E21C Bulletin

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Welcome to the first of our bi-annual newsletters.

Part of the feedback that the Trust took from the parent surveys last year was about us being clearer with parents about what we are doing for our schools and why.

IMPROVING O U TC OMES , TRANS FO RM IN G L IV ES

CEO Simon Garrill

It has been another busy year. Schools have been working incredibly hard throughout the year to normalise a set of circumstances that remains anything but normal. Increasing instances of COVID-19 across all regions remind us that there is still a long way to go. However, we are optimistic that we will get back to normal, and are more determined than ever to make sure that all our pupils have a first-class experience.

Our schools used last year to make plans to ensure that we came back stronger. Our mission statement for the Trust, Improving Outcomes, Transforming Lives, focuses all our minds on making sure that our schools meet the needs of every pupil. We want better outcomes for your children across all our schools.

Of course, we want more than success in examinations or statutory assessments, although more than ever the importance of doing well and achieving high standards is at the forefront of our minds. Of as much concern to us, though, is the experience that our young people gain from participating in the arts, music, sport, or drama. We want all our schools to be rich in these opportunities. One of the travesties of the past two years is that many young people have been denied these opportunities, and our strategy is as much about rebuilding the curriculum as it is about delivering the very best outcomes for our pupils.

One key element of our Trust is the E21C backbone.

This contains some of the core elements that go towards building great schools, and we have several objectives that we would like to achieve over the coming year. I have shared a few of these below. One of the great advantages of working in a group of schools, or a Trust, is that we can work together in key areas to ensure the success of our pupils.

E21C BAC K BO N E

OUR COMM ITM E N T TO YOU

HOW W E S UP P ORT O UR S C HOOL S

MI S S I ON A ND VALU ES

Our schools are clear in their mission and values. We align as a group, but each school retains its unique identity.

This year we are working with schools to ensure to that our mission and values are driven by moral purpose. We have a particular focus on social mobility.

TEACH I NG

Our ambition is to ensure that all lessons maximise the potential for learning.

We are supporting schools by helping to develop a Trust wide CPD programme as well as bespoke school CPD. In each school we have been working to train coaches. We are also focused on recruitment, making sure that we get the very best applicants for each job.

CU R R I CULUM

We want our curriculum to be broad, balanced, focused on knowledge, and well-sequenced, to ensure that pupils can develop at the right pace.

At secondary, we have been working with United Learning to support us in developing a well-sequenced and knowledge focused curriculum. Our primary side is developing the new EYFS curricula, revisiting their curriculums at every level and working together to improve their quality.

BEH AVI OUR & R OU TI NES

Our schools are caring, disciplined, and kind places to be. We are inclusive and we make sure that we support pupils, through carefully thought-out routines.

Last academic year we worked with our senior leaders to develop our new behaviour principles. We are ensuring consistency across all our schools so that pupils and teachers can work in outstanding cultures that support learning.

SAFEGUA RDING & ATTENDANCE

The welfare of all our pupils is paramount in all the work we do.

We provide a safe and welcoming environment where all are respected and valued.

As a Trust we provide a coordinated approach to safeguarding led by Fiona Kelly and supported by Dionne Jude.

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PR EPARING & R EC OVERING A F TE R S C HOOL CLOS U R ES We do not under estimate the impact of COVID-19 upon our communities, our children, and our families. Our recovery plan, informed by the Education Endowment Foundation, is focused on:

TEACH IN G & LEA RNIN G Our commitment to you is that we will re-examine our teaching and learning, reviewing the curriculum and its delivery to ensure that we can tailor the learning within the classroom to meet the needs of the young people in our schools.

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I N TE RV EN T IO N S All our schools have committed to interventions outside of the normal curriculum to meet the needs of those young people who have fallen further behind. In most schools, we continue to review and improve our relationships with tutoring providers, to realise our ambition to provide highquality tutoring where it is most needed.

W I DE R ST RAT EG IES We are committed to bringing school life back to what it once was. Art, music, drama, PE, and technology are just some of the activities that pupils love as part of the school day; enrichments that add so much to their lives and enjoyment of school. Our schools are more determined than ever to build back and improve the enrichments within our schools.

CREAT IN G FIRST CL AS S S CH O O L ESTATES One of the great advantages of being in a Trust is that we are automatically allocated a pot of money to develop the estate across the schools.

