Farewell to our CEO, Stuart Mansell

By Mary Foreman, Chair of Trustees, OWN Trust

2023 – 2024 has been a calm year for OWN Trust. As chair, I felt we would then be in for a very settled year, moving the trust forward with the appointment of a strong and very experienced headteacher in Becky Ford for Woodston to replace the long-serving, inspirational headteacher, Jacki Mitchell and with Colin Marks and Neil Reilly continuing as new(ish) headteachers at Wistow and Nene Valley respectively.

My bubble of confidence was then sadly burst when, in a meeting with our CEO, he announced to me that after much deep reflection he felt it was the right time to retire. Initial thoughts were a mix of emotions, since I had been convinced this would be a strong year for the trust where we could really build on our successes and plan to pursue growth from a position of strength – three 'Good' schools and one outstanding CEO.

On the other hand, I recognised there could be no better time to bring in a new CEO who could build on such a strong foundation and move the trust forward with fresh passion and determination. And of course, I felt a depth of sadness at the prospect of losing a highly respected peer and the final departing headteacher (as he was when we started the journey to becoming an academy trust) out of the three who were the founding headteachers for OWN trust.

Stuart Mansell has had a lengthy career in teaching and served in several different schools both within and outside Peterborough. He began his teaching career in Peterborough as a reception teacher in 1993 and quickly experienced promotions as a senior leader for EYFS and SEN. He moved to Cambridgeshire as a deputy head and then a job-share headteacher before returning to Peterborough as headteacher of Nene Valley Primary School in September 2006.

Notable amongst Stuart’s achievements has been the work he carried out at Nene Valley to gain International School Status. Stuart always had a passion for furthering children’s understanding of the global dimension and put this into practice by involving Nene Valley in a project run by the Leprosy Mission in Peterborough on behalf of the Department for International Development that involved five other city schools and a trip to Malawi for the lead teachers. After the project finished, Stuart commented, “It was not simply about learning about other countries and trying new languages and food. It had to be much broader. Developing awareness of poverty, human rights, the reasons for conflicts, and the important role we all have in affecting the world as a whole was of deeper significance.”

In May 2007, Nene Valley Primary School was inspected for the first time under Stuart’s leadership and a 'Good' outcome ensued. The report declared, ‘The new headteacher gives outstanding leadership’. In 2011 came the next inspection, a 'Good' judgement, and the report included the comment, ‘Good leadership and management, driven by the headteacher, are central to the improvements taking place.’ In December 2016 Ofsted arrived again and once more Stuart was praised for his leadership, ‘You continue to maintain your clear vision to develop each child’s full potential, personally and academically.’

A believer in putting the needs of children first, Stuart was a strong believer in Circle time and worked with Jenny Moseley to bring it into many Peterborough schools.

In 2019, OWN Trust came into being and Stuart initially combined being headteacher at Nene Valley with being part-time CEO of OWN Trust. Since we were very much in the early days of the trust, there was lots to be done, but not so much that Stuart could still be a very effective headteacher thanks to a strong team, including deputy head Nick File behind him back at Nene Valley. However, little did anyone know that we would soon be faced with a pandemic and a time of very difficult challenges for all school leaders. Stuart led OWN trust through this uncertain time with calm determination to support staff, children, and families in our schools.

Other responsibilities whilst being a headteacher included being a Local Leader of Education, an OFSTED inspector, and being a board member for Paragon Teaching School and Peterborough Learning Partnership.

Stuart continued to provide support for the local authority after OWN Trust came into being, ensuring that head teacher/local authority meetings could be hosted at regular intervals, working very closely with the very respected Service Director for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Jonathan Lewis.

Stuart was also a long-serving member of Peterborough School’s Forum, which is a body that represents schools and non-school organisations such as nursery settings, to consult on things such as changes to contracts affecting schools or making decisions about how much funding may be retained by the local authority.

Over many years, Stuart was a trustee for Stibbington, the educational centre that hosted many thousands of children for outdoor environmental activities as well as historical adventures such as the much-loved Victorian Day and World War 2 Evacuation Day – where sometimes children arrived at the station by steam train! Stuart, with the other trustees, fought to keep the centre open for Peterborough children to experience, but sadly it closed in 2023.

