As we come to the end of our first year of The Learning Partnership, I want to thank every member of our schools’ communities for their hard work and dedication to the success of our pupils.
This year there has been some exciting developments in our schools with more planned for next year. We have seen the opening of the new building at Congleton High School, the opening of the nursery at Wistaston Church Lane Academy and the beginning of the expansion project at Wheelock Primary School. In September Egerton Pre-School will become part of the Trust by joining Egerton Primary and hopefully later in the year Daven Primary will have a pre-school provision as well with Stepping-Stones nursery joining the school.
I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome our new Deputy CEO (Education), Kate Baddeley, and our new Director of Primary Lise Houldsworth. These appointments are adding significant capacity and expertise to our school improvement team.
I hope you all have a lovely, restful summer break spending time with your loved ones.
Dan Thomas | CEO
THEOAKSACADEMYISA‘GOOD’SCHOOL
Students and staff at The Oaks Academy have celebrated their best ever Ofsted result. The school was rated ‘Good’ in all areas following its inspection in April, its first since joining the Trust. The excellent report praised school and trust leaders for improvements made to the quality of education, the learning environment and pupil progress. Inspectors emphasised the school has “high aspirations for all pupils” and has created “warm and respectful” relationships and “skilfully” delivered the curriculum, fostering a positive learning environment.
Peter Kingdom, Headteacher at The Oaks Academy, said: “This Ofsted report reflects the hard work we have been undertaking to transform our school and turn it into a central pillar of our community. I was particularly pleased that Ofsted recognised we have high aspirations for every single one of our pupils, and we are committed to creating an environment where they can thrive. I want to thank all of my colleagues at The Oaks and the Trust for their continued commitment to improving our school.”
WELCOMETOKATEBADDELEY
It is a privilege and a pleasure to introduce myself as the newly appointed Deputy CEO (Education) for The Learning Partnership.
I began this role just five weeks ago and want to thank everyone for their warm welcome. I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting central staff alongside visiting our schools; meeting both students and staff within the communities we serve.
Prior to joining TLP, I have held a plethora of leadership roles within education. These have been within schools, MATs and the DFE. I have a passion for all aspects of education, ensuring young people reach their potential.
In my spare time, I am a keen traveller, exploring different cultures across the globe.
Using my previous experience and the success of TLP in its first year, I cannot wait to lead the educational strategy, strengthening the Trust by aligning educational areas and best practice within our schools whilst enabling them to hold their individuality…which is key. In addition, considering our growth strategy alongside how we develop staff to ensure they are at the cutting edge in everything they do. Together, I have every confidence we will build upon our current success ensuring opportunities for all our students and staff to be the best they can be.
I am really looking forward to working with all colleagues across the Trust building a one-team community, with our students, staff and families at the heart.
TLPPERKS:
Staff at The Learning Partnership can access our new employee benefits platform. TLP Perks, to register go to www.tlpperks.co.uk
On registering staff have access to exclusive discounts across a range of retail, travel, and hospitality providers, as well as access to more health and wellbeing focused resources, such as gym discounts, a wellbeing zone, Cycle2work scheme, and an Employee Assistance Programme with Care First.
As the summer approaches, a huge well done to all ECTs, Mentors, Induction Tutors, NPQ Programme Members, Teacher trainees and all of you who have supported these cohorts. The successes of The Learning Institute depend on the collaboration and partnerships we have with our TLP Trust community and external Training Providers.
Our programme delivery depends on expert teams of facilitators and this year we congratulate and welcome to the team: Sam Thompson from Leighton Academy, Lucy Hughes and Molly Page from Knutsford Academy and Jon Bowen from Crewe UTC. All of whom have expert knowledge and work as teachers and leaders in our Trust schools.
THEEARLYCAREER FRAMEWORK:
Throughout the year, the TLP ECF sessions have offered tutorials, discussions, and practical activities on various pedagogical topics. Supported by quality mentor meetings in our schools, our Early Career Teachers have had the opportunity to refine all areas of their practice, effectively beginning their professional journeys.
Our delivery partner, Best Practice Network, has been praised by Ofsted for their extensive support and resources.
NATIONALPROFESSIONAL QUALIFICIATIONS:
Three additional cohorts are nearing the completion of their NPQs through The Learning Institute. We've provided NPQs in Behaviour and Culture, Leading Teaching, and Senior Leadership. The engagement in our face-to-face days play a pivotal role in connecting educational research to our differing school contexts through deep and reflective coach-led discussions.
TEACHERTRAINING ATKNUTSFORD:
We have just said goodbye to our 2023 cohort of Initial Teacher Trainees through our School Led programme in partnership with LJMU. They have all been successful in finding their first teacher role and want to thank everyone who has supported their journey.
New cohort: Thank you in advance if you have agreed to act as a Mentor in 2024, and support this first step into teaching for our new Teacher Trainees.
VALUEANDREACHOF PERSONALDEVELOPMENT
This first year of TLP has been extremely busy regarding Personal Development. We have made good progress in developing a clear strategy and Quality Assurance Framework which has supported schools in identifying their core strengths and developing a strategic plan for Personal Development (PD).
The intention of this QA framework was to assess the quality of the PD curriculum together with the school culture, its vision and values and the strategic planning needed for a school to develop and establish an outstanding approach to PD. Working alongside headteachers, all schools had a remote audit, day visit, detailed report and recommendations to strengthen their approach to PD.
DEBATEMATECOMPETITION
In March the secondary schools came together for a debating competition held at Cranage Hall to provide a unique opportunity regarding the importance of oracy across their schools. A trophy for the winning team, medals for the two final teams and certificates for all participating students were provided. The motions provided by Debate Mate were extremely challenging and the insights and careful structure to arguments was truly impressive from the students. Thank you to Cranage Hall for providing their venue free of charge.
PERSONALDEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE
A Trust wide PD Conference was held on 26 June, which focused on the challenges ahead for schools regarding the increasing levels of poverty, and disadvantage and the challenges in meeting the needs of SEND pupils and more. Headteachers and PD leads considered the most recent research, what does good practice look like and how they can be responsive, innovative and creative to support pupils for life beyond their school.
EARLYYEARSGROWINGINNUMBERS
Our hope is to work towards having early years provision in all our primary schools over the next few years. This is to both meet the need for increased numbers of early years places locally, but also because it benefits all to have young children and their families as part of our school communities. Children gain from the learning, stimulus, and routines a maintained nursery can provide. Relationships with families are created and any specific needs can be identified and met. Children develop friendships, a sense of belonging and the self-help skills they need to prosper when they start Reception. We also get to welcome more early years specialists and their skills into our staff teams.
As many of our primary school colleagues will attest, young children bring a lot of fun and a lot of energy to our schools on a daily basis!
UPDATEONSEND
Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from participants who attended The Learning Partnership’s Teaching Assistant Training this year. The programme kicked off with a series of online sessions that introduced TAs to key aspects of the role. Bespoke training was then delivered by the SEN Team in schools, to develop a deeper understanding of how teaching assistants can support pupil’s learning. These sessions had a focus on promoting pupil independence through verbal scaffolding and modelling.
We are delighted to welcome Kirsten Edwards (SEND Support Advisor) to our team. Her main role and responsibility will be supporting SENCO workload and creating capacity for them to be much more strategic and support both teachers and students in the classroom.
LEIGHTONACADEMY SCHOOLTRIPTOCOLOGNE
Leighton Academy's Year 5 pupils enjoyed a school trip to Cologne in March. They had a short stop in Belgium, before touring the sights of Cologne including the Love Lock Bridge, Cologne Cathedral and Bay Arena. They enjoyed lots of fun activities such as bowling, a trip to the zoo and also paid a visit to their partner school.
CHITTYCHITTYBANGBANG COMESTOKNUTSFORD
A cast of 60 Knutsford Academy students from Years 7 to 10 has just finished their four-show run of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with sell-out performances. Congratulations to all students involved and the performing arts staff, for what is a huge commitment to the school, involving many hours of evening and weekend rehearsals. It was a fabulous show!
WHEELOCKEXPANSION BREAKSGROUND
Building is well underway on the expansion of Wheelock Primary School which will see the school increase its pupil numbers to over 400. This exciting project includes a new single storey, standalone building sitting alongside the main school, providing four large classrooms, pupil toilets and a large entrance area that will also be used as a wellbeing and intervention space.
James Routs, TLP Director of Estates and Marketing commented, “We are absolutely delighted after many months of planning to break ground on the project. The new classrooms will have state of the art facilities for pupils and staff and enable Wheelock to meet the growing demand for pupil spaces, with the population growth in Sandbach and Wheelock areas.” The project, funded by Cheshire East Council, is planned to complete before end 2024. It is the fifth school expansion project secured in the Trust over the last 18 months, with projects already delivered at Black Firs Primary School, Congleton High School, Wistaston Church Lane Academy and Knutsford Academy.
Shavington Primary School pupils were involved in the D-Day commemoration events in June organised by the Shavingtoncum-Gresty parish council. Their pupils did a fantastic job at reading their poems at the ceremony and producing fabulous artwork, which was displayed in the village.
EGERTONWINTHEPRIMARY SCIENCEQUALITYMARKAWARD
Egerton Primary School is delighted to receive the Primary Science Quality Mark which celebrates commitment to excellence in science teaching and learning. The reviewers were very impressed by their submission “ which confidently meets the criteria for the PSQM Gilt award” and commented that “staff across the school have embraced the vision for science and facilitated this through hard work and cooperation.”
A huge thank you to Monika Sedgwick and Chloe Thorpe in particular, who have spent many hours collating evidence for the award.
DOVEBANK’S COMMUNITYPLANTING
Key Stage 2 Sustainability Ambassadors at Dove Bank Primary School have been working alongside Kidsgrove volunteers, tidying flower beds and adding some much-needed colour. Dove Bank pupils are proud of the town they live in, and want to keep doing what they can to make it the best it can be!
WHEELOCK
TURNS50
Wheelock Primary School has celebrated its 50th birthday; 70s style. Headteacher Sally Whitehead commented “This was a wonderful two days, and we were delighted to welcome parents and former pupils to the events who shared their memories of being at the school.”
Sandbach Town Mayor, Councillor Ann Nevitt visited the school to join in the celebrations.
SIRWILLIAMSTANIERART COLLABORATIONSWITH CREWEUTCANDLEIGHTON ACADEMY
Sir William Stanier have worked alongside Crewe UTC running an art competition where students had to create a plaque design based on someone who has been influential to the Crewe landscape.
Miss Waite, a teacher at Sir William Stanier, has been completing Primary art workshops at Leighton Academy. Students have been developing their colour theory knowledge, and creating portraits in the style of Picasso.
TLPGOVERNANCE CONFERENCE
Delegates from all tiers of governance participated in the TLP inaugural governance conference held on Saturday 13 July. The well attended event provided the opportunity to be updated on the Trust’s vision and values, hear about the progress made during the first year and understand the medium-term strategic priorities. Interactive workshops allowed Members, Trustees and Governors to work collectively on topics that included SEND, governor role and remit, and the challenges of being chair and vice chair.
Participants appreciated the session that provided an opportunity to question the Trust leadership. Feedback from the day was hugely positive and will be used to shape support and training for governors ahead. We look forward to planning the next conference.
