Thank You from our CEO

As another academic year draws to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to pass on my thanks to you all for the part you have played in making 2017 - 2018 our most successful yet at LEO Academy Trust. In the three years since the formation of our Trust, things have gone from strength to strength. Collectively, far more of our children now reach the Expected Standard at the end of each Key Stage, with large numbers now working at Greater Depth. Together, we provide so many more opportunities for children & staff alike, than each school individually offered back in 2015. Most of all, a real sense of community and the desire to deeply collaborate at all levels of our Trust is now starting to grow.

We can be proud of the opportunities we have provided for our children: our KS2 LEO Music Concert, the Year 6 Summer Celebration, the regular Reading Zone Live video conferences, our many sporting competitions and more recently our Year 4 Times Tables Tournament to name just a few. Our CPD programmes for staff continue to add value across the Trust and we can be proud to have our own NQT, RQT, middle leaders and aspiring heads courses. Our first professional learning team has also been established and is providing valuable research to ensure future school improvement decisions are rooted in evidence.

There has been huge change in 2018 too. Thank you for your support and patience as we move the Trust into the Cloud with our new partnerships with Google and the London Grid for Learning. Cloud transformation will be at the heart of our new five year MAT strategic plan, with the power to have a significant and positive impact on all aspects of Trust life. Central procurement has already saved our academies over £100,000 thanks to improvement contracts with providers such as SMART and London Grid for Learning. Savings such as this, make more money available to spend directly in the classroom on our pupils at each academy.

In the classroom, each academy provides high quality teaching we can all be proud of and learn from. End of key stage results improved at EYFS, KS1 and KS2 in 2018. Genuine support from academy to academy, with a willingness to learn from each other has had a clear impact on pupil outcomes.

At EYFS, 73% of children now reach GLD across the Trust, with an amazing 89% passing the Phonics threshold at the end of Year 1. In KS1, 74% of children leave Year 2 having reached the Expected Standard in Reading, Writing & Maths. 82% are now at the expected standard for Reading by the end of KS1 with 77% for Writing & 85% for Maths. Impressive numbers are also working at Greater Depth within the Expected Standard by the end of KS1 across our Trust in 2018:

✅ Reading - 34%

✅ Writing - 25%

✅ Maths - 29%

✅ RWM - 20%

At KS2, we are also celebrating excellent KS2 National Curriculum Test results at our academies for 2018. Our Reading, Writing & Maths combined MAT average has soared to 83% at Expected Standard & 28% at Greater Depth. 89% reached the Expected Standard in Reading across the Trust, with 90% in Writing & 93% in Maths. Again, children reached Greater Depth within the Expected Standard in large numbers by the end of KS2 across our Trust in 2018:

✅ Reading - 46%

✅ Writing - 37%

✅ Maths - 46%

✅ RWM - 28%

So thank you once again to all our pupils, parents, staff, governors, trustees & members across the Trust for your hard work & dedication this year. Everyone can be very proud of our collective achievements and look forward to a very bright future.

Keep spreading our LEO PRIDE values in all aspects of school life and thank you for keeping our vision at the heart of all we do:

Learning. Excellence. Opportunity.

I look forward to seeing you all at our annual LEO Conference on 29th October at Epsom College.

Have a wonderful Summer,

Phillip Hedger

Chief Executive