Artwork by Kate Duff - St Anthony’s Catholic Academy, Sunderland

Winter 2021

Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust

Better Schools Better Communities Better Futures in Christ

Chadwick

Team Talk

www.bccet.org.uk

Trust schools among the best

Chadwick staff awards

Taking care of wellbeing

Chadwick’s Kitchen

Parent Power recognises our schools

Inaugural awards launched in 2022

Update on courses

See what’s cooking up a storm

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Chadwick TeamTalk

Hitting the headlines our schools in the news As 2021 draws to a close, it’s been a successful start to the academic year. Although it’s not been without challenges, especially around covid-related absences and restrictions, we’ve shown strength, resilience and, with Christ in our hearts, positivity to rise above adversity and succeed. It’s been great to see our schools operate as normally as possible during these pandemic times and we’ve celebrated whole school achievements as well as outstanding individual efforts. At St Joseph’s in Jarrow, the school created a wonderful book hunt for pupils and the local community to get involved in during the half-term holiday. Whoever finds a St Joseph’s book is encouraged to continue the act of kindness in the hope that the trail can keep going until the new year. Climate change has also been a key theme in the media recently and the Trust has been at the forefront of sustainable and ecofriendly issues. BBC Look North spoke to St Wilfrid’s pupils about their thoughts on climate change and what was achieved at COP26. Our CEO was interviewed by the Times Education Supplement (TES) about the role schools play in addressing the climate emergency. We’ve also seen extensive coverage of the Trust’s partnership with Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust as part of a £1.85 million joint trust investment for a LED lighting replacement programme, removing over 1,100 tonnes of carbon every year across 58 schools. Then there’s the incredible individual achievements. Just a few pupils that have made the headlines since our last TeamTalk include Hollie Akers, a St Bede’s Catholic School, Peterlee pupil, Josita Kavitha Thirumalai, from St Anthony’s and St Bede’s Primary School’s Rose Blair. Hollie was not only offered a place on the highly prestigious OxNet programme but also won the national essay prize for her course category. Josita won the 2021 Lord Glenamara Prize following nomination by her classmates and teachers. Rose Blair left St Bede’s in South Shields in the summer after winning a scholarship at one of the UK’s most prestigious ballet schools in her quest to become a professional ballerina.

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Once again, pupils and schools have excelled in their academic, social and local community activities living out our mission of Better Schools, Better Communities and Better Futures in Christ. Qualities such as inspiration, dedication, intelligence, kindness and joy have shone through. Our achievements are a credit to our entire Trust community who consistently work so diligently and tirelessly. As we enter 2022, we will continue to celebrate our amazing schools, staff and pupils. Their hard work, fantastic talent and steadfast perseverance never goes unnoticed, and we’re keen to showcase this as much as we can. Our growing Trust has achieved so much and, as we welcome new schools in the new year, it’s important that we highlight the brilliant work that is being done.

Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust

Tapping Talk By Brendan Tapping CEO, Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust

I am delighted to see we end another eventful year with more primaries joining our family of schools.

The 21 we end the year with will increase as we welcome further colleagues on board in January and February, reaching a total of 34 by the summer. We are making timely progress in developing a cohesive Trust culture and I have been impressed by the positivity and coming together of all the Headteachers, their schools and the central team as we progress on this journey. Strong collaboration and partnership are becoming real traits of the Trust, and this is well reflected in our innovative curriculum continuity project, enhancing the links between our primary and secondary schools. The fabulous work here has been recognised nationally by both Ofsted and DfE. More broadly, it’s disappointing to see that once again, Covid is disrupting Advent and our Christmas season. Many carol services and nativity plays that would usually take place in our schools have not been able to take place or have had to follow a quite different format. We had hoped to host a Trustwide Carol Service this month but once again Covid, and concerns about a new variant, meant we were forced to cancel. Despite such challenges we have seen our talented staff and pupils pull together to deliver many notable achievements across our schools, some of which we have proactively promoted through our local media (highlighted on page 2 of TeamTalk). Given the continued pressure that everyone has been under, I would like to say a huge, personal thank you to all staff. So many of you have shown outstanding resilience and flexibility along with a strong commitment to the education and wellbeing of our children. I remain confident about prospects for 2022 and believe that if we all commit to our mission – of delivering ‘Better Schools. Better Communities. Better Futures in Christ’ we ‘can achieve great things.’ The closing year also means we bid farewell to Monica Shepherd who has been fully committed in her work over many years leading the outstanding St Anthony’s in Sunderland. Her legacy speaks for itself. I wish her well in her new role as Director of Teacher Training at Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust. Before I sign-off, can I take this opportunity to not only wish you a very merry Christmas but to ask you to remember to stay safe during your festivities with family and different households.

