As the autumn nights start to draw in and with the new school year underway, the OWN Trust board held its first meeting of the year.

As is usual, the most immediate agenda items to be dealt with are the appointments of the chair and vice chair of the board and the chairs of the committees. On this occasion, all post-holders were re-elected, which means I continue to have the honour of serving as Chair of Trustees, just as I have done since the launch of the trust. Much as I do not wish to overstay my welcome as chair of trustees, I feel that by welcoming a new CEO to our trust, I remain sufficiently independent of the executive leadership to ensure honest and challenging scrutiny of both their performance and organisational performance overall. I am also excited by this new challenge and fresh opportunity to think strategically about the future direction of the trust.

Although our incoming CEO had attended the last board meeting of the summer term as a guest while our outgoing CEO made his final appearance, this was the first meeting where Lorraine Greco presented a report and answered the challenging questions put to her by trustees. Lorraine completed a very effective handover and induction period with Stuart Mansell before he retired, and she has been able to make a strong start at OWN Trust. The list of accomplishments in a short period is impressive and Lorraine gained the confidence of the board as she reported on how much has been undertaken, including reviewing safeguarding procedures within the trust in light of the awful events that took place at Southport during the summer. Lorraine has also reviewed and strengthened the trust education team by refining their roles across trust schools. Trustees were also updated on several important meetings held by Lorraine, including with the Regional Schools Commissioner’s office.

Lorraine led a discussion on the Trust Improvement Plan. She identified an ambitious list of priorities that range from a review of the vision, values, and marketing of the trust to a consideration of developing nursery provision within the trust. Each area of the trust from Finance and HR, Site, I.T., and Governance have very clear foci identified for the year.

Naturally, trustees considered trust performance in statutory assessments last year and Lorraine was able to report on considerable areas of strength across trust schools. She is already working with school leaders to set ambitious targets for future improvements and to put in place systems and strategies to underpin these.

Trustees were delighted to approve the appointment of a governor to Orton Wistow School and look forward to meeting them at our forthcoming OWN development session for governors and trustees. Our local governance committees are strong, but we always welcome new governors so we can ensure effective support and challenge to the schools and school leaders and champion our children to see they are safe, well, and happy with access to a good education.

The year ahead will certainly be exciting at OWN Trust and for our trustees and local governors as we work with Lorraine to achieve the priorities within our strategic plan.