DanecourtSchool, Gillingham
Hello
and welcome to the February edition of Maritime Sta News
Inside this issue
Welcome from our CEO
BHAG updates
Snapshots from our schools this term
Meet the Education and Research Team
Sta survey
Our new podcast
'How I got here':
Dawn Holloway
'The other side of me ' :
Jane Raggett
Pet corner
Dear Colleagues,
As we approach the end of term, I’m pleased to share the latest news from across Maritime.
In this edition, Amy Eccles provides an update on CPD (see page 4) We want to provide ongoing professional development for all sta so they have the skills, support and knowledge they need to provide the best possible education for our pupils. Please take five minutes to complete the survey link provided to help shape our CPD o er for the next academic year - your feedback is really valuable.
Work towards our BHAG also continues with lots of incredible work going on from our community engagement team Katie-Louise updates us on the work this term at Ebbsfleet Green, Hook Lane and Brooklands. Do read about the new initiatives being rolled out in our schools that are bringing our communities together
I am excited to announce that the launch of Maritime’s very own podcast will be coming soon! The Learning Collective, hosted by Mike Gardner, is a new podcast series aimed at educators, and explores educational insights and innovation The episodes will soon be available on the Hub and LearnUpon, so keep an eye out for an email, and on our socials, for the launch of the first episode shortly after half term. I've had a sneaky listen and it sounds great
We've been busy working on a new podcast! Read all about it on page 15
Find out more about Jane Raggett's love of creating art on page 18
The education team has also been incredibly busy, with lots happening in our professional learning networks You can read more about the team and their work on page 10.
This edition of the newsletter also introduces two new features, which we hope you’ll enjoy. 'How I got here' looks at career paths within Maritime, and this term, we meet Dawn Holloway - a teacher at Danecourt 'The other side of me ' is the second new feature where sta share their hobbies and passions outside of work In this issue, Jane Raggett tells us about her artwork, which is really impressive! Please reach out to the marketing team if you would like to appear in these features in future editions. I know they’d love to hear from you and it's great to find out more about the people who make up our trust.
What a busy term!
Thank you all for your continued hard work - enjoy the half term break.
Best wishes,
Nick
Nick Osborne Chief Executive
* Our BHAG
Live Training
This term, our live training o er has included: Sensory Processing
• Principles ofCommunication
• ColourfulSemantics
• Foundation DigitalLearning
•
• AdvancedDigitalLearning
We have seen an increase in the number of sta attending the twilight training sessions and are pleased that our o er for next term includes:
• Autism Training
De-Escalation andPositive Handling
• Trauma-InformedPractice
• WhatDoes itMean to Have a Learning Disability?
•
• The Use ofVisualSupports
Flyers with further information, including how to sign up, have been shared, but please let me know if you need any further information.
Pathways
Our Key Principles of Leadership Pathway has continued with our Executive Headteachers leading leaders from across the Trust, focusing on social capital and collective responsibility across the school team. The pathway is virtual twilight training aimed at those who are leaders in school, as well as those who are aspiring to be leaders.
Our Key Principles of Teaching Pathway, Cohort 1, is coming to an end. The pathway has hosted sta from across Maritime in a hybrid course; observing excellent practice across our schools but balanced with some twilight sessions to review current and future practice The pathway has focussed on retrieval, modelling and assessment, whilst exploring the theory and practice behind these.
We are pleased to announce that the Key Principles of Writing Pathway will be running from early March. This pathway will follow a hybrid model of three in school sessions (half day), supported with three virtual sessions. The focus will be on foundational skills for writing; the explicit teaching of foundational skills, the role of dictation in writing development, and how assessment is used to address gaps in foundational knowledge
This pathway is open to applicants who are beyond ECT+1 in their teaching career and who are keen to develop their knowledge on teaching foundational writing skills. Details have been shared but for further information, please contact a.eccles@mato ce.org
What else do we have to support sta development?
Our CPD platform ‘LearnUpon’ hosts a range of CPD content - not just video courses, but in the resource section, you can find ‘how to guides’, links to Maritime documents including writing frameworks, and access to Google Workspace Skills.
All sta now have access to the National College, too - simply go to the website and log in with your email address, then ‘forgot password’. There, you'll find online learning, webinars and resources for all sta roles across Maritime.
Similarly, all teaching sta have access to TeachMate AI. With over 125 di erent tools available - including lesson planners, model text generators, whole-class feedback and assembly script writers - TeachMate AI supports the workload and wellbeing of teachers by removing the heavy-lifting of some of the admin tasks
Our CPD o er this year has been designed from your feedback last year. As we look to next year’s plans, we ask that you please take two minutes to help shape our o er for next year, and let us know what CPD you would like to see on o er by completing our survey
Thishalfterm, ourschoolshavebeendivingintoresearchto betterunderstandourcommunities.
