Spring 2023 newsletter

Anita Ghidotti-Gibson Chief Executive O cer

Trust News

Spring 2023 Edition

It’s hard to believe we are at the end of the end of the second term already and only have one more to go this year! They say time flies when you are having fun and I can genuinely say that lots of fun has been had across all our schools this term – you are about to see some great examples when you read on. But, that’s not to say that we aren’t acknowledging the challenges our brilliant sector faces alongside those impacting our local communities – there is no denying these are di cult times for our families.

I am incredibly proud to be part of this family that makes a di erence to almost 3000 local children every single day. Schools are so much more than providers of education – we are places of aspiration, safety and support and our children need us. So many sta have gone over and above this term in the opportunities and experiences they have given to our children. Careers’ week has been a particular highlight with events across all five of our schools and lots of positive messages making sure our children know they can be whatever they want to be! We massively value the support of parents, local employers and our sponsor, Nelson and Colne College, when exploring the world of work.

It’ s easy to underestimate the amount of time, dedication and work that goes in from each member of a school’s sta team – we are always keen to make sure our sta know how much we value them and the di erence we make – again you’ll see some examples when you read on. None of us ever stand still and we continue to build on partnerships and work in our communities. So, we head into the next term and our plans for the year ahead together with some emotional (and very proud) goodbyes to our Year 6s and Year 11s and some excited hellos to our reception and Year 7 children!

Happy for any questions, comments or opportunities for collaboration to come to me at any time –we are keen to share and learn for the benefit of every child in East Lancashire.

‘Every child should only be a short walk away from a world class school.'

Long Service celebrated at presentation evening

The long service of sta from Pendle Education Trust’s five schools was celebrated at a special event, held at Colne Primet Academy.

Sta from Castercli Primary Academy, Casterton Primary Academy, Colne Primet Academy, Pendle Primary Academy and West Craven High School, who have worked in a teaching or support role for Pendle Education Trust and Lancashire County Council for 15+ and 25 years, were invited to the event.

Hosted by Chief Executive, Anita Ghidotti, over 80 sta were rewarded for their long service and contribution to the education sector. Sta were presented with certificates, Amazon gift vouchers and mugs printed by Colne Primet Academy’s Young Enterprise team.

Speaking after the event, Anita Ghidotti said: “It was a privilege to celebrate with the longest serving members of our Trust family and to acknowledge the contributions they have had on countless young people’s lives.

“It was fantastic listening to lots of memories about our schools and their people over the past 25 years and I would like to say a huge thank you to all of our long-serving family members for all of their hard work over the years.

Schools focus on connecting during Children’s Mental Health Week

Children and sta from Pendle Education Trust’s schools marked Children’s Mental Health Week with a series of special events and activities. The theme of this year’s event was “Let’s Connect” and children at West Craven High School and Casterton Primary Academy were given the opportunity to connect with some special visitors from Pendle Dogs in Need. Three therapy dogs visited both schools, listening to children reading at Casterton Primary Academy and enjoying lots of cuddles and edible treats at West Craven High School.

Burnley FC in the Community’s Inspires and Education Coach, Taigh and High School Mentor, Hayley discussed children’s mental health during their group sessions with students at West Craven High School. Activities around the theme of let’s connect included creating a paper chain with students writing down people, things and activities they feel connected to on their chains.

Children at Pendle Primary Academy dressed to express on a non-uniform day and created hand print artwork, showing how they are all connected. The non-uniform day raised £500 which will be split between buying new resources for the school’s wellbeing playroom and the Turkey-Syria earthquake relief fund.

Students at Colne Primet Academy used their daily form development Time to find out about di erent apps which are available to support their wellbeing and mental health.

At Castercli Primary Academy, children discussed mental health as part of their online safety lessons and were visited by the KidSafe team who started conversations about children’s mental health.

Anita Ghidotti, Chief Executive of Pendle Education Trust, said: “It was fantastic to see such a wide range of activities taking place in our family of schools during Children’s Mental Health Week. We work closely with a range of mental health specialists every day in our schools, including those from Burnley FC in the Community, to prioritise the wellbeing of all of our children and sta but it’s always great to do even more in our schools during events like Children’s Mental Health Week.”

Love of books celebrated on World Book Day

Children and sta from Pendle Education Trust’s five schools celebrated a love of reading during the annual World Book Day. The theme of this year’s event was ‘You Are a Reader’.

All schools in the Pendle Education Trust family are reading academies; children are supported in being confident and fluent readers, helping them to understand the diversity of our world and appreciate the richness of language, knowledge and human experiences through what they read.

At West Craven High School, book themed costumes ranged from Lady Macbeth and Wednesday Addams to the Cat in the Hat and Miss Trunchbull. Many sta and students also dressed in Alice in Wonderland themed costumes to support the Year 11 Prefects’ tea party which was raising money for their Prom later this year. A Scavenger Hunt complete with riddles took place with free books given away as prizes.

