OWN Trust Blog - Sarah Levy, OWN Trust School Improvement Consultant and Headteacher at Old Fletton Primary School

OWN Trust News - articles about meetings and events

OWN Trust Schools' News - updates about what's been happening in the schools

Introducing... - Laura Coulson-Marshall, Class Teacher, ECT, Woodston Primary School

OWN Trust Community News - Events, Community Group Update and Starters and Leavers at the schools

Current Vacancies - a link to current vacancies in the schools and OWN Trust central office

A Day in the Life... Fiona Schneider, Marketing and Communications Officer, OWN Trust

Upcoming Events - dates for the diary

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Managing People is Like Herding Cats: Discuss!

By Sarah Levy, OWN Trust School Improvement Consultant and Headteacher at Old Fletton Primary School

You may have heard this phrase used before when someone is frustrated and trying to get people to do what they want them to do. At Trust level, the phrase is actually a misnomer and not what we are about at all. We aim to lead like-minded people, not restrict and manage them, and there is a very big difference between the two. 

As I sit writing this blog in the Trust office at Woodston, I am facing a display board that clearly states the Trust’s vision and values. However, what is of real importance is not only that the values are communicated, known, and shared, but that they are fully understood and enacted in all the work we do. When all stakeholders do this; it is known as alignment or ‘walk the talk’, which is when we actually do what we say we are going to do. The greater the understanding and clarity of the vision and values, the greater the sense of belonging and unity behind a shared purpose.

‘Herding Cats’ is also the polite way of stating the challenge of getting dynamic, visionary leaders at all levels to align to a Trust’s systems and processes in a way that does not inhibit the exceptional skills that led to them being employed in their roles in the first place. There is a fine line between supporting and inhibiting excellent leadership, as all cats… ahem… I mean leaders require different things. You wouldn’t entice a lion with a toy mouse dangling on a string, just as you wouldn’t entice a Siamese cat by placing it in a herd of buffalo!

In my role as headteacher for 15 years at Old Fletton Primary School, I have never lost my passion for education, and although it certainly has not always been easy, I do not regret my career choice. I believe that as educators we have the power to shape lives. As a result, I am fully aligned with the Trust’s vision - “to have transformed aspirations, changed attitudes and raised achievements for our community through our passionate belief in the power of education.” This was an important consideration for me when accepting the role of School Improvement Consultant for the OWN Trust. I am sure it was important to the CEO, Stuart Mansell, as well, as he needed to ensure I was able to support and quality assure the quality of education in the three schools in a way that would enhance the possibilities of shared Trust success, without the risk of causing confusion or distraction. 

As head of Amazon, Jeff Bezos understands the importance of this too, and is extremely clear on his leadership expectations: “Tough on vision, flexible on details.” He understands that a company’s strength lies in uniting people behind a shared sense of purpose and vision. How they achieve this vision can be done creatively and flexibly when needed. OWN Trust takes the same approach in that leaders have to unite behind the vision and the values, and all pull in the same direction but can have some autonomy in how this is achieved. In education, leaders often talk about “earned autonomy” as though it is a badge of honour that is earned through excellent exam results or a successful OFSTED inspection that gives you a right to do your own thing. This could not be further from the truth!

So-called ‘earned autonomy’ is given to schools that demonstrate a strong alignment to the Trust vision, because it shows they understand the core principles and can work hard to achieve them. A greater amount of autonomy can be afforded to them and used to best effect because we know the school and its staff are working toward the same goals as the Trust.

Working closely together, aligned by our shared values, can and does improve outcomes for all…and is a far more effective way to manage people than ‘herding cats’!

^{Photo by Jari Hytönen on Unsplash}

OWN Trust Development Day 10.02.24

By Fiona Schneider, Marketing and Communications Officer 

The OWN Trust Development Day takes place each year, along with the OWN Trust Annual General Meeting, and involves Members, Trustees, Governors, Senior Leaders, and other staff who give up their Saturday morning to focus on how the Trust is developing and future plans. We are always very grateful to those who hold voluntary roles within the Trust for offering their time and expertise to support the Trust and the children.

