Welcome back, everyone. I hope you have all managed to enjoy some ‘rest and recuperation’ over the summer.

As always, I’d like to thank our full year staff for their amazing work in the holiday clubs. I know our families and young people really value them.

It has been lovely to see all the new children joining our schools this week. I know for certain that they will be made to feel really welcome. If anyone has any questions or queries, please contact our school teams in the first instance or feel free to email me. My door is always open and if any of you want to pop in for a quick chat or to tell me how your child is getting on, I’m always delighted (!) to hear good news stories.

At the end of last term we said goodbye (and hello again) to two of our most experienced and inspiring school leaders. Margaret Lochhead and Moira Thompson, our head and executive head at Hawthorns, both retired from their roles.

I know that both of them have been instrumental in developing the reputation of Hawthorns and have worked tirelessly to ensure and maintain the school’s success.

When Hawthorns initially approached our trust, it literally took me around 5 minutes to agree with our chair of trustees the opportunities. We believe that our children make accelerated progress by great schools working together.

Margaret established Hawthorns as one of the best schools in the country with her ambitions relating to teaching and learning.

Moira ensured that Hawthorns was always appraised of the national picture.

Margaret is presently taking a well-earned rest and, in the future, will support our teaching school. Moira has joined the central executive team to support and coach our less experienced school leaders. I’d like to publicly, on behalf of all our families and children, thank them for their amazing contributions to the school led system. Truly inspirational.

As one door closes, another opens and I am certain that our new headteacher, Pierre Coiffait, will continue to drive Hawthorns forward. The best schools can (and will) always improve.

Talking about truly inspirational, this week we have seen the publication of the Hollinwood Academy inspection report (available here). It is one of the best inspection reports I have read and even more remarkable as it’s the school’s very first experience of Ofsted.

Brilliant children, wonderful families, exciting curriculum and a staff team totally committed to giving the children the very best. Well done all.

This year I think we will see inspections at New Bridge and Hawthorns – same outcomes please!! No pressure.

Let’s all make this another remarkable school year. I’m so looking forward to it.

Have a great weekend,

Graham

You can find all Graham’s previous blog entries here