Over the last five years, OWN trust has gone from strength to strength under Stuart’s leadership, including working with a range of Peterborough schools through the School Partnership Programme. Our operating teams and systems developed by Stuart have allowed us to generate income for the trust by providing I.T. support and estate management to other local authority schools. This means the additional income can be used to enhance provision for pupils in OWN schools.

Of course, we could not let him leave without celebrating his 31 years of service to education. On Thursday 27th June 2024, OWN Trust and the three OWN Trust primary schools, held a Retirement Celebration of Service for Stuart.

The celebration of service featured songs and readings from children across the trust primary schools. Staff past and present and other leaders of education attended the event. Colleagues shared their memories of working with Stuart, and he was presented with leaving gifts and an autograph book of messages from well-wishers.  

^{Stuart Mansell, CEO of the OWN Trust at his retirement presentation at Woodston School. Pictured with former colleagues Simon Eardley, Becky Ford, Colin Marks, Jacki Mitchell, Neil Reilly and Mary Foreman.}

Stuart will be much missed by the OWN Trust Community as he embarks on the next chapter of his life. Meanwhile, OWN Trust is in safe hands as it looks to the future when Lorraine Greco, who has been appointed as the new CEO of OWN Trust takes up the position in September. 

^{Thank you to David Lowndes for taking the photographs.}

Whole Trust Writing Moderation 06.06.24

By Trevor Goakes, Executive Deputy Headteacher

On Wednesday 5th June 2024, teachers from the three schools within OWN trust came together to complete writing moderation. The session was hosted at Woodston Primary School and created by Rachel Tansley and Alex Garner (English Leads at Orton Wistow Primary School and Woodston Primary School). Alex presented the joint staff meeting, explaining the rationale behind it and what we hoped to get out of the session.

Teachers started the session by identifying areas in writing within their year groups that children need to develop. Teachers added their thoughts to post-it notes, which were collated and displayed for each school. From this, the English Leads will look at their school's needs, with Alex Garner identifying any trust similarities.

The teachers then split up into year groups to moderate books in teams. Each school had brought a selection of books in which children were working towards the next assessment grade. This included, for example, a child who was working just below age-related expectations. The teams looked at questions like:

• How close are they to working at age-related expectations? 
• How do the schools' books compare?
• Does a Year 3 writing book at one school look the same as a Year 3 writing book at another school? 

All schools used the same assessment criteria to moderate their books. 

The session provided lots of great professional discussions and generated effective ways to ensure all children at OWN Trust make the best progress in writing. 

Trustee Board Meeting 09.07.24

This was the last board meeting of the 2023-2024 academic year and, as usual, there was a packed agenda to work through. 

Before meetings, trustees have a huge amount of information to read through and then prepare their thoughts, comments, and questions – usually addressed to the CEO or the Governance and Compliance Manager. The chairs of our committees also have information to share and to be questioned about. Although this was Stuart Mansell’s final appearance as CEO prior to his retirement, he came thoroughly prepared as usual and able to answer the challenges and queries sent his way.

We were fortunate that our CEO designate, Lorraine Greco, was able to attend her second board meeting before starting fully in September. The final two weeks of term have seen Lorraine working very closely with Stuart, the trust central team, and our schools as part of her handover and induction, and our board meeting was a key part of this.

CEO Report

Although the 9th of July was the day Key Stage 2 SATs results were published, trustees did not focus sole attention on data. The CEO report covered wide areas such as staffing updates, finance, movement of the central team office, risk management, complaints, suspensions, and exclusions. The main agenda saw trustees considering reports about the local governance committees, approving the updated Scheme of Delegation, appointing the new chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, approving the new Admissions Policy for Trust schools, and discussing trustee and member visits to the schools.