Spelling bee competition

The Bishop Chadwick Trust Spelling Bee competition – which gets underway this coming spring term - is an exciting extra-curricular opportunity to test the spelling prowess of our Key Stage Three pupils across all five Trust secondary schools. The idea came from pupils at one of the Chadwick Chats events with our CEO. The Trust was happy to implement and develop a competition. Weekly meetings will incorporate fun spelling activities as well as vocabulary challenges. Pupils work together to solve countdown conundrums, play word games like Boggle and Scrabble and complete quick-fire spelling quizzes. Pupils have been tasked with learning to spell a comprehensive and challenging list of 100 words. Pupils will then compete in three different stages of competition to be crowned the champions of this year’s spelling bee. The plan is to host the first stage of the competition in the spring term with the final being around about May/June. We hope at least 100 pupils will be involved across all the schools. Many pupils have already had an introductory session at this point.

Brendan www.bccet.org.uk

Chadwick TeamTalk

Staff moves and promotions There have been lots of new staff who joined Bishop Chadwick this term so we’re only able to highlight a selection here, but we want to wish a very warm welcome to all our new starters! Kickstart employees The Kickstart Scheme is a new government programme, delivering funding to employers offering new jobs for 16-24 years olds.

Nicole Murray

Ellis Liddle

As a Trust we saw this as an opportunity to support the communities in which our schools operate, helping young people gain valuable experience while reducing unemployment. It adds much needed capacity to our schools to support them through very challenging circumstances. We have appointed five people via the kickstart scheme, currently within four of our schools. SCHOOL

POSITION NAME

St Joseph’s Primary Jarrow

Kickstart TA

Nicole Murray

St Joseph’s Primary Jarrow

Kickstart Admin

Ellis Liddle

St Leonard’s Primary Sunderland

Kickstart TA

Natalie Robson

Our Lady of the Rosary Peterlee

Kickstart TA

Jessica Tweedy

St Wilfrid’s RC College South Shields

Kickstart TA

Lei Fabula

Senior appointments Natalie Robson

Lei Fabula

• Francesca Craik, will be the Acting Executive Headteacher across St Anthony’s Girls’ Catholic Academy from 1 January 2022 (in addition to St Wilfrid’s RC College) • Frances Cessford, appointed Headteacher at St Bede’s Catholic School and Byron Sixth Form College from 1 January 2022

• James ‘Ali’ McConway, appointed new Assistant Headteacher (Pastoral) at St Joseph’s Catholic Academy from January 2022. • Dionne Dunn, is the temporary Acting Head of School at St Leonard’s Catholic Primary School in Sunderland • Catherine Hammill, appointed Acting Head of School at St Anthony’s Girls’ Catholic Academy from 1 January 2022

Central team new starters

Francesca Craik

• Helen Kelly, Asst Finance Manager

• Jordan Walker, Apprentice IT Engineer

• Jill Lindsey, HR Adviser

• Sarah Irving, Communication and Marketing Manager from January 2022

• Lesley Swales, Asst Catering Manager

• Carter Gillyon, Apprentice IT Engineer

Internal promotions • Anna Harrison, appointed Governance Manager (from Policy and Partnerships Manager)

Frances Cessford

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• Nathan McPhee, appointed Acting Lead IT Engineer (from IT Engineer)

Finally, a fond farewell this Christmas to Monica Shepherd, Headteacher, St Anthony’s Girls’ Catholic Academy who has worked at the school for over 30 years.

Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust

A belief in good housekeeping, good food and staff development Good governance is critical to the running of the Trust. The ultimate responsibility for the running of our schools resides with the Directors of the Trust. They set the strategic direction. In the latest of a series of chats with our Directors we turn to John Deighan MBE to explain his background, role, and a key value he brings to the organisation. Today, I am retired after spending a career in hospitality. Coming from Ireland, I graduated from the College of Hotel Management, Shannon in 1974. I then moved to England to work for Trust House Forte. After that, I joined Swallow Hotels where I worked from 1975 to 2001 when it had been taken over by Whitbread. During my period at Swallow, I had various management positions including that of General Manager in several hotels in Scotland and England, company HR Director for nine years and Regional Director for the group in the North of England. I was responsible for 34 hotels and the implementation of the Investors in People programme. I was privileged to be awarded the MBE for a project I was involved in relating to the Government’s initiative in the late 90s for long term young unemployed people entitled New Deal. After leaving the group, I along with a colleague set up our own small hotel company and built and ran three hotels in Darlington, Sheffield, and Dumfries. We sold out in 2015 to enjoy retirement. It was in early 2020, around the onset of the pandemic, that I was invited to join the Trust. I was brought up a Catholic and my three sons all went to St Aidan’s Academy, in Sunderland. I had also been a governor at St Benet’s Catholic Primary School, Sunderland, and a member of the board of governors in Sunderland College. Most recently I was involved in the recruitment of food suppliers for the

Trust. As part of the exercise I had to sample a school dinner at St Wilfrid’s, an experience I have not had since the 60s. I am very happy to report it was excellent. During the tendering process we also tasted some of the suppliers’ proposed food and compared food costs based on our required specifications. Each supplier gave a formal presentation. Due to my background in hotel management and hospitality, the Trust thought I could bring some useful experience to the process, which I hope I did. Important considerations for the Trust involved the supply chain and deliveries. The Trust is committed to reducing its carbon footprint and is looking to its suppliers to understand how they are in addressing the issue and, in this case, how they engage with their suppliers and food producers. Keeping it local, where possible, is important to us. Brendan and his team have already produced a plan of objectives to improve the quality of food across all the Trust’s schools. They are focussed on nutrition within meals, and ideally want wholesome food that is cooked in-house. Catering is a big issue for schools as today there are so many dietary requirements and allergies. The Trust is keen to offer multiple options for pupils, whilst at the same time serving high quality nourishing healthy food that will assist the children in their learning. We appointed a regional butcher based in Gateshead for our meat supplies along with a more generalist food supplier with a distribution centre in Newton Aycliffe.

Elsewhere, I hope I can bring a distinct perspective to the Trust, adding value where I can. I’m not an educationalist as I was in business all my life. In that environment we were committed to the highest possible quality of service and product and of course to grow a progressive and profitable business. As a result, I understand the need to invest where required and control the associated costs to maintain a successful and effective ongoing operation. It is important, therefore, for the Trust to be self-funding, self-sufficient, and have a sustainable financial future. School pupil numbers are growing across most schools and aside from providing excellent education we need to be financially secure. With a strong background in HR, I also hope I can play a role in the development of staff across the Trust. The right recruitment and retention will be important HR matters.

Message from the Directors The Directors would like to thank all staff working for the Trust for their outstanding dedication to their roles during the pandemic. God bless you all.

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Chadwick TeamTalk

Former schoolboy hailed ‘Best Newcomer’ at national student radio awards A partially sighted former St Joseph’s Catholic Academy pupil has won a highly acclaimed accolade at the national student radio awards. Chrissy Cameron, who has very limited sight in both eyes, was named ‘Best Newcomer’ at the 2021 Student Radio Awards (SRAs) which is sponsored by BBC Sounds and Global. The award follows Chrissy enrolling onto a media production course in September 2020 at Sunderland University. Not long after starting the course, Chrissy joined the university’s radio station, Spark FM, where he presents a weekly hip hop show that attracts an army of student listeners every Monday night.

Chrissy said: “I’m totally over the moon to win the Best Newcomer Award at such a prestigious event. “Presenting my own radio show is what I’ve always wanted to do and Spark FM has given me an incredible platform to gain hands-on experience of running my own show, managing the content and attracting a regular fan base. “I think disability is a misleading term because it suggests that you’re less able and that’s not true. I might have eyesight challenges but I can still pursue my life goals and I hope I encourage others in my situation to do the same.”