This year we returned to the Delta Marriott Hotel near the East of England Showground for the meeting. There was time before events got underway to chat with familiar faces and catch up with colleagues. The Development Day provides an opportunity for Members, Trustees, Governors, Senior Leaders, and staff, who are rarely under one roof at any one time, to network and share information.

The morning’s formal proceedings began with a welcome from the CEO, Stuart Mansell, followed by a presentation on Our Passion by the headteachers: Colin Marks (OWPS), Neil Reilly (NVPS), and Becky Ford (WPS). It was interesting to see how the leaders of each school are working together to make the most of the collaboration and sharing of good practice that being in a trust offers. Their main focus, linked to ‘Opportunity, Work Together, Nurture’, centred on developing a shared culture of improvement. This involves gaining a full understanding of the needs of ‘our family’ (both staff and pupils) before creating an action plan for embedding OWN Trust’s values and vision in all of its schools. The presentation ended with an activity for Local Governors to discuss their role in both challenging and supporting schools to bring ‘Our Passion’ to life.

This was followed by a presentation on the Marketing for Growth Plan by Fiona Schneider, OWN Trust Marketing and Communications Officer. It outlined the steps that are underway to drive the expansion of the trust and the marketing tactics that will be used. Stuart Mansell then developed this theme further by explaining how EPM is supporting the Trust in assessing our Readiness for Growth. This will cover seven key pillars and identify any areas for development to ensure we have strong foundations to sustain future growth.

The AGM then took place in the form of a public meeting and enabled Members to check on the work that is driven by Trustees and senior staff. The Members asked incisive questions of the Trustees and offered their praise and enthusiasm for the work that had been undertaken so far.

After a short break, we were delighted to welcome the SENCOs from each school – Laura Hurrell (WPS), Linda Harries (OWPS), Carly Pearson (NVPS), and Lucinda Robinson (WPS) – who gave an in-depth and informative presentation on SENCO provision within the schools. In addition to explaining their comprehensive OAP (Ordinarily Available Provision) document and how it is being implemented in schools, the SENCOs also gave us a picture of the growing SEND needs within the schools and nationally. A video clip demonstrating the richness and variety of SEND provision within the schools was then shown, and it brought to life just how much support is already on offer.

The meeting closed with remarks from our dedicated and hardworking Chair of Trustees, Mary Foreman. She thanked all contributors for their presentations, expressed her gratitude to the Governors, Trustees, and Members for their extensive and invaluable voluntary roles, and paid tribute to Stuart Mansell, for whom this was the last Development Day and AGM before his retirement at the end of the academic year.

Strategy Group Meeting 16.01.24

By Stuart Mansell, CEO, OWN Trust

Our half-termly Trust Strategy meetings are now back on schedule following a brief hiatus. July 2023 was given over to 3 Ofsted inspections, and a change of membership due to a new Vice-Chair of Trustees meant the one scheduled for the start of the autumn term was cancelled. When Mary Foreman (Chair of Trustees), Sally Williams (Vice-chair), and Stuart Mansell (CEO) finally met in the second half of autumn, the whole meeting was confidential, focusing on plans for the recruitment of a new CEO. Consequently, our spring 1 meeting, including Jan Neish (Governance & Compliance), was as much a current status review as anything else.

The first part of the meeting covered the full recruitment pack for a new CEO and plans for communicating and implementing plans for the coming months. We are expecting to have a new CEO appointed by March. This was supported by a discussion about ensuring that OWN continues to build on recent successes during the recruitment period and that there should be no ‘slowing down’ in our plans for growth. In fact, the establishment of a working party looking specifically at growth has already been completed. An additional, external ‘Readiness for Growth’ review was also agreed and will take place between now and the end of March. This includes a visit from the Regional Director’s team from the DfE.

