Toggle Menu Twitter RSS Home About Our Academies News Careers Contact Us You are here Home About About TSLT Welcome from the CEO Vision and Values Our Team Governance Members Trustees Local governors The Shared Learning Trust Welcome from the CEO: Andrew Cooper I’m Andrew Cooper and I’m the Chief Executive Officer of The Shared Learning Trust. I took over the running of the Trust at the start of 2015 and am incredibly proud to lead a team of passionate, dedicated and talented staff. I also feel privileged to be playing a big part in the future success of so many children from the age of 4 to 18. When I sat down to write our vision and values – the key messages which are at the heart of all that we do – I quickly realised that the most important thing is the children. I want to give every child the best possible opportunity to flourish and develop into a decent, disciplined, well-educated and employable young person. That means teaching and learning is the most important activity and everything my team and I do must focus on what goes on in the classroom. The structure of our family of schools means that we can be with a child every step of the way, from teaching them to tie their shoe laces right through to congratulating them on their university place or their first job. That puts us in a unique position; it’s also a tremendous responsibility. I hope you will share my excitement and optimism about what we can achieve by working together and helping each child to achieve their full potential. Vision & Values Our ethos is simple: we will make the most of our unique family of schools to give every child the best possible opportunity to flourish and develop into a decent, disciplined, well-educated and employable young person. Here is what is at the heart of all we do: Developing decent people: Results and qualifications are important, but they are not the whole story – far from it. Our ultimate goal is to develop well-rounded young people who will make the most of the opportunities open to them in our schools. They will have resilience, zest and passion: people that employers will want to employ; people who will play a part in the communities in which they live and work; people we can be truly proud to say came through one of our schools. Achieving full potential, no excuses: We will do all we can to make sure every child gets the chance to reach their full potential. No child should ever get left behind; all have the capacity to learn and to achieve. We’ll do this by instilling an acceptance that hard work, effort and application really does pay off. And through effort and application come self-respect, self-esteem, self-belief and success Discipline and standards: It is important to us that our young people demonstrate high standards and that our schools are safe, structured places in which to learn – this will enable inspiring things to happen in the classroom. We will achieve this by expressing our high expectations regularly and frequently and by paying relentless attention to detail. We attach importance to values such as respect: for ourselves, for others, for learning and for the environment. Great Schools for All: We want the schools within our Academy Trust to be judged as great schools for all the young people that attend them. This means recruiting outstanding people to work in our schools and offering a curriculum that is engaging, challenging and responsive to individual needs. Big on Attitude: We will frequently stand back and reflect on how we can do things differently and better. That doesn’t mean latching on to the latest fad: it means being open-minded about trying new ideas; it means acknowledging mistakes but seeing them as an experience from which to learn; it means being aware of what happens beyond our schools so that we can predict future trends and remain in control of our destiny. Strength in Numbers: Each of our schools is different. Each serves its own community; each has its own history. But at the heart of all our schools is a strength brought about by working together within a multi-academy trust enabling shared resources, shared knowledge, shared experience and shared success. We never forget that we are in the unique position of seeing through a child’s education from the first words they read and write, right through to their first job or acceptance into higher education. Our Team Andrew Cooper Chief Executive David Scott Interim Education Director Linett Kamala Associate Education Director Kevin Martin HR Manager Rachel Barker Chief Financial Officer Gary Kennedy Facilities Manager Ian Hardwick Health & Safety Manager Jon Wilson IT Network Manager Mikhaela Chapman PA to CEO Governance The Shared Learning Trust is a multi-academy trust – that means that a single trust is responsible for running a number of academies, in our case currently five. The trust itself is made up of a group of members and trustees who take joint responsibility for making sure things run smoothly across all the academies. Members The ‘members’ of the Shared Learning Trust are a bit like the shareholders of any big company. They have the ultimate say over what the trust does, they can make changes to the trust’s constitution, which is known as the ‘Articles of Association’, and they have the power to appoint some of the trustees. The members of The Shared Learning Trust are: Rachael McConaghie Rachael is a lawyer and Partner leading the property disputes department Lord McKenzie - William David McKenzie, Lord McKenzie of Luton (Bill McKenzie) William David McKenzie, Lord McKenzie of Luton (Bill McKenzie) (born 24 July 1946) is an English Labour politician and, up to the General Election of 2010, was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Communities and Local Government. Post 2010 General Election he has variously served as shadow ministers for DWP and DCLG. He served for 22 years as an elected member of Luton Borough Council, four years as its Leader. Over his time with accounting firm Price Waterhouse, he worked in the US, Hong Kong and Vietnam. Bronwen Philpott – The Chair of the Board of Directors Bronwen is co-owner of Plain Talking HR Consultancy which supports small and medium size businesses. She was previously Director of HR for Monarch Airlines and Monarch Engineering, Britannia Airways and Electrolux. Prior to spending 4 years in Western Australia Bronwen was with Selfridges in London. Bronwen has significant experience in the voluntary and charity sector in Luton. For many years she was Chair and a Trustee for Relate in Luton and South Bedfordshire. More recently she was a Trustee and then Chair at Women’s Aid in Luton. Bronwen is an enthusiastic Rotarian with Luton Someries Rotary Club having been Club President twice. For several years Bronwen was a Governor at Ashcroft