It would feel improper to start this briefing without wishing everyone a Happy New Year: I hope you all managed to have some rest over the Christmas break. My 8 month old finally had his first lie in - alas, he chose Monday 6 January to do it, so neither me or his mum could share in that achievement (eye roll emoji). Nevertheless, here we are at the start of a brand new decade, with a majority Government in Westminster and a United Kingdom scheduled to formally leave the European Union in 15 days. Times of change indeed!

We’re now in the calendar year when the first of our brand new special academies - Bader - is scheduled to open. We’ll be advertising new roles over the coming weeks ahead of an autumn 2020 opening, so please keep your eyes on the Trust and academy websites for more details: Bader Academy. The school continues to generate loads of interest and excitement with families and prospective employees, so managing expectations is probably our biggest challenge over the coming weeks and months. I am so excited about seeing the building completed and being handed over to us: to take this project from concept all the way through to reality is a huge privilege.

Recruitment at Bader isn’t the only activity we’re undertaking right now. We currently have 3 senior leadership posts advertised, as we seek a replacement Headteacher for Kelford School given Jacky Tattershall has secured the role of Consultant Head in the central Trust team. We’ve also created two new Head of School posts at Heatherwood and North Ridge, which are currently out to national advert.

In December we had a monitoring inspection from Ofsted at North Ridge, which went incredibly well. The visiting HMI was really impressed with the progress the school has made since its last inspection in the autumn of 2018, and he left with no doubts that the school was continuing to improve. This is down to the hard work of senior leaders and the whole school workforce, and - though no-one would ask for an inspection on the last week of the autumn term - it was a really positive note to end 2019 on. Well done to Lisa, Chris, Sam, Cass and the whole team at North Ridge!

We’re continuing to work closely with our incoming schools to ensure that the conversion process is as seamless as possible, and Becton and North Ridge now have conversion dates of 1 April 2020. I’m hopeful these dates won’t slip further, as it will be good to have all outstanding conversions completed by the spring. What’s great is how open the schools are about working with us before they officially join the Trust, which is a reflection of the shared values we have and reinforces why we’ve taken the decision to come together.

Finally, I’d like to welcome Lynda Billard to the central Trust team. Lynda has recently been appointed as a Finance & Compliance Officer working to our Chief Finance Officer Cath Sands. Lynda has been business manager at Pennine View for over 3 years, so brings a wealth of experience and understanding with her.

See you in 30!

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