Andrew Young, religious studies teacher at Hebburn-based St Joseph’s Catholic Academy, said: “I’ll always remember how positive Chrissy was while being fiercely resilient and strong willed too. He never once let his disability get in the way of who he was, shape his ambitions or hold him back in any way. He’s a great model to all young people.”

Hebburn’s ‘Primary School of the Year’ retains ‘Outstanding’ rating A primary school in Hebburn voted Primary School of the Year at this year’s Times Educational Supplement (TES) awards is celebrating more good news following a recent Ofsted inspection. St Aloysius Junior School, part of the Trust, has retained its Ofsted ‘outstanding’ grading following a visit in September. The new report highlighted that, as a school, St Aloysius is ‘always pushing forward to improve’ with a ‘drive and determination to provide the highest quality education and experiences for pupils.’ Kathryn Fenwick, Acting Headteacher at St Aloysius Catholic Infant and Junior School, said: “It truly is an incredible achievement for us to maintain this grading, not only to be inspected following the most challenging times we’ve ever experienced as a school community

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but also under a Ofsted framework which sets even higher expectations than before. “It’s been a wonderful academic year so far and heart-warming to see our children learning in school, happy and healthy. “I am so proud of the school we’ve built where a sense of belonging and community is so very tangible.” The Ofsted report also spoke highly of the environment that the school has created for children, noting that ‘pupils love coming to school’ and that St Aloysius is a school ‘built on care, and care in action’. The curriculum across a large range of subjects was praised throughout

the inspection, with many subjects shared with inspectors described as a ‘triumph’. Kathryn continued: “As we continue to return to a more normal teaching timetable in school, there will be some exciting new curriculum developments as we move forward to ensure our school continues to be the very best it can be. “The latest inspection is a tribute to our whole school community from governors and teachers to parents and, of course, our brilliant pupils.” School leaders at St Aloysius are sharing intelligence with other schools in the Trust to help them be more prepared for Ofsted.

Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust

Two schools named best in North East Two schools – a primary and secondary – both in Sunderland have made a coveted nationally recognised list that highlights the best schools in the country. Parent Power, The Sunday Times Schools Guide 2022 rated St Joseph’s Primary in Millfield as the best primary school in the North East. The school, set to join the Trust early next year, has been placed at the top of the table of the region’s 10 best primaries. One school currently within the Trust has also been recognised in the 29th edition of The Sunday Times guide as one of Britain’s highest achieving secondary schools in the state sector. St Anthony’s Girls’ Catholic Academy was ranked 10th best secondary school in the North East. Brendan Tapping, Trust CEO, said: “It’ a credit to the wonderful staff and pupils at both St Joseph’s and St Anthony’s to be named in such a prestigious, highly regarded school guide. “Both schools, like all of the schools within our Trust, provide welcoming, diverse and nurturing environments for our children where learning, kindness and excellence are championed with Christ in our hearts.

“We always strive to be the best versions of ourselves we can be, and we teach children why it’s important to aim for this across all aspects of life. “The 2022 Parent Power recognition demonstrates how child-centred we are as a Trust with each of our schools putting their interests first, encouraging them to fulfil their potential throughout their education journey. “A special mention must go to St Joseph’s which has been named not just one of the leading primary schools in England, but the best primary in the North East. Huge congratulations to the entire school community.” The Parent Power school guide ranked all of the secondary schools based on their examination results from the year 2017 to 2019. Primary school rankings were based on the average outcomes achieved by schools in Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) in the year 2017 through to 2019. The guide did not take into account teacher-assessed grades in the last two academic years. For more information about Parent Power, The Sunday Times Schools Guide, visit: https://www. thetimes.co.uk/article/best-ukschools-guide-parent-powertr95xdztg

St Anthony’s Girls Catholic Academy

Schools we welcome to the Trust A big welcome to those schools – and their communities – who recently joined the Trust. On October 1 we had four schools who joined: St Bede’s Catholic Primary School, in Jarrow Moya Rooney

St James Catholic Primary School, in Hebburn St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, in Blackhall

Francesca Heslop

Lisa Ashton

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School, in Shotton Francesca Heslop is Headteacher at St James’ and Moya Rooney at St Bede’s; and Lisa Ashton is Executive Head at St Joseph’s, and Our Lady of Lourdes.

