30 March 2023
Dear Parent or Carer,
I am excited to share with you our second newsletter for parents. We were thrilled with the response to our first published last December. To be honest there are simply too many fantastic events and achievements across our trust to be able to share with you in a newsletter. So, what you have here is a snapshot of developments, events and highlights from this term.
We are all delighted that following the Ofsted visit to Ascot Road Primary school in February the inspector was able to state that the school continues to be graded as 'Good'. The inspector praised the school's community interactions, the behaviour and joy of the pupils as well as the support from staff.
Other very good news this term is that Danes Educational Trust has been judged in the latest DfE performance tables as being one of the best multi-academy trusts in the country. You can read more about this newsletter.
I extend my thanks to all our learners and dedicated staff and thank you the parents for your support and for working in partnership with us. Your many messages of kindness sent to our schools is appreciated more than you would know.
Have a restful and happy holiday and let's hope the spring sunshine breaks through.
Josephine Valentine, CEO
Danes Educational Trust
Making the difference together
Danes Educational Trust ranks top in Hertfordshire for all key measures in Dfe report
In March 2023 the DfE published multi-academy trust performance data for the first time in three years.
Key Stage 4 (GCSE) performance data for Danes Educational Trust shows that it ranks, top in Hertfordshire, fourth in the East of England (Herts, Essex, Kent, Norfolk, Suffolk, Luton and Bedfordshire) and fourteenth nationally, for all key measures.
At Key Stage 5 (A Level and Level 3 Vocational Qualifications) Danes Educational Trust ranks first in Hertfordshire and the Eastern Region and fourth nationally.
These are fantastic results and a testimony to the phenomenal hard work of learners and staff.
Currently there are no published national Multi Academy Trust data for primary school outcomes at Key Stage 1 and 2.
Investing in our schools
We are very proud to be investing in our school buildings. Over the last 12 months we have carried out improvement works in all of our schools and have spent over £1.2 million. The work that has been undertaken during the past 12 months includes replacing windows, air-conditioning plants and boilers, installing automated vehicular and pedestrian gates, increasing cycle provision and replacing life expired roofing.
As a Trust we are able to pool our resources and use the very best estates expertise to ensure we deliver a quality educational environment for our learners and staff. We will continue to invest each year to improve environments for all and we have a five year plan of to refurbish and enhance all our school buildings.
At Danes Educational Trust we firmly believe that a clean well maintained school environment respects our learners and the staff who work in our schools.
Learner Voice Council
The Learner Voice Council programme has been established in our secondary schools for the last two years. It is Danes Educational Trust innovative and unique project. Since September we have been delighted to be able to extend the successful Learner Voice Council to all our primary schools. The purpose of the Learner Voice Council is to empower our learners to play a significant part in their schools. The programme guides pupils through university style active research where they work alongside staff to develop the teaching and learning within their school. They identify a project such as improving their outside learning environment. This work encourages pupils to become agents of change within their school community, empowering them to play a part in shaping their own lives and to be successful and confident future leaders.
We were delighted the programme was commented on so positively by Ofsted when they visited Ascot Road Primary school last month. Ofsted reported that the pupils enjoyed the responsibility of being a member of the learner voice council.
Improving our parent communications
Across our schools we are rolling out more features of Arbor, including the Parent App and payments. This will improve the way we are able to communicate with you and allow you to update and view the school related information we hold for your children. It will also support our plan to reduce the number of systems our parents and staff have to use.
Further information, including how to access the app, will be provided by our schools as we carry out the adoption and roll of the Parent App over the coming months.
Taking a strategic view of SEND
Since the beginning of this academic year we have been working with our schools to pool resources and share excellence with regard special educational provision across our schools. There is no doubt since the pandemic SEND needs within our schools has increased. This is in keeping with a national trend. At the same time the as this increase in need we have seen a reduction in external support from the Local Authority or other external agencies. So we decided to address this and ss a trust we have responded proactively to support our schools and vulnerable learners to access quality education regardless of need.
A trust of schools such as Danes Educational Trust is able to work together in order to maximise the SEND provision and outcomes. We have started this work by seconding a Trust Learning Lead for SEND, Nikki Ward from Elstree Screen Arts Academy. Nikki has a wide range of experience of special educational needs including social, emotional and mental heath issues. Throughout the last two terms she has worked with leaders and SENCOs in all our schools and her reflections and initial findings can be read in her blog. The advantage of being in a trust is that we can begin to action a central coordinated response to the increasing SEND needs that are presenting in all schools.
