Collaboration Is The Keyword As Trust Looks To The Future
Martin Brown, the new Chief Executive of Tollbar Multi Academy Trust, wants to see greater collaboration between the Trust’s academies and the communities they serve.
Tollbar Multi Academy Trust is looking to the future as it celebrates its first decade as a high-performing supporter of local schools. The Trust will build on all that has made it successful so far but will look to greater collaboration with the local community under the guidance of Chief Executive, Martin Brown.
A year into his new role, Mr Brown explained that he feels the time is now right for the Trust to be more outward looking towards the local communities that it serves. “We want to play a part in the local educational landscape by collaborating with other schools, academies and trusts to benefit all learners whether they are part of our trust or not,“ he said.
“We believe that our academies are an integral part of the local community and we want to support local community groups, either through curriculum/fundraising links or the use of our facilities.”
Tollbar Multi Academy Trust was formed in 2012 based around its flagship school Tollbar Academy, a high-performing secondary school with more than 2,000 students, which had already sponsored a failing school to become Cleethorpes Academy in 2010.
The Trust has grown slowly since 2012, adding Reynolds Academy in 2013, Somercotes Academy in 2015, Theddlethorpe Academy in 2016, Pilgrim Academy in April 2017 and Louth Academy in September 2017. The Trust now has four Secondary Academies, one with a Sixth Form College attached, and three Primary Academies, with responsibility for approximately 5,000 students in total.
To date, the Trust has largely taken on schools in difficulty, with Cleethorpes Academy, Somercotes Academy, Theddlethorpe Academy and Louth Academy all previously being Ofsted Category 4 schools and under threat of closure. The remaining three schools were Ofsted Category 3 (Requires Improvement) and had little capacity to improve.
TMAT has had great success in turning the fortunes of these schools around. Cleethorpes, Reynolds, Somercotes and Pilgrim are all now Ofsted rated ‘Good’ schools, with Louth yet to be inspected. The number of pupils at all seven academies has increased, illustrating the widespread support from local parents.
Mr Brown has played a significant role in the improvement of the Trust’s individual schools, as the Principal who led the upturn at Cleethorpes, Somercotes and Louth Academies. Since his appointment as Chief Executive of the Trust in November 2020, he has been leading internal reforms, particularly within HR and Finance.
“We want to keep all that has made the Trust successful and build upon our strengths and our track record of success,” he said.
“We do have a great deal of experience to share, but we also have much to learn from collaboration with others. Our feeder schools are very important to us and we want to build upon the existing relationships we have to work together further and support them however we can.
“In the past we have concentrated heavily on the role in hand which was to ensure that the schools that joined us, often in crisis, improved significantly and swiftly to the benefit of the existing and future students.
“Now we are looking to expand on that by listening more closely to others and becoming a much more integral part of the communities served by our schools.
“Our academies have high standards and the pursuit of excellence in common, but they have their own personalities and the flexibility to provide education that is suited to their students.
“The Central Trust’s role is to offer an effective, efficient and value for money service to our academies so that they can focus on improving teaching and learning and improving educational standards. This will look different in different academies. We want to nourish the similarities and the differences to ensure that our schools best serve their communities. It is not about one size fits all.
“Collaboration is something we have not been able to take full advantage of until now and, as we enter our second decade as a Trust, we are fully aware of the need to improve on that. We all have so much to learn from each other and I look forward to seeing the improvements we can all make by working more closely together.”
Theddlethorpe Academy has a brand new purpose-built Nursery under Tollbar Multi Academy Trust.
Reynolds Academy required improvement when it joined the Trust in 2013. It is now rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted.
Tollbar Academy is the flagship school on which Tollbar Multi Academy Trust has been built. It has been rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted since 2008.
Pilgrim Academy also required improvement when it joined Tollbar Multi Academy Trust in 2017. It is now rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted. On-going Trust investment in the academy includes a fantastic new outdoor Woodland Classroom (pictured).
Louth Academy became a member of TMAT in 2017, uniting two failing schools. In September 2021 it celebrated its largest ever Year 7 cohort. The two sites have been totally refurbished.
Cleethorpes Academy was the first to join the Trust and has thrived under its mentorship, with an Ofsted rating of ‘Good.’