivier Awards and won three, including the Best New Musical award.

Directed by Head of Drama, Vicky Evans, with musical direction by Head of Music, Lucy Welsman, and the chorus being put through their paces by Emily Morgan, rehearsals are in full swing, and this year’s cast are whipping themselves into shape to be ready for February’s performance.

This is a truly uplifting and energetic show full of great show-stopping numbers that can’t help but brighten up a dark February evening. Tickets are available through our online booking service, scan the QR code on the poster or follow this link to select your seats. https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/qe-theatre-academy (Adults £12, Students £10).