It has been a great privilege to welcome Burrington, Wrington, Churchill and Golden Valley primary schools to our Trust in Term 3. This marks the fourth phase of growth for our Trust and will be completed when Churchill Academy and Sixth Form joins us in April. By then, our Trust will have grown to include 30 schools with over 12,000 students and a staff of over 1,600. This signifies the end of one era and the start of a new one, and I am filled with pride for all that we have accomplished since 2016. We have established effective systems and built a robust and inclusive partnership between our schools, which has been recognised by Ofsted inspections. Our Heads, leaders, and governors now consider the capacity and potential of our entire Trust and not just their own schools, but there remains lots more to do.

To help guide us in our future endeavours, our Trustees commissioned a Challenge Partners Trust Peer Review. MAT Leaders from outside our region visited us for three days in January and provided valuable insights and thought-provoking challenges on how we can improve. As a result, we are currently considering changes in our leadership in Early Years, as well as in our management of information. This is a time for us to consider how our Trust needs to adjust to scale up our ambition to match our size.

Recently, I have been thinking about the relationships between our colleagues. I am proud to say that despite the context of a national strike, we were able to maintain positive and supportive relationships with one another. Our colleagues who participated in the strike felt that our schools were respectful and did not undermine their actions. The NEU was also courteous and positive in their communications with us, and I am particularly grateful for their early notifications of the strike, which allowed us to make early decisions on school closures and maintain the support of our parents.

Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the list of long service awards for our staff. Congratulations and a big thank you to those who have dedicated themselves to public service. If anyone has been missed, please inform your school, and we will ensure they are recognised in the next round of awards.