Transforming lives at St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy trust

St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust (SJCMAT) recently held its annual trust conference entitled ‘Transforming Lives’. The conference is a unique experience for all staff to come together and share best practice in transforming the lives of everybody by bringing the trust together as one unique family.

As the title suggests, the focus of the conference was to transform the lives of all who work, learn and are involved within the Trust. Staff progression, success and opportunities were at the heart of this year’s conference, with opportunities to collaborate with other members of the Trust and take part in exciting and informative CPD, “The quality of CPD is amazing!” – Michelle Forrest, Holy Spirit Headteacher.

SJCMAT places great emphasis on staff development, and this year’s conference reflected the staff’s desire to transform all lives, especially the children that they teach.

By supporting staff with their development, the Trust is giving its children the best possible learning experiences. Staff were given a selection of courses that they could follow in things that interest them and areas that they felt they needed some guidance in. Staff could choose from a wide range of workshop sessions, from ‘Ark Maths at Primary’ to ‘Looking at Scripture Through Art’. The trust plans to hold a similar conference each year, bringing together all members of their unique family to support, share and collaborate.

August is an important month in the educational cycle. Our Year 11 and Year 13 students have left school but are not quite yet in sixth form or university. For them the new fall is not yet born as they await to start their new journey.

On August 17 our Year 13 students will receive their results and will find out the next stage of their educational or work journey. The following week, 24 August, is GCSE results day and another day of celebrating and anticipation for the future.

The media will be full of stories of successful pupils, tearful parents and proud schools. No doubt there will be the annual speculation about how the results are going up and the debate on whether the exams are getting easier. This debate saddens me as it attempts to deflect from the achievement of our young people. They have coped with a pandemic, substantial cuts in education, industrial disruption and a difficult world of social media.

There is an old Irish saying “Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí”, translated into English it means “praise the youth and they will flourish”. So, during this month of August let us give thanks and praise our young people. Please pray for success in the next stage of their life journey. I pray that they will never lose their awareness of the love of God for them and live their lives as witness to Christ. Perhaps they will come back and work in the Archdiocese of Liverpool if we continue to praise them.

Joan McCarthy Director of Education Archdiocese of Liverpool