High School where she was Vice Chair and Acting Chair. Bronwen initially joined Barnfield South as a Director and became Chair of the Barnfield Academies/Shared Learning Trust Board in 2014. Trustees While the members are like the shareholders of a company, the ‘trustees’ are more like Directors. They are responsible for three main areas of running the trust: Setting the direction of the trust in terms of what it wants to achieve Holding the Principals to account for the educational performance of each academy, and Making sure the finances are all in order and everything we do offers the best possible value for money. Like the Board of Directors of any big organisation, the trustees of the Shared Learning Trust pay particular attention to: Setting the strategic direction for the Trust, alongside the Chief Executive Making sure there is consistency in things like HR policy across the trust Ensuring that the trust complies with all relevant laws, includimg charity law requirements and the same company law requirements that apply to all Directors. Keeping a close eye on the executive team and the individual academy principals and holding them to account at all times through the Chief Executive. The Shared Learning Trust Trustees are: Bronwen Philpott – The Chair of the Board of Directors Bronwen is co-owner of Plain Talking HR Consultancy which supports small and medium size businesses. She was previously Director of HR for Monarch Airlines and Monarch Engineering, Britannia Airways and Electrolux. Prior to spending 4 years in Western Australia Bronwen was with Selfridges in London. Bronwen has significant experience in the voluntary and charity sector in Luton. For many years she was Chair and a Trustee for Relate in Luton and South Bedfordshire. More recently she was a Trustee and then Chair at Women’s Aid in Luton. Bronwen is an enthusiastic Rotarian with Luton Someries Rotary Club having been Club President twice. For several years Bronwen was a Governor at Ashcroft High School where she was Vice Chair and Acting Chair. Bronwen initially joined Barnfield South as a Director and became Chair of the Barnfield Academies/Shared Learning Trust Board in 2014. Andrew Cooper Andrew has been a teacher for 25 years. He has Headship experience in three schools. In his first Headship he led an 11-18 school to an outstanding Ofsted judgement after three years. He then led an inner-city academy in very challenging circumstances out of special measures. More recently he was responsible for a large (1800+ students) 14-18 school in Leicestershire. Whist there, he led a successful application to open The Sir Frank Whittle Studio School and they became a small multi-academy trust. He has been the Chief Executive of The Shared Learning Trust since January 2015. Victor Cowell Victor is a retired engineer. He was a Technician in the Royal Signals, Army Special Reserves and member of the Territorial Army. He is a non-executive Director at Luton Law Centre, Vice Chair at Safer Luton Partnership, a Member of the Luton Independent Advisory Board for Bedfordshire Constabulary and a Member of the Tenant Advisory Board for Luton Borough Council. He became an ordained Minister in 2004 and is a Pastor of Higher Mountain Truth Ministry. Deborah Harris-Ugbomah Deborah is a chartered accountant and a senior executive with significant experience in strategy and change management, strategic development and delivery. Having trained as an auditor with PwC, her career has been in corporate finance, investment banking and financial services. Deborah is a director of consultancy, DHUA Ltd and a director of venture capital service, MEH Ventures LLP. Deborah is also the Audit Committee Chairman and a Non-Executive Director with Moorfields Eye Hospital, a specialist NHS ophthalmology hospital with world-leading education, research and commercial services. and is a non-executive member of the Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai . Deborah also chairs the Association of Audit and Financial Non-Executive Directors (AFNED), holds several non-executive roles at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and is the first female elected as chairperson of its non-executive directors' group. Deborah was recently appointed to the main committee of the London Society of Chartered Accountants. With an interest in the third sector, Deborah became the Treasurer and Audit Committee Chair for Action for Blind People, one of the charities within the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) group. Deborah is also a member of both the audit committee and treasury committee of Notting Hill Housing Trust. Paula Martin Paula is an Individual Banking Manager and manages a portfolio of private and corporate clients; she has extensive experience in banking and customer service environments. Sheila Nolan Previously a senior inspector for Tribal, Sheila continues to work across all phases and categories of schools. She also undertakes Initial Teacher Education inspections. Her current role is Director of School/Academy Improvement for the National Education Trust David Sheridan David is Managing Director of Europa Components plc (1990 – Present). Based in Luton, Europa is the leading independent supplier of fuses in the UK and a leader in supplying isolators and other control gear components to electrical wholesalers throughout the UK. David is also Chairman of Veruth Holdings Ltd a long term investor in SMEs. David became an ACA in 1978. He spent 20yrs + on national and local committees of ICAEW. He was on the Council of ICAEW for three years and Vice Chairman of the Board of Chartered Accountants in Business. Craig Smith As well as being 14-19 Strategic Lead at Luton Borough Council, Craig is a National Leader of Governance and in this role has supported both the Heads and Chairs of Governors in a number of schools. Local governors One of the jobs of the trustees is to appoint a governing body to each of the academies within the trust. These ‘local’ governing bodies are given the job of helping the trustees, or the Directors, with more detailed decision making specific to each of the academies. So they’ll be getting involved in areas such as: Scrutinising the finances and resources of each academy Doing all they can to increase the success rate for students and the quality of the teaching Working to develop and maintain a good relationship with parents, carers and the wider community in which each academy is based Details of each academy’s governing body can be found on the individual academy websites, links to which can be found here. Address The Shared Learning Trust York Street, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU2 0EZ Follow us Twitter RSS Registered Trust Number: 5958361 Copyright The Shared Learning Trust 2015