Ordinarily, schools need to apply for CIF funding, as LA maintained schools or standalone academies. This means that over the past three years we have been developing the estates. Of course, we need to prioritise, and we use specialists in the field to help us develop a strategy. In the first few years we focused very much on the essentials; boilers, roofs, and heating. Naturally, where school facilities are new, following a rebuild, they generally come bottom of the list.

Increasingly though, we focus on quality of learning and the curriculum, with the following projects planned over the next two years.

C A PITAL IN VESTM E N T I N SC HOO L BUI LDINGS, 2 019 /2 0– 2 02 1/2 2 In these two academic years, the Trust invested £821,500 and £1,305,300 respectively, from Condition Funding. There will be a further £1,341,100 in the current academic year. £3,467,900 in total. The Trust expects to continue this level of annual investment.

With the exception of Eden Park High School, which is a new-build free school, all the Trust schools have a full condition survey in place; this allows the Trust, working with the schools, to prioritise the use of this funding based on the standards of the school sites, and this ensures the Trust’s schools are safe and fit for purpose.

All of our schools, again excepting Eden Park, have had improvements. The priorities for each school are:

Scotts Park Primary School Roofing works, heating and hot water, safeguarding improvements, window renewal, hard standing refurbishment; Coopers School Roofing works, heating and hot water, safeguarding works, fire safety works, specialist classroom refurbishment; Spires Academy Fire safety, toilet refurbishment, hard standing refurbishment;

Blenheim Primary School – £190,100 Mead Road Infant School – £198,700 Mottingham Primary School – £563,300 Scotts Park Primary School – £257,600 Coopers School – £807,900 Spires Academy – £86,800

The Ravensbourne School Roofing works, electrical replacement, heating and hot water works, classroom refurbishment, specialist classroom refurbishment.

Blenheim Primary School Fire safety, hard standing refurbishment, roofing works; Mead Road Infant School Safer paths and lighting, fire safety, heating and hot water improvements; Mottingham Primary School Roofing works, heating and hot water, replacement of all-weather sports pitch;

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FOR E WO R D Mark Whitby This has been a busy and successful term. I hope that you and your families are well.

It is exciting to see schools returning to something like normal. I remain hopeful that we will be able to keep schools open over the coming months.

There was an interesting report recently by Rachel De Souza, the new Children’s Commissioner, following her consultation in a survey called ‘The Big Ask’. It made the following commitments to children: • We have high expectations, and we believe you can get there; • We will give you every chance of meeting expectations, and we will not let you fall behind; • If there are barriers to your success, you will be given the support you need; • 'Success’ does not have to mean university. It could be any route of training or employment; there is more than one pathway to affording a secure adulthood There is a great deal of authenticity in these points; I look forward to seeing how we respond as a group of schools, to show absolute belief and to remove any barriers to our children’s success in whatever forms those barriers might take.

I look forward to a successful year.

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E 2 1 C B U LL E TIN

C HAIR OF T RUSTEES Mark Whitby

V ICE CH A IR O F T RUST EES James Toop

I am a former Head Teacher of Alternative Provision, Special Education and Mainstream Schools, with particular expertise in Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties, leadership coaching, staffing and finance.

I was for 12 years Principal at The Alternative Centre for Education (ACE), a 5–16 Special School in Brighton and Hove, where I also worked as an interim head of three mainstream secondary schools. In 2012 I set up my own business – Acuity Education Ltd – and have been working as a freelance consultant ever since, starting out as Executive Head of the West Sussex Alternative Provision College (WSAPC) and Associate CEO of Orchard Hill College Academy Trust. I am a qualified leadership coach, and my current contacts include being a Specialist Adviser for New Schools Network and co-ordinating the start-up of two new free schools.

I am an experienced charity Chief Executive in the education and youth sectors, and am passionate about social mobility and opportunities for young people. I recently launched Bite Back 2030, a new ten year youth-led movement to halve childhood obesity by 2030. Before that I was Chief Executive of Ambition Institute for eight years, leading it through two mergers to become the largest leadership development charity in education. I was a teacher in the inaugural cohort of Teach First, and have been a Chair of Governors at three schools over the past ten years. I grew up in Petts Wood and still live in South-East London with my wife and two young children.

