Principal/Lead for Secondary School Improvement Candidate Information Pack
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Principal/Lead for Secondary School Improvement Candidate Information Pack NEAT Registered Office, Benfield School, Benfield Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE6 4NU T: 0191 228 4090 E: [email protected] W: www.neat.org.uk Nurture Educate Achieve Transform Introduction from NEAT Chief Executive Officer Thank you for your interest in finding out more The board of directors, local governors, senior about the role of Principal and Lead for Secondary leaders and staff are currently shaping our School Improvement with Newcastle East mixed strategic plans for 2018-21 ready to engage with multi Academy Trust (NEAT). pupils, parents, the local community and partner organisations. Our aim is to ensure not only that we I was appointed as CEO from a headship role make a positive difference to the lives of our young within the trust and still retain executive leadership people and their families but that we can make a of Walkergate Community School in relation to its greater difference by being together. status as a teaching school. We are looking for an inspirational leader who I’m confident that this new role, initially to lead has the ability to form strong partnerships and Benfield School and to contribute to the trust as take people with them on the school a secondary specialist, offers the right person their improvement journey. first step on a long-term career path with NEAT as the scope of our activities develops and our If this is the right role and organisation for you, trust grows. we look forward to receiving your application and exploring how you will make a difference for us. It is difficult to predict exactly how the trust will develop over the next 3-5 years, however we have I hope you are able to join us at one of the two a strong foundation of collaborative working as Open Days at 9.30-11.30 on Thursday, 19th April a group of schools on which to build and a wide or 11.00-1.00 on Monday, 23rd April to hear more range of expertise at all levels of the organisation about our vision for the future and learn more on which to draw. about Benfield. Details of how to register your interest are in the advert on page 7 of this pack. But we do recognise that we need to embrace the opportunity afforded by the retirement of Neil Yours faithfully, Walker, the current headteacher of Benfield School, to refocus the role and build leadership capacity for our future needs. Debi Bailey, CEO 1 Nurture Educate Achieve Transform About NEAT Who We Are NEAT was established in spring 2017 and currently We are a “mixed” multi academy trust as we have consists of five schools located in the east end of one faith school and four non-denominational Newcastle upon Tyne: schools and the trust is set up to ensure each school preserves its particular status. 1. Benfield School: ages 11-18 2. Central Walker Church of England Primary We work in partnership with the Newcastle School: ages 2-11 Diocesan Education Board to ensure the trust has effective governance arrangements and on 3. Tyneview Primary School: ages 2-11 strategic matters that particularly affect Central 4. Walkergate Community School: ages 2-11 Walker Church of England Primary School. 5. West Walker Primary School: ages 3-11 1 4 3 2 5 2,275 pupils £13 million budget 350 staff 2 Nurture Educate Achieve Transform Pupils from all five schools with Debi Bailey, CEO of NEAT and Roger Alston OBE, Chair of the NEAT Board at the NEAT Launch Event in July 2017 We chose to form a multi academy trust to build • To invest in the long term development on existing collaboration and deliver an all-through of all staff through ongoing professional education from 2-18 with a continuous curriculum development, professional networks and and seamless transition from primary to secondary. encouraging peer to peer support All of our schools are currently judged “Good” • To uphold the belief that all NEAT schools are working together for the common mission of all by Ofsted and we continue to strive for improved the local communities they serve outcomes for all our pupils and prepare them for life after school. • To ensure that NEAT is a driving force at the forefront of education – locally, regionally and nationally Making A Difference Together Each school is encouraged to have its own ethos Our Governance Arrangements and character but to work collectively as one trust We have a strong and effective Board of Directors, to achieve our shared vision and aims. who are also trustees of the charitable company. Our Vision The directors bring an extensive range of skills Our young people and their families will be and expertise from education, health, sports and healthy, happy, achieve well and be given the cultural organisations as well as global private opportunities to make the most of their talents sector companies. and fulfil their potential. Each NEAT school has its own local Our Mission governing body, which includes parent and staff To make a real difference to the outcomes for our members alongside individuals with a wealth of families through real partnership and engagement. knowledge and active involvement in their school Our Aims communities. The Board of Directors delegates the operational running of each school to the principal/ • To raise aspiration for all our children and the headteacher and the local governing body communities we serve through outstanding and they are held accountable for the school’s learning and achievement performance through the CEO and the Chair of the • To nurture strong partnerships with parents Trust Board. and the local community, holding the welfare of our young people at the heart of everything we We have a subsidiary company, NEAT Active doTo provide a high level of support to ensure Limited, which has a separate Board of Directors. It that the mental and physical health of our runs the commercial activities linked to community children and their parents/carers is as good as it use of Benfield Sports Centre, as well as the can possibly be Newcastle PE and School Sport Service. 3 Nurture Educate Achieve Transform About the Newcastle Teaching About Benfield School School Alliance Our Ethos Walkergate Community School was awarded A belief that all students have the potential to teaching school status in July 2017. All of the succeed is at the heart of our ethos. schools in NEAT are part of the Newcastle Teaching School Alliance and another partnership of eight As a smaller-than-average secondary school primary schools has recently joined. we pride ourselves on being able to provide a personalised approach to care and guidance. This is an exciting development for both We use PiXL Edge as a framework to enable our Walkergate and the trust as a whole as it gives students to develop the attitudes, attributes and us the opportunity to work with other partners skills which are important for employment and life within the alliance and across the wider teaching beyond school. school network. As a learning organisation we want to contribute to best practice and transform our We are highly committed to providing an own schools by learning from others, developing inclusive and all-through education to age 18 and training our staff and accessing educational and our positive teaching and support staff work research, innovative teaching practices and relentlessly to enable our students to be successful, funding opportunities. happy and confident. All teaching schools are tasked with providing high-quality school-led initial teacher training, Our Context providing high-quality school-to-school support to Benfield experienced a fall in pupil numbers spread excellent practice and providing evidence- between 2010 and 2016 due to the demographics based professional and leadership development of our catchment area. You can see that a period for teachers and leaders. We are currently of rapid growth is already underway and this is developing the detail of our plans to meet these expected to continue: we estimate at least 195 key performance indicators. pupils will join Year 7 in 2018 with the year group Examples of projects already in progress include: projected to be full at our PAN of 207 every year from 2019 to 2021. • leading headteacher induction across Newcastle schools This presents both opportunities and challenges. • leading assessment and moderation for We are recruiting seven additional teachers for early years, key stage 1 and key stage 2 2018-19 but the lagged nature of school funding across Newcastle means that we need to draw upon the trust’s financial reserves for a period of time to manage • working in collaboration with a research school to develop an action research approach to this growth. school improvement • delivering accredited Outstanding Teacher Programme and Improving Teacher Programme 4 Nurture Educate Achieve Transform Projected Pupil Numbers Our Premises A £17 million refurbishment project was completed in 2010 and enables us to provide our students with stimulating learning environments and modern teaching facilities. We also have some of the best sports facilities within the city of Newcastle. These include: • 20-metre swimming pool • sports centre with six badminton courts and international standard gymnastics centre • dance studio 2017 Quintile – Whole School Q5 Q4 Q3 Q2 Q1 • multi-use sports hall % Girls • fitness suite % FSM Ever 6 • 3G all-weather pitch • extensive grass playing fields % EAL Our students have access to all of these sports % SEN support facilities, through PE lessons and extra-curricular % SEN statement/EHCP activities. Pupils from local schools also share these benefits. School deprivation We currently lease part of our site to Newcastle Q5= Bottom 20% of schools Q1 = Top 20% of schools Bridges School, which is part of the Prosper Learning Trust.