Performance Data

Of course, trustees were keen to have an overview of the trust performance data and there was rigorous and robust challenge and questioning. The Quality of Education committee will spend time looking closely at the broad data on 16th July. In addition, a forensic and in-depth analysis will be carried out firstly by the leadership group at the start of the Autumn term and then by the Quality of Education Committee at the start of October where full and comprehensive reviews of last year’s performance can take place. We will be reviewing very carefully how the trust level of attainment compares to 2019 and the last pre-pandemic data, since nationally this year, only reading at Key Stage 2 is in line with pre-COVID results.

Farewell to Trustee David Perkins

Not only was this Stuart Mansell’s final board meeting, but David Perkins’ too. Good trustees are like gold and David is no exception. Initially a governor at Orton Wistow Primary School, David became one of the founding trustees of OWN Trust and its first vice chair. David worked tirelessly to support the creation of the trust and provided astute and determined contributions to all aspects of the trust governance. Trustees joined me in thanking David for his years of service and acknowledged how difficult he will be to replace. Fortunately, we are not losing David altogether as he has agreed to be nominated as a Member, which is subject to formal approval by our other members. Trustees also expressed their thanks to Stuart as we marked the end of the era of his leadership and quite rightly hope he goes on to enjoy a very long, happy, healthy, and well-travelled retirement.

Thank you to our volunteers

I am always mindful that trustees and governors are volunteers. They willingly commit themselves to attending meetings, visiting our schools, talking to our headteachers, and leading sub-committees, but above all, wanting the very best outcomes for every child in our schools. At OWN Trust, we are very fortunate that our local governing committees are strong with very few vacancies and have a balance and diversity of skills and knowledge, so they demonstrate effective leadership and management. Our trustees are also professionals from diverse backgrounds with exceptional skills and understanding of the education sector that collectively add value to OWN Trust. As Trusts embrace the challenge of working in education with a new government that will bring different ideas and expectations for our schools, I'd like to offer thanks in advance of the next academic year to every governor and trustee who will commit themselves once more to being ambitious for children and passionate about improving outcomes for all.

Local Governance Committees - Summer Update

By Jan Neish, Governance and Compliance Manager, OWN Trust

All Local Governance Committees had their regular meetings in June. High on the agenda was the 2024/25 budget and all schools are in a sound financial position.  Governors are now using Microsoft Forms to submit their contact point reports electronically and this is looking promising. We are setting up SharePoint platforms for each Local Governance Committee for sharing papers and resources from next term in place of the secure section of the OWN Trust website. 

Recruitment

We have embarked on a campaign to recruit new local governors using a mix of our own website, direct appeals via schools, and social media. The next step, in the next few months, is to reach further out into our communities and target Peterborough firms.  

Training

Plans are in place for a planning/training session for all governors and trustees on the evening of 11 September, hosted by Woodston Primary School. For most local governors, this will be their first chance to meet our new CEO, Lorraine Greco.  

Thank you

One of our founding trustees, David Perkins, is stepping down at the end of the term. As Vice-Chair of the Trust Board and Chair of our Audit & Risk Committee, David has been pivotal in developing the trust and its ways of working. Thank you, David.  

Chair of Trustees Half Termly Visit to Trust Schools 08.07.24

By Mary Foreman, Chair of Trustees, OWN Trust

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.

Pupil Voice

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

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.

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

OWN Trust Schools Raise Money for UNICEF

By Fiona Schneider, Marketing and Communications Officer, OWN Trust

On Monday 8th July 2024, OWN Trust and its schools – Woodston Primary School, Nene Valley Primary School, and Orton Wistow Primary School – worked together to raise money for the charity, UNICEF. 

Every year, the OWN Trust holds a Charity Day to support a charity chosen by one of the schools.

Children of all ages from the OWN Trust schools wore non-uniform (including the option of something blue for UNICEF) and took part in a challenge with their class to raise awareness of the work that UNICEF does.  

The children walked around the daily mile track at their school carrying a cup of water to highlight what children in other parts of the world experience to get drinking water. 

OWN Trust is very grateful to everyone who donated to the JustGiving page. The schools combined to raise an incredible £1,272 for UNICEF. 

OWN Trust CEO, Stuart Mansell, commented: “Coming together as a Multi Academy Trust community in such a meaningful way, this fantastic effort shows just what can be achieved when schools work together. UNICEF is a very worthy cause, and our children not only had a great day but demonstrated how they are developing a genuine social responsibility to support and care for others.” 