Further plans for self-evaluation by Trustees were proposed by Jan Neish, including a bi-annual skills review and evaluation via the Chartered Governance Institute resources before the meeting drew to a close in the early evening. It was a pleasure to review the current status of OWN Trust at this meeting as it really couldn’t be in a better place at this point in time, and all credit to the staff, governors, and Trustees for getting it there.

Office Managers' Meeting 30.01.24

By Sadie Wiles, CFO, OWN Trust

This meeting was part of the regular updates for Office Managers, mainly on finance and HR but also on other areas of the Trust, such as IT.

Office managers and staff from the schools and the shared services team attended the meeting including Samantha Bottomley (Office Manager - Nene Valley), Aga Celary (Finance Administrator - Woodston), Sharon Davey (Office Manager - Woodston), Nicola Foy (HR Officer - Trust), Andrea Hatfield, (HR Administrator - Woodston), Sophie Lewis (Finance Officer - Trust), Kate McLaughlin (Office Manager - Orton Wistow), Sadie Wiles (Chief Finance Officer - Trust).

We are revising our current budget and the main topic of the day was updating on any changes that are relevant in relation to funding, central costs, etc. We did some training on forecasting and looked at some reports on our budgeting system that can help with budget re-forecasting. A discussion took place about future meetings and training that the Office Managers thought would be useful to support their work going forward.

The meeting was a great opportunity to meet up and ask questions. It offers a chance to network and is creating a support structure for all involved. Office Managers have time to see how tasks are carried out in the other offices to streamline their own procedures.

Leadership Group Meeting 11.01.24

By Stuart Mansell, CEO, OWN Trust

January 11th saw the monthly Leadership Group meeting take place at Woodston Primary. This time, the CEO, Headteachers, and Executive Deputies welcomed Fiona Schneider, OWN Trust’s Marketing and Communications Officer.

The first part of the meeting was to discuss the Trust’s expectations of schools in respect of social media. The schools have previously operated differently, and it had been intended for some consistency and alignment to take place. This hasn’t been as easy as originally planned with so many recent developments in the world of social media; particularly around the use of Twitter/X. A recent survey of parents had given some suggestions about what they needed and this is probably going to lead to some changes in the direction of Facebook. The Leadership group confirmed their support and now a strategy will be developed and implemented in the coming months.

The rest of the meeting agenda was given over to the following:

• Building the membership of the Trust ‘Growth Group’ that will start to implement the Trust Marketing Strategy for Growth;
   
• Responses to our recent cybersecurity audit that identifies where we are keeping children and the Trust safe and where we can develop further;
   
• Plans for a cross-Trust arts project that will involve all schools;
   
• Challenging the current pupil outcomes forecasts (SATs) so that we are aspiring for the best from our children;

There were also more routine conversations about items such as plans for the content of the Trust training day in April so that it brings staff together and joint staff meetings in each term (in June looking at moderation of writing).

An update on the current Trust Improvement Plan enabled us to look at each of the four areas:

1. Our Passion;
2. Our Family;
3. Our Purpose and
4. Our Future.

It was a very full agenda for a 2-hour meeting, but everyone left knowing that OWN Trust is in a really strong place as it moves forward to the next stage in its development. Isolated schools outside the Trust don’t automatically have the benefit of a monthly meeting with such experienced leaders, where mutual support for wellbeing is so crucial and so easily provided.

Highlights from the latest news at Orton Wistow Primary School, Nene Valley Primary School and Woodston Primary School.

Young Voices

Orton Wistow Primary School

Forty-three children and six adults went by coach to the Birmingham Arena this week to participate in Young Voices. We have been rehearsing twice a week, every week, since September, waiting for this moment! There were nine songs to learn for the concert, some of them were over six minutes long, so there were lots of words, rhythms, pitches and actions to remember!