BeforeChristmas, wereachedouttofamiliesacrossourschoolswithsurveys andinformalconversationstoaskfortheirthoughtsontheircommunity andhowtheirschoolcouldo ermoresupport
Weweresopleasedwiththeresponsesandhavebegunbuildingaclearer pictureoftheneedswithinourschoolsandthewidercommunity. Ourfocus thishalftermhasbeenonanalysingtheresults, identifyingkeythemes, and connectingwithorganisationsthatcansupportourfamilies, strengthening communitytiesandenrichingopportunitiesforourchildren.
Creatingstrongpartnershipswithparentsandcarersandconnectingwithour localcommunityisattheheartofwhatwedointhe communityengagementteam
At Ebbsfleet Green, we partnered with Ebbsfleet Salvation Army to launch a new co ee morning, Ebbsfleet Together
This initiative is all about connecting with our community, bringing families together, and creating a welcoming space for conversation and connection. It was also a great opportunity to discover other local groups and resources for parents who may not yet feel connected, as well as to share local knowledge with new neighbours, helping everyone feel more at home in the community. Ebbsfleet Green is currently working to establish links with the community to work collaboratively on numerous projects and welcome local charities and groups to the school.
At Brooklands, Katie has worked really hard in delivering initiatives for herparents supporting their need for financial sustainability. Katie welcomed the team from South East London Community Energy, who came armed with a whole host of energy saving tips and fantastic advice around debt, navigating the jargon involved with energy, and the many amazing household grant opportunities available in Greenwich. All of which will benefit the community financially as well as benefiting our environment.
As well as a parent focused workshop, South East London Community Energy delivered assemblies to pupils investigating energy and the di erences between renewable and nonrenewable sources Their presentation was engaging and interesting, and the students had a great time.
At Hook Lane, Danielle is continuing to champion her community links to host her second, Have YourSayevent.
Have Your Say is part of her ongoing listening campaigns, ensuring that parent voice is heard From her survey results, mental health and well-being were highlighted as key themes.
To support our families with this, Danielle invited a team of specialists, including mental health nurses from MHST and CAMHS, a local GP o ering advice on Right to Choose pathways, and representatives from our local adult education centre along to the event, the team were able to share a wealth of courses and programmes beneficial to the school community.
I’m incredibly proud of the team and their dedication this half term. They are bothstillnewtotherole, buttheirnetworkinge ortsandcreativeapproachesto supportingourfamilieshavebeenimpressive.
Katie-Louise Lawrence Community Engagement Lead
AtHookLane. pupilshavecontinuedwiththeirweekly visitstoRiverdaleCourtCareHomeinWelling, enjoyingcreativeactivitieswithitsresidents.
Timbercrofthasfocusedonart acrosstheschoolthisterm, ending Januarywithaparent/carer ' pop-in' casethechildren'swork.
Nightingalehad anAnglo-Saxon immersionday, findingoutwhat warriorswore
Snapshots from term 3
Year6atBlighenjoyedaWWII immersiondaytolearnaboutlife asanevacuee.
AtMillennium, rabbitsDarcyandRoberta, havesettledinandarelovinglife!
Aspartoftheir learningaboutthe StoneAge, pupils atGreenacres invited parents/carersin totakepartin activitiessuchas buildingahouse fromsticks.
Year1atBarnsole havebeenreading Paddington at the Palace, andfully embracedthestory withteaand marmalade sandwiches!
ReceptionatFeatherbyhavebeen busypractisingtheirwritingskills.
OnwhatwouldhavebeenBob Marley's80thbirthday, the pupilsatBrooklandsjoined otherchildrenacrossthe countryonlinetospreadhis messageofpeaceandlove.
Meet Maritime's Education and Research Team
Being part of Maritime Academy Trust means we can o er our schools access to central services, and the Education and Research Team is one of these departments. We have a great team that works hard to keep sta up to date on the latest changes in education. It o ers teaching and learning support; responds to sta feedback to give more support on helping children with complex needs; provides a range of training as part of our commitment to continued professional development, and also works with other academies and schools to collaborate on best practice, and refining the o er children get at Maritime.
arah Ryan, arly Education Lead
I support our schools in developing EYFS (the Early Years Foundation Stage), which covers our nursery and reception age children. With an amazing team of early years practitioners, we have been able to look at how adults work with children; how to make the best use of the classroom environment, and how to ensure our children meet their full potential. Our communication and language project is now in its second year and aims to respond to the national need to address oracy and weaker outcomes in boys.