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Chadwick TeamTalk

Celebrating success and our Gospel values In this issue of TeamTalk we are ‘pre-launching’ our inaugural Chadwick Celebration Awards to recognise all the valuable and inspiring work undertaken by staff around our primary and secondary schools as well as our central team. In line with one of our key values of Celebration, the Trust is committed to celebrating and recognising all the great successes we have – whether as a team or an individual. Many talented and committed people across the Trust make a significant difference in the lives of our pupils and their families. We have so many outstanding examples of staff ‘going the extra mile’ and this is your chance to recognise and nominate those that you think have stood out and gone above and beyond to help others. This has been particularly evident during the past couple of years when the dedication shown to the education and wellbeing of our pupils has been exceptional. We have so many outstanding examples of staff ‘going the extra mile.’ This is the chance for people to recognise and nominate those they think have stood out and stretched themselves to help others. Our Awards won’t be formally launched until January when nominations will be invited. However, we can give some indication of what will be coming.

The award categories are based around the Trust’s values and the nominations are open until April 8 2022: • Gospel Values • Teacher of the Year (Secondary) • Teacher of the Year (Primary) • New Teacher of the Year • Leadership and Management Awards (Education) • Leadership and Management Award (Support Teams / Central Services) • Team of the Year • Staff Member of the Year (Classroom Based) • Staff member of the year (Support Staff / Central Services • Mentor of the Year • SCITT/Teach First Trainee of the Year • Partnership and Engagement Awards (All) • Achievement Award • Governance Award • Inspirational Staff Awards (Nominated by Pupils)

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Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust

So many talented and committed people across the Trust make a significant difference in the lives of our pupils and their families.

Entries for each award will be judged by a panel comprising Trust directors and our CEO. Winners will be announced at a black tie awards event at Ramside Hall, County Durham on July 8, 2022. All those shortlisted will be invited. This is definitely something to celebrate and look forward to in the new year. More details will follow then. • Deb Mollon, Executive Assistant in the central team is co-ordinating the co-ordinating Chadwick Celebration Awards. If you would like more information please email [email protected]

Chadwick TeamTalk

“Every day in my job is different. I love the diversity and challenges that every day brings.”

HeadsUp

Lisa Ashton Executive Headteacher

Each issue we feature an interview with one of our Headteachers. Meet Lisa Ashton, Executive Headteacher at Our Lady of Lourdes, and St Joseph’s Primary, Blackhall.

Time in post? I have been Headteacher at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School for more than 10years; and in September 2019, I was seconded to St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Blackhall, as Executive Head. That was made permanent from October 2021 when both schools federated to join the Trust.

Previous job? I have worked in education all my career and before becoming a Head I was Deputy Headteacher at Our Lady of Lourdes. My original plan was to come into mainstream education for a year before moving into special schools – but as you can see, that never happened.

What do you most love about the job? First and foremost, it’s the children. I love to see them develop, thrive and flourish. I genuinely feel privileged to be part of their journey, and it might sound cliched, but to make a difference. Every day in my job is different. I love the diversity and challenges that every day brings.

What’s the most challenging aspect you face? The greatest challenge is the pace at which things are moving and having to manage two schools. Some days can be a challenge when everything seems to be a priority. The pandemic, of course, has had a massive impact but I am delighted how well everyone rose to the challenge.

Key strengths of your school? The pastoral support and our inclusivity are real strengths at both primary schools. We know our children really well. Our staff treat each child as a unique person and work hard to support them to be the best they can be.

What are you most proud of? On a personal note, I am proud of my two children and the wonderful young adults that they have turned into. Professionally, I am proud of how staff in both schools go above and beyond to ensure that our children feel safe and happy, in a caring and nurturing environment.

Favourite hobbies? I’m a born and bred Sunderland fan. I always enjoying going to the matches. I love the Northumberland coastline, walking along the beaches and finishing with a cappuccino. To relax I practice mindfulness. And when I find the time, I enjoy going to the theatre and cinema.

