A Reflection on the First Term as Cheviot Learning Trust

This term is one that will remain long in the memory for many reasons. 

The first is something to be proud of; the huge efforts our school and central staff have made on behalf of the young people they serve to ensure that, despite the significant additional work the merger has required, they have continued to deliver education and business excellence. Our staff have done this with professionalism and an enthusiasm to support each other to succeed. It's a pleasure to work with such a committed and determined group of people.

There have been four successful Ofsted visits in the Autumn term, one excellent governance conference, a well-received staff conference for over 500 staff in 4 separate venues, the opening of a new central office, 10 new websites, 2 sets of year-end accounts and audits, the launch of a whole Trust staff CPD resource, the integration of multiple systems, the development of a whole Trust staff database and the implementation of a new governance structure. 

Look where we have come in 3 months; imagine where we'll be in 3 years.

Our next steps for the remainder of the academic year will be all about building exceptional foundations from which we can create a strong and sustainable Trust that supports education excellence in all our schools for every one of our students. This will involve us in cooperative work across the trust.  

It will bring staff together to focus on what we do well, but also where we need to focus resources to do better.  We are starting some educational projects around the KS3 curriculum and early years and have invested in a new training package to support professional learning for all our staff.  

These opportunities will allow cooperative learning across the schools, building on the relationships that were established on the shared training day.  All of this investment in shared working will only lead to benefits for our students in our schools. We celebrate our journey so far and look forward with excitement and anticipation to a bright future.  We want all our staff to really belong to Cheviot Learning Trust through strong connections with each other and a shared mission to deliver excellent education.

It's important to finish where we started to reflect on the quality and hard work of our staff; schools and Trusts only succeed because of their staff. We offer thanks to all our staff for their hard work and dedication to the young people they serve so well.