Amy Eccles, Trust CPD Lead
This year, I am incredibly proud of the developments we have made in our professional development for teachers. Through LearnUpon, we provide ongoing training for teachers, meaning that all our sta can access training videos and documents to constantly refine and develop their teaching practice.
Carole Hornsby, Education Director
As Education Director leading the ERT, my role is to support the team and each school in addressing the areas on their school development plan. I work alongside our Executive Headteachers overseeing our three hubs to collaborate and share best practice. The key areas of focus at present are around early education, CPD, SEND strategy, and digital learning Personally, what I've learnt about digital learning and AI has been amazing, and whilst not a specialist in this area, I'm able to approach our strategy in schools to ensure that our 1:1 Chromebooks are being used e ectively to enhance children's learning. We also review how AI can be used in schools to help teachers - both with workload, and helping children to understand the benefits and potential risks of the digital world. We are also in the process of organising a Maritime EXPO in 2026, where we'd love to get as many Maritime families involved as possible. More details to come!...
Mike
Gardner, Teaching and Learning Lead
As Teaching and Learning Lead, I'm often found working directly in our schools. The ERT is able to support and work alongside teachers to refine their practice, and this can range from learning strategies to improve instructions given to children, to developing how teachers model examples of learning. I also lead the ECT (Early Career Teacher) work for those in their first two years of teaching. Along with Maritime's delivery partners, we provide specific training in line with government requirements - but we go over and above, with bespoke support tailored to meet the needs of both individual teachers and schools.
Omar Jennings, Education Lead (maths specialism)
I'm Headteacher at Nightingale and I lead work for the ERT around mathematics. As a leader of NCTEM, I work with lots of other primary schools, too. I'm incredibly proud of the increasing attainment we are able to achieve in Nightingale, and how we use this knowledge to support all the schools in Maritime. One area we are currently piloting is a review around a platform called IXL, and we ' re working with the schools using it to support teachers with the assessment and analytic tools available to understand each individual child's gaps in learning. Collaboration across Maritime and the learning we do with one another as educators means we can have a greater impact.
We lead on SEND across Maritime - predominantly focusing on the strategy for meeting the needs of all of our children. The national picture shows there are children with more complex needs coming into mainstream schools, and therefore, it's important that we can understand and meet the needs of all of the children within our schools.
As a result of this, and the feedback we receive from sta surveys, we ' ve been working on how to ensure all sta can access support to enable them to meet the needs of all children to the best of their ability Sometimes, this is about understanding the specific needs of children more, or about providing teachers with a larger range of strategies to support children's behaviour, and a greater understanding of how to adapt learning so that all children can access it.
In response to feedback from sta , we have provided a series of training events to support children with SEND within mainstream. In addition, we ' ve been running a pilot outreach project, which we ' ve been able to facilitate as a result of being within a trust. Maritime Outreach Support Service (MOSS) uses specialists from our special school within Maritime to help give teachers and support sta the skills necessary to support the inclusion of pupils with SEND. At Maritime, we are proud to be ahead of the game with this - in fact, several other schools have come to us for advice and support in this area
Ruth Gawler, SEND Lead
Cathryn Falconer, SEND Strategy Lead
Staff Survey
We've now received this year ' s sta survey results, which highlight the work our schools have done to improve workload for our teams. They also highlight the support and relationships built within school teams.
This year, we will continue to focus on workload and building the trust community through hub working.
We were also pleased to see the great things you said about working for Maritime!
Join us on our journey 'to positively disrupt education to ensure all children get an excellent start in life'.
Discover our current opportunities
One of our Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG) is educational excellence and we know there are so many examples of excellent pedagogy and practice happening across our Trust. Our brand new podcast aims to share and celebrate the innovative work that is happening across Maritime topositively disrupteducation.
Who should listen in?
This is a podcast by teachers, for teachers - though in truth, anyone who works in and with schools will learn so much about how we are changing the way we help our children. So, whether you are a teacher, teaching assistant, SENDCo, school leader or a partner agency, ‘The Learning Collective’ welcomes you to our conversation.
What we will be discussing?
Hosted by Mike Gardner, Maritime’s Teaching and Learning Lead (within our Education and Research Team), each episode will invite di erent guest speakers from across the Trust and beyond to talk about di erent BHAG areas Our sixepisode series will be exploring:
How our 0to 3pilotprojectatBlighisgetting children ‘schoolready’
• The innovative approachwe are taking withCPD
• The impactofour home visitprogrammes for school-family relationships
• How our Maritime Skills Academies are enriching children’s lives beyondthe classroom
• The amazing community outreachprojects happening across the Trust
•
• How we are thinking di erently aboutSENDto address the needs ofour children
What will I get from listening?