What’s something you want to do in the next year that you’ve never done before? (set by previous HT) I’m hoping, after a two-year delay caused by the pandemic, I can travel to Germany to watch my son take part in the amateur European Triathlon event in Munich in August next year; this will be followed by the amateur World Triathlon event later in the year.

Lisa’s question for next issue’s Headteacher If you could have lunch with a VIP/celeb (dead or alive) who would that be, where and why?

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Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust

Christmas card competition As our Trust grows, this year we invited pupils from all schools to take part in a competition to design our Trust Christmas card. The response was fantastic from the schools - we were overwhelmed by the number of entries and the quality of art work on display. In fact, it proved too difficult to choose just one winner, so a winning entry from a secondary and from a primary school was chosen. These beautiful pictures, designed by Kate Duff from St Anthony’s Girl’s Catholic Academy and Grace

Harland from St James’ Catholic Primary School, have been sent out to our stakeholders and, as you’ll see, feature on the front and back covers of this magazine. We received too many to publish all entries here, but below are a selection from some of the schools. We’re sure you’ll agree we have some very creative pupils in our schools!

A time to stop, reflect and wait By Liz Boylan, Lead Chaplain Maybe I am being more observant than normal, but this year it felt that no sooner had November begun than the Christmas decorations arrived. We seem to have blinked and all of a sudden, we are racing through Advent heading rapidly toward Christmas. Sometimes, I often think we are always looking towards to the next thing, instead of being in and enjoying the moment, not thinking about what is next. We are almost too quick to tick things of the everlasting to do list and move on. We spend time on preparing for Christmas, running about buying presents, having a panic about “shortages” or which toy is the must have that we cannot manage to get hold of. Advent is the Church’s way of telling us to stop, reflect and wait. Pope Francis said “Brothers and sisters, in prayer there is always a question of patience, always, of supporting the wait. Now we are in the time of Advent, a time that is typically of expectation; of expectation of Christmas. We are in waiting. This is clear to see. But all our life is also in waiting. And prayer is always in expectation because we know that the Lord will answer.” (Audience, 2020) In what is left of Advent let us listen to this message: it is time to look at ourselves, a time to prepare ourselves; a time of being able to renew ourselves, and a where we are reminded how to wait for the coming of Christ.

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Chadwick TeamTalk

Shine a spotlight Each issue of this newsletter we focus on an individual performing a key role within the Trust that has an impact on all our schools. This issue we speak to Barry Graham, our Cloud Services Designer, working for the Trust across all our schools.

Barry Graham

Q: Where do you call home?

Q: What are your outside work interests?

I live in Houghton-Le-Spring with my wife and little boy, although we also spend time on weekends at our caravan in Teesdale.

I enjoy spending time with my family, going for long walks in the country and visiting local places of interest. As you can probably tell, I am a bit of a geek and love my smart home tech! I have a robot lawnmower and robot vacuum cleaner. Is that lazy or cool? Don’t ask my wife!

Q: What were you doing before you started working for the Trust? For the past 10 years, I have worked at St Cuthbert’s Primary School starting as an IT Technician then progressing to Network Manager. More recently I had a split role where I spent some of my time as a teaching assistant working with all year groups and specialised in working with children with ASD. I have enjoyed my time at St Cuthbert’s and found interacting and assisting the children fulfilling. My new role allows me to embrace my passion for IT and design which is certainly bringing a different dynamic to my workday.

Q: What does a typical day look like for you? In my role every day is different. I am the dedicated IT support for several schools within the Trust and spend some of my time visiting these schools to help with their IT needs. This can include routine work such as setting up new equipment and software installations as well as emergency support for unexpected issues. The majority of my time is spent on graphic design across the Trust. I am responsible for the “Having a single, coherent design of digital and system will provide benefits printed media for both staff and our pupils such as school in terms of time saving and prospectus’, ease of accessibility.” enrolment leaflets Barry Graham, and advertising Cloud services Designer banners.

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Q: What’s something most people don’t know about you? I once rode the longest zipline at over 40mph across a bay in the Caribbean.

