Inaugural AAT Conference

Headteachers Alan Gray of Sandringham School, Paul Ramsey of Verulam School and Jed Whelan of Ridgeway Academy are pictured with Sir John Jones, keynote speaker at the opening of the first Alban Academies Trust conference.  The three schools formed the Alban Academies Trust in September 2018 and are working together to pursue the vision of Educational Excellence for Everyone.

The conference kicked off on Thursday 14th February with an inspirational address from Sir Jon Jones – an internationally renown speaker in education, adviser to numerous government and university committees and experienced former headteacher. The theme of ‘Count me in’ focussed on ensuring all members of the school community felt valued and included, and could add value to the success of the organisation. On Friday, Verulam and Sandringham staff worked together with James Heale, the CEO of Flywheel Learning, to look at what makes organisations great.

Paul Ramsey, Headteacher of Verulam School, said “Working together in partnership as part of the Alban Academies Trust gives us the opportunity to build a learning community that works towards educational excellence for everyone. We are really excited at the benefits this project will bring to the students of St Albans and Welwyn Garden City.”

Alan Gray, CEO of the Trust and Headteacher of Sandringham School added “The principle benefit of working as a Trust is to share best practice and to allow our staff to work together for excellence. We have already seen an impressive start with Verulam receiving a very strong Ofsted report rated as Good in every area. We are very confident the school will move to Outstanding in the near future as part of the Multi-Academy Trust with Sandringham and Ridgeway Schools. This is an exciting time for all schools in the Trust and will have long-term benefits for everyone involved.”