Every half-term I have the opportunity to visit all the schools in OWN Trust, and although the day has an action-packed agenda, it is always a pleasure to see staff and children. For July’s visits, I was delighted to be accompanied by the Vice Chair of Trustees, Sally Williams, who was able to be with me at Orton Wistow and Nene Valley.

There is always a set agenda that allows me to explore issues in which trustees have a strong interest. This time I was particularly keen to capture pupil voice about their perceptions of the way the pupils in the three schools come together and their ideas for new initiatives. Children do have a strong knowledge of the trust and could talk about joint events from this year, and they also suggested how they would like arts and creative events alongside traditional sporting fixtures. Sally and I were very impressed with the confidence with which our trust children express their ideas and opinions and how keen they are to take part in ventures outside of their schools. All the children we spoke to are a credit to the OWN Trust family of schools.

Time at each visit is usually spent with the headteacher or members of Senior Leadership, and this was no exception, with time given for an end-of-year discussion of the challenges and successes of the year. Conversations such as this provide much-needed support to headteachers who appreciate that trustees are not there just to provide challenge, which leads to a depth of honesty in what is shared.

Support staff are vital to the effective functioning of schools and for this visit, I wanted to give teaching assistants an opportunity to talk about how their roles have changed over the years and listen to their ideas for improving inclusion and outcomes for SEND children. In each of our schools, there are skilled teaching assistants who provide much more bespoke support to children with additional needs. Our staff could talk at length about what their day in school looks like when they are working with children with EHCP’s and children who do not quite meet this threshold. The days of support staff turning up in a class and washing up paint pots are well and truly over! Most of a teaching assistant's time is dedicated to children who require very specific interventions rather than working generally with children to scaffold learning within the course of everyday lessons.

Sally and I are proud of the dedication and commitment of our teaching assistants who, without exception, made clear that their passion is for the children they work with in ever more challenging situations – wanting to provide the best possible outcomes for every child.

With days to go before the end of the school year, it has been a pleasure to visit each of the trust schools and see staff and children. I am looking forward to many more visits and seeing OWN Trust going from strength to strength in the next academic year.