Dear Colleague,

Welcome back to a new academic year, and a very warm welcome to all new staff across our Trust. I hope the summer provided a chance to rest and recharge. The year ahead promises to be full of opportunities, and it has already begun with much to celebrate, a flavour of which is captured in this newsletter.

This week we share stories ranging from inspiring new partnerships at Lanchester Primary School, newly refurbished Early Years classrooms at Ascot Road Primary School, and the wonderful success of former The Cranbourne Primary School pupil, Ellena Perry, on the international rugby stage. We also celebrate the vibrant open events and speech days at our secondary schools, each showcasing the achievements and aspirations of our pupils.

On 1 September we were delighted to welcome The Beaconsfield School into the Trust, bringing our total to 13 schools. We are excited to grow together and look forward to what we can all achieve this year.

With best wishes,

Josephine Valentine, CEO
Danes Educational Trust

Making the difference together

Introducing The Beaconsfield School

The Beaconsfield School was founded in 1854, beginning in a disused ribbon factory off Wycombe End under the auspices of St Mary’s Church.

Today it is a co-educational secondary school and sixth form in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, with around 870 pupils and just under 100 staff.

The school’s vision is to treat each student as an individual, placing learning and progress at the heart of its work, striving to ensure high aspirations and opportunities “within and beyond the classroom.” The Beaconsfield School joined our Trust on 1 September 2025, we are thrilled they are part of our family.

Primary news

Lanchester

This week, we proudly launched an exciting new partnership with Watford Football Club. Across the autumn term, members of the club’s team will be working closely with our Year 6 pupils, supporting their learning in PSHE and Maths. This collaboration will give pupils the chance to explore important topics in engaging and meaningful ways, with the added inspiration of working alongside role models from the world of sport. We are very fortunate to be part of a community with such fantastic opportunities on our doorstep, and we look forward to seeing the impact of this partnership.

Ascot Road

We are delighted to share that our Early Years classrooms have recently undergone a fantastic refurbishment. The updated spaces have been carefully updated to create bright, welcoming, and inspiring environments for our youngest pupils. With thoughtful layouts and high-quality resources, the classrooms provide a wide range of engaging opportunities to support play, exploration, and discovery. These improvements reflect our commitment to giving every child the very best start to their learning journey. We are so pleased with the transformation!

The Cranbourne

We are incredibly proud to celebrate the achievements of former Cranbourne pupil, Ellena Perry, who is representing Ireland in the Women’s Rugby World Cup. Ellena’s journey from our classrooms to the international sporting stage is truly inspiring, and her success is a wonderful reminder of where hard work, dedication, and passion can lead. Stories like Ellena’s give our pupils powerful role models to look up to, showing them that their aspirations, whether in sport, the arts, or any other field are within reach. Please join us in congratulating Ellena on this fantastic accomplishment. Go Ellena!

Secondary news

Chancellor's

We were delighted to host our annual Prize Giving Evening, celebrating the outstanding achievements of students from the last academic year. The event shone a spotlight on the dedication, resilience, and excellence demonstrated by all year groups. Standout awards were presented to our GCSE and A Level students who made exceptional progress and embodied the spirit of hard work and determination. Families, staff, and friends came together to congratulate the winners and celebrate their successes; it was a truly memorable occasion. We were delighted to welcome our guest of honour, Deborah Gibbs who presented prizes and offered some inspiring words to our students. The evening was a wonderful opportunity to recognise the achievement, talent and effort of our school community.

Onslow St Audrey's

On Tuesday 16 September Onslow St Audrey's had our annual Open Evening. We were delighted to welcome so many parents and students from across Hatfield and Welwyn to our school to visit our amazing new facilities. Our students were fantastic throughout the evening, speaking at the Headteacher's Speech, being tour guides and volunteering in faculties. We are so proud of the community we have built over the past few years and our Open Evening was a brilliant showcase for the whole school's hard work and dedication. The feedback has been extremely positive from parents and staff, and our Parent Ambassadors commented on how many parents were excited about seeing their child at Onslow next year.

Elstree Screen Arts

ESA has just commenced a new partnership with CAMHS Digital Lab - the research group creating digital innovations that transform mental healthcare for children and young people. Working with Kings College London and the NHS, CAMHS Digital Lab are trying to develop research and then implement evidence-based solutions that can shorten wait lists and increase the quality of mental health care for young people.

Our partnership with CAMHS Digital Lab is intended to increase the volume of young people’s voice in the research that is developed and published, but not only that, we will be working together to make high quality media content that can unpack complex ideas in a way that diverse audiences can relate to and understand. Our media production trainees will be producing films, documentaries, social media content and other media assets that tell the stories of this important research and what it means for the future of mental healthcare.

By creating media together, ESA Academy and CAMHS Digital Lab will be pioneering mental health and research content created by young people, for young people.

Days to celebrate

Days to celebrate:

Did you know that on Sunday 5 October it’s World Teachers Day. ZSL Zoos are providing a great way to thank teachers for their hard work by providing free access to both London and Whipsnade Zoo’s on this day

find out more