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TRUST

KINDNESS

ENDEAVOUR

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E 2 1 C B U LL E TIN

Our E21C values are Trust, Kindness and Endeavour.

In this edition of the E21C Bulletin, we focus on Endeavour. On the following pages, two of our schools (Scotts Park Primary School and Coopers School) each show us how a pupil has exhibited the quality of Endeavour.

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PR IMARY DI R EC TOR O F P R I M A RY SC HOO L S Ms Fiona Kelly

IMPROVI NG O U TCO MES , TRANS FORM IN G L IV ES

HEADTEACHE R , S COTTS PA R K PRIM ARY SC HO OL Sam Norris

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Throughout her years in Primary school, Christa has regularly demonstrated her passion, integrity, and enterprise in relation to inspiring peers and striving to make change within her school community. She asserts confidence and self-determination, and has an unwavering dedication towards achieving her goals; most importantly, Christa wishes to encourage these characteristics in those around her. Climate change has been the inspiring cause behind her endeavours for several years now. As well as being a published writer in The Week Junior, Christa is proactive in helping empower students and staff at Scotts Park to take responsibility for the planet. This is why we have chosen Christa to represent Endeavour at our school.

I am Christa, a Year 6 pupil at Scotts Park Primary School. I love nature, and the way some people treat the world has always disgusted me; this has been the catalyst for wanting to motivate younger children to make a difference in the world.

I have contributed in many ways to voice my concerns and encourage people to get involved. However, one of my biggest achievements is being quoted in The Week Junior; I wrote to engage younger audiences and make people conscious of the issues surrounding our planet.

In addition to this, I have joined in on a variety of activities throughout my time at primary school. For example, in Year 4, I founded a climate change club where we would participate in multiple activities to help the environment; we planted a tree outside of our classroom. Now, in Year 6, I am the Climate Change Ambassador and have designed a display to share my message along the corridors. Furthermore, I am working in collaboration with others to generate an art project made from recycled materials. Over this year, I will continue to work alongside my peers and teachers to make the school more environmentally friendly.

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E 2 1 C B U LL E TIN E XEC U TI VE HE A DTE AC HE R BROMLEY SEC O N DA RY SC HO OLS Ms Lisa Peterkin

HE AD OF SC HOO L , C OOPERS SC HOO L Claire Bessa

Leyla has also been part of our Future Frontiers cohort, a programme that allows our students to focus on their potential and forge relationships with the business community so that they can understand the end goals of their study endeavours. During this programme where students travelled to London to experience a commercial environment, Leyla excelled, having worked with her personal coach and honed her interest in a potential career in journalism.

At Coopers School, we encourage independent learners and for students to focus on strengthening their skills and knowledge gaps.

Leyla has made excellent progress in a range of subjects in her first term of Key Stage 4, with her success to date attributed to the time spent on home learning and being proactive in gaining feedback from her teachers. During the period of home learning in Year 9, Leyla demonstrated our school values admirably.

Her maths teacher had an internet connection failure and so dropped out of the lesson; without missing a beat, Leyla took over the lesson and ensured that all of the students completed the set work, marked it, and gave each other feedback. This leadership was also shown at our Open Day event, where Leyla independently took the role of preparing and leading the student volunteers. She checked their uniforms, allayed their fears, and built their confidence in their abilities to lead their tour groups. Her quality of endeavour, and her strong efforts to achieve her potential, make Coopers School extremely proud of Leyla.

IM P ROV IN G O U TCO MES , TRA NSFORMI NG L IVES

Coopers is a community built on Trust, Respect and Resilience; Endeavour is the culmination of all three. Endeavour is a quality that we value highly at Coopers School. Leyla Spiteri is a Year 10 student who embodies this quality, currently supporting Year 7 students in their Tutor Time as part of her Duke of Edinburgh award, helping younger students during their personal development sessions. Leyla is supporting these students by allowing them to focus on organisation and respecting their peers, having conversations to enhance younger students’ wellbeing and growth mind-set.

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E 2 1 C BULLE T I N

Education for the 21st Century Mansion House, Coopers School, Hawkwood Lane, Chislehurst, Kent, BR7 5PS Tel: 020 8290 8505 enquiries@e21c.co.uk www.e21c.co.uk

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