Autumn 2016 | issue one
Leigh Academies Trust Review of the Academic Year 2016
We are grateful to everybody who has helped us make this year a success. We hope you will enjoy reading our ‘Review of the Year’ and look forward to many more good news stories to follow in 2016-17.
Shaping Lives, Transforming Communities A message from the WHAT’S INSIDE Chief Executive
Academies and multi-academy trusts have come in for a Results 2016...... 3 bit of a bashing in the media over the last twelve months. In some cases, this has been rightly deserved. Too often, Ofsted Reports...... 4-5 though, it has been at the expense of all the great news New Schools...... 6 stories, the ones about how thousands of committed professionals strive tirelessly each day to give children the very best start in life. Fortunately, not New Leaders...... 7 all multi-academy trusts are the same. Whilst the small minority that under- New Buildings...... 8 achieve or misbehave are the ones that hit the headlines, the vast majority are giving young people a bright future, often against the odds. New Events & Ideas...... 9-10
In Leigh Academies Trust we have a very powerful mission: to shape the New Employer Engagements...... 11 lives of young people for the better through high-quality education and, in Plans for 2016/17...... 11 doing so, to transform the communities in which they live. Simply put, we call this: “Shaping Lives, Transforming Communities”. We are one of the larger multi-academy trusts, with a longer track record of success in the education sector than most. We only have one bottom line and that is the success of our students. We are educationalists first and foremost. Our staff are good people who are driven by an abiding passion to make a positive difference for children. There is no cause that is more noble or important.
The challenges we face are getting no easier. The expectations on schools and young people today are probably higher than at any point in history. Regardless of what you sometimes read in the media, the English schooling system is in good shape. We will carry on rising to the challenges that face us and do our best each day to give young people the best start in life. We have a clear set of objectives that guide us in all we do. We summarise them thus:
What we stand for: • High ideals, strong moral values and boundless ambition to achieve excellence for all; • Strong collaboration and teamwork so that we are much greater than the sum of our parts.
What we value: • A ‘can-do’ attitude towards continuous improvement and innovation; • Creating confident young adults with high levels of resilience and integrity. Did you know... What makes us distinctive: 63% of pupils achieved C+ • Small-school, ‘human-scale’ education to personalise the educational experience; in English and Maths GCSE • An enterprising culture to create close partnerships with in LAT in 2016 industry and other educators. Vision and Values Shaping Lives, Transforming Communities