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Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust is a year old at the beginning of January - and it’s been quite a year for the staff, students and parents involved in this exciting new era for education in the Okehampton area.
The trust, which currently comprises three secondary schools and 13 primary schools, is constantly evolving in line with its mission statement - to provide the highest possible education for all local children, in order to ensure pupils from all backgrounds are able to succeed.
Vice chief executive officer Hazel Fox said: ‘It feels like speed is gathering and we are growing in confidence all the time. We’ve just gone through our first financial audit - we found it quite fascinating and feel proud of how we have done.’
The trust has been striving to improve in all areas across the primary and secondary schools in its membership, from staff appraisals, continual professional development for teaching and support staff, through to the curriculums and provision of facilities and equipment.
Training and sharing of expertise in all areas is extremely important to the trust - as Hazel said, the leadership team want their teachers to be as motivated and inspiring as possible, so that retention of staff never becomes an issue.
Educare online training courses are now being offered to staff in a wide variety of topics - a move which came out of a support staff forum held during June. Hazel said: ‘We have really tried to build the capacity and talent we have within our staff, helping them to enjoy their jobs even more.’
There are now four apprentices working for the trust - it is hoped to promote apprenticeships further in future.
Weekly bulletins are now posted in every school with the latest news - in old fashioned paper form, rather than in an email, following a specific request from staff.
A trust-wide school council has been formed for students and pupils and its first meeting took place in November. It saw children from eleven schools join together for an action-packed day in which they discussed the role of the council, wrote their first newsletter and put together an action plan for the year ahead, which includes the aim of going ‘single use plastic free’ across the trust.
Teacher Natasha Scamp, who took a lead role in the day, said: ‘It was really, really successful and I’ve had great feedback from the schools who said how excited the children were about meeting each other.’
Highampton Primary School joined the trust in the summer and consultation is currently taking place at Great Torrington School following a proposal to become the fourth secondary school in the trust.
In the coming year the leadership team will continue to focus on the educational experience for all its stakeholders, making sure all voices are heard.
Hazel said: ‘We are a young and ambitious trust - it’s a new era for us and I remain very positive about the future.’