KLmagazine November 2015
PICTURE: WEST LYNN PRIMARY SCHOOL
teachers to share their expertise across the two schools and has been a major factor in enhancing their development and the life chances they offer their students. It’s also meant that financially, both schools can afford to direct resources more efficiently – by sharing coaches for curriculum trips, by employing specialist support for special educational needs, and by providing capable intervention staff to close any learning gaps. “Being part of the Trust really has secured the future for our children within these rural primary schools,” says
PICTURE: SNETTISHAM PRIMARY SCHOOL
PICTURE: ST CLEMENTS HIGH SCHOOL
High School has been a leading light in GCSE results for several years now and its 6th form is currently performing in the top 15% nationally. The school’s forward-thinking approach and dynamic and wellestablished leadership team were no doubt factors in the original formation of the West Norfolk Academies Trust in early 2013, the result of Springwood being invited to support St. Clements High School in Terrington St Clement, which had been placed in special measures at the time. Working closely together, sharing resources and ideas, and meeting the needs of local students, the two schools brought about a quite astonishing transformation. “Our journey with the Trust has been a truly remarkable one,” says Nigel Willingham, St. Clements’ Head Teacher. “We’ve grown out of special measures and are now one of the best performing schools in the area – we actually had the best results in the school’s history this summer.” Seeing how the Trust so successfully supported talented staff and energised students was never going to go unnoticed, and the next school to join – in June 2014 – was Snettisham Primary School. Having been judged ‘inadequate’ following an Ofsted inspection the previous summer, initial anxieties about the school becoming a sponsored academy were allayed by a meeting between representatives of the Trust and staff, parents and governors at the school.
Any misgivings were then further reassured by the appointment of Lee Stevens as Executive Head Teacher, who came to Snettisham from a highly successful tenure as head at the outstanding Whitefriars school in King’s Lynn. Joining the Trust has seen the restoration of morale at Snettisham Primary School, with the staff team working tirelessly to ensure teaching is consistently good and the curriculum always challenging and stimulating. “There’s a real and very tangible optimism for the future at the school now,” says Lee, noting a much stronger sense of pupils, staff, governors and parents working together. “The Trust has been a very effective critical friend for us – challenging the school to make further improvements whilst developing the support services that will help us focus solely on the quality of our teaching and learning.” That level of support has also characterised the experiences of Joanne Borley, Executive Head Teacher of West Lynn Primary School and Clenchwarton Primary School – both of which are now members of the Trust. “Although both schools have retained their own identity and uniqueness, being part of the West Norfolk Academies Trust has brought significant and valuable benefits to them,” she says. “Clenchwarton has just had its fifth consecutive year of increased KS2 SAT results, while West Lynn has just attained its best Level 5 results in Maths and English for three years.” The implementation of a joint Executive Leadership Team has allowed
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