At Nene Valley Primary School, the children aimed to bring ‘home’ as much as they could, and the average amounts per class were calculated – the Year Six Ravens class were the winners. A Year Two child commented: ‘When I did it, it made me think of Steven (the boy from Malawi mentioned in the assembly)’.

At Orton Wistow Primary School, all the children showed perseverance on their trek around the field to highlight the struggles that people have to access clean water. Their winning class with 539 laps was the Year Six Seals class. 

Woodston Primary School children put in a fantastic effort to carry their water carefully around the school field. All the children worked hard and demonstrated how Woodston CARES, with their values of Compassion, Ambition, Respect, and Equity.

To find out more about UNICEF, please visit: unicef.org.uk 

Interschool Events - Summer Term

By Trevor Goakes, Executive Deputy Headteacher, OWN Trust

During the summer term, OWN Trust children have been taking part in art and PE events.

OWN Trust Art Project - Through the Door

In the art project, ‘Through The Door’, children have been celebrating their own learning environments. We hope to display the work through a virtual gallery.

Each year group will have a different focus area of the school, some linked to artists/ skills taught this academic year.

Children will create collaborative class artwork along with some individual pieces of art. The project will cover a range of disciplines across the school (e.g. printing, collage, mixed-media, drawing, textiles, typography).

OWN Trust Athletics Event

On Wednesday 26th June, the schools participated in an OWN Trust Athletics Event held at Nene Park Academy. Over 100 children from the 3 trust schools competed in events such as 80m sprint, 80m hurdles, 200m, long jump, tennis throw, javelin, and a 200m relay.

Children from all three schools thoroughly enjoyed the day and competed to a great standard in each event. There were a mixture of winners across the schools, but ultimately, Orton Wistow ended up winning the event, with Nene Valley in 2nd place and Woodston in 3rd place.

Schools in Residence: Celebration

By Nick File, Executive Deputy Headteacher, OWN Trust

Celebratory with a touch of sadness, Wednesday 10th July, 10 children from each school in the OWN Trust returned to Ferry Meadows for the last time.  To celebrate all the learning over the year, we returned for some surprise events with the Schools in Residence project in association with Nene Park Trust.

After a year together, the children now mixed confidently, greeting each other and chatting.  After leaving their bags in the new classroom, which is very plush, the children walked to the nursery area, near the train crossing and got stuck in.  Harvesting herbs to use on pizzas, checking out their giant sunflowers and other plants they had nurtured and seeding their own herbs to take home.

Next, back in the classroom, a reflection on the activities they had participated in over the year.  The vocabulary they had acquired and remembered was also impressive, as you can see!

Towards the end of the day, a walk through the park spotting butterflies ending up at the playpark as a second surprise.

By now, the children were running low on energy and the walk back seemed a giant challenge!  Thankfully, the last surprise was a train ride back. 

At the end of the day, the children all received a mini-ranger hat, badge and certificate.  Thanks again to all the trust staff and volunteers for delivering a great year of learning.  The aim of the project was to encourage members of the wider community to access the Park, so I hope that these children will bring their families and friends to see this amazing resource, which is in competition to win an award.

More News From the Schools

Here are some highlights of the latest news at the OWN Trust Schools. Just click on the links to find out more.

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).

Staff Social Events 2024 - 2025

Thank you to everyone who has attended the staff events this year. We had parties at the Fleet in the Autumn Term and Summer Term, and a fabulous quiz night at Orton Wistow Primary School in the Spring Term.

Events for next year include:

• Autumn Term - Date TBC - Racing Night at OWPS
• Spring Term - Date TBC - Quiz Night at NVPS
• Summer Term - Saturday 7th June 2025 - End of Year Party at the Fleet

We will contact you with further details about these events and information on how to book.

In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for events and would like to organise one, we'd be delighted to support you. Please get in touch with Fiona (marketing@own-trust.education) or speak to the Trust representative in your school:

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

^{Photo by Niklas Ohlrogge on Unsplash}

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