The atmosphere in the arena was electric-there were 6128 children singing together and what a buzz that was! The children who came were fantastic ambassadors for the school, they sang with enthusiasm, listened to the conductor and responded to his direction, and threw themselves into this amazing experience. We learnt 3 new songs on the day, and performed alongside Nandi Bushell, Urban Strides and MC Grammar.

Throughout the day several of the children told us "this is the best day of my life", and the smiles and dancing demonstrated how much fun they were having. Florence said afterwards" I loved seeing all the performances on stage, it was magical", and Wiki said "I was amazed when they turned off the lights and everyone had their torches on, it looked like the sky full of stars." We'd like to say a huge thankyou to the parent helpers who came on the trip with us, we couldn't have done it without your support.

Woodston Primary School

The Woodston choir made themselves heard at the Genting Arena, Birmingham on Friday 12th January when they took part in the Young Voices concert along with around 5000 children from other primary schools.

It was a very long day which started with a coach journey and lunch, before rehearsals, ahead of a 7pm performance. It was incredibly exciting to be part of such a special event with professional singers, dancers and musicians. Every child in the choir had the chance to shine and shine they did, in every possible way!

We owe our thanks to Mrs Roberts for making it possible to participate in Young Voices. Her energy and passion for Music is inspiring, and it certainly inspired the 'young voices' of Woodston choir.

The children sang with energy and enthusiasm throughout the rehearsals and the performance and even on the coach journey home. Not only that, but they conducted themselves beautifully, and we were so proud to be attending the event with them.

Huge congratulations to our wonderful choir and here's to Young Voices 2025!

Playground Progress

Nene Valley Primary School

The first phase of the playground redevelopment project is almost complete. The last part of the new, all-year round surfacing was laid today. The children will be able to use the new area from Thursday 1st February, once the new surface has settled.    

The playground renovation took part in stages. The first step was to remove the old equipment and install new equipment with old favourites like the tyres, carefully left in place.

More News From the Schools

You can read more about what's been happening by clicking on the links.

Discover more about those who work at OWN Trust, how they got involved in education and what inspires them to do the job they do.

In this edition, we learn more about Laura Coulson-Marshall, Class Teacher, ECT, Woodston Primary School.

Beginnings

I grew up in Peterborough and that is where I found my love for education. I went to Eyrescroft Primary School where I looked up to my Year 5 and 6 teachers as role models. I loved being able to go to school and teach all my friends new facts I had learned after visiting museums with my dad. I also have a grandmother who was a primary school teacher who I thought was the best person in the world for being a teacher. Therefore, when I was nine I began to ask myself, could I be a teacher?

My favourite memories at school as a child were when I got to do creative projects like writing, art, and DT. Me and my family would make them at home and I was always left to be creative individually. I played the key role in a couple of school plays, for example the ‘Highwayman’ and my Year 6 ‘Nativity’ as Mary. Another fond memory was the school trips I attended, for example, Scarborough and Stibbington for residentials. 

Finding a vocation

Being at such a young age and knowing I already wanted to be a teacher meant that my journey was set in stone. I first started by volunteering in my old primary school for work experience in Year 11 and again in college. I even tried volunteering at a secondary school in the PE department while studying for my sports science qualification. 

I decided to stay close to home and my family and went to Anglian Ruskin University in Peterborough where I studied Primary Education. I loved my course, the lectures, and the friends I worked with along the way. I used my passion for outdoor learning to influence my dissertation. I was still at university when COVID-19 came around, and even though it was a lonely time, I worked hard to finish university and continue my path to where I am today. When I graduated, I became a trainee teacher for Teach East which was an extraordinary experience. I met some amazing people and I grew as a person throughout that year. I trained at Leighton Primary and Nene Valley Primary where I finally felt I had succeeded in my dream career. 