Q: How will you engage with individual schools? Some of my role is behind the scenes working with the central team on various projects such as advertising and the creation of the Trust intranet system. However, my interaction with individual schools all depends on their needs. This can be a range of IT support and graphic design work for which I liaise directly with headteachers.

Q: What’s likely to be the biggest challenge and opportunity? My biggest ongoing challenge is setting up our Trust intranet, ensuring the intranet will be the central source for collaboration, communication and information across the Trust enabling seamless integration for all staff. As we continue to grow and more schools join the Trust, the key area of opportunity is alignment of our computer systems, design focus and external media allowing for consistent communication with our internal partners and our external image. Having a single, coherent system will provide benefits for both staff and our pupils in terms of time saving and ease of accessibility.

Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust

Success for innovative collaboration between our schools As mentioned in the last issue of TeamTalk, an innovative Curriculum Continuity Project has been successfully implemented across our primary and secondary schools in geography and history.

By Nick Conway, School Improvement Lead The initiative, which has improved collaboration between teachers in our primary and secondary schools to help connect KS2 and KS3 teaching, has now been extended to more subjects and schools across the Trust. As well as geography and history, the project has been implemented in science, art, modern foreign languages, PE, design technology and music. Primary and secondary teachers have met together regularly to write

new sequences of learning based on a deeper understanding of what each school teaches within specific subject areas. It has provided immense benefits with key ideas woven through each topic. What pupils must know and be able to do at the end of each module are clearly identified. The new initiative has impacted pupils positively because they can understand how it fits with what they already know and can remember.

And the best part about it? Pupils are excited to learn about a wide range of topics across subject areas. We are now starting to develop the way we assess our children beyond KS3 and are being asked to share our process with a range of external local, regional and national partners including neighbouring schools and Schools North East. We have also been asked to participate in DfE expert curriculum panels. Watch this space!

Developing our workforce Our HR Manager, Claire Druery, leads on the HR strategy for the Trust which centres around people development. As part of this, workforce development has been identified as a strategic priority for the Trust. In particular, it is recognised that the professional development of staff will help ensure consistent application of policies and procedures. Bringing groups of leaders together also provides key opportunities to embed the Trust values into every day practice and decision making. This term CPD sessions have been delivered covering a range of key areas: l New staff induction l Attendance management (employees) l Handling difficult conversations l Performance Management & linked policies l Recruitment & selection l SCR training l Financial Handbook l Safer Recruitment l Procurement training

New to Catholic Education Risk Management l Attendance Policy (pupils) In total, 506 people have attended professional development sessions, and 38 CPD sessions have been delivered since September 2021. CPD sessions have been tailored to the audience. High quality advice and guidance has been delivered to Headteachers, business and support staff, senior and middle leaders and Governors and Directors. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive with 100% of the 506 attendees saying that they had learnt something from the session attended. Some feedback includes: “The session was well delivered and thorough with real-life working examples that were relatable” (business lead) “Training was good. Everyone friendly and very helpful when questions were asked. Slides from the training very useful to have at hand to refer back to” (senior leader) l l

“Well structured, relevant and succinct. Not too formal - able to ask questions along the way” (business lead) More training will take place in the new year when we are also commencing on a tender process for a leadership development package which will equip our organisation with the tools needed for continued success as we grow and develop.

Claire Druery, HR Manager www.bccet.org.uk

Chadwick TeamTalk

Taking care of Trust wellbeing We have made a strong commitment to raise the profile of the importance of the mental health and wellbeing of all of our staff and pupils across the Trust.

“A fantastic course that helps the participants to know how to support their colleagues and signpost them if required to the relevant health professionals.” Brendan Tapping, Trust CEO

Staff and pupil wellbeing is a strategic priority for the Trust. Such is its importance that we have a dedicated Mental Health Coordinator, Louise Swailes, who leads on support for pupils and works collaboratively alongside Claire Druery, HR Manager, and her team to ensure a joined up wellbeing strategy incorporating pupils and staff.

Pupil wellbeing has also been examined with a mental health audit taking place across Trust schools. The results of this will be reported back to Local Governing Committees as well a our Directors next year. In the meantime, a team of counsellors in schools has been established to provide crucial support to those children and young people who require it.

