Monday 8 March was the first major milestone in the Government’s road map out of lockdown. I feel so very proud and privileged that we have seen in-school attendance levels above 92% across our MAT, which reflects the stellar confidence that our families have in our schools to keep their children safe. I always bristle when I’ve heard politicians, commentators or newscasters say ‘schools are re-opening’, as we never closed! Still, it’s been lovely to see some of the posts on social media from our schools where we have had pupils return after a couple of months of home learning. In our little corner of the state education sector, we can all go into the weekend feeling a great sense of achievement that we’ve met this first ‘road map milestone’ better than anyone could have expected.

As we hurtle toward the Easter holidays, I want to use this briefing to channel my inner Lennon and McCartney by saying ‘Goodbye and Hello’ to a few people.

On Friday 26 March, Linda Allison will finish her final working day as a teacher, senior leader and Headteacher of Coppice School. Linda has been a tremendous servant to our state education sector. Starting as a PE teacher (I won’t say when!), Linda worked in mainstream before joining Coppice over 20 years ago, when it was called Chase School. Linda’s contribution is enshrined in the DNA of Coppice, and she will be sorely missed. I’ve personally worked with Linda for 18 months and I’ve loved our time together. We all wish Linda the very best for the future: our hope is that, by the summer, we can have a celebration event which fittingly reflects what Linda means to our Coppice (and the wider Doncaster and MAT) community, as we have limited options in the current lockdown measures.

Now to the hellos! Firstly, I’d like to welcome Richard Hadfield, who will be joining us after Easter as the new Head of School at Kenwood, which is one of our Becton sites. Richard shone through a two day selection process and we’re really excited about what he will bring to the school and the Trust. Welcome, Richard!

I’d also like to welcome Jo Smith as a new Director/Trustee to the MAT Board. Jo is a former charity CEO and senior manager in local government. Jo currently works for a local health trust, and she will add so much to our Trust governance whilst aligning completely with our vision and values! Welcome, Jo!

Finally, we have this week published or annual Gender Pay Gap report, which can be accessed on the Trust website at www.nexusmat.org/about/gender-pay-gap. Our employee opinion survey told us clearly that gender is not a barrier to pay or progression in our Trust, but our vision is that we are always learning together, to be the best we can be, and that journey never ends. We will never stop reflecting on how we can create a world where gender bias is only talked about in museums and history lessons.