My current role

Now I am at Woodston Primary School teaching Year Five and I couldn’t be happier. I have an amazing team of people around me and everyone is very supportive. I hope to continue teaching until I physically cannot teach anymore, as I have all I have ever wanted. I want to make a difference to children’s lives and give them the knowledge to find their passions and purpose in life. One day I hope to be just like those who influenced me in primary school.

Working within the Trust

The Own Trust is a community full of support and inclusion amongst professionals. As a first-year early careers teacher, I have never felt alone on my journey, which is all thanks to the brilliant people who are part of the OWN Trust. I think one of the OWN Trust’s finest qualities is community, and the ability to use this to create a greater environment for the staff and children.

Catch up on what's been happening within the OWN Trust community.

If you'd like to make any suggestions or comments about community activities within the OWN Trust, please have a chat with the OWN Trust Community Representative in your school:

Carly Pearson (NVPS), Lucy Fogg (NVPS), Joanne Simmons (OWPS), Emily Gray (OWPS), Kelly Fenton-Bradshaw (WPS) and Mia Downs (WPS).

Upcoming Social Events

Community Group Update

By Fiona Schneider, Marketing and Communications Officer, OWN Trust

The OWN Trust Community Group was established in 2022 to consolidate the sense of community within the Trust in line with the Four Elements needed to create a Sense of Community (McMillan and Chavis):

• A sense of belonging
• Influence and voice
• A shared emotional connection
• Common values and goals

Since then, the group has met regularly to plan and implement initiatives to meet those aims.

On the 31st of January, the Community Group met to discuss how to involve all of our stakeholders in the Trust community, the activities that are taking place this academic year, and the draft of the internal communications strategy.

Stakeholder Engagement

We used the matrix of interactions across the Trust to assess the extent of stakeholder engagement. We were delighted to see that there are several interschool activities involving staff and children planned in the Spring and Summer terms in areas such as sports, arts, science, and maths events.

We discussed how to increase the children's sense of belonging within the Trust by using existing pupil voice structures to gain their input. We are also developing 'Trust news' slides which for assemblies, which can be used to share what's going on at pupil level across the schools.

Parents are now receiving a monthly update from the Trust via the schools to enhance their awareness of what's happening within the Trust. We will also look at aligning events that take place in each school at similar times e.g. Book Week, and Anti-Bullying Week, and share news about this.

Events

As well as the events mentioned above, the Community Group itself is also involved with organising specific events. We are going to hold our Trust Charity Day on the 8th of July, with donations going to UNICEF. We also have 2 staff events coming up soon. Bethan Strike at OWPS has kindly offered to organise another Quiz Night, which will take place on 28th March 2024. We are also holding an End of Year event on 7th June 2024. 

Communications

We discussed the draft version of our Internal Communication Guidelines, which is currently undergoing a series of reviews before it is finalised. The purpose of the guidelines is to outline expectations of how members of the OWN Trust Community will maintain effective internal communications. It covers a variety of communication channels and links our Internal Communication Goals to our Trust Strategic Goals.

We are already moving ahead with two areas of the guidelines: establishing a Trust notice board in each school by 1st March 2024 and a staff directory on SharePoint.

Obtaining Feedback

Measuring the success of our community initiatives is crucial. We are looking at obtaining feedback from all our stakeholders in the coming months as part of our annual monitoring of progress.

Other Developments 

The meeting ended with an interesting discussion about initiatives to enhance Teaching Assistants' sense of belonging. Emily Gray, TA Community Group representative at OWPS, explained how she facilitated a 'coffee evening' for TAs, which she is looking at doing again in the future.

The next meeting will take place at Woodston Primary School on Wednesday 24th April from 1.45pm – 3:00pm.

^{Photo by Isabella Kramer on Unsplash}

Specific times will be announced to those attending.

Your feedback on the newsletter is invaluable for helping us to make sure that the content is relevant, useful and informative.

Please click on the button below to answer 3 quick questions about what you think: