Since writing for the OWN Trust's July 2024 newsletter, I have discovered that 12 months truly is a long time. At that time, I was writing a farewell to our first CEO, Stuart Mansell, and very much looking forward to Lorraine Greco starting in her role as our second CEO. Navigating uncharted waters is characterised by uncertainty and change, and this certainly was a journey through choppy waters as Lorraine came into an academy trust geared up to drive forward with our growth plans. A different direction for education came with a new government removing grants that supported academy trusts to cover the costs of maintained schools to become academies, as well as removing the requirement for schools rated ‘Inadequate’ by OFSTED to join academy trusts. Whereas OWN Trust had been working very closely with several maintained schools to support their improvement, this was no longer part of our ‘growth’ agenda, and the trust began to look at different ways of developing under Lorraine’s leadership. 

During her time with OWN, Lorraine dealt confidently with several staffing issues, as well as supporting one of our schools to achieve much-improved outcomes for all pupils. In fact, our overall trust end of Key Stage 2 results are higher than national.  She also led with confidence on issues such as branding, curriculum, and assessment alignment. 

Sadly, despite her successes, after realising that she could not complete the growth agenda that had been the Trust’s main mission and the uncertainty of the national education agenda, Lorraine decided she would consider different career options and is looking forward to completing inspections for OFSTED as an HMI. 

The Trust board had to make a very difficult decision about the future of OWN Trust and whether we would recruit a new CEO or seek to merge with another trust that shared our values. We understood that the drive by the government was now for small trusts to merge to create stronger, larger trusts, with the rationale that this was more effective at driving an improvement in educational outcomes and operational efficiency. We considered the fact that the DfE expects most trusts will aim to serve a minimum of 7,500 pupils or run at least 10 schools by 2030. After carrying out our ‘due diligence’ by carrying out deep research into every academy trust operating in Peterborough, the Trust board shortlisted two to come and make presentations since they shared many of our values and ambitions. At the end of this challenging process, the Trust board voted unanimously to invite Meridian Trust to be our merger partner. 

Mark Woods, the Meridian CEO, is known by many within our Trust as he may have taught you, been a governor at your school, and, of course, was one of our founding trustees. His children were also educated at Nene Valley before moving on to Nene Park Academy. Mark’s heart is certainly in our schools. 

Our OWN trust board decided this was the moment to step aside, so the process of merger could be overseen by an interim board, one which I continue to chair. Our new board consists of myself, Shirley Jamieson (Chair of Trustees at Meridian), Richard Astle (Company Director), Andrew Johnson (CEO West Norfolk Academy Trust), Thomas Musson (Chair of LGC at Nene Valley), Stuart Mansell (Ex-CEO OWN Trust) and finally, Jacki Mitchell (Ex headteacher at Woodston). This constitutes an incredibly strong trust board, and we have already held our first meeting. 

An application was made to the DfE for a merger, and last week, after much hard work over a very short period, we were delighted to learn that this has been agreed. Our aim at present is for the merger to be completed by 1st November. 

There have been other challenges for our trust schools throughout the year, and I want to express my thanks to the staff at Woodston for also negotiating their own choppy waters during a time of considerable staffing instability. The strength of OWN trust was exemplified in being able to make use of Colin Marks, Neil Reilly, and Trevor Goakes in sharing the leadership role and ensuring that standards and outcomes improved significantly. Praise must also go to all staff in our other two schools who stepped up to cover their headteachers and trust executive deputy when they were placed at Woodston. 

I have enjoyed my visits during the year, meeting staff and children, and I remain immensely proud of the unique identity and achievements of each school. Moving on to next year, Woodston will enjoy strong and settled leadership under the very experienced interim headship of Nicola Lamond, and she will be ably supported by Trevor Goakes and Alex Garner. Meridian will ensure they recruit a permanent headteacher at a time that is right for the school. I believe strongly that Nene Valley and Orton Wistow will continue to go from strength to strength.

From a personal point of view, what have I learnt from the last 12 months? Firstly, change is inevitable since life itself is full of unexpected turns. Secondly, to view setbacks as opportunities rather than failures. Next, I have discovered that it is important to be able to ask for help and to make use of the strong teams around me. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I have never lost sight of my values and the values under which OWN Trust was set up because they have allowed me to maintain my focus on providing the very best education and opportunity for every child in our schools. 

To conclude with the naval analogy, navigating the choppy waters of the last twelve months has taken an immense amount of time and effort, not just from myself but from my fellow trustees too, but we have sailed in the right direction. My thanks go to the previous trust board and our interim trust board for their commitment to our cause and crewing our ship. The shore is coming ever closer, and it looks as though OWN’s ship will be sailing safely into port very soon.