There was a gothic theme to the costumes at Colne Primet Academy with sta and students taking inspiration from books including The Nightmare Before Christmas, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the Addams Family and Maleficent. The school’s library was the centre of activities for World Book Day including a lunchtime performance of Wednesday Addams’s Raven Dance and celebrations will continue next week with a visit from a poet.

Children and sta at Pendle Primary Academy dressed up as a wide range of characters including Greg He ey from Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Tin Man, Willy Wonka and the Gru alo. Children and sta at Castercli Primary Academy also dressed up as a character or word from a book and there was a visit to each class from Michelle Graham and Mark Rowe, author and illustrator of The Karillapig.

Burnley Youth Theatre led a day of practical Love of Reading themed activities at Casterton Primary Academy where children and sta were dressed in pyjamas or comfy clothes.

Sta from across the Trust’s central team and schools shared their favourite books for children and young people on social media with one post being retweeted by We’re Going on a Bear Hunt author, Michael Rosen.

Lynne Blomley, Pendle Education Trust Executive Principal, said: “World Book Day is one of the highlights of our Trust calendar and it was fantastic to see everyone in our schools getting so involved.

“It’s so important that all of our children develop a lifelong love of reading because it opens up so many opportunities to them throughout their lives. Celebrations such as World Book Day are a fantastic way to engage them and encourage them to read something they might not have considered previously.”

Spreading the love of teaching...

To celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, we asked some of our teaching sta from our family of schools to share with us the reasons they love being teachers.

We shared these posts on our social media channels on February 14th and you can see some of them below.

We loved reading the di erent reasons sta gave for their passion for teaching from making a positive impact on a child’s life to enjoying a working day full of smiles, lightbulb moments and appreciation.

Trust launches sustainability fund

Pendle Education Trust has created an exciting new Sustainability Fund for children from all of their five schools to access. The fund will provide each school with much needed investment aimed at reducing their carbon footprint, with students leading the way with inventive ideas for a more sustainable future.

Children can apply for a grant up to the value of £100 for a sustainable project of their choice that can benefit their school. Colne Primet Academy, West Craven High School, Castercli Primary Academy, Casterton Primary Academy and Pendle Primary Academy have all applied to the fund.

Barnoldswick based bed manufacturer, Silentnight have kindly donated £500 to the Fund. All applications will be screened by a panel of judges including Anita Ghidotti, the CEO of Pendle Education Trust, as well ESG Director Silentnight Angela Moran, Green Party Cllr and Leader of Sustainable Clarets at Burnley Football Club, Scott Cunli e, and Burnley Council Leader Afrasaib Anwar.

The expert judging panel have asked all the children who have applied to present their ideas at Burnley Football Club on 30th March. Prize money will be awarded to the best ideas.

“There’s been a great response from all our schools, we love that our children are so passionate about the future of our world and want to make a di erence,” said Anita Ghidotti.

“We are looking forward to hearing the children present their ideas and to see them become a reality.”

Gifting re-useable water bottles

All sta who work at Pendle Education Trust were gifted a purple branded re-usable water bottle to help with the Trust's aim to become single use plastic free. Three hundred and fifty sta can now fill up their water bottles in the school sta room or water fountain to reduce the amount of single use plastic being brought into school. West Craven and Colne Primet ensure new children that start with their school are given a new refillable water bottle during their induction to the school and are encouraged to use it each day. Our catering company, Taylor Shaw, have also removed all single use plastics from their canteens and are now only selling biodegradable cartons.

Trust Distributing recycling bins

Our schools now have a selection of recycling bins provided in each classroom and dining space to ensure all sta and students are disposing of their waste correctly.

The Trust's Estates Manager, Adam Whalley organised the purchase of new blue paper waste bins, grey commingled waste bins and general waste bins to reduce the amount going into landfill. Adam is keen to ensure that the Trust's five schools reduce their landfill waste year on year by educating the children about the environmental impact.

Pendle Education Trust receives bronze certificate for going green

Children and sta from Pendle Education Trust’s five schools are celebrating after the Trust received a bronze award for sustainability.

The multi academy trust has been awarded the Future Net Zero Bronze Progress Certification after reducing its carbon footprint by more than 13%.

The Trust’s Facilities Team worked with a leading energy management company to achieve the certification. Evidence submitted as part of the accreditation process showed that Pendle Education Trust has invested in more e cient LED lighting in its schools, has solar panels on the roof of four of its buildings and has set up Green Teams in each school to engage sta and children in sustainability initiatives. The Trust also works closely with the sustainability team at its sponsor, Nelson and Colne College.

Pendle Education Trust Facilities Manager, Adam Whalley said: “We are delighted that our ongoing e orts to reduce the carbon footprint of our Trust and individual schools has been recognised by this Bronze Award.

“We have invested heavily in solar panels and energy e cient lighting to reduce our emissions and the green teams in each of our schools are coming up with some fantastic ideas for other ways to make our buildings and environments greener. Some of these ideas will be presented to a panel of experts, including Angela Moran, Silentnight’s Director for Environmental Social Governance, and we are really looking forward to hearing them and implementing as many as we can to further reduce our carbon footprint.”