Through insightful discussion with our guests, we will be looking at both the pedagogy behind why we do what we do as well as the impact our initiatives are having in schools.
Alongside each episode, we'll l be sharing key research resources and opportunities to re ect on what you have heard; our podcast episodes will live on Learn Upon for you to engage with as and when best suits you.
In our launch episode, Mike invites Christian Markham (Headteacher at Bligh) and Sarah Ryan (Maritime’s Early Education Lead) to talk about the amazing programme they are running in Strood West. Through collaboration with local partner agencies and families, they are improving the levels of support for young families with children aged under 3.
H I got here
Dawn Holloway, KS2 teacher at Danecourt School
Before joining Danecourt in 2024, I was a history and politics teacher at a girls' grammar school. I'd previously worked as a paraplanner in financial services, but I quickly knew it wasn’t for me and decided to train as a teacher.
After having my first child, I took a career break, which became an extended break as I had two more little ones. I didn’t think I wanted to go back into teaching, but knew I'd like to continue working with children. I became fascinated by how my children were developing, and began to look into SEND, child development and mental health. I have always been keen to pursue SEND and I had explored completing a master's degree in this area. My career break gave me the opportunity to explore doing something di erent, which I needed.
I came across a TA position for Danecourt and contacted the school, so I could take a look around and ask some questions. I loved it and instantly felt comfortable here. I had the opportunity to chat to Cathryn, the headteacher, and I explained my previous experience, but didn’t know if it would be comparable or suitable for a teaching role After some gentle encouragement, I applied for the teaching roleand the rest is history!
My class team - made up of Lauren, Pip, Phoebe and Bon - have been incredibly supportive and flexible - I couldn’t do my job without them. Coming from a mainstream secondary environment, I felt like everything was new, so I've been incredibly privileged to have so many patient and supportive colleagues, including Katie, the HLTA who I took the class over from.
There are so many magic moments working at Danecourt. Every time a child tries something new, gets excited about a task, or does something independently for the first time - they feel like real breakthrough moments. Greeting the children in the morning is always lovely. I love doing ‘hello’ and registration time, and seeing how they all are
Undoubtedly, the children are what makes Danecourt such a special place
But all the sta make huge e orts to ensure the children have a fun, engaging and dynamic place to learn, too. It's a lovely place to work.
Knowing I’m making a di erence, and seeing the progress in the children, makes me incredibly proud. This last year has been a learning curve for me, and I’ve had to adapt my traditional idea of teaching, but I'm glad I took the leap from mainstream. I've had lots of help, support and guidance from my colleagues I love being a teacher here.
The side of me other
e ' re always keen to find out what you enjoy d Maritime. In this issue, Jane Raggett, Region Manager, tells us about her love of making art.
I've always created art, but I started my own business designing and painting murals around 14 yearsago
I gave it up when I became a full-time premises manager at Maritime, but I stillproduce pieces for some organisations, such as the Scouts - though I don't charge for it. I've often donated paintings to be auctioned for charity or given them away to peoplewhoreallylikedthem
I'vepaintedmurals in many schools across Medway, and some shops in London, too. With murals in schools, I loved incorporating the children’s written work, convertingittovisualwallart
It's notjustmurals andpaintings - I've also designedand made many other things following some unusual requests! For instance, I've designed and made a giant cat puppet for a puppeteer , and designed Dover FC’s mascot, whichcan stillbe seen running aroundthepitch ateveryhomegame!
The strange aspect of all this is that all I ever wanted to do was art, butatschool, itwas the only exam Ifailed - in fact, itwastheonlyexamortestIhaveeverfailed! Iretookit, butgot the lowestpass. Ithought Ijust wasn ' t good enough, and went into business management instead Ineverstoppedcreatingartinmyspare timethough.
Jane's self-portrait
Pet Corner
Tell us about your pet, Mel...
"This is Cheeto, a 3 year-old Bearded Dragon.
Cheeto''s very special to us because of thebondhehaswithmydaughterhe loves sitting on her shoulder under herhairwatchingTV!
He's always a talking point and the centre of attention when people come tovisit." WE NEED YOU - YES, YOU!
IBELONGTO: MelMelvin PartnershipLead, MaritimeChildren's Foundation
Would you like to appear in a future edition of Maritime Sta News?
Perhaps you have a furry - or scaley! - friend you want to show o ?
Or maybe you'd like to share your career story so far?
And we just know you have some incredible hobbies and talents up your sleeves!
If you'd like to be part of our next issue - or have any ideas on what you'd like to see - please do get in touch. We'd love to hear from you and want our people to help shape future editions.
Just send an email to our Marketing & Communications O cer, Kerryk.foster-kilshaw@mato ce.org
