Welcome Message

I am delighted to introduce myself as the first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of New College Durham Academies Trust. As CEO I have the key strategic role in the leadership of this Trust providing strategic direction for the Corporate Team as well as monitoring the effectiveness of individual academies leadership teams.

I was a Headteacher for ten years and I have substantial experience of school improvement. I am looking forward to the challenges of this role and this includes supporting the current schools in the Trust with their journey of improvement.

My vision is clear, I intend to make sure every school in the Trust offers the minimum of a good education to the children of the communities they serve. Community is very important to me and I want to develop a successful Trust for Durham children.

Developing educational collaboration is important to the Trust, across both schools as well as regionally and nationally with other educational providers. By being an outward facing Trust we will ensure that our students have access to first class learning and staff have access to the best professional development, in order to facilitate successful outcomes for our students. We are determined to provide the very best education for our students and our immediate priority is to rapidly accelerate student outcomes in all of our schools.

We wish to expand our Trust in the next few years and grow a "family of schools" whilst striving to maintain academies which will retain their own independent culture and ethos whilst operating effectively and efficiently. I look forward to working with all out stakeholders and communities in order to realise this vision.