Recent initiatives to improve staff wellbeing include the Workload and Wellbeing survey, which has been completed across our Trust at the same time as last year to enable accurate comparisons. The data gathered from this is currently being analysed to ensure we have an accurate picture of our workforce and can implement any actions needed.

In addition, we have built on the government’s expectation that every school and central team should have at least one Mental Health First Aider on the staff by targeting primarily the senior leadership team and the pastoral staff in all of our schools to undertake Mental Health First Aid training.

You might remember in our last issue we talked about the development of our ‘fair workload charter’. Since then, the draft of this was shared for formal consultation with a range of stakeholders, including all employees, trade union representatives and Governors. Look out for the final version which will be shared with all very soon!

“The MHFA training provided me with an indepth understanding of mental health. I now have a wider understanding of how to recognise signs of poor mental health and how to support someone in this situation. The training also facilitated me in understanding the importance of personal wellbeing. I felt well supported by the training provider and found all resources relevant. The resources we were able to take home were detailed and provide further longterm insight into mental health challenges faced by all today and strategies to assist them. I thoroughly enjoyed the training and would highly recommend it.’ Hannah King, a Teaching Assistant at St Wilfrid’s Catholic College.

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It is an accredited 2-day course that focusses on spotting the signs of mental ill health and gives strategies to be able to best respond and signpost on. All delegates have reported an increase in knowledge and confidence around responding to mental health issues in their setting. During this term, 53 members of staff have undertaken have completed either the MHFA training or a refresher. Covid has caused some minor disruption. More dates will be scheduled in the new year. Delegates from all areas of our organisation have attended including teaching staff, office staff, catering staff and SLT including the CEO himself. This demonstrates how committed we are to embedding the care of the mental health and wellbeing of our pupils and staff into the culture of our Trust.

Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust

There’s something cooking in our kitchens In the summer term, our new Catering Manager, Karen Evans joined the Trust followed by Assistant Catering Manager, Lesley Swales in October. Since they joined us, we’ve seen some exciting developments in our school kitchens Through ‘Chadwick’s Kitchen’ all primary schools now have the same menu and we are currently rolling out the secondary menu. These new menus have resulted in an uptake in most schools, some as significant as 15% increase in pupils staying for lunch.

These initiatives, along with development of a Trust Health and Safety manual, enhanced training for all kitchen staff and more joined up collaborative working across the schools, are having a significant impact on providing a high quality catering provision for our pupils.

One Headteacher said she was: “Really pleased with the new menus; the meals look great. It is good to see the children trying new food and some were trying rice for the first time ever today!”

Finally, by the time we break up for Christmas we will have served 8,279 pupils a nutritious and tasty Christmas lunch with all the trimmings.

In keeping with our commitment to sustainability, our locally sourced butcher, Freemans, based in Team Valley, has supplied us with our turkeys and ‘pigs in blankets’. The Red Tractor certified turkeys were from a farm in Durham, so very little road miles travelled to our plates.

Supporting with this we started our new food supplier contract on 1st December. After a lengthy and robust procurement process this will see a significant cost saving of circa £650,000 over three years. We have also had agreement from Turner Price, our main food supplier, to give us 0.5% return on purchases to a hardship fund, which equates to over £19,000 over three years. This will help our most vulnerable families across our Trust. We have also developed a new ‘Chadwick’s Kitchen’ uniform, using the colour palette from the Bishop Chadwick crest and the logo embroidered onto it. The kitchen teams love it and look extremely smart and professional.

www.bccet.org.uk

Artwork by Grace Harland - St James’ Catholic Primary School, Hebburn

The hope of Christmas God, our dayspring and our dawn, We turn to you when we fear the dark And all around us weep. We pray you greet us with your shining light That we may spread your warm embrace And kindle the hope of Christmas In all whose lives remain in shadow. Come and be our strength O Lord, our hope and our salvation. Amen. Annabel Shilson-Thomas/CAFOD

Evolve Business Centre Cygnet Way, Rainton Bridge South Business Park Houghton-le-Spring Tyne & Wear DH4 5QY Email: [email protected] www.bccet.org.uk