Preloved Uniform

Sta at all five schools introduced a pre-loved uniform recycling initiative to ensure all children had su cient uniform. Families could drop o uniform, PE kit or appropriate school shoes, which were still in good condition at the school reception. The uniform was then washed and ready to hand out to families who needed it for free. This was a fantastic way to help families in need by re-using / recycling uniform that other children had grown out of.

Mrs Swain, Senior Deputy Principal at Primet said, “We are always grateful for donated uniform, some of our families really struggle to cover this cost and are thankful for any support we can give them.”

Supporting our parents and carers with their child’s next steps BEYOND high school!

A new website page has been set up for parents to access lots of useful information to support their child’s next steps after leaving high school.

Amanda Carr – Careers Advisor from Colne Primet Academy said “We know parents can get overwhelmed with information or don’t even know where to look, so this go to webpage has everything they need to know about local collages, information on courses such as A-levels, BTECs, useful links to Apprenticeship providers and life skills opportunities”.

The Trust’s high schools have created postcards to give out to parents and carers with a useful QR code that can take them straight to the correct page on the school website called ‘Beyond Primet’. Each school within the Trust has a careers leader who is always on hand to discuss next steps with all our children and parents during their time with us.

Celebrating our fabulous apprentices!

Celebrating our amazing apprentices during National Apprenticeship Week. We have lots of amazing apprentices that are working hard across all our schools working in lots of di erent departments and teams.

We wanted to showcase who they were during National Apprenticeship week to celebrate their time with us. The apprentice sta range from Primary school teachers, school business managers, accounting technicians to network engineers.

Anita Ghidotti said “We rely on a great workforce and they are definitely an asset to each of our schools, we love to support new talent and help the next generation with their future careers.”

Careers and Enterprise

National Careers Week

Children from Pendle Education Trust’s family of five schools received a wide range of careers inspiration during the annual National Careers Week.

National Careers Week is a one-week celebration of careers guidance and resources in education, backed by some of the country’s biggest employers. Its aim is to provide a focus for careers guidance activity at an important stage in the academic calendar to support children and young people in developing awareness and excitement about their future pathways.

Colne Primet Academy’s Careers Lead, Ms Carr organised a wide range of activities for students throughout the week including visits from the Army and NR Engineering. Design and Technology students visited Fort Vale Engineering and Year 10 students were supported with career planning by representatives from Barclays Life Skills and The Talent Foundry.

Nelson and Colne College’s School Liaison team delivered a World of Work assembly to students at West Craven High School. Students played a game of Guess Who with a di erence, breaking down stereotypes of who can work in di erent industries and career roles.

Children at Casterton Primary Academy learnt about a range of careers with visits from sta from the NW Ambulance Service, RNLI, Daisy Communications, care sector and equestrian industry while an author and the fire service spoke to children at Castercli Primary Academy.

Reception children at Pendle Primary Academy visited Little Lancashire Village to experience a range of careers through role play and its upcoming parents’ evening will have an enterprise focus.

The Trust’s central team shared how their early jobs including in a fish and chip shop, shoe factory and as a lifeguard have helped them to develop skills and experiences which they use in their current roles.

Jude Evetts, Pendle Education Trust’s Strategic Marketing and Development Manager, said:

All of our schools have a careers focus as we believe it is really important to introduce our children to a wide range of future employment opportunities to inspire them from a young age. National Careers Week is a great opportunity to celebrate our careers activities and show our children how high they can aim.

We’re now looking forward to children from all five of our schools taking part in our annual Careers Day in May where we will be joined by Nelson and Colne College and a wide range of local and national employers.

Careers and Enterprise

Pendle Elite

Careers Day 2023

The second Pendle Education Trust Careers Day will take place at Colne Primet Academy on 4th May, 2023. Once again, children from all five of our schools will have the opportunity to attend the event, given them the chance to meet a wide range of employers, universities and representatives of di erent curriculum areas at Nelson and Colne College.

If you would like to attend this day please contact marketing@pendleeducationtrust.co.uk

Support our student work placements

Do you know a business or employer in East Lancashire or West Yorkshire who would be able to support students from Colne Primet Academy and West Craven High School this summer?

Year 10 Primet students are looking for businesses to host them for a two-week placement from Monday 26th June –Friday 7th July while West Craven students will be on their two week placement from Monday 3rd – Friday 14th July. We'd love our students to get experience of roles in a wide range of industry sectors.

All of our Year 10 students have completed the Barclays Life Skills programme preparing them for their work experience. All students will be visited by school sta during their placement to ensure they have settled in and are getting the most out of the experience. Placements can also request additional visits or phone calls at any time to support the student during their time with you.

If you can help with a placement, or would like to find out more, please email contact@pendleeducationtrust.co.uk

Before Pendle Education Trust...

The Trust’s central team shared how their early jobs including in a fish and chip shop, shoe factory and as a lifeguard have helped them to develop skills and experiences which they use in their current roles.

Now is the time to join our family...

To find our more about joining Pendle Education Trust please visit the ‘join us’ section on our website. www.pendleeducationtrust.co.uk/join-us

We’d like to wish all of our colleagues and communities a wonderful and restful Easter break.