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Spring 2018/19 Newsletter Working Together to Make a Positive Difference Message from the Chief Executive Although it’s now technically summer, it has been decidedly chilly outside. As you will see from our newsletter in our schools there is considerable warmth and sunshine! We wish all our primary Year 6 and secondary Year 11 students success with their SATs and GCSEs. Abbey Primary School and Kestrels’ Field Primary School set to join TMET We are delighted to announce that the Department for Education approved applications for both Abbey Primary School and Kestrels’ Field Primary School to convert to join The Mead Educational Trust (TMET). We will work closely with both Abbey and Kestrels’ Field throughout the academy conversion process and are hopeful that the schools will officially convert to academy status on 1st September 2019. Sarah Ridley, Director of Primary Education at TMET, said: “We are delighted at the news that both Abbey Primary School and Kestrels’ Field Primary School will join our family of schools. We are looking forward to working closely with the schools to share good practice.” “Colleagues from across our schools have been working with Abbey Primary since September 2018, so we are we are thrilled that it has decided to join The Mead family of schools, allowing us to continue its school improvement journey and build upon our existing relationship with pupils, parents and staff.” Abbey Primary School is a larger than average primary school located north of the City Centre and is a major feeder school for Rushey Mead Academy. Kestrels’ Field Primary School is a larger than average primary school located in North Leicester and is a feeder school for Hamilton Academy, among other schools. 1 Follow us @TMETrust Our schools are prolific members of the Twitter community, using the social media platform to celebrate achievements and share details of the fantastic events that take place within their schools. We’ve rounded up some of our schools’ recent tweets. 2 Rushey Mead Academy amongst top 5% of schools in England for Progress 8 We’re thrilled to share the news that Rushey Mead Academy received a letter from the Minister of State for Schools Standards Nick Gibb congratulating them on the high level of progress that its pupils make between Key Stage 2 and the end of Key Stage 4, using the Progress 8 measure. The school’s Progress 8 score places Rushey Mead Academy in the top 5% of schools in England. The letter goes on to confirm that the school is also in the top 4% of schools for pupils entered for a language at GCSE, and congratulates the school on “providing pupils with a firm foundation in linguistic knowledge, as well as broadening their horizons and enabling them to embark on further study”. A huge congratulations to the Executive Principal, Principal, staff and pupils at Rushey Mead Academy for this fantastic achievement. TMET schools set to change names from 28th August 2019 A number of our schools are set to change their names on 28th August 2019 following a public consultation held in April. Hamilton Academy will change its name to Orchard Mead Academy; Knighton Fields Primary Academy to Knighton Mead Primary Academy; Northfield Primary Academy to North Mead Primary Academy; Rowlatts Hill Primary Academy to Rowlatts Mead Primary Academy; Thurnby Lodge Primary Academy to Thurnby Mead Primary Academy; and Willowbrook Primary Academy to Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy. The change of names will explicitly reflect each schools’ link to The Mead Educational Trust. Including the word ‘Mead’ within the schools’ names will help to build public recognition of The Mead family of schools, celebrating their long established track record of school improvement intervention and raising standards. The change of name will be particularly beneficial for schools joining The Mead Educational Trust that are judged by Ofsted to be requiring improvement or inadequate, as it will signify the Mead family of schools’ commitment to raising standards in such schools. Feedback from parents regarding the name changes has been positive, with one parent commenting that Hamilton Academy’s name change will be a “great new opportunity for the school, staff and children”. TMET schools achieve outstanding Challenge Partners QA review results We’re extremely proud to report that each of our schools have received outstanding results in their annual Challenge Partner Quality Assurance Reviews. Upon joining the Trust, each school automatically becomes a member of Challenge Partners, a collaborative network of over 350 schools which operates annual quality assurance reviews focusing on teaching and learning. Knighton Fields Primary, Northfield House Primary, Rowlatts Hill Primary, Rushey Mead Academy, Thurnby Lodge Primary and Willowbrook Primary were all graded outstanding. Hamilton Academy, who joined the Trust in September 2017 after being judged inadequate by Ofsted in October 2016, was reported to have made demonstrable progress. Reviewers commented that: “Students are very proud of their school and it is clear that they enjoy coming to school. They speak positively about the journey the school has been on, the impact of the leaders on their quality of education and as a Year 10 stated, they now “believe in Hamilton”. A huge congratulations to all the schools. The results are a testament to the hard work and support of each member of staff. TMET secures interview for Brook Mead Academy We are pleased to confirm that our application to open a new secondary school in Leicester, named Brook Mead Academy, was assessed as one of the strongest submitted. As a result, Trust leaders were invited to attend an interview at the Department for Education in London on 6th February 2019. We hope to hear the outcome of this interview in late May 2019. 3 Hamilton students develop innovative reading aid to help dyslexia sufferers An enterprising group of Hamilton Academy students is hoping to go national with an innovative reading aid developed to help children with dyslexia. The Year 10 students came up with the idea for the Easy Reader after seeing other students who lacked confidence in reading. The Easy Reader is a reading aid with an adjustable cover that controls the sections of text that can be viewed at once. This allows the user to focus on a single line of text and absorb more of the material they’re reading. While it is especially helpful for dyslexia sufferers, it can be helpful to anyone who experiences difficulty with reading. Student Tasneem Rafik, managing director of the company set up by the students, said, “It was clear that there was a gap in the market, so we created a product to help children address this issue from a young age.” She added, “Our main aim was to help as many students as possible, but after we received such positive feedback, we want to take this product much further, across our city and even nationally.” The group of 15 students set up their company, Companion, and developed the product with the support of their business teacher Mr Patel and the charity Young Enterprise. They have already fulfilled orders from primary schools around Leicester and have contacted the National Literacy Trust about the potential of the product. The Hamilton students attended a trade fair at Beaumont Leys Shopping Centre in March where they sold more than 60 units in a few hours and even received the approval of businesswoman Rosemary Conley. At the trade fair, which was also the local area final for the Young Enterprise schools competition, Hamilton students won the awards for Best Customer Service and Most Innovative Product and were named overall winner. This means they advance to the county level Young Enterprise competition on 7 May and if successful, the national final in London in June. Castle Mead Academy - 4 months to go Earlier this term, Castle Mead Academy received the fantastic news that the Secretary of State for Education had agreed to enter into a funding agreement with it. The agreement is a legally binding contract between TMET and the Department for Education and contains the terms and conditions upon which Castle Mead Academy is to be funded. The news meant that Castle Mead could formally offer places to its founding students. Tom Hague, Principal Designate of Castle Mead Academy said: “We are all absolutely thrilled that the Secretary of State for Education has agreed to enter into a funding agreement with Castle Mead Academy. This key milestone demonstrates the Government’s commitment that we will open and illustrates the Department for Education’s confidence in Castle Mead delivering a high quality education to the young people of Leicester. We have already recruited high quality curriculum leaders and are in the process of recruiting teachers and support staff. We are excited by our developing team.”. TMET schools collaborate on new curriculum Colleagues from across the Trust have been working together to develop new primary and secondary curriculum frameworks. Principals from across the Trust have worked together to formulate a common curriculum intent (the rationale behind The Mead schools’ curriculums), and are now working with colleagues in their schools to develop their own individual curriculum framework. The curriculums will centre around the schools’ shared values— the 7 Cs : Challenge; Collaboration; Culture; Community; Courage; Creativity; and Character. 4 William Wednesday Schools from across The Mead family of schools have been busy raising money for a student at Knighton Fields Primary who was sadly diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia earlier this year. The student, William, is currently off school and is having to undergo an intense regime of chemotherapy. Knighton Fields Primary organised a hugely successful fundraising event called ‘William Wednesday’ which saw the entire community come together to raise money for William.

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