Twyford Church of England Academies Trust

Twyford Church of England Academies Trust is a multi-academy trust based in West London and affiliated to the London Diocesan Board for Schools. It currently consists of just two academies in the London Borough of Ealing - Twyford Church of England High School and William Perkin Church of England High School - though the Trust received permission in October 2014 to open a third academy provisionally named North Twyford C of E High School. The Trust, in partnership with the local authority, is the hub for and part of the Ealing Teaching School Alliance (ETSA), an alliance of local schools.

History

Twyford Church of England Academies Trust was set up in October 2011 in order to allow the Diocese to use the strengths built up at Twyford CofE High School to be developed beyond a single school. The aim of the Trust is to deliver outstanding educational standards in a secure Christian setting.

History of Twyford CofE High School

Twyford C of E High School was originally set up by the London Diocesan Board for schools in 1981 and is one of a family of 13 LDBS secondary schools within the city. The school opened as the result of a concerted campaign by local parents. It was rated by Osfted in its most recent inspection as ‘Outstanding’ overall and has a considerable reputation within the Diocese and the local area. The school has also grown in size during this time with a particular increase in post-16 students. There are now 944 students in years 7-11 and 511 in the 6th Form.

History of William Perkin CofE High School

The Trust has opened a second school in September 2013, The William Perkin CofE High School, with its first cohort of 180 Year 7 students.^[1]

Community

The Trust’s Christian ethos encourages students to have a strong sense of community – both in relation to the school and in the area of wider social concern. All sixth from students are encouraged to undertake some form of community service either within school or in the wider community. Effective recent examples have been involvement in a soup kitchen at a local church and running language clubs at a feeder primary school.^[2]

There is an active chaplaincy with a full-time chaplain who orchestrates the worship life of the school. All assemblies, though taken by a range of staff, are framed by a short Christian liturgy which is led by students. Similarly there are brief daily tutor-time reflections prepared by the chaplaincy for staff to utilise using form chaplaincy representatives.

Ethos and Vision

Driving the Trust's ethos is the House system which exists in both Trust schools and works vertically - grouping the whole school into seven multi-age communities. This complements and contrasts with the pastoral system which works horizontally. The house system works predominantly on the principal of student leadership, giving students at all ages opportunities to hold roles of responsibility in Music, Sport, Enterprise or on year and school councils.^[3]

Staff

The staff community is a diverse one made up of over 100 teaching staff and over 80 non-teaching. All staff are required to support the Christian ethos of the school, though their own backgrounds are wide-ranging.

The Trust is governed by a Board of Directors which is made up of local Church of England representatives, the chairs of school governing bodies, elected staff representatives, elected parent representatives and the Executive Head Teacher. Currently the Chair of the Board is Mrs Christine Peppiatt, a London Diocesan Board for Schools nominee.

Twyford Academies Executive Group

The day-to-day work of the Trust is managed by an Executive Group comprising:

Executive Head Teacher

The inaugural and current Executive Head Teacher is Dame Alice Hudson. Alice Hudson is a member of the Trust Board of Directors and works closely with the other Directors to provide strategic leadership for the organisation.

After graduating with an English degree from Oxford University, Hudson took up a career in teaching English and Religious Education. Before becoming Executive Head Teacher of the Trust she was Head Teacher of Twyford C of E High School for 11 years.

Hudson was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in the The Queen’s 2016 90th Birthday Honours for services to Education and received special mention in the official Cabinet Office Press Release;^[4] the citation for her award recognised her consistent work to improve educational standards in a career spanning over 30 years.^[5]

Associate Head Teachers

Twyford

The inaugural and current holder of this position is Karen Barrie, who is Associate Head Teacher with responsibility for Twyford CofE High School.

After graduating from the University of Manchester, Barrie took up a career in teaching Maths. Before taking up her current post Barrie was Deputy Head Teacher at the school for nine years.

William Perkin

The inaugural and current holder of this position is Keir Smith, who is Associate Head Teacher with responsibility for William Perkin CofE High School.

Smith's teaching specialism is Geography and before taking up his current post he was Deputy Head Teacher of Twyford CofE High School for 10 years.

Director of Finance and Operations

The inaugural and current holder of this position is Richard Lane. Lane is responsible for the central Trust functions of Finance, HR, ICT, Estates, Administration and Information.^[6]

References

External links

• Twyford CofE High School